UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL - AT 8:14 P.M. ET:  There was a time, there really was, when the Democratic Party was the national-defense party, the party whose presidents built the institutions to defend us against fascism, then Soviet Communism.

No more, no more.

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan hit a roadblock in Congress over whether to block a lawsuit seeking to force the release of photos of U.S. troops abusing suspected terrorists.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey ended a conference committee meeting today when lawmakers couldn’t agree on whether to include a Republican-backed provision to block the lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. Obey said the measure wouldn’t pass the House with the provision, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it wouldn’t pass his chamber without it.

COMMENT:  The provision to block the photos, a provision that has the tacit support of the White House, was originated in the Senate by Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham.  Senator Graham has expressed open dismay at the fact that anyone who cares about the safety of our troops would try to kill the provision.  Both the Pentagon and the CIA have argued that release of the photos - showing entirely atypical behavior by a few misguided soldiers - could result in a major backlash against American troops in harm's way.

And yet, the hard-left Democrats in the House want that blocking provision removed.  Of course, they also want the photos released.  They will tell you, without much of a smile, that they want them released because "we are a democracy" or "the people have a right to know" or something like that.  The real reason they want them released is that they despise the military, they represent leftist districts, and they believe 9-11 was our fault. 

The hard left was thrown out of the Democratic Party by Harry Truman in 1948.  He won the election that year without them.  They crawled back in the late sixties, and became dominant in many districts in the early seventies.  They are back big time today, with some of their longstanding members emerging as committee chairmen.

What is happening must make Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson turn over in their graves.  The president can step in and influence this, but apparently he declines to do so.

UPDATE - AT 8:33 P.M. ET:  From The Politico: 

House-Senate negotiators reached agreement on a $105.9 billion wartime spending bill late Thursday after last-minute assurances that President Barack Obama will use all his powers to prevent the disclosure of controversial photographs depicting the treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel came to the Capitol in the evening to personally deliver this message to Democratic senators, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) later read aloud a letter from Obama pledging to use every “legal and administrative remedy” available to prevent the disclosure of the pictures.

COMMENT:  Looks like the desirable provision is out of the bill, based on presidential "assurances."  This, however, may not satisfy Republicans in the Senate.  There's too much of a loophole here.  If courts decide against the administration, the photos can be released.  All the president is pledging is to fight the release, not to prevent it.

Stand by for more action on this story.

June 11, 2009