Fooling most of the people most of the time

Lordy, House Democrats have begun to buy a clue, realizing that Lincoln's old adage is no longer operative.

Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, voted for the bill, as did the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California. But Mr. Obey denounced financing the war in Iraq with emergency spending bills, which are outside the regular budget and appropriations process.

"Such emergency spending is simply a gimmick that masks the full cost of the war, and it does not fool anybody except the American people," Mr. Obey said.

They're catching on.