They came, they saw they fell on their ass:

“The Senate will adjourn for the weekend after a long week of tense debate over Iraq in which Democrats failed to move the ball and Republicans decided to stick with the White House in backing an unpopular war.

Yet another Democratic amendment on Iraq failed Friday morning, and this one didn’t even earn a majority of Senate votes. The vote was 47-47 on an amendment sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) that would have required a change of mission in Iraq while mandating firm timetables for withdrawal. The amendment needed 60 votes to pass, and three Democrats voted against the measure, making it clear that no matter how Democrats craft their legislation, a majority of senators are uncomfortable mandating time tables for troop withdrawal. Only one Republican, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), backed the measure.

The rejection of the Levin-Reed proposal means the only amendment passed by the Senate this week was a resounding 72-25 condemnation of the now infamous MoveOn.org ad that portrayed Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.” While Republicans have enjoyed a good ride ripping MoveOn and the anti-war movement for the past two weeks, Democrats have scaled back the expectation that many Republicans would join them and vote on binding measures to end the war.”

In case you were wondering General Patraeus is not only winning the battle on the ground in Iraq, but he did a pretty good job of kicking Democrats to the curb both by the progress and his testimony.

As I have been saying, Congress can end the war by pulling the funding. That’s their only real chance via the constitution, but it’s not going to happen. President Bush nailed that coffin of hope shut when he rightly brought the spectre of Vietnam. Democrats knowing that they still hold the mantle of failure for Nam, began at that point to back off, determined not to let history repeat.