There’s an interesting bit over at ThinkProgress. Now, we are wise to take anything and everything from the TV talking heads with the utmost degree of skepticism, yet once in a while something pans out. On this morning’s ‘Chris Matthews Show’, NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell put out there that the top universal commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, has recently met with the Senate Republican caucus:

“Petraeus went to the Republican caucus and told them, I will have real progress to you by August,” Mitchell said. The Republicans claim they told him that after August, they will end their support for the war. “They have told him at a caucus meeting as very, very recently, that if there isn’t progress by August – and real progress means not a day of violence and a day of sanity – that they will pull the plug.”

Mitchell also states that moderate Repubs had told the they didn’t believe the surge would work and the President has until Labor Day. “After that, they’re running.”

Now, of course, we have no idea how Mitchell came by this information, or if it’s even true for that matter. But I really wouldn’t be surprised if it did ring true. It’s going to be that much closer to Election Day. And the interesting notion is that this latest supplemental bill with the deadlines intact was able to pass both chambers. If there was the solid Republican opposition like there was to the non-binding resolutions, they could have kept this from happening one way or the other, through procedural tactics or some other method.

But they didn’t, and many will say it’s “because the troops need to be funded”, but I have to wonder if more than a few voted for it because of the deadline. They already lost Chuck Hagel, who had jumped ship almost five months ago. Some senators such as “moderate” Republican Susan Collins of Maine are up for re-election soon, and the netroots are also targeting them. It will be interesting to see how much longer before they capitulate to public opinion, and even more interesting to see what happens to the ones who don’t.

The tragic thing about it, if it is indeed true, is how many more Americans and Iraqis will have died by Labor Day. And will Jim Douglas change his tune come August, as well? Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait until Labor Day to find out.

Just as the frustration with the Vermont legislature among many activists seems to be peaking, GMD has learned that the House and Senate leadership are poised to make a historic announcement; an agreement on single-payer healthcare for Vermont.

Negotiations have apparently be going on with the Governor’s office behind the scenes for some time, but the potential pitfalls had seemed unsurmountable. Under the new agreement, starting one year from today, Vermont will scrap its multi-payer system based on a patchwork of insurance companies and a profit motive and replace it with a “Vermont-style” system with a single payer, increasing efficiency, removing a major expense from business and local municipal budgets, and covering everybody.

According the the proposed legislation, the single-payer has been identified as farmer Uriah Cobleigh of Enosburgh Falls. Cobleigh was contacted by the AP for his reaction to the decision that all medical bills in the state will be sent his way:

“Hm. Ah, well… this is the first I’d heard of it. I don’t know, I want to do my part, but things are kind of tight around here these days.

I suppose I could sell a few cows… I suppose. Don’t really know.

A press conference has been called for tomorrow, and the mood is expected to be celebratory. The details of the plan are the brainchild of policy consultant April Sciocco, who was also the brains behind last years ill-fated Catamount Health Committment Plan, which died in committee after early enthusiasm.

Sciocco says she expects the Vermont single-payer plan to become a model for other states, due to its guaranteed, almost unanimous support among any electorate.