Wisconsin's Dave Obey, the House Appropriations chair, is never one to mince words.

He's famous for his explosive language and telling it like it is, even on the House floor. He's got a temper (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

And he hates to be pushed around. So it should be no surprise that Obey has pulled the plug on the deal the Democrats were working on with the White House, to pour billions more into Iraq in return for some domestic pork.

The Washington Post reports:

A Democratic deal to give President Bush some war funding in exchange for additional domestic spending appeared to collapse last night after House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) accused Republicans of bargaining in bad faith.

Instead, Obey said he will push a huge spending bill that would hew to the president's spending limit by stripping it of all lawmakers' pet projects, as well as most of the Bush administration's top priorities. It would also contain no money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

God help us Alberto Gonzales given special new powers over imposition of the death penalty.

Do these people even listen to themselves? Richard Land thinks women who have an abortion must be "impaired", and therefore only the doctors providing the abortion should be charged with a crime should the procedure be outlawed:

Such a legal stance is tantamount to "ignoring or infantilizing women, turning them into 'victims' of their own free will," Quindlen wrote. "State statutes that propose punishing only a physician suggest the woman was merely some addled bystander who happened to find herself in the wrong stirrups at the wrong time."

Land doesn't deny that women who have abortions might be addled, but he, along with Yoest, Earll, and Gans, takes exception to them being described as bystanders—or as enlightened women making free, educated choices.

Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is profiled in US News & World Report, which calls him -- among other things -- a "hard-edged Cheesehead" and a "prickly pragmatist." {At least they didn't call him an "aged Cheesehead" at 68.)

Obey has served in Congress since 1969, longer than anyone else in the history of Wisconsin. He ranks third in seniority among current House members, which helps explain why he chairs that powerful committee.

He can be tough, with his friends as well as his political enemies, and he doesn't pull any punches -- literally or figuratively.

He's written an autobiography, "Raising Hell for Justice: The Washington Battles of a Heartland Progressive" which is on the fall publication list for the University of Wisconsin Press.

The US News article discusses spending earmarks and Obey's run-in with anti-war activists, explaining his Iraq stand thusly: