Do you feel a Draft in here? Not in the House, you don't!

As expected:

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans sought to quash an undying Internet rumor that the government will reinstate a military draft after the election, hoping a recorded vote will kill legislation ordering a draft and the rumor as well.

Even the Democratic lawmaker who authored the bill to bring back the draft urged his colleagues Tuesday to vote against it, accusing Republicans of cynically trying to use the measure to escape election-season questions about the war in Iraq.

The result? 2 yes, 402 no. 28 didn't even vote. Tom DeLay summed it up nicely:

"For months now, the American people have been subjected to -- and had their intelligence insulted by -- a manipulative, dishonest, and willful campaign of misinformation. This campaign, which started as a whisper but has since been given voice by the leading Democrats in the country today, asserts without any evidence whatsoever that there is a secret Republican plan to reinstitute the military draft.

"This campaign is a baseless and malevolent concoction of the Democrat Party, and everyone in this chamber knows it. It has one purpose -- to spread fear. To spread fear among an unsuspecting public, to undermine the war on terror, to undermine our troops, to undermine our cause, and most of all, to undermine our commander-in-chief ... in an election year.

"It is a lie. And to prove it, all we had to do was to look in the Congressional Record. And lo and behold, there it was. A plan, not secret, but public. Not hidden by Republicans, but openly touted by Democrats. H.R. 163 -- before us today -- is not the product of a Pentagon cabal, but is sponsored by six of the most liberal and vociferous critics of the war on terror.

"The vote on this bill won't be close, and it won't be party- line. Instead, it will be an opportunity for the American people to see who takes the national security of the United States seriously, who respects our armed forces, who wants to win the war on terror, and who just wants to win the next election.

"This bill is a fraud, and so is the pernicious campaign of deception that has brought it to the floor today. I urge all my colleagues to vote no, and expose to the light of truth the craven, partisan whisper campaign now poisoning the national debate."

Indeed. There are lots of other craven, partisan whisper campaigns to deal with.