Pelosi bests Bush -- prevents vote Bush was trying to force on Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Bush thought he could outsmart the Speaker on the Colombia Free Trade Deal. But, Bush isn't that smart and Pelosi isn't having it. Pelosi shut Bush down -- hard:

President Bush fired the initial salvo in a trade fight over Colombia by announcing his intent on Monday to send the agreement to Capitol Hill without the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). On Wednesday, Pelosi fired back.

The speaker announced that House Democrats will take the unprecedented step Thursday of voting to strip a critical time requirement from chamber rules governing the "fast track" consideration of trade agreements, suspending the Colombia fight indefinitely and imperiling future trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries.

Pelosi said the House would vote Thursday to suspend the "fast track" requirements that force Congress to address signed trade agreements within 90 days. "We're taking the timeline out of the equation," the speaker told reporters Wednesday after her caucus signed off on the move during a closed-door meeting in the Capitol.

This move marks a bitter turn in the trade fight over Colombia and signals an inauspicious moment for free trade policy in the U.S. by gutting the essential spirit of these longstanding rules.

Both sides have been at loggerheads over the deal for months, prompting Bush to take the rare step of sending the deal to Capitol Hill on Tuesday without the speaker's blessing, becoming the first president in three decades to do so. That move started a clock which requires Democrats to address the legislation under a specific time table. Passage of the rules change on Thursday would essentially stop that clock.

"The president took his action," Pelosi said. "I will take mine tomorrow."

Now this is why we love having Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It's so great when she plays hardball with Bush -- and whips his butt.