With news that the "Petraeus" report is actually going to be written by the White House ("administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government"), it's worth revisiting some quotes from Senator McConnell.

Outside of the executive branch, no one has put more emphasis on the 9/15 report than Mitch, constantly attacking Democrats for not waiting for the "facts" from Petraeus. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that those "facts" are going to come, not from the General, but from White House spin rooms.

At the very least they should be able to expect that we will stick with our pledge to give General Petraeus until September to report back on progress and the law which a majority of the Senate voted for in May.

Mitch McConnell, "Dark Night in the Senate; Stunting Debate Growth." National Review July 17, 2007.

McConnell said he doesn't know what Petraeus will say in September, but he expects Bush to be "extremely influenced" by his report. The president has said the same thing, calling Petraeus the "most credible" person in the country on assessing progress in Iraq.

Fred Barnes, "McConnell Holds the Line; At least until September." Weekly Standard July 18, 2007.

The Levin Amendment is not a credible alternative to the current strategy. By aiming to short-circuit the Petraeus Plan just one month after it became fully manned and two months before we said we’d expect a report, we short- change ourselves and our forces on the field.

We need to give General Petraeus until September to do his work. That’s a commitment we made and signed into law. We need to stand by that commitment.

Mitch McConnell, "Levin Amendment is Not a Credible Alternative to the Petraeus Plan." Press Release July 18, 2007

On CNN, McConnell said Petraeus needs time to give the surge an opportunity to work.

The general will report on the impact of the strategy in September.

"And I think the vast majority of the members of my (Republican) conference here in the Senate are willing to wait until that report comes out rather than make some premature judgment about the outcome of the effort," McConnell said.

James Caroll, "Ad targets McConnell's support of war; Coalition accuses him of being out of touch." Courier Journal July 14, 2007