Hastert succumbs to pressure on 9/11 panel...

...but whose pressure what it? The White House has maintained that they've supported an extension for the independent 9/11 commission all along, but it's hard to imagine Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert putting up a very hard fight against his own Party's President, leading to widespread speculation that he was just fronting for a behind the curtain deal with the Bush administration.

But with support, at least rhetorical, for the extention coming from everywhere but the Speaker's office, Hastert has finally sent the signal that he'll move forward with the extension, although he hasn't said just when.

But why now? Frankly, I'm not willing to give him credit for simply coming to the right conclusion. Did the President's political shop finally realize the heat had been turned up too high, requiring them to cut new orders for Hastert? That's my best guess, frankly.

Whyever, however, I'm glad it happened. We shouldn't have had to wait this long, but at this point waiting two more months for a better, more complete report seems eminently reasonable. Whatever credit is due belongs to those who put the spotlight on the situation, and one of the most creditworthy members of the press turns out to be CNN's Aaron Brown, who led his post-debate broadcast last night with a scathing editorial comment. I've been watching Brown since he was a local anchor in Seattle, and l think last night was probably the finest moment in his broadcast career.

Here's what he said:

We admit we don't do causes very well on the program and I don't do outrage well at all, yet tonight a cause and an outrage. The decision by the Speaker of the House to deny the independent Commission investigating the 9/11 attack on America a sixty day extention, that's all, sixty days, to complete its work is unconscionable and indefensible, which no doubt explains why neither the Speaker nor any member of the House leadership nor any of their press secretaries would come on the program to talk about it, despite repeated requests.

The Commission itself has gone about its work quietly. It has had to fight tooth and nail to get necessary information, and now this. An abritrary decision to deny not just the Commission, that's the least of it, but the country the chance to know all of what happened, how it happened and how best to keep it from happening again.

Perhaps the Speaker and his team assume you do not care. I hope they're wrong. I hope you care enough to write them and call them and email them until they relent. Do that. Do it for the victims and their families, do it for the country that was attacked, and for history."

He was absolutely right, and I suspect he inspired a great many calls, letters and emails. Maybe even the one that turned the tide.

It's easy to bash the cable newsguys. Sometimes the get it right, though, and it should be just as easy to say so.