THE HILL: Boehner backs Obama on Syria, but House leaning toward ‘no.’ I see a lot of Republicans angry at Boehner and Cantor for siding with Obama on this, but it seems to me to be a way of defusing any blame-the-GOP spin if the vote fails. “We tried, Obama just couldn’t close the deal” seems pretty good here, especially as Syria strikes are polling dreadfully and there’s plenty of visible Democratic opposition, too.

Related: Rice: White House has ‘no expectation’ of losing Syria vote. Yeah, they didn’t expect the “red line” to be crossed, either. . . .

Also: Hillary Clinton Throws Weight Behind Syria Strikes. Well, when “smart diplomacy” fails, can smart bombs be far behind?

The difference is, the bombs are actually smart . . . .