For weeks, all the talk out of the White House has been focused on Gen. David Petraeus’ report on conditions in Iraq. Petraeus will tell us everything we need to know; his report should be accepted as gospel; he is to Grant as Bush is to Lincoln.

Except the narrative is hitting a few speed bumps. Yesterday, the LAT reported that Petraeus isn’t even going to write his own report — the unbiased and independent thinkers at the Bush White House will take care of the report for him. And today, the WaPo reports that Petraeus, far from proudly presenting the report he won’t write, will actually be shielded from public view and scrutiny.

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration’s progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

Kevin Drum and Josh Marshall have more.