French spies infiltrate Capitol Hill, alter menu.

That's the only possible explanation for the sudden renaming of two classic all-American dishes enjoyed by citizens of all ages for decades, freedom toast and freedom fries.

The fries on Capitol Hill are French again.

So is the breakfast toast in the congressional cafeterias, with both fries and toast having been liberated from the appellation "freedom."

Three years after House Republicans trumpeted the new names to get back at the French for snubbing the coalition of the willing in Iraq, congressmen don't even want to talk about french fries, which are actually native to Belgium, and toast.

Neither Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio nor Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, the authors of the culinary rebuke, were willing this week to say who led the retreat, as it were, from the frying pan. But retreat there has been, as a casual observer can see for himself in the House's basement cafeterias.

"We don't have a comment for your story," said a spokeswoman for Mr. Ney.

Several Republican staffers and lawmakers suggest that the change isn't worth investigating, unlike the eagerness in March 2003 to get into the headlines about patriotism on the menu.

Mockery of the GOP coming from the Washington Times? This French propaganda campaign must be more widespread than I thought....