Living With the Big Lie

...the clash of religion and the loaded prayers
information the face of starvation and the state of the nation...

Yep just wanted to start this entry with a little Marillion - that would be from the album Brave, you should all buy it. But that's not what I came here to talk to you about... President Junior will be giving his State of the Union address tonight, undoubtedly trying to bolster his case for escalation in Iraq. Of course, he is still the executive branch, and the legislative branch can't directly steer policy. With the nation in this state, the only course of action available is to cut funding, but anyone who supports this will, of course, be accused of not supporting our troops.

So let's take a moment to step back from Karl Rove and reflect on what it means to "support our troops." One, and this is a big one, you only send them into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary. Yep, that's a basic right there. Two, when you do send them, you don't play politics and compromise numbers like Lyndon Johnson, you send enough to do the job. And three, you send them with the armor and ammunition necessary to bring as many back home as possible.

Well, we're there now, no going back on that. The current escalation of 21,000 is a political number - the public wants out, John McCain wants to send 50,000, we'll split the difference. Unfortunately, if congress votes to cut funding, these troops won't stay home, they'll just have to go without armor.

I really have a sickening sort of admiration for how well Rove does his job. I've known John Kerry over twenty years, he became my senator in 1983, and in the few months of a campaign Rove created the image of a flip-flopper. John Kerry is a good man, a veteran and a man of principle. He's never been very good at sound bites - he deals in the nuances of the real world rather than the black and white of the evildoers. It's an intelligent person who can adapt to a changing situation - when we find we've been living with the big lie, stupidity stays the course. Will Rove be turned loose on the 2008 Democrat nominee? What could he do if he were turned loose on me? I have no idea what I did with my merit badges from Boy Scouts. Maybe I threw them over the fence onto the White House lawn. To protest Lionel Richie leaving the Commodores.