Evildoers? Wrongdoers? Or Politics-As-Usualdoers?

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Sunday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should apologize for the actions of their aides in the CIA leak case, while defenders of the Bush administration insist there was no wrongdoing, since no one has thus far been indicted for anything other than interfering with the investigation.

Leaving aside for the time being the question of possible motives for interfering with the investigation, what we now know is that Rove and Libby both testified to the grand jury that they were speaking to reporters about the fact that Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA "operative" — to use Robert Novak's terminology — when they should have (from both ethical and strategic standpoints) been telling reporters "Joe Wilson is right about the Niger uranium; we don't know how those sixteen words were cleared for the President's speech, and the Niger uranium deal isn't and has never been part of the justification of the use of military force against Iraq."

Mission Inarticulable

U.S. president George Bush, in his weekly radio address:
"The best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and win the war on terror."

Probably inspirational words to someone, but it bears repeating that the mission — separating Saddam Hussein from his weapons of mass destruction (if any) — was complete before Bush so much as ordered troops onto Iraqi soil.

As for the "war on terror", whatever it is, can it be won by stubbornly maintaining U.S. occupation of Iraq, fueling anti-western sentiment in the process?

"Convenient Political Football"

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, October 26, on Democrats' criticism of the Iraq war following the 2000th U.S. military death in the conflict: "To use Iraq as a convenient political football only undercuts the brave men and women fighting there."

Oh, those unscrupulous Democrats - using the 2000th U.S. death in Iraq as an excuse to comment on the 2000th U.S. death in Iraq.

Scott McClellan, Stand-Up Comedian

"Asked if Cheney always tells the truth to the American people, McClellan said: 'Yes.' He dismissed as 'ridiculous' a question about whether Bush stood by Cheney's account of his role in the matter. 'The vice president, like the president, is a straightforward, plain-spoken person,' McClellan said."

His Personal CPA?

Bush believed ready to name Greenspan successor
President George W. Bush was believed poised on Monday to announce who he wants to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, according to sources familiar with the situation.

It All Depends On What the Definition Of "Terrorist" Is?

U.S. warplanes and helicopters bombed two western villages, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend roadside blast, the military said Monday. Residents said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.

Iraqis are killed daily in insurgent attacks, yet retaliatory airstrikes by American forces closely follow attacks in which Americans are killed. Is this intended to make it appear more likely that the Iraq government is "calling the shots" in beating back the resistance, or less likely?

The U.S. military said Monday that coalition forces launched airstrikes Sunday in and around Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing "an estimated 70 terrorists." But an Iraqi doctor who reported 20 people killed -- including six children -- and 25 wounded said all those were civilians. An Iraqi Ministry of Health official also said one child was killed and two women wounded in the airstrikes. Military officials said they had no reports of civilians killed.

We'll leave it to readers, based on those contradictory statements, to judge for themselves how closely Iraqi and American authorities are working.

What's A Little More Sacrifice?

"Wars are not won without sacrifice, and this war will require more sacrifice, more time, and more resolve. The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced," George Bush said today in a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy.

Can he really not believe that the sacrifice of 1,945 American lives is not sufficient, given the stated objective of taking weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of Saddam Hussein? (An objective which, by the way, Bush well knew had already been achieved before even the first American serviceman gave his life to the cause.)

Bush Names Supreme Court Pick

"She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice" George Bush said in announcing Harriet Miers (White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy) as his choice to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's slot on the Supreme Court. Nice words, but wouldn't they apply to pretty much anyone who was at all qualified for the position? I'm sure, just as with the John Roberts nomination, we'll be beaten over the head with how well-qualified she is to serve on the Supreme Court (a criterion that I would guess should make thousands eligible for the gig), and nothing about why she is the best choice, other than that she's Bush's choice. Among her other achievements, she's a past chair of the Texas Lottery Commission.