Just a comma
Your preznit on the importance of the Iraq war
BLITZER: Let’s move on and talk a little bit about Iraq. Because this is a huge, huge issue, as you know, for the American public, a lot of concern that perhaps they are on the verge of a civil war, if not already a civil war…. We see these horrible bodies showing up, tortured, mutilation. The Shia and the Sunni, the Iranians apparently having a negative role. Of course, al Qaeda in Iraq is still operating.
BUSH: Yes, you see — you see it on TV, and that’s the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there’s also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people…. Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how a sociopath regards the death of more than 10,000 people and injury to ten times that, combined with debt, increasing danger, and incompetence… well, there you have it.
Reading the paper this weekend, I was struck strongly by the death of a local soldier in Iraq. He was 51 years old and on his second tour. A sniper ended the life of this patriot. A patriot who is nothing more to the man who sent him to his death than a fraction of a comma.
If the Dems were as effective as the GOP at messaging, this would be on every media outlet around the country for the next month. As is, we may be lucky to get a Russ Feingold appearance on Meet the Press where he mentions it in the 20th minute as an aside.
Update: as Gilliard points out, this “comma” phrase is code-talk for the fundies and wingnuts (much like talking about Dred Scott is a dog whistle salute to anti-choicers and Condi’s “birth pangs” remarks regarding Iraq were red meat to the neocon fantasists):
When Bush said Iraq was a comma, he was speaking in dog whistle to the fundies. It comes from a saying “Never put a period where God puts a comma”.Which means things will get better. Which is, of course, insane.
As much as I’d like to discount Gilliard’s take as coincidence (there are, after all, a lot of words in that there bible)… I think he’s probably right.
