live commenting the vid.

"we expect our leaders to be honest"

bush lied and peole died arguemnt.

they bring up ben barnes...and they are showing his video from 60 mins...hah hah hah.

cut to dan rather...wow. You would think they would have cut out dan or just used his voice (which everyone would know who it is anyways, because of the recent creditablity issue)

wow rather does look good for a 70 year old man, i hope i look that good when i am that old, though i can't tell if he is bald or not.

ok now i am bored this commerical is too long

they sure do show a lot of pictures of bush for this to be an anti bush add

I will vote demorcratic because their commericals have cool music, i think they might have a way to win here folks.

Don't call anything Karol. The death toll in Iraq this week with the wave of bombings is a concern. If American troops get blown up instead of Iraqi civilians, things could get ugly for Bush. And the bad guys are getting more agressive since we have more wounded American troops in August than any month for the entire campaign.

Things are ugly in Iraq and look to be getting uglier. This could have a major impact on the election. And I think this is the reason that more and more voices on the right are calling to withdraw. John Derbyshire at NRO is the latest one (I wonder if that hoser Frum will call him an Unpatriotic Conservative).

I'm curious to see what Bush does. While God only knows what Kerry's position in Iraq is at this moment, this is really getting ugly and to make it worse it looks like enemy determination is growing while ours is stagnating (and we are not reinforcing).

Bush has a hard to choice to make. Americans are not going to fight an endless war for Iraqi democracy. If he wins, Bush will have to reinforce or pull out. Neither are decent options at this time.

And if something goes wrong between here and November, then Bush will face the wrath of the voters. Don't count your chickens yet.

I definitely am not making any predictions, partly because of my superstitiousness and partly because I know that anything can happen. But the opposition is definitely getting desperate.

Sadly, I agree with Karol - at a time when Bush might have been as vulnerable as he is going to get on substantive issues, the credibility of the whole campaign has been wasted on frivolous blather and meandering on the issues (not sure where I saw it in the past couple of days, but meander strikes me as the best way to describe kerry's thought process on just about anything...).

I read that Bush began a speech years ago with "reporting for duty"

-geez, Kerry even stole that one

and I am waiting for the Democrats to start making fun of Bush for that.

That commercial is worthless, but the Republicans must make a big, big deal out of the forged documents, perhaps by blaming CBS more than the Dem. Party so it doesn't look tit-for-tat.

It's a crazy set of circumstances. As much as I support bush, any incumbent with those death toll numbers would be in serious trouble. The fact that he's got slim leads in battleground states at such vulnerable times speaks volumes for the utter incompetence of the Kerry campaign, to say nothing of Kerry's utter and complete lack of qualifications.

And another thing the Dems need to come to grips with: even when things look dark, average Americans TRUST Bush. The dearth of successful homeland attacks has spoken VOLUMES. Kerry's claim to knowing war after 3 months of actual service in the field...it all rings so hollow.

There was a time not so very long ago when I at least respected the Dems...but it has become increasingly obvious that they are unprincipled and craven in their politics...and I'm going to smile when that senile old fuck Dan Rather leads them straight down the crapper.

The death toll hysteria is exactly that, hysteria. Just over one thousand killed is very low compared to previous wars we have fought in. The deaths are tragic but unavoidable. The problem is that you can not brag or tout that we have only lost a 1000 lives, because in America we value every single life unlike the peolpe we are fighting. The Democrats will try to use the death toll number but it has not gained any traction.

it's embarassing for those of us who stand against bush and his record of failures to have such a pathetic candidate as kerry. sigh.

as far as the 1,000 deaths go... "tragic but unavoidable"? that's incredibly callous. they were avoidable if we hadn't launched an unwinnable war of aggression.

Mike, are there wars of 'non-aggression'? And as for 'winnable', I would say that we have won (Saddam isn't sitting on his golden toilet no mo') and will continue to win with our presence in the Middle East. There need to be root changes made in that region and we are currently making them.

Uh, no. If we have won already, then send the troops home. But we have not. If the troops went home, Iraq would probably fall back into chaos. As for wars of non agression, some would argue that the attack on Pearl Harbor made WW2 one such war.

Michael, we won an empire in 1898 with less battle fatalties. I think the gains from the Spanish American War clearly outweigh those from the current war. We also took California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and stabilized the Texas borders with less wounded (but more killed) under one James K. Polk. Now certain neoncons may think Iraqi democracy and the gains in the Middle East are important. But I think the sacrifices from the Mexican War and the War with Spain did a lot more for America than the sacrifices made in the current war.

'As for wars of non agression, some would argue that the attack on Pearl Harbor made WW2 one such war.'
Uh, what now?

And, we 'won' WWII but still stayed in Germany and Japan to fix things up. Or, was that war not won until the last soldier came home?

Karol, after Hitler fell, we did not have more wounded soliders than before he did. But why did we occupy those countries in 1945 ? If I recall correctly, West Germany and Japan needed American troops to protect them from your homeland and Uncle Joe. Nor were there massive guerilla operations over a year after Tojo and Hitler fell. Totally different situations.

Von Bek,

In both cases, we need to remain in countries after wars had been 'won' to protect the citizens from threats. Whether they are internal or external, or whether soldiers have been killed is irrelevant to the argument. You're arguing that the war in Iraq isn't won because our troops are still there and I'm pointing out that our troops remained in Germany and Japan long after we had won the war.

karol, i don't agree.

if the goal of the war was to find wmd, we haven't won. if the goal of the war was to stop terrorism, we haven't won. if the goal of the war was to win iraqis their freedom, we haven't won. if the goal was to distract america and waste resources better used to protect us, ok, mission accomplished.

but more seriously, von bek makes some great points. we rebuilt germany, japan and south korea (arguably less so), but the losses all but stopped with the admitted defeat of the enemy. no such thing has happened in iraq. you mistake the fall of saddam as the end of the war. in fact, it marked the beginning of the real war, the guerilla war.

i would argue, that like vietnam, this war is militarily winnable, but the american people have no appetite for the losses that would result. this ain't 1812, so it's not as if troops are dying to protect their nation (by the way that history channel series is pretty good)

We were protecting the citizens but the citizens were not the threat in Germany and Japan. They are in Iraq. I think the threat being external or internal is very relevant to the argument to whether the war is won or not.

And so are casualties alas. Total aside. Thank God for body armor. It has done well in protecting our men and women. Things would be a lot worse without it.

I have not read the other comments, but (with a little less hyperbole), I have to agree with Karol's post.

The one thing she and I consistently agree on is that Kerry is running a horrible campaign.

If we've won the war in Iraq, explain why my brother's unit -- 3rd Armored Cavalry -- is being sent back over there in April, after already having served one tour. It's not like he's in an engineering unit. You only need tanks if you're still concerned about the bad guys.

and furthermore, what does it say about the military's assessment of the situation if the 3rd ACR knows more than six months in advance that they're going to have to go back?

The only explanation I can come up with for these ads is the DNC doesn't feel they have anything else to move opinion.

Everybody and their brother knows Bush had something of a misspent youth (never mind the Honorable Discharge and the glowing service records already released). Everybody and their brother understands Bush came from a powerful family (and asked for or not, people like to help out people are connected, because, well you know.)

This ad will thrill the ABB crowd. It won't do jack for anyone else.

Note to DNC: ABB is not a contagious condition. Find something else to run on.

asphnxma, I've already answered those questions. We won WWII and yet had to remain in Germany and Japan long after the war ended. I'm sure units knew six months out that they would be sent to those countries to enforce the peace.

Except that's no answer at all. Of course troops could be in place for post-war rebuilding, but I think it's safe to say far fewer armed insurgents in Japan or Germany were firing on U.S. troops after the war was "won." We're not at war simply because our troops are still there, we're at war because our troops are still there and are still fighting. Catching Hussein was an important victory and, despite the gloom, I think we still have a good chance of winning; but I have seen nothing that suggests we've already won other than Bush putting on his sailor's hat and saying so. We're still at war in Iraq, but Bush doesn't seem to be acting like it. I agree with Von Bek - we need to either reinforce or get out. I hope we choose to reinforce because the mess that'll be left if we pull out is going to be worse than the mess we already got rid of...

Is my statement callous? Yes it is. All wars are callous. But sometimes they are necessary. We do not yet know the importantance of building an arab democracy in the Middle East because we a still doing it. To agree with Karol we are still in Germany to this day. Over 50 years! We have been in Iraq for a year. A measly year and look what we have accomplished. Women have a guaranteed right to be a part of the legislature, electricity is more stable than under Saddam, new schools are opening, and people can voice their opinions without the fear of retribution.

As for gaining more in the Spanish American war, your right we did gain more that is tangible for America, The difference in Iraq is that we are in this war not to gain territory but to promote something that you can not quantify and that is freedom.

And to Alceste, we lost over 1500 troops in Germany in 1945 at the hand of the defeated Germans. After the war was won.

"As for gaining more in the Spanish American war, your right we did gain more that is tangible for America, The difference in Iraq is that we are in this war not to gain territory but to promote something that you can not quantify and that is freedom."

Yes. Just like we liberated Cubans, Puerto Ricans and the people of the Phillipines in 1898. Just as we fought "the war to end all wars" in 1917.

But I am glad that a supporter of the war is honest enough to make no pretense of supporting wars for freedom in the great tradition of Woodrow Wilson, Jacobin France and of course Comrade Trotsky as opposed to wars of national interest.

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