PastaJoe

To do that they'd have to carpet bomb the whole country and wipe everyone out, because at this point they can't tell the difference between the insurgents, foreign fighters, sectarian civil war fighters, and civilians. Like a doctor saying the operation was a success but the patient died.

"And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Take away the words that the administration kept emphasizing and there never would have been support for the invasion, which is how they scared enough of the public into supporting their policy.

Bush's plan. 1) Send more combat troops into a civil war. 2) Continue to let Iraqis kill our troops. 3) Dump the problem onto the next president.

I'll root for the Chiefs and Saints or Eagles. Can't root for AFC East rivals, can't root for Ray Lewis, can't root for Peyton Manning and his annoying line calls, can't root for San Diego who's spoiled with nice weather year round, can't root for Jerry Jones, can't stand the Giants, can't root for the boring Bears, and can't root for the Seahawks who were just there last year.

"Would Jesus shop at Wal-Mart?" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16191729/

They should run a geiger-counter by Karl Rove and check for trace amounts of radiation. Maybe he learned a new political trick from the Russians.

Walmart is the poster child of short term gain with long term losses. I'd rather pay some more for products if I knew it would mean keeping jobs in America. But there aren't enough people that look at that big picture. I'm on year 5 of my personal boycott of Walmart, for principle even if it doesn't make a difference.

You would think the NFL could come up with some assistance for them like they do for inner city programs.

This team isn't a contender and isn't going to the playoffs. I'll take an entertaining loss where the younger players, i.e. Losman, show promise and growth, but we still move up in the draft over a win where they don't show improvement but get some lucky break. It's a rebuilding year, and will be next season.

Wow, where to begin. Comparing accident victims to soldier's deaths to justify the numbers. Wanting to fight a war to get experience for the next war. Any able-bodied young man who wants to volunteer can. You're saying all it would take is for Bush to ask them to do it and 500k will step forward. Riiiight.

He'll never make it past the Republican primaries. How could the religious right wing of the party support a pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, former roommate of 2 gay guys, who made public appearances with his new girlfriend before he was divorced from his wife.

You joking, right? There are already outside influences affecting Iraq, and have been ever since the Iraqi army was disbanded and the borders were left unsecured. Iran doesn't need to invade, they already have political ties to many in the Iraqi gov't. Iraq used to be the balance against Iran's middle east influence, and now Iran's reaping the benefits of the neocon's folly.

Having more job opportunities for high school graduates would help too, but it's tough when the outsourcing of jobs overseas and healthcare costs are forcing a downward push where college grads and older folks are taking jobs that used to be done by high school grads, leaving high school grads with less options. Some end up taking the wrong path because they lose hope in their future job opportunities.

In the short term the price will go up as the oil companies try to squeeze as much as they can out of consumers before the Democrats investigate their secret energy meetings with the administration and provide more support for alternative energy.

If Gore runs I think he'll be Hillary's top competition for the nomination, but might have a tougher time winning the general election because he'd be perceived as being more liberal than Hillary. It must be tough for him knowing that he got more votes than Bush, and if not for the Florida ballot screwups he would have been president.

Obama is currently the popular choice because people don't really know where he stands of all the issues, and he hasn't yet been put through the scrutiny of the media and opposition. What more can be said about Hillary that hasn't already been said, anything from calling her a lesbian to having an affair and being involved in the murder of Vince Foster. She's faced it all and still is a frontrunner. Obama's popularity will go down once he has to take a stand on issues and people look at his lack of experience. I see him like John Edwards before 2004, someone who will get more exposure and may be a player in the future.

As in the past, when GWB gets in trouble he calls upon daddy's friends to bail him out. It happened with the National Guard, then in Texas when he failed at wildcatting and was given a sweet deal to buy into a baseball team and sell it at a profit. Now he once again is calling on GHWB's friends to come up with a solution to get him out of Iraq while not admitting it was a mistake. He said Rumsfeld would be there to the end, then dumps him a week later. Why would anyone believe anything he says? When the Baker group comes out with a plan for a phased withdrawl, he'll jump all over it.

I see the middle class eroding in the U.S., in large part because of the shift of manufacturing overseas. Some are doing better in this economy, but most are doing worse. I don't expect the gov't to guarantee jobs, but do everything they can to create a fair playing field with other countries, even if that means tariffs. They also should place a higher tax on companies that move jobs overseas, and avoid taxes by incorporating in countries like Jamaica and putting a dummy headquarters in another country. We import more than we export. The global economy hasn't been a net benefit for the middle class workers, including myself whose job was outsourced to China two years ago. I thank you for a civil discourse.

How long is the long run, the next generation? Increased health and energy costs eat up any benefit from lower prices for other consumer goods. Telling people that they should get retrained or educated isn't easy for the 50 year old person who can't afford to not work to go to school, and can't get another job that pays a similar wage to the old job because they don't have the experience or education to get hired for that job. So they end up taking a lower wage service job, often working nights and weekends so they lose family time (so much for family values). And if they do go to school to retrain, after graduating they have to compete for entry level jobs in their new field with people half their age who employers will view as having less baggage and not use as many health benefits. There's no direct correlation anymore between stock values and prosperity for American workers; the stock price usually goes up when they move their jobs from the U.S. to lower-cost countries. People out of work often end up having to sell what few stocks they had, and dip into their retirement accounts to keep up with their house payments, assuming a company like Enron didn't already drain them dry.

Just being reported on MSNBC as said by a senior WH official. A day too late for the Republicans.

What's worse, tax and spend, or no tax and spend? I think Pelosi is experiended enough to know that many of the House gains were from conservative-moderate Democrats, and a move to the center on issues is the best way to make progress and retain the gains that were made. On the other side, the Republican party may move more to the Right since they have lost a number of moderate Congressmen, and the more extreme members will have more of a say.

1. Because it's easier for someone who has a difference of opinion to use labels than actually have a civil debate on issues. That happens alot on this site; present a contrary view to the majority here and you'll get personally attacked. 2. See #1; the supporters of the Iraq invasion like to blur the lines and confuse people who don't pay attention to details like Iraq and 9/11 not being the same issue. 3. True conservatives aren't evil; they're for small gov't and limited interference in our private lives. Unfortunately many who call themselves conservative actually want to impose their lifestyles upon everyone else, instead of letting everyone make their own private life decisions. It's not evil, just hypocritical. 4. People hear but don't listen anymore. We live in a soundbyte society where you have to get a person's attention in the first 30 seconds. 5. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger, or so I've heard.

The troops aren't the issue or the answer. This isn't a military problem, it's a political problem. If the various factions don't want to work together for a political solution, they can't be made to do it. I have faith that the troops will do what they're told; I have no faith in their civilian leaders who tell them what to do. And I believe it was a Republican president who ended our participation in Vietnam.

If we withdraw there will be sectarian violence, militias will control areas instead of Iraqi troops, and the population will divide into their seperate tribal groups. Which is the same as what's happening now, except that our troops are caught in the middle. So let's save the troops from further danger and get them out of Iraq, since in the end the result will be the same whether they stay or go.

There already was an Iraq resolution before 2000 that supported regime change in Iraq. But it was through support of internal and external Iraqis, not using our own troops who would get caught in the middle of a civil war. Unfortunately it wasn't followed up on by the current administration, and they were convinced by people like Chalibi that we should do the hard work for them.