You're Dethpicable

Well, I'm sure today, like me, you'll be combing the blogs and news sites to read about President Quackers' speech. Judging by the silence, it would appear that most of us lefty bloggers are either still:
1. Blinking the sleep from our eyes and hoping our coffee will wake us up, or

2. Didn't watch the damn thing and are looking at other blogs.

I'm thinking that #2 is the most common. Not a lot of us can stand listening to all that quacking. (How does a duck sneer, anyway?) But you might want to head over to Tom Tomorrow's place to get the short & sweet, and Ezra did a little number crunching, and has some links.

It looks like people are finally, finally starting to call Bush on his Iraq = 9/11 comments.

Democrats in particular criticized Bush for again raising the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the protracted fight in Iraq after the president proclaimed anew that he plans to keep U.S. forces there as long as necessary to ensure peace.

Urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, Bush mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Some Democrats quickly accused him of reviving a questionable link to the war in Iraq — a rationale that Bush originally used to help justify launching strikes against Baghdad in the spring of 2003.

Seriously, why is he still beating this dead horse? Is there anyone out there that still believes Iraq had a hand in 9/11? I mean, actually believes this, and isn't just clinging to it because they can't bear the thought of admitting they were wrong about this?

Anyway, there are two articles you may want to check out. David Corn weighs in on the speech (bold mine):

With the polls registering what might be deepening skepticism about the war, this may be the most powerful political argument Bush has: Americans don't quit. His allies in Congress and the commentariat have been repeating a street-level variant of this message: America does not turn tail. It's the ultimate fall-back position for the pro-war crowd. It is not a policy argument; it's pushing a psychological button. And as the public mood appears to sour on the war, Bush-backers are also starting to accuse critics at home of undermining the war effort and--worse of all--demoralizing the troops in Iraq. Bush stayed clear of this scoundrel maneuver. But soon after his speech was done, Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the armed services committee, was on Fox News Channel warning unnamed persons of making "statements back home....that are troubling the troops." He added, "We here at home have to show a strong bipartisan support for our troops." This is the ultimate escape hatch for supporters of a war that is not going well: the critics are to blame. Bush ended his speech by thanking and praising the members of the US military and their families. He said nothing about the recently disclosed $1 billion shortfall in funding for veterans' health care.

[Spit take]

What's that?

Yes... that's the other article. Troops, Shmoops.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly voted down funding increases for vets to keep pace with inflation and meet rising needs.

The Bush Administration tried to add an enrollment fee and double the prescription co-payment for VA health care.

And now the VA admits it is $1 billion short on health care funding for this year alone.

After months of dodging Congressional questioning, VA undersecretary for health Jonathan Perlin finally gave the House VA Committee an unexpectedly honest answer last week. It turns out the $1.6 billion spending increase promised last year has been a matter of accounting trickery, achieved by shifting money from one account to another, and cutting almost $1 billion for medical administration, facilities and prosthetic research.

Yes, once again, the Bush team is screwing over the soldiers they put in harm's way for their little game of Risk.

Come on wingnuts, explain to me how Bush "supports the troops." No body armor, no vehicle armor, a pathetic paycheck, cuts in services (they pay for their own laundry, for chrissakes), and now they're losing funding for the one thing that could help them when they come home completely fucked up thanks to Bush's adventure.

Seriously, how do these bastards sleep at night?

(By the way, what's this I hear about Bush getting all weepy at the end of his speech?)

UPDATE: Crooks & Liars has tons 'o links.

(There is always something there to cross-post me...)