Meanwhile, Back in the States...

I was reminded of this lovely bit of compassionate conservatism oozed by Tony Snow:

Q: Tony, American deaths in Iraq have reached 2,500. Is there any response or reaction from the President on that?

MR. SNOW: It's a number, and every time there's one of these 500 benchmarks people want something.

... by Kathy at The Green Knight's place, who says:

I doubt that's what bereaved families and friends think.

Indeed. Of course, he immediately sugarcoated this with:

Any President who goes through a time of war feels very deeply the responsibility for sending men and women into harm's way, and feels very deeply the pain that the families feel. And this President is no different. You've seen it many times. You saw it, you saw it when he was in that ballroom, Terry, and you had this crowd of servicemen and women who were cheering loudly for the President, and he got choked up. So it's always a sad benchmark, and one of the things the President has said is that these people will not die in vain.

I don't know about that. This is not just a number. The casualties of this war are not just numbers. They have names, families, friends, children, and loved ones. All of these brave people should still be alive. For you to infer that there is no difference between one and 2,500 deaths is an insult.

And with his naps and 10pm bedtime, we know Bush isn't losing too much sleep over this.

(Baby, baby... the cross-post is no good...)