1) When I read this (Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is apologizing for saying the lives of the more than 3,000 U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war were ''wasted.''), my heart sunk as I thought to myself, "Uh oh, the media -- esp. on the right -- is going to go nuts and turn this into another Biden and Kerry episode of another Democrat (and one who never served) who doesn't respect the military, etc."

 

I watched the NY Times web site for a big "gotcha" article, but no dice -- as of this morning, there was only a link to a brief AP story (below).  "Well, I thought to myself, maybe the "liberal" media won't cover this, but surely Fox News will be screaming about it," so I went to FoxNews.com, but again, NOTHING!  The only thing I could find on any of the Democratic contenders was "Second Blogger Quits Edwards Campaign".

 

Why isn't there the usual media firestorm (though it could still happen of course)?  Three reasons: A) At least he called them "the bravest young Americans" -- plus it was true statement!  Given that we have achieved NONE of our objectives (other than toppling Saddam) and, in fact, made matters FAR WORSE overall, the sad truth is that the lives of those brave soldiers HAVE been wasted (though Obama could have been phrased better; he should have said: ''We now have spent $400 billion and sacrificed the lives of over 3,000 of the bravest young Americans, and what do we have to show for it?''); B) He quickly and unequivocably apologized (it's amazing how important -- and little practiced this is); and C) He's the teflon candidate (for now anyway), which is a GREAT place to be!

-----------------------

February 13, 2007

Obama Apologies for 'Wasted' Comment

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obama-Apology.html

Filed at 11:47 a.m. ET

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is apologizing for saying the lives of the more than 3,000 U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war were ''wasted.''