I'd rather be insulted by a botched joke than die in a botched war

It's the punchline for cartoon I found on the Times website this morning, and I think it sums up the general mood in the country about how the war has been properly managed from the start. So what if Kerry botched his joke? At least no one was killed in the delivery (except maybe Kerry's ego and future political ambitions).

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan is no joke. The deaths of thousand of American servicemen and women are no joke. The injury of tens of thousands more is no joke. The spending of hundreds of billions in support of the two wars is no joke. And the current prosecution of the war is no laughing matter either. It isn't a joke, it's a slow horrible grinding disaster, especially for those we've asked to go into harm's way for our sakes. Kerry's mistake was trying to make light of a very serious matter. He should have not even attempted the effort. Instead we need to keep focused on the continuing failure of our overall foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, all of which comes from the current Republican administration, especially from Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. And of finding the right men and women to replace them and their flawed policies.

Links

• Army Times: Time for Rumsfeld to go