Kim, unfortunately, you may find many here who agree with his sentiment.

The only way they will be wasted is if Obama, and the others who want to run away regardless of the state of things on the ground, get their way.

Then we will have truly lost those men for nothing.

Hey, whatever it takes to get back at Bush right?

I kind of like the campaigns starting so far in advance of the elections. The Dems are tripping all over themselves to see who will self-destruct first.

If you think Howard's scream was funny, just wait. The "stuff" is getting deeper by the day.

Terry Welch from Nitpicker has a response to the response to Obama's remarks.

Kim, Obama retracted his statement immediately:

"Obama, in an interview with the Des Moines Register right afterward, told the paper, ''I was actually upset with myself when I said that, because I never use that term,'' he said. ''Their sacrifices are never wasted. ."

He didn't wait for the conclusions of a focus group, or what the blogs were saying, he recognized his mistake, took responsibility for it and apologized.

Are you too bitter to accept his apology?

BG2000,

I didn't realize Obama retracted his statement. I'm glad to hear that.

Me too.

HHHYYYEEEAHAHHHHAH (Chanelling Howard Dean)

As long as these Democrats have to pander to the radical left as well as mainstream America you are going to see these backtracks. It's going to get boring after a while.
Although its kind of fun seeing Hilary getting twisted into knots.

Are you too bitter to accept his apology?

Not me, but I'm just reminded just how wet behind the ears he is, ...er....not his big ears.....I mean his ears are clean....because he is a clean black man......crap....I meant to say normally he is articulate....not just because he's articulate and black.....dammit...what I'm trying to say is he has big clean ears and is articulate but not articulate enough to think on his feet....not because he black and can't think.....er...at least he is not a strong liberal woman held down but the right wing establishment....

Or something.........

Whatever........

I apologize....

BTW, Did he serve in the military? If not he's isn't qualified to run as a Democrat candidate for President anyway. Hey....Not my rules!!

"I was actually upset with myself when I said that because I never use that term," he said. "Their sacrifices are never wasted, that was sort of a slip of the tongue as I was speaking.

"The sacrifices they have made are unbelievable. What I meant to say was those sacrifices have not been honored by the same attention to strategy, diplomacy and honesty on the part of civilian leadership that would give them a clear mission."

Wow! Now that's what I call "good spin". I guess we could forgive the "rookie" for the "slip of the tongue"----very presidential, but the second part----We sure would have been fortunate if Obama was around to define a "clear mission" when we landed at Normandy---NOT.

With Obama we would have turned tail after running the Germans out of France. Oh, wait, Germany didn't attack us. What the heck were we doing there?

sarc/off

What if the looney left cut as much slack for our President? We would be that much closer to living in harmony (Kumbayaaaaa)....

JumpinJoe- You make me laugh!

Retractions dont work for the conservatives..so? The hell with Dumbo.

"Oh, wait, Germany didn't attack us. What the heck were we doing there?"- Rovin, mentally challenged bastard of Rove: Germany declared war on the U.S.A. in 1941.

Obama 's problem is the same as other liberals. He cannot be honest about himself and what he really believes. He pretends to care about the troops etc... So when he got carried away by the radical liberal base, he slipped out the truth about what he really believes.

Thanks for the great link, Mantis.

So far it appears that no one here has bothered to read it, so an extensive excerpt seems to be in order:

From Nitpicker:

"But the lives we have lost in Iraq were lost due to the fever dreams of ideologues, who ignored all historical precedent in both proposing and planning their war. Every rationale for war has proven either false or foolish and the results pyrrhic, at best. We are less respected, less revered and, yes, less feared than before we began it. Our own intelligence agencies think that the war is actually creating more terrorists with even less central command and, while you argue that "we weren't in Iraq on 9/11," it's clear to anyone with the eyes to see that, in the words of Don Rumsfeld, "the harder we work, the behinder we get." Even some of your most erudite of conservative intellectuals (a near oxymoron these days) and mindless, partisan hacks have admitted the war was a mistake, closing a gap of years between them and the American public.

It is not dishonoring the troops to point out--as I do now, flatly--that their lives are being wasted in Bush's ridiculous, pointless and, ultimately, futile adventure. It is simply the truth and does not reflect on their service, but rather on the fact that the loss of their lives has gained us less than nothing. We must leave Iraq. Most Americans and even most soldiers believe that.

Malkin and her supporters to proverbially patting soldiers on the head and saying, "Everything will be all right soon, don't worry, it's going to get better," isn't the same as supporting the troops. It's patronizing the troops. It's infantilizing the troops. It's insulting the troops. And, if there are Americans blinkered enough to look at this debacle of a war and still believe the ridiculousness of Malkin and her minions, thereby lending support to those who would send more soldiers into Iraq's grinding machinery, it might even be killing the troops."

I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt - I'm convinced that he doesn't think that.

But what's with the "..and I would absolutely apologize if any [military families] felt that in some ways it had.."

What is that? Is that an apology or something on the to do list? Is this a new phenomenon - where it's possible conditionally apologize in the future? Does it make you look weak, according to some focus group, if you said something like, oh, I don't know "I'm sorry. What I said was inaccurate and what I intended to say was ______ , now let's move on."

I'm trying my best to like this guy, but he's making it awfully difficult, as most politicians often do.

The dems are having a tough time lately with all their freudian slips.

I know libs like the back of my hand (thanks Rush) and I know they mean what they say...the first time.

Item April, 2004
When Hart died in a small-arms ambush in mid-October, the Army had no official plan to "retrofit" most of the 12,000-odd Humvees in Iraq. This in spite of continuing attacks on convoys and complaints from combat units that they were taking unnecessary casualties in the thin-skinned Humvees.

Item Dec., 2004
WASHINGTON -- The manufacturer of Humvees for the U.S. military and the company that adds armor to the utility vehicles are not running near production capacity and are making all that the Pentagon has requested, spokesmen for both companies said.

Item Jan., 2007
Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said.

Item Feb., 2007
Homemade bombs, referred to by the military as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, cause 70% of U.S. deaths and wounds in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said. Explosive devices had killed 1,337 U.S. troops and wounded 11,871 in Iraq through Jan. 27, the Pentagon said.

I agree, "Sacrificed" is a better description than "Wasted".

Jumpinjoe, that was hilarious. I'm still laughing at your post. Thanks.

Meanwhile, welcome to the world of politics, Obama. The white glove (no pun intended) treatment you've been given so far has come to an end. Well, at least with the side that speaks the truth.

Barney, do you have anyone in harm's way over there?

The left is sooo afraid to fight anything or anybody. And as the poster said above, Obama and Edwards did not serve in the military so they cannot serve as president. Lefty rule number 1. ww

Barneygoogle are sure your name is not Alan "eyebrow" Combs?

BigMO, Not anymore, but he is thinking of re-upping because he needs the $10K bonus to fix-up his car.

I would like to add a little comedy to our day. This vid is funny, not because it's Novak, I can see his point, it is just funny to see the behind the scenes stuff that happens,
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/12/novak-really-freaks

He's thinking of reupping to fix up his car???

Well, to each his own.

I have family over there and another on his way. They ain't sacrifices. And they ain't wasted. You libs can think whatever you want.

But let me ask you this: when they're over there, do you think they'd love to hear from people like you who consider them "sacrifices" or people like me who love and praise them for a job well done?

BigMO, here is what a Vet thinks:

WASHINGTON -- Iraq War veteran Christopher Carbone said he wouldn't mind a decrease in his medical benefits if it meant that additional federal dollars would be used for armored Humvees on the battlefield.

But Carbone, a survivor of an improvised explosive device attack in Iraq in October 2005, couldn't help being a little jarred when he learned the Bush administration planned to cut funding for veterans' health care by 2 percent in 2009 in order to balance the federal budget by 2012.

Let's ask William Arkin if he thinks these military lives have been "wasted."

Are dead "mercenaries" a waste?

So much to consider....

The good news is the mercenaries, oops I mean terrorizers, oops, I mean rapists, oops, I mean the troops (and most likely their families) are too stupid to know their lives have been wasted.

Edwards is toast. (If he can't handle Marcotte, what in the HELL qualifies him to be CinC). Biden is done. Now, looks like Obama stepped in it 2 days in a row. And HillBillary hasn't even got her talons in him yet. This is getting hillarious.....

BarneyG2000 cited - "WASHINGTON -- Iraq War veteran Christopher Carbone said he wouldn't mind a decrease in his medical benefits if it meant that additional federal dollars would be used for armored Humvees on the battlefield."

Grrrrrrr! Don't people understand that there is only so much armor you can put on a humvee before it becomes a sloth, and completely useless. That's why we have tanks and armored personnel carriers. These idiots act as if an armored humvee is the holy grail. Well, sure, the humvee may be completely protected by armor, but it makes a hell of a target when it can only go 11 mph.

morons

nikkolai, Enter: Algore (Bushbots' smiles drop). And no, I'll try to vote Republican, so I'm no Gore fan, but he could probably win from his front porch against the pro-abort Mormon, the lisping gun controller Giuliani, or Mexicali McCain. And Hillary will be reduced to a veep elimination round with Obama.

J-Ho, You can't make a tank reliable enough or small enough to act as a patrol car. And that's what Bush's insane policies have our warriors doing: patrolling in neighborhood outreach mode. It's insane, and a criminal mis-use of a well-trained military. They have been forced to not answer RPG incoming, because without being 100% sure which of a dozen alleys or doorways the round came, and due to the only-fire-when-fired-upon rules of engagement, the grunts don't want to risk arrest and court martial.

But those damn Rethuglican KillBots voted for Bush about 8-1 against War-Hero Kerry. Go figure.

Algore is funny. Now you funny too. (Hat tip: George Thorogood/Destroyers)

Bush has sacrificed our loved ones, and It looks like Tenet will come clean on the misuse of intelligence by the Bush Administration:

Per NY TIMES:
One person who has read early drafts of the book said Mr. Tenet defended himself by carefully parsing the "slam dunk" comment: he said he was not telling Mr. Bush that there was rock-solid evidence that Mr. Hussein had chemical and biological weapons, only that the president could make a "slam dunk" case to the American public about these weapons programs.

In other words, no real evidence, but enough to lie about and get away with it, well almost.

Nice job, Tenant. Who appointed this jackass as head of CIA? The hell you say......

"What I would say, and meant to say, is that their service hasn't been honored, because our civilian strategy has not honored their courage and bravery and we have put them in a situation in which it is hard for them to succeed,"...

This is different than saying their lives are wasted HOW??? I'm sure it must be comforting to the troops to know he really meant to say the country hasn't honored their service because they're stuck in a can't win war led by stupid civilians.

Boy this guy really sounds like presidential material, doesn't he...

The "Not Ready For Prime Time Candidate"

nikkolai, As Time's Man of The Year, I say Algore's the logical choice. Shrillery voted wrong on the war and half the women won't vote for her. Her machiavellianism is too clear (she hasn't divorced Bill YET?) Obama pledging too quit smoking is sooooo...is the guy a eunuch? Women hate wimps. It's the womens' vote that counts for the dems, and a pudgier and antiwar Algore is the right recipe! Too bad Warner dropped out of consideration; I see the hand of Hill with her FBI reports in that one! P.S George Thorogood plays guitar like a trained Orangutan.