Quote of the Day

"Mr. Bush is expected to announce his plan for escalation in the next few days. According to the BBC, the theme of his speech will be 'sacrifice.' But sacrifice for what? Not for the national interest, which would be best served by withdrawing before the strain of the war breaks our ground forces. No, Iraq has become a quagmire of the vanities — a place where America is spending blood and treasure to protect the egos of men who won’t admit that they were wrong."
--The NY Times' Paul Krugman, in his new column 'Quagmire of the Vanities '.

Yes, tonight at 9pm EST, your regularly schedule programming will be interrupted by President Bush as he makes yet another last-ditch effort to keep punting on the war for another two years try and convince Americans he can somehow secure victory in Iraq with his latest half-assed proposal (and it's been about two years since using his full ass might've made a difference). I haven't decided yet whether or not to watch it, but like a bad car crash, I doubt I will be able to turn away.

The Democrats in the House and Senate are planning symbolic votes against the President's plan. Unless they can convince a significant amount of Republicans to stand with them, I'm not sure what impact they can have on The Decider, but at least they make it clear to Americans whose war this is... and whose war it isn't. Sen. Kennedy, for instance, "introduced legislation to require congressional approval before force levels can be increased" (see video here; Fox News' reaction is predictable, as always). I'm curious how far they are really willing to go, though. Likely not far enough.

[Related reading:
-USA Today: Most say no to Iraq buildup
-Balloon Juice: Throwing Afghanistan Into The Iraq Money Pit]