Wow.  The cost of five years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan (adjusted for inflation) is on the verge of surpassing the total amount spent on the Vietnam War?  That's amazing especially when you consider the Vietnam War not only lasted longer, but also had a much larger commitment of troops and military resources than either Iraq or Afghanistan.  I know the Pentagon is historically notorious for not being able to balance its books or account for all its stuff, but come on!  Is an "all volunteer" force really all that much more expensive than the mix of draftees and volunteers sent to Vietnam?  New technology?  Anyone remember the "McNamara Line" or where expensive laser-guided munitions got their first use; Vietnam was a treasure trove of new weapons and technology.  

My hope for the coming year is that the new Democratic Congress will not only restore proper budgetary processes and do away with "war by supplemental funding", but also take a hard look at where all the money's going; don't be surprised if this is just one more area in which the Bush administration has both let down the troops in field and the American taxpayer at large.

Evidently the only thing more senseless than getting stuck in a land war in Asia is asking the President to provide a real world historical analogy.

Grim assesment on Iraq in today's Post:

While American commanders have suggested that civil war is possible in Iraq, many leaders, experts and ordinary people in Baghdad and around the Middle East say it is already underway, and that the real worry ahead is that the conflict will destroy the flimsy Iraqi state and draw in surrounding countries.

Whether the U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to U.S. and Arab analysts and political observers.

"We're not talking about just a full-scale civil war. This would be a failed-state situation with fighting among various groups," growing into regional conflict, Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director for the International Crisis Group, said by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

"All indications point to a current state of civil war and the disintegration of the Iraqi state," Nawaf Obaid, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an adviser to the Saudi government, said last week at a conference in Washington on U.S.-Arab relations.

"To envision that you can divide Iraq into three parts is to envision ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, sectarian killing on a massive scale," Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said Oct. 30 at a conference in Washington. "Since America came into Iraq uninvited, it should not leave Iraq uninvited."

"When the ethnic-religious break occurs in one country, it will not fail to occur elsewhere, too," Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Germany's Der Spiegel newsweekly recently. "It would be as it was at the end of the Soviet Union, only much worse. Large wars, small wars -- no one will be able to get a grip on the consequences."

Apparently we could do some things to help.  The price?  So steep that Bush could never swallow:

"The thing is, because Iran and Syria both have spoiling power in Iraq, if you could neutralize them," it would ease some of the many pressures within Iraq, Hiltermann said. But he said the two countries may demand a mighty trade-off: for Syria, U.S. help with its biggest stated aim, winning back the Golan Heights from Israel; for Iran, U.S. compromise over its nuclear program.

Hiltermann acknowledged the difficulty. "I'm saying it's required," he said. "I'm not saying it's possible."

 

Fox News internal memo, last week:

 

"And let's be on the lookout for any statements from the iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled congress."

We report, you decide.

David Kurtz (TPM Reader DK) over at Talking Points Memo:

After the 1968 elections, not many Americans would probably have guessed that we would be in Vietnam for another six and a half years. We're at a similarly decisive moment now.

That's why she's thrown her support behind Murtha.  A bold move worth of a leader, no matter what Andy Sullivan thinks.

Wouldn't a better title for this article be "How Can One Failed Presidency Help Save Another: Does Anyone Remember That George H. W. Bush Was a Lousy President, Too?"

Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.

The latest indication that there has been a massive wave of change overtaking Washington:  John Amato at Crooks and Liars catches cable news cutting into its broadcast to bring you a member of the Democratic Party giving a press conference!  What's it been six or seven years, maybe more?  Well I guess it adds a little variety to all the hours, ney months of time, already spent cutting away to the President giving the same speech over and over and over and over...

...and domestic terror suspect.  Sad thing is that if someone who posted to Dailykos was sending packets of fake anthrax to noted conservative politicians and media celebrities, progressive bloggers would be forced on television to defend the entire community and for weeks you'd hear nothing but how dangerously unhinged left-wing bloggers are.  I'm not holding my breath that you'll see Jim Robinson, Kristinn Taylor or noted conservative bloggers like Hindraker or Malkin on the news defending Castagana any time soon.

I hate to rain on everyone's "bipartisan" parade, but when evaluating the veracity of any new direction the White House proclaims its best to remember that its not what the Bush people say, what you think they'll say, or what you think they'll do, but what they actually do.  Now, can anyone explain why the President not only renominated John Bolton but why is the White House pressing a divisive lame-duck session vote on the nomination even though they know they don't have the votes? 

Allen concedes.

 

Ed Bradley, dead at 65.

J.D. Hayworth won't get rid of that shit-eating grin.  And he won't concede Arizona's Fifth Congressional District to Harry Mitchell, who still leads Hayworth by five percentage points. 

Before the Valley of the Sun's beautiful people elected Hayworth to Congress, he was an obtuse sportscaster on the Phoenix CBS (nox Fox) affiliate.  I remember he came to my school once to talk about the Great Rubber Duck Race - an annual non-event in Phoenix in which thousands of rubber ducks are dropped into the canal system of the Salt River, presumably to celebrate the miracle of bringing water to the desert for all those golf courses.   I remember that Hayworth was very, very fat.  And he had the personality of a lamppost.  Of course these attributes made him a natural for Congress.

And now, having lost his bid for re-election, he's like the rest of us.  What will he do, with no bully pulpit to espouse his anti-Semitic and anti-Mexican diatribes?  How will he launder dirty Abramoff money into the pockets of his wife?  Will Hannity and the other wingnuts really want a loser on their shows now?

He doesn't even have the class to bow out.  Step aside, fat man.  Your time has come.

AP calls it for Webb.

Isn't this the time for Chris Matthews, Tim Russert or some other talking head to get up and say something to the effect that if George Allen was a real patriot and son of Virginia he would drop all hints of a recount challenge and graciously concede defeat?

The majors call it for the boy with the buzz cut.  We're in.  Lieberman isn't going to SecDef, so we are set in the Senate.

This presser is amazing.  Retreat on all political fronts.  Hopefully it also means we can advance in the military sphere. 

Bye Bye Rummy.  The resignation this fast says good odds that Lieberman will accept the position of SecDef, denying Democrats the Senate as Jodi Rell, CT's Republican governor would get to appoint a replacement.

 

Red State reader posts front page diary about the Webb-Allen race stating "Let's Not Re-Do Florida."  I agree boys, but I think that its not up to you.  Good luck on that.  I'd expect Karl thinks differently.  Remember, he's entitled to his own math. 

Don't worry folks--Webb's got this one.

Remember 2005?  The Virginia Attorney General's race went down to the wire, with the Republican R.F. McDonnell getting approximately 280 more votes than the Democrat R.C. Deeds.  A statewide recount of 1.9 million ballots gave McDonnell 30 more votes.  Right now, Webb leads by 7050 votes.  Allen ain't going to pull it out.  Plus we are going to get a nice month of hearing about all of the dirty tricks that Allen pulled at the last minute, thanks to the recount hoopla.

As I said on October 14th, our day came.

While browsing TPM this morning I noticed this post of a comment by Grover Norquist in the LA Times advocating that the White House do all it can not to seek compromise on the issues of the day with the Democrats as if governing is about some Leninist drive to exploit inherent contradictions or something.  When will these people grow up?  Not everything in politics is ideology.  Not everything in politics is a zero-sum game!    Running the country is not some playground where you just pick up your toys and go home if you're not happy with your playmates. 

I think this election has shown the GOP that pursuing a "50+1" political strategy and purposely cutting Democrats out of the national debate while politically successful in the short run has given us a disasterous set of policies that do everything but address the needs of the nation and are often contrary to the wishes of the public. 

My big hope after the last six years of "slash and burn" is that we get back to the consensus that a functioning democracy requires debate and compromise.  Does that mean that I might not always like what they come up with in DC?  Sure, but in general I believe that the best ideas and practices will emerge from the essential interaction of different viewpoints and in the end the democratic process should be about finding what works best for the entire country, not just Grover Norquist.

Charles Pierce on Bob Corker:

"....a guy so nondescript he has no shadow."

I've been saying something similar for a number of months now.  Looks like we've got another uninspiring East TN Republican set to collect a paycheck and warm a seat in the Senate chamber and little else.  So it goes....

At the last minute.  Damn.  My ticker can't take this shit.

Looks like a big night for the good guys.  Virginia is quite tight.

Don't believe them.  Good or bad, we just gotta wait.

omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Like Britney just filed for D-I-V-O-R-I-C-E!!  is anything else happening today?

Massive turnout reported in VA as well.  Sounds sort of wave-like to me. 

Local papers reporting massive turnout in CT.  That's very interesting.