George Bush thinks 1,000 American dead in Iraq is all a big joke

At some point, the jokes need to end. At some point, the president of the United States will be approached by a vet or a soldier in uniform or the wife of a man who's now dead in Iraq, and they'll say to him, "Mr. President, the death of over 1,000 Americans in Iraq is not a joke."

It's hardly clear that date is anywhere near upon us. President Bush simply cannot discuss the war in Iraq without cracking a joke. Where are the WMD, you ask, that we risked 130,000 American lives to find? The president responds with a joke. Why don't you have a clear-cut plan for how to win the war and get our troops out of danger in Iraq? The president responds with a joke.

Men lose their limbs and George Bush says "flip flop, flip flop." Men and women lose their spouses and George Bush responds "flip flop, flip flop." Kids are losing their parents and their brothers and their sisters, and all George Bush can do is read a note card with a joke about John Kerry's supposed flip-flopping yet again, regardless of what Kerry actually said. The joke is always there and always ready, and always read.

It doesn't matter the question. It doesn't matter how dire the situation. Bush always responds with a joke because he has no answer to the increasing disaster that is our occupation in Iraq. He has no idea what we're doing there, and he has no idea how to get us out of there. So rather than deal with the reality of the situation, rather than confront the problem head on and perhaps, for once, admit that a problem actually exists, admit that 1,000 troops dying and more on the way is hardly "Mission Accomplished," we get a joke from the commander in chief and a big hearty laugh from the crowd.

In the end, the big joke will be on every single American who votes for this man. Our soldiers are dying in Iraq, and more are on the way, with no end in sight, and no strategy in sight. At some point people are going to wake up to this fact, but by that point the joke will be on us.