Try again, GWB

Not much time this evening - long day, am rather beat. Bushed, you could even say.

Got to watch GWB state tonight exactly what folks like me have been saying for years: America's facing one hell of a problem in Iraq, one with global implications. Too bad he couldn't outright admit he and his cronies screwed it up bad.

He correctly stated that the military needs to be expanded...and went on to suggest 92,000 for the Army and Marines over five years. Nope, sorry, Mr. President, wrong answer.

The correct answer is that we need vastly more than that over the next five years, something approaching 400,000 to 500,000 at a minimum. The situation we are potentially facing - destabilization of the Gulf region, instability on the Pacific Rim (N. Korea, perhaps China) as well as other possible hotspots (coup in Pakistan, for starters) - will require a vast American military response, as well as troops to get the job done here (Katrina, other disasters).

As usual, he's trying to do this kind of thing on the cheap, as he did with the initial invasion of Iraq.

Of course, the problem is now that the Democrats don't want to be seen as rubber-stamping Bush's ideas, so they won't go along with it. In short, Bush's window for this kind of expansion slammed shut about a year ago.

I challenge the Dems to take a reverse-psychology tack here: Authorize vastly more than what Bush seeks, with the proviso that he's not allowed to launch any more wars until he's safely tucked away back in Right Armpit, Texas.

I'm not going to get started on the Iran thing right now. Just too tired and exasperated to even go there. I'll be back tomorrow night.