Old Fogey's Quotes for Tuesday

"There's a desire in the country for more deeds, not more words. . . . We are losing a war right now, and there is no way to get around that."
Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a neoconservative scholar
President Tries to Win Over a War-Weary Nation
[Given the nature of Bush's actions in the past, perhaps words are less deadly]

"The administration, in the meantime, is offering -- stasis. It seems to define victory as maintaining our troops in Iraq through the end of Bush's term without telling us exactly why doing so will make the situation there any better."
E. J. Dionne, in WaPo editorial
Democrats Answer Cheney
[I kind of like Kerry's phrase: "stand-still-and-lose strategy"]

"People whom it's inconvenient to call criminal suspects or prisoners of war are instead 'detainees,' as if they've been forced to stay an hour after school. Torture, as spelled out in international agreements, is merely an 'alternative' method of questioning. And the steady climb in the death toll in Iraq is 'real progress.'"
Eugene Robinson, in WaPo editorial
A War of Words
[There has not been so much doublespeak since"1984". Perhaps the people have finally begin awakening to the distortions of the Castle of Lies, uh, White House]

"I think it's pretty fair to say we're failing. The score card on the macro level has been failure."
Christopher J.L. Murray, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, regarding the enomous disparities in life expectancy in the US
Wide Gaps Found In Mortality Rates Among U.S. Groups
[Perhaps the most startling statistic is that a black man living in a high-crime American city has a life expectancy closer to that of people living in West Africa than it is to the average white American.]

"Facts are not Republican and they're not Democrat. They're not ideological. Facts are facts."
Lee Hamilton, vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission, criticizing 'The Path to 9/11'
With 9/11 Film, Kean Finds Tough Criticism
[Only with this administration would the statement 'facts are facts' seem profound]

"Four attackers armed with grenades and machine guns tried to storm the American embassy in Damascus today, but [Syrian] security forces repelled the assault. . . ."
Article in NYTimes
Syrian Forces Repel Attack on U.S. Embassy
[I wonder if this episode will be added to the Bush record of thwarting attacks, made possible by ignoring the constitution]

"Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged."
Harvard interim President Derek Bok, regarding the university's new policy that eliminate early admission
Harvard Discontinues Early Admissions
[This is just one of the many policies that advantaged the advantaged prior to affirmative action, but there was no outcry against those injustices by people who now claim reverse discrimination]