Finally, snow in the Northeast. It’s coming down steadily right now but is a little light. I have to fly to Columbus this afternoon, so hopefully it doesn’t get too heavy between now and then.
In the meantime, I’m left pondering the encounter between Senator-elect Webb and Lame Duck — er, I mean President Bush in which the president asked how Webb’s son, who is serving in Iraq, was doing, and Webb responded, “I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President.” Bush’s response? “I didn’t ask that. I asked how your boy was doing.” Tin Man takes a cut at the etiquette of the situation, as does the New York Times, but for me it boils down to this: you’re asking the parent of a soldier who is in a hostile country about his son. What parent isn’t going to say, “I’d like him at home”?
And if Webb’s response counts as uncivil in a time when the other side has been busy jamming phones and inventing controversies about the patriotism of legless veterans who question the war’s execution? Well, God help us then, because it will be a snowy day in Hell before we can have an honest debate about this war with these people. And by these people I mean both the politicians and the press who cover them.