For his part, National Review Online editor and blogger Rich Lowry says Bush's Iraq policy has flaws -- but the exploding cost to taxpayers isn't one of them.

"Just read Kerry's Iraq speech. It's pretty contemptible. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be made of Bush's Iraq policy, but apparently the only one that really counts in Kerry's mind is that its costing $200 billion. He repeats that figure over and over again. It is scandalous that it is costing so much because all that money would be better spent here at home, on after-schools programs for kids, on the COPS program, etc. This is a speech of a man who can't be taken seriously on national security."

The 1,000th-death media conspiracy
Talk radio host and blogger Hugh Hewitt was beside himself on Tuesday that the New York Times would offer a "booster shot" to the Kerry campaign by reporting on the rising combat toll in Iraq. He labeled a Monday Times story a "blueprint for Kerry's recovery," after Adam Nagourney reported that, "in the next few weeks, the nation is likely to mark the thousandth death of an American soldier in Iraq, a moment that will probably bring a reappraisal of the war that Mr. Bush advocated." (The Times piece was published ahead of the news on Tuesday of the 1,000th U.S. death.)

"Who said that fatality number 1000 was more important that [sic] any that went before?" Hewitt wrote. "This isn't a Hall of Fame home run watch, and I am amazed that the Times is using military casualties to build a potential toehold for the Kerry campaign."

Blogger Scott Sala of Slant Point agrees with Hewitt that the 1,000th death makes a "convenient sound bite." He seems a bit confused, though, as to what news is appropriate for the Kerry campaign to discuss.

"John Kerry pounced on this number as an opportunity to fire up the anti-war, anti-Bush vote.

'''Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq; more than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom, the war on terror,' Kerry said as he arrived in Cincinnati on a campaign stop.

"Why did he need to say this, when it was a news headline across the world?"

Online watchdog Media Matters for America reports that on his Sept. 7 show radio host Rush Limbaugh accused the media and anti-Bush liberals of "breathlessly" awaiting more U.S. casualties.

"Now, you know, the media and the Democrat critics of the president are breathlessly -- and I mean this, folks, I'm not -- I'm not exaggerating. They are breathlessly awaiting the death of the 1,000th soldier. It will be a milestone.

"I -- I can't believe it. They're anxiously awaiting this so as to try to make political hay out of it against Bush. So we're breathlessly -- [panting] -- eagerly anticipating -- on the Left -- the death of the 1,000th soldier so it can be exploited. It's sick."

Limbaugh then diminished the U.S. death toll by way of some intriguing statistical comparison.

"But the statistic I saw -- do you know how many students commit suicide on American university campuses in America every year? The number is 1,000. Do you know how many Americans die on a highways [sic] every year in this country? Try 47,000 to 50,000. And here we've got 1,000 deaths in Vietnam [sic: Iraq, as noted on rushlimbaugh.com] in a war for the defense of this country and the insurance of our freedom, and everybody says these aren't worth it."

Wishing Clinton well?
On the same show, Limbaugh saw fit to ridicule the severity of former President Bill Clinton's heart problems.

"I understand it was gonna be a triple bypass but then Clinton figured out his sympathy rating would go up to 87 percent with a quadruple. So [laughter] -- bada-bump-buh. [laughter]"

And his classy colleague Michael Savage had this to say on the Tuesday edition of Savage Nation:

"We heard, of course, that hell was full and therefore Mr. Clinton will be with us for a while longer -- but we wish him the best nevertheless. But what's the sanctity all of a sudden? All of a sudden everyone loves Bill Clinton. He reinvented himself.

"And suddenly everything he did to America's been forgotten by George [W.] Bush, and everyone else. I seem to remember what he did to America. What's he all of a sudden -- hushed tones about Bill Clinton. I think he was the worst skunk that ever invaded the White House, to be honest with you. I think he was pure evil...

"I don't wanna go through the whole litany. So what, I'm supposed to sit here because he's a former president and go, 'We wish him well' -- why? Why? Tell me why. Tell me why. Anyone got an answer to that one?"

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