An article about the visit in today's New York Times shows the visit to have been a calculated part of the strategy to silence criticism for not being engaged with the troops, and not just from the Democratic presidential candidates (which is who the NYT in this article seems to suggest are Bush's only critics). Had the Bush boys not seen this as a political problem, the troop visit wouldn't have been such a grand political solution.

Here is the excerpt fromt the NY Times:

"The trip came at a time of rising criticism of the president for not attending the funerals of the returning war dead. It also came in the same week that Mr. Bush met with families of 26 soldiers killed in Iraq, and thus appeared to be a concerted effort by the White House to deal with a political problem.

And now, in a single day, Mr. Bush may have managed to supplant what has become the single most problematic image of him in this war: The picture of him swaggering across an aircraft carrier in front of banner reading "Mission Accomplished."

That image, which already has shown up in an advertisement by Mr. Kerry attacking the president, now seems likely to be overtaken by the picture of Mr. Bush, his eyes glistening with tears, addressing cheering troops on Thanksgiving Day. It was a moment fraught with imagery that was certainly a central subject of discussion at Thanksgiving tables."

The Bush campaign is locked in a battle for the hearts and minds of the American electorate, not the people of Iraq. Their preferred weapon of choice in this battle is the orchestrated film footage of the president looking military, despite his pathetic, cowardly military record during the Vietnam war.

On another "god, that just disgusts me note" I would like to add Wesley Clark's absolute cheap shot at Howard Dean while Dean was in Hawaii meeting the military plane carrying what is believed to be his brother's remains. Clark said something to the effect that while Dean was sitting safely at home with his medical deferment, Clark was sitting recovering from his Vietnam battle wounds.

I am just tremendously sickened by the troop trump card being used by these politicians. Wesley Clark sure as hell lost any possibility of my support when I heard those remarks.