A few things - and forgive me, I rarely have time to post on these boards, but the late meeting in Destin led me to water and the mindnumbingly vapid discourse made me drink. I'm not quite narcissistic enough to read the whole thing, so I'll only address a few things.
I love this gem - "And for all of those people who voted a second time for Bush and NOW feel extreme regret (and they exist in droves...) I say 'Shame on you because all the signs of gross and criminal incompetence and arrogance were there and wide open for all to see after 4 years!!'"
You know who he was running against, right? I'll give you a hint - it wasn't Lady Thatcher.
How was Bush awarded the Presidency? Thanks and I'll hang up and listen.
Chickpea, sorry to pick on you here, but can you give me a ballpark number of acceptable losses for a war? It always seems that the folks who quote Jefferson on the tree of liberty and the blood of the tyrants forget that he mentions patriots as well, and tyrants don't always include fellow countrymen and leaders. Not you, just saying.
"My father has always said that what the middle east (sic) desperately needs is a Nelson Mandela or a Ghandi (sic)" - We can send them Jimmy Carter. He likes taking poorly rooted cheap shots at the administration and the west as much as the former and his policies always kept people in squalor, like the latter. Win-win.
"We are a global community." That's a cute T-shirt and a swell Michael Jackson song, but it's nowhere near the truth.
"How do you go from a multi-billion surplus to a multi-million dollar deficit that fast" - You see, a surplus is when the government takes too much from you without paying interest. A deficit is when they don't take enough and they have to pay interest on the difference. You'd think that it would keep spending down, but you'd think wrong. Regardless, a deficit is the lesser of the three evils, with the third the worst yet - a balanced budget. That's when the government keeps increasing taxes until they get what they need - aka pay as you go. Also, Richards was as yellow dog as they come, no matter what she said.
"...it has nothing whatsoever to do with being a republican or a democrat - in fact it is amazing to me that so few republicans are angry with him given how he has pretty much violated the very precepts of his party such as fiscal responsibility, conservative spending and small government!" - Actually it does. When democrats don't get their way via will of the people, they appoint judges to do it for them, in what we know as a "living Constitution". At least the GOP lets the people decide. And since the undecided voter is more overblown than the stupid Kennedy conspiracies, voters usually favor small c-conservative candidates and policies. And Bush was elected by conservatives in spite of his views on fiscal responsibility, conservative spending and small government, not because of them. We all knew what we were getting in bed with, but it meant lower taxes, judicial reform and a global backbone. He was a "Compassionate Conservative", which means he spends like a sailor at port.
"Only immediate consolation is that Bush is such a lame duck right now that he is hopefully absolutely powerless." - regardless of your political views, that is really, really wrong no matter if the GOP is in power, the dems or the Whigs. I hope I don't need to explain why, but if I do, please pipe up.
"I naively never thought he would act so unilaterally, without thought or consideration of all he would bring about even as EVERY single INTELLIGENT agency was telling him his post war plans were flawed and ill considered." - This is a clich?, I know, but I'd rather not ask the rest of the world for their opinion when it involves protecting this country's interests. And the second half of your statement is plain old not true.
McCain is as crazy as a sh*thouse rat - always has been.
And quickly - I'd much, much rather the rest of the world be pissed off at us when we are announcing our presence with authority than feel sorry for us because we just got sucker punched in the groin. On the karaoke chick, "she has accomplished what they claim the American Soldiers haven't been able to" - No, if it were not for American soldiers, she wouldn't have been able to perform in the first place. How quickly we forget the purple thumb, even if the savages can't stop killing one another right now. Yes, there were a ton of mistakes made in this war, and it was much more of a hornets' nest than we thought it would be, but you might as well whine to Thad Matta that he wasn't drilling his players enough on practicing their three pointers. I know that Risk is a really fun board game, and I'm sure you are all would be really, really good world leaders, but real war and real foreign policy is a little more complicated with a lot more unforeseen happenstances than a piece of cardboard.
It will probably be a few days before I can respond to the comments that I'm an idiot too, so please be patient and I'll try to patronize all of you when I have the time.
That's how they worded it in our own media, that she accomplished what the soldiers haven't. I would imagine they meant since toppling Saddam and they should have said the US and allies, if they were going to say anything at all. But that is how our own media reported the event, not me my friend. ;-)
Ohhh, now this should be good!
Gotta admit though, she's better than Sanjaya. 
...Gem of the Day!!!!