Quote of the Day

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino is the gift that keeps on giving. Perino compares the chaos in Iraq to Florida and Michigan not being allowed to seat delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Talk about lame strawman arguments.

"Politics are alive and well in Iraq," she said, defending President Bush's troop surge. "I think some people who are throwing stones ought to look at the primary system in our country, especially on the Democratic side, where you have two states where - Florida and Michigan - where they're figuring out whether or not to seat those delegates. Politics happens. And that's what -- it happens in the United States and it's certainly happening in Iraq. It's not a bad thing that they're having debates about their constitution."

Florida and Michigan residents are not getting killed daily with IEDs and ethnic purgings. Democracy is so bad in Iraq that millions have fled for Syria and Jordan. The Sunday Times reports on a refugee camp in Qawala. Children wear plastic bags on their shoes because they have no shoes. The refugees live near raw sewage. These people are scared that they will be killed if they go home.

Along with the internally displaced, another 2m Iraqis have fled the country, mostly to Jordan and Syria. They include many of Iraq’s best and brightest. Only about 36,000 have returned, despite the fall in violence in recent months attributed to the troop “surge”.

Iraq is not a democracy. For Perino to suggest otherwise is insulting.