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Casualty Tuesday

By Doree Shafrir
Posted Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006, at 2:31 PM ET

Bloggers shake their heads at reports that Tuesday was the deadliest day for American troops in Iraq in 10 months. They also raise a hue and cry over reports that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is gay and dissect the finale of Project Runway.

Casualty Tuesday: Ten American soldiers were killed in Iraq on Tuesday. The military also announced that there has been a 43 percent increase in attacks on American and Iraqi forces in Baghdad since the middle of the summer. Bloggers divide along largely political lines in their interpretation of the latest statistics.

On Passport, a Foreign Policy blog, Mike Boyer recalls Bush and Rumsfeld's July plan for victory in Iraq, and wonders whether that plan has changed: "Their idea was to move additional U.S. troops to Baghdad in an attempt to pacify the capital. … Yesterday, addressing the rising level of violence, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had this to say: 'Certainly, seeing the violence on television is a temptation for people to wonder: How will it end?' Well, Don, it's your job to answer that question."

Righty journalist Don Surber compares the situation to the last couple years of the Vietnam War—and not the way liberal bloggers tend to do: "The insurgents are not dummies. They know what happened in 1973: Democrats cut off funding to the Republic of Vietnam and undercut the peace accord that Kissinger reached. The misery caused by the 'party of peace symbols' included thousands slaughtered in Vietnam … So 34 years later, a new group takes a page out of Vietnam. Help get the Democrats elected and watch Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid cut off the funding again."

The left-leaning TruthDig criticizes Bush-administration policies in light of the recent violence against American troops: "So much for the administration's claims that the presence of the U.S. military is bringing stability to the region."

Timmer, at the military-centric blog the Daily Brief, sighs, "The casualties are really starting to my pinch my nipples … and no … that doesn't turn me on."

Read more about casualties in Iraq.

Closet case: On Tuesday, blogger Mike Rogers outed Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, as gay. Since then, the blogosphere has been abuzz with reactions ranging from those critical of what they see as Republican hypocrisy to those who find outing closeted politicians reprehensible.

Gay conservative Andrew Sullivan is disgusted: "I loathe the closet. I despise the hypocrisy in the Republican party. But a witch-hunt is a witch-hunt. If the gay left thinks it will advance gay dignity by using tactics that depend on homophobia to work, that violate privacy, that demonizes gay people, then all I can say is: they are wrong. … What you're seeing right now is an alliance of the intolerant: the intolerant on the gay left and the intolerant on the religious right. The victims are gay people - flawed, fallible, even pathetic gay people. But they are still people. And they deserve better."

Lawyer Glenn Greenwald, author of How Would a Patriot Act?, created a minor storm online yesterday when he posted on Unclaimed Territory about the hypocrisy of Republicans who criticize the outing of Craig. "[H]ow can anyone let that raging, violent hypocrisy just go uncommented upon?" he asked. Today he responds to his critics, emphasizing, "I might think that outing is the most evil act in the world, or I might think that it is the greatest good, but either way, it does not impact or have anything whatsoever to do with the argument I made -- that [Republicans'] condemnations of outing are completely inconsistent with the way their political movement operates."

Dean Barnett at Hugh Hewitt criticized Greenwald's line of reasoning, and also pointed out: "The left strongly believes that conservatives detest homosexuals and will be disgusted by the presence of a Lavender Mafia in the GOP tent … But if those on the left actually knew more practicing Christians, they would know that the stuff about condemning the sin but loving the sinner isn't mere lip service."

At the left-wing Blatherwatch, Michael Hood opines, "The 'big tent' the GOP loves brag about has turned out to be the 'big closet.' With all these gay R's now out in open, do you suppose we can have a real national discussion about gay rights, and gay marriage? Probably not..."

Read more about Larry Craig.

Wrong Runway?: The neck-tattooed Jeffrey Sebelia was crowned the winner of the third season of Project Runway, and the blogosphere was predictably split over his victory.

Manolo's Shoe Blog is pleased: "This was the right decision, as [Jeffrey's] final collection was not only beautiful in places, but also had the strong original point of view. Although, as usual, he himself dressed it the style which may best be described as 'dissipated Rock-n-Roll hobbit.'"

But on the Television Without Pity forums, poster True Dat is not convinced of Jeffrey's talent, moaning, "Uli was robbed! I wouldn't use Jeffrey's clothes to wash my car. People want to buy Uli's stuff as soon as the show is over but she doesn't win. I'm sooo done with PR."

At TV Squad, blogger Annie Wu reflected on the three seasons of PR: "[D]amn it... Project Runway, you always have me coming back for more."

Read more about Project Runway.

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Doree Shafrir, a former Slate intern, is an editor at Gawker.
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