No one on television expresses their disgust and dismay with the current state of American policy like Jack Cafferty. On the heels of the Pentagons request for an additional $99.7 billion for military operations in Iraq, he challenges us to reflect on the incredibly high cost of this war -- in both life and treasure -- and ask ourselves what those sacrifices are achieving.

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"If approved the total cost of the war in Iraq will be close to a half a trillion dollars -- so far. And there are alot of people who would love to know exactly what it is we've bought with all that money besides grief and bloodshed as far as the eye can see."

Jon Stewart tracks Bush's clear and consistent message on Iraq and throws in a Tony "I Don't Know" Snow instant classic for good measure.

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"We're not winning, we're not losing....Are we covering the spread?"

General Kristol appeared on The Daily Show last night and Jon Stewart didn't pull any punches, challenging every single delusional neocon talking point he tried to put forward.

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Kristol's other appearance on the show can be found here (16MB WMV)

John Amato: "Kristol is in the Biden shot camp. It'll be one last shot, then one last shot, them one last shot..."

Kristol: If we surge in troops and we take one more shot in stabilizing Baghdad---I think we really do have a shot at winning this war.

And so on and so on...

I have a feeling that we'll be seeing quite a bit of this in our own country once Jay Rockefeller takes over the Senate Intel Committee and starts demanding answers. Add to this the ongoing cronyism inquiry and Tony Blair will certainly have his hands full -- or cuffed -- for the remainder of his term.

From the Independent:

The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction...

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This is absolutely ridiculous. Flynt Leverett -- former CIA analyst, NSC member and established foreign policy expert -- has written an op-ed for the NYT bashing the Bush admin. for it's failed policies towards Iran. The WH, in typical ruthless and authoritarian form, has pressured the CIA to heavily redact his draft on the grounds that it would reveal national security secrets -- something the CIA disagrees with -- and have even threatened him with criminal prosecution. Leverett, visibly distraught at his press conference today, has countered that this claim is a "fraudulent" and deliberate attempt to silence a respected critic by politicizing the CIA review process.

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"It is fraudulent. It is an abuse of the pre-publication review process to silence an established critic of their policies at a time when they are under maximum political pressure to change those disastrous policies."

Leverett's full report can be found here (.pdf). The Washington Note has more, including an official statment from Leverett. I wonder when the swiftboating will begin? Tony Snow was asked about it at todays briefing and, like usual, he played dumb.

The Daily Show puts a humorous (and sobering) spin on the annual BarneyCam White House Holiday Extravaganza video.

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All Barney is concerned with is getting a hold on the Iraq situation while President Bush, Laura Bush and Tony Snow are screwing around. Poor dog.

The other day on Hannity and Colmes, Tom DeLay blamed the American left for the failure in Iraq citing our lack of "will" that's prohibiting the military from doing it's job. Colbert picked up on this last night and took it a few steps further.

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"Well said, Congressman. American people: you are losing this war! Now, I don't like to say that. I wish there was someone else to blame...The President, the Vice President, Congress, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Bremer, George Tenet, Colin Powell, Tommy Franks, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol... if only they had made one mistake! Some way we could pin this thing on them."

During today's press briefing Tony Snow apologized to David Gregory for characterizing one his questions last week about the ISG report as "partisan." Snowjob may not know a lot of things, but at least he acknowledges -- for whatever reason -- that he's in the wrong on this one.

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Transcript via WhiteHouse.gov :

SNOW: Okay, before I get to that, I want to address something else, because you and I had a conversation last week that got a whole lot of play in a lot of places where I used the term "partisan" in describing one of your questions. And I've thought a lot about that, and I was wrong. So I want to apologize and tell you I'm sorry for it. And the reason I do that is not only because it's the right thing to do, because I want people in this room and also people who watch these to understand that the relations in this room are professional and collegial. And if I expect you to do right by us, you have every right to expect that I'll do right by you.

So, in any event, I just want to say I'm sorry for that.

Will the wingnuts apologize next?

With "The Decider's" decision to wait until next year to announce a change in Iraq strategy, Jack wonders why there is suddenly no rush to change course. Perhaps it has something to do with the ISG Report that bought Mr. Bush the precious political cover he desperately needed after the resounding election results. At least Jack brings us some comic relief with his new nickname for FOX News.

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Cafferty: "Instead of a Christmas present to the nation and the people of Iraq in the form of a way to stop the insanity, the decider has decided not to decide until January."

Last night Jon Stewart and the Daily Show team put together a touching farewell to the outgoing 109th do-nothing-Congress. The "where are they now?" part at the end is classic. Good riddance to Rick "Man-on-Dog" Santorum, George "Macaca" Allen, Conrad "Secret Iraq Plan" Burns and Katherine "Church and State Fallacy" Harris just to name a few.

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Stewart: That's all for the 109th. Let's hope they move on to... bigger... and.... ahh...f*ck it. Let's just hope they move on.