How pathetic have Republicans become? Check out this piece from the blog Red State, which has a "happy story" about a soldier who has been shot 3 times in iraq but his body armor or helmet has saved him. The punchline for the blog is "But, you know, the troops here have no armor."

Now the obvious comment is the DoD's failure to adequately equip our troops for years--not to mention send enough troops--does not overcome one soldier's damn good fortune. But, of course, a sample set of one is a great GOP talking point (unless generalizations about entire ethnic or racial groups can be made.)

But the real sadness is that a soldier getting shot (and surviving) three times when he never should have been sent to Iraq in the first place is a positive point. I prefer the alternative reality with this brave soldier at home doing his job and seeing his family every day. Because in my alternate reality, we would have also closed in on Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora, led a world still sympathetic to the U.S. post-9/11, and would not have 150,000 troops fighting an ill-conceived war. Yes, we would still be fighting "bad guys" but in a more sensible way that--with great irony--would have included adequately equipping our troops throughout the entirety of the fighting.