WSJ: Editorials Written With Crayons...

One of the prerequisites of my job is that I read the Journal each day. In my opinion it is one of the few great newspapers left in the country. My own newspaper, the Inquirer, on the other hand, is in the midst of a painful slide into irrelevance hastened recently by Brian Tierney's acquisition of the paper.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to ignore the editorial page of the Journal, which exists like a lunatic Uncle Elmo, stored away in the attic of an otherwise reasonable household. Ranting and raving, throwing feces around the attic, generally fouling up the place, etc.

So, if the Journal feels the need to recap the House debate on the anti-surge resolution as "one of the most shameful moments in the institutions history", and accuses John Murtha of a plan to "slow bleed the troops" (what exactly would we call the present situation?), so be it. However, the sophomoric attempt to capture the voice of "the troops" goes a bit too far. Because for every Spc. Tyler Johnson, quoted here:

"People are dying here. You know what I'm saying . . . You may [say] 'oh we support the troops.' So you're not supporting what they do. What they's (sic) here to sweat for, what we bleed for and we die for."

There are other voices that say things completely different