"When will enough be enough?"

We've all been wondering the same thing, many of us since George Bush first took office.  Quite apart from the oddities of 9/11 and every step taken towards an invasion of Iraq, we wonder about how a Congress -- particularly its Democratic members -- could have been so supine. 

We remember the look on Senator Leahy's face as, during a questioning of Alberto Gonzales way back when the AG was going through confirmation hearings.  We remember wondering why, when Leahy so clearly knew this man should never be Attorney General, he shut up. 

We look at the current Democratic majorities in Congress and wonder how, after all we did to get a new and dedicated group elected, they could be failing us once again so spectacularly.   

We compare ourselves to our rightwing counterparts whose drive seems so relentless and wonder whether Yeats may have been writing about us:  "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

When will enough be enough for us? for you and me?

"Shortly after the Petraeus/White House report on Iraq is presented, the Pentagon will be presenting the latest bill for the surge — an estimated $50 billion on top of the $147 billion Congress just voted for continuing the war. That will bring the ongoing tab for Iraq to near $15 billion a month.

"Or, as they say, in for a penny, in for $1 trillion, and please ignore the fact that we can't find the money or the leadership needed to repair our own failing air traffic control system, our aging infrastructure of roads and bridges and sewer and water systems, health insurance for the 47 million Americans who don't have it and can't afford it, or our military forces and equipment, which have been stretched beyond the breaking point by endless combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Is it any wonder that so beleaguered a president, counting down his last 16 months in office, has now begun talking tough about Iran and pumping up the threat of terrorism in American cities, trying one more time to frighten Americans into the same acquiescence to The Decider's decisions, no matter how irrational they are?

"When can we expect President Bush to find a new turning point, a new and updated rationale, for staying so foolish a course in a war he started but can't seem to end? When will enough be enough?" ... Joe Galloway, at McClatchy