News Breaks Against Bush (washingtonpost.com) By Dan Froomkin

Conflation Watch

Here’s how Scott McClellan handled the questions about the milestone yesterday:

Q Senator Kerry is calling it a tragic milestone, reaching 1,000 deaths in Iraq.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we remember, honor and mourn the loss of all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom. And we also remember those who lost their lives on September 11th. The best way to honor all those who have lost their life in the war on terrorism is to continue to wage a broad war and spread freedom throughout a dangerous part of the world so that we can transform that region of the world and make the world a safer place, and make America more secure.

Q And you’re convinced each one of those lives is worth it, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Each one — well, let me say, when I say we remember, honor, mourn the loss of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we do so for those in Iraq and Afghanistan. We also remember those who lost their lives on September 11th, nearly three years ago today. And that’s why I said it’s important that we continue to wage a broad war on terrorism and that we work to spread freedom throughout the Middle East and transform that region so that we defeat the ideologies of hatred and tyranny.

Q But the question is, for — each of those families lost someone, a loved one, and each one of those is worth it — that’s the question.

MR. McCLELLAN: Mark, I think — I think of the cost we paid on September 11th, and September 11th changed the equation, as you’ve heard the President say.
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Headlines blare the news that the death toll in Iraq has crossed the 1,000 milestone.

There are also big headlines about Bush’s record $422 billion budget deficit and the multi-trillion-dollar deficit projections for the future.

Then there are all the stories about Vice President Cheney’s jaw-dropping statement yesterday that a Kerry victory would result in more terrorist attacks. Even his own staff is qualifying it.

Bush’s spotty National Guard record during the Vietnam War is turning into a full-fledged media conflagration, with more stories out today and “60 Minutes” weighing in tonight.

Plus, Sen.Bob Graham (D-Fla.) is all over the media charging Bush with covering up evidence that might have linked Saudi Arabia to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

And while the mainstream press is not putting stock in unauthorized biographer Kitty Kelley’s hazily sourced allegations of past drug use by Bush, everybody — at least everybody on the Internet — seems to be talking about it.

It certainly isn’t like the carefully scripted weeks of yore.

[mjh: details on all of this at the link above]