Err on the side of life? 655,000 dead...

George Bush, in the midst of the Terry Schiavo exploitation debacle, claimed that the government should always "err on the side of life". Noble sentiment. But, as with pretty much everything associated with this administration, a deep chasm spans rhetoric and reality. When indeed has Bush erred on the side of life? Surely not when he was mocking a woman on death row pleading for her life ('Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'")? Now we have an estimate that the US invasion of Iraq led to 655,000 deaths. That's a staggering number. Almost a third of the deaths were caused directly by the United States and other occupying forces.

Bush's "err on the side of life response"? First, dispute the numbers, which, by the way, come from a highly reputable study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I guess because the Bushites (in postmodern fashion) deny the existence of objective facts that are independent of ideology, they assume everybody else does so too. More pertinently, though, was Bush's next response:

"And I applaud the Iraqis for their courage in the face of violence. I am, you know, amazed that this is a society which so wants to be free that they're willing to you know, that there's a level of violence that they tolerate."

Remember again, this is supposed to be the Christian president.