I recently had an idea for a brilliant campaign ad. (For whom, I don't know, but I'd vote for whoever did it.) Somebody should hire Sally Struthers to come onscreen and say, over images of U.S. operations in Iraq: "For just 44 cents a day, or $13.40 per month, you can occupy your own Middle Eastern country." That's the $4.9 billion-per-month cost (much higher than originally estimated) of invading and occupying Iraq, spread out evenly over American taxpayers.

I'm not saying invading and occupying Iraq was a bad idea, no I would never say a thing like that. But it would be nice if somebody pitched it to the American people in exactly those terms so they can decide for themselves whether it was worth it.