Transcripts never do justice to Jack Cafferty’s sardonic, punchy oratory, as is the case with this assault on Bush’s latest propaganda campaign: “Is 3,006 deaths not enough? How many do you suppose it’ll take before President Bush’s conscience begins to bother him — 5,000, 10,000, more? How many? Meanwhile, the White House continues to try to get you to think that this is something it’s not. The word ‘surge’ is being used to camouflage the administration plans to escalate the war in Iraq.”

Transcript (from Crooks and Liars):

President Bush is expected to call for sending as many as 40,000 additional troops to Vietnam — I mean Iraq — next week. Escalating the war is now being called a “surge.” Stay the course has been relabeled. It’s the new way forward. We did this in Vietnam, remember? The U.S. kept sending more troops over there, which only led to more people dying.

The same thing will happen in Iraq. The United States is now an occupying army presiding over a civil war in Iraq. There is no way forward, just more death, injury and the squandering of our national treasury. This country has its belly full of this failed operation in Iraq. Read any public opinion poll.

Is 3,006 deaths not enough? How many do you suppose it’ll take before President Bush’s conscience begins to bother him — 5,000, 10,000, more? How many? Meanwhile, the White House continues to try to get you to think that this is something it’s not. The word “surge” is being used to camouflage the administration plans to escalate the war in Iraq.

And it’s not just about the troops. The White House says they’re looking at a whole range of options, including on the economic front. This little misadventure has already cost us half a trillion dollars, and we’re losing. But there’s never been much of a market for reality in the Bush White House. It’s all about the spin, you know.

So next week, when the president talks about sending more of your sons and daughters to die in Iraq, don’t think surge. Recognize it for what it is.