The distinctions among casualty types are obviously considered, and beside an obvious PR angle, it seems they would also serve as legitimate distinctions in various war-fighting analyses. Military operations are dangerous in peacetime, too, as the Navy's operations suspension a few years ago reminds.

What's interesting is how these larger casualty numbers seem to reinforce the contention of many officers that the military's effectiveness is being degraded, characterizing the human elements of the price of extended military campaigns. They haven't said it directly, but it seems that the true, larger human costs of campaigns (beyond combat deaths and wounds, which are well-known to military professionals) create a ripple effect in readiness, etc., more profound than wear and tear on equipment, re-enlistment rates, and so on. It is this toll to which officers make veiled reference in warning about the Iraq deployment diminishing the effectiveness of the armed services.

McCain, whatever his individual merits, seems to me to be showing the Democratic hopefuls in 2006/8 what they ought to be doing. Granted, being in the Republican party gives McCain a different profile when he comes out in opposition or favor of anything as it relates to the president, or the prevailing political culture in the Republican hegemony. It's automatically "news."

But the key thing I'm seeing is someone who is differentiating himself from the president based on integrity, ethics, and "moral conviction." Obviously this is somewhat at odds with his self-serving embrace of the Idiot King, but if we've learned anything, it's that the American People's memory is short. He is stepping out at the right moment, leveraging winning stances on issues to his own advantage. Sort of reminds one of Ali's rope-a-dope. He took the shots, kept his mouth shut (which was shameful, I thought), stayed up on the podium with the president ("I must be estimable ... the president obviously needs me. I am a validator.") and in the spotlight, and is now positioning himself for moderates in both parties, and swing voters.

Democratic aspirants to the presidency would do well to heed McCain's recent maneuvers. They don't want to cede the high ground to a Republican when it's been theirs for the taking, and each has seemed too timid to charge the hill. The idea of "reform" from within the Republican party is going to appeal to disaffected Republicans, at the very least, shoring up that constituency for McCain's run. He's saying he's the frontrunner. Whichever Democrat believes he/she ought to be in that horse race should step forward, and establish the "outsider" path to reform and restoration as the more efficacious choice. Allowing a Republican to establish himself as the voice of reform and conscience is a grave mistake. Democrats need to get smart, get in a smoke-filled back room, rally around someone like Feingold, and establish their own champion. He doesn't necessarily need to be a "candidate", per se, but the Dems need a white knight leading the party, branding it in voters' minds while the field is still wide open and the current administration is reeling. It's clearly time to get tactical, if not strategic.

Game on.