Free wars feel good

Amid the many juicy quotes from Vanity Fair's "oral history" of the Bush administration, this one from Republican operative Mary Matalin captures his brand of cynicism. The context is Bush's failure to signal to the country that the 9/11 response would involve any sacrifice or collective cost --

Mary Matalin: There was so much to do that was more important than—I mean, looking back, the national-unity thing is important, but it was way more important to re-structure the intelligence communities, way more important to harden targets. Know what I mean? It was all hands on deck. We were working on other shit. Everyone’s pulverized and beat, and there’s 24 hours in a day, so woulda, coulda, shoul da, but, you know, there was no office to do “feel-good” stuff.

It's a strange perspective. What office did Winston Churchill have for his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech? The office of leader. Apparently the Bush administration didn't have that. Matalin's sneering contempt is the kind of thing that gets you a job with Dick Cheney.