One way to judge that the war has gone on far too long–yes, it should never have started–is how death seems to become routine. Five soldiers were killed on Sunday due to car bombs exploding in Baghdad and areas near the capitol–yet their deaths only merit a short, buried story in The New York Times. Ho-hum…another five lives wasted.

Which makes Bob Herbert’s column on John and Elizabeth Edwards even more appropriate:

The pack is obsessed with the horse race, which is regrettable. It
would be far more constructive and interesting if this heightened
attention to Mr. Edwards’s campaign resulted in the media and the
public taking a closer look at the issues he has been pushing, not just
in the campaign but ever since his unsuccessful run for vice president
in 2004.

And:

A closer look at John Edwards’s views on health care, poverty and other
issues would require, of course, a closer look at the positions of the
other candidates. What could be better? What’s the sense of having a
presidential campaign that takes up the better part of two years if the
bulk of that time is spent on foolishness?

Exactly. The idiotic nature of the coverage of the presidential race pushes the real issues into small boxes.