A rose is more than a rose

Names do mean something. In our world of popular culture and touchstones, we have names that evoke so many things in just one or two words. The name "Walter Reed", for example, once stood for some extremely noble things. Below is the headline for the lead story this morning on the MSNBC website:

The most unfortunate thing is that we didn't have to read past the first four words to understand what they meant. Just a month ago, that meaning was different.

I'm not going to go the common liberal route and lay all of this at the feet of George W. Bush (Though he does bear some responsibility. As one of his oft mentioned heroes once said: "The buck stops here"), but in an age where Conservative Republicans use "Supporting the Troops" as the all-purpose club against Liberal Democrats, they now have one more shame to live down to go with all their others.

They sullied that name. And it may never be the same.