Another milestone: 101 Americans died in Iraq for October

Well, we've got another milestone here to report. This is from MSNBC News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The American death toll for October climbed past 100, a grim milestone reached as a top White House envoy turned up unexpectedly in Baghdad on Monday to smooth over a rough patch in U.S.-Iraqi ties. At least 80 people were killed across Iraq, 33 in a Sadr City bombing targeting workers.

A member of the 89th Military Police Brigade was killed in east Baghdad Monday, and a Marine died in fighting in insurgent infested Anbar province the day before, raising to 101 the number of U.S. service members killed in a bloody October, the fourth deadliest month of the war. At least 2,814 American forces have died since the war began.

So how is the Bush administration taking this new milestone? Well, here's what Dick Cheney had to say:

Cheney, who 17 months ago said the insurgency was in its last throes, said that "there's going to be probably a continued level of violence for some considerable period of time in Iraq." He said that unlike other wars, it was unlikely there would be some dramatic turning point that signals progress.

"There is progress," Cheney said. "It's just — you're not going to see the kind of thing ... a victory like Midway in World War II where we sank all the enemy carriers, or a surrender ceremony at the end of the war. It's the kind of thing where you have to keep grinding it out day after day after day. It's tough."

And here's what Senate Majority Leader John Boehner had to say:

"I think Donald Rumsfeld is the best thing that's happened to the Pentagon in 25 years," Boehner said. "This Pentagon and our military needs a transformation. And I think Donald Rumsfeld's the only man in America who knows where the bodies are buried at the Pentagon, has enough experience to help transform that institution."

Donald Rumsfeld hasn't said anything about the 101 American casualties, nor has President Bush. In fact, the entire Bush administration appears to be mum on this rather bad news story. President Bush is more interested in talking about tax cuts and gay marriage today, rather than Iraq. In fact, Iraq has become an albatross for the GOP election campaign. Public opinion polls are not only showing that Americans are turning against the U.S war in Iraq, but also that the war is dragging down President Bush's poll numbers. Is it no wonder that the Bush administration is turning back to the tired old Republican issues of tax cuts and gay marriage just eight days before the congressional midterm elections?