Slobbering them with kisses

Kasie Hunt, an AP political reporter, means well. But she has a bad case of TYFYS, the gratuitous Thank-You-For-Your-Service syndrome. On the heels of the news that all US troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by year's end, Hunt tweeted: "To all of the men and women who will soon embark on the long journey home: Godspeed. We are in your debt and hope to live up to your example." Granted, Hunt is too hero-smitten to knoweth what she hath tweetedth. So I'll cut her some slack. Still, this unthinking idolatry of our troops is deeply creepy. These men and women are not gods. They are us, warts and all. With that in mind, a simple "have a good trip home" would have sufficed.