This is the season of unfortunate remarks, and the remarks are likely to get worse as the bickering over Iraq policy accelerates. How could it be otherwise with seemingly half the Senate running for president and the Bush administration hunkered down to fight those who would derail the latest solution for bringing Baghdad under control?

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., accused unmarried and childless Condoleezza Rice of not understanding the risk that is being shared by families of U.S. forces in Iraq. Across the Potomac, a deputy assistant director of defense, Charles Stimson, suggested that major law firms representing detainees were un- American. Both remarks fall into the "I don't believe I would have said that" category of politically incorrect utterances that have ruined careers.