I'm actually so old that I can remember that there was a time when the cost of war was actually understood to be a legitimate political issue. The John Kerry "voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it" came in the context of the war in Iraq, which was supposed to be exciting and awesome and bloodless and free, suddenly becoming expensive. Even the gang of 500 paused for a moment, with $87 billion sounding like a lot of money.
Now it's just free war forever. Except it isn't free.
