corrente

The other day (geez, was it only yesterday?) Lambert pointed out back here that Honest Republicans were starting to turn on Bush, not just in their hearts but with their voices, out in public where others can hear and be influenced and know they're not the only ones with qualms.

Today we have Juan Cole, whose politics as a whole I do not know, saying things like this:

"After all, a lot of Republicans could not be at all happy to see the US Department of Defense become the major purveyor of sensational internet pornography to the world...

"This brings us to the issue of Bush's flip-flops. He tried to hang the charge of flip-flopping on Kerry. But Bush said he wanted heads to roll at Fallujah, and then had to bring in the Baath to run the city. Bush said he wanted Muqtada al-Sadr dead or alive, and now Muqtada is set to be a prominent parliamentarian. Bush said he would bring decency to the White House, and now his DoD is purveying pictures of Arab men being made to masturbate in front of prancing servicewomen.

"The American public knows flip-flops when they see them. It is Bush that is engaging in them."

Finally there's Froomkin's WaPo column today, which contains a link to a graph. You've been seeing these figures for awhile now but you have GOT to see them in graphic form to see why this rarest of sentiments, hope, has take root in my bosom.

Aside from a twitchy paranoid feeling that the WashPo legal department may take a dimmer view of swiping their graphics than they do stories, this really has to be seen in its full size to be appreciated. It would blow up the room to do that and I'm not good enough with graphics to shrink it. Just go click here and gaze for awhile and let it all soak in.

Buck up, and be of good cheer, and all that rot. This thing is doable. It isn't done yet, and God knows we can't back off an inch. But we can get our country back.