Great article! Thank God the American public has seen through the lies and the fear tactics. I do worry though. Even after being exposed as a fraud, the Wizard of Oz still prevailed. Dorothy was sent out to get the broom and do the dirty work for Oz, who was still insanely popular in the Emerald City. Bush never was and never will be insanely popular, but don't under estimate Rove, Cheney, Bush et al who might very well find a whole new way to scare us. I put nothing past that criminal crowd.

It seems to me that Harriet Miers' nomination, in conjunction with the FEMA-Brown-Katrina debacle, was very bad for Bush's poll numbers. The religious right immediately turned their media machine on High against him, and the public seemed to be listening. Miers has been dropped from thought, despite the very important role she played in undermining Bush's mindshare.

Mr. Englehardt's article gives hope. But will Americans actually throw these rascals out in the 2006 elections? It is going to take a change in Congress for us to see the Bush agenda turned back. Republicans are stalwart on keeping tax cuts. They'll cut out any and every program before they'll give up those cuts and heaven forbid that any pork is shaved off!

What is just now dawning on the American people has been apparent to all who opposed the war from the very beginning...changing political ideas in the Middle East is extremely long term and will be met with the utmost resistance. Bush in all his arrogance thought he could waltz in there and do whatever. What scares Americans is the billions of dollars the war is costing and will continue to cost, and when one adds the billions that Katrina will require to rebuild, only the most fanciful can sit at ease in the maelstrom.

The Sunnis, Kurds and Shiia, have agreed on only one thing at their summit; They want the American troops OUT! See? A prime example of "Nation Building". That gang in the V.P.s office is gooooood!

I've been reading about the Republicans' impending fall in Salon for many years now. I'll believe it when I see it.

This certainly seems like the kind of political & social environment that would have lead to their offing long ago, yet we haven't even had any particularly noteworthy attempts. What gives?

I agree with Kk on the first page that it is too early to celebrate anything. The GOP has the staying power of cockroaches. While a Nixonesque meldown in congress a la '74 is possible we need a firm plan of like 10-12 things.

forexample

1. increase wages for troops

2. fix benes for veterens

3. protect national lands

4. stop lying about SS

5. increase min wage etc

Your article failed to mention, or was written, before what I consider to be the true final tipping point for the Bush Administration. Bush's quick exit from a press conference to a pair of locked doors that he can't open. This is the landing spot for a president that has gone from the Supreme Commander in Chief to National Joke. Think about that. This guy will never be taken seriously again. And, we have him for three more years.

The Republican Party is OVER.

The real story behind the collapse of Bush's administration can be found in his favorite book the Bible. In Proverbs, it warns that "pride goeth before a fall".

Schadenfruede is sometimes a good thing, and I'm ODing on it just now, but even though the dunce herd of the American public and the media may be finally seeing the light (not at the end of the tunnel), I don't count the fascists in power out just yet. The fear factor may be dormant for the moment, but it's use hovers over us like a giant circling hawk just waiting for the right opportunity. One Republican strategist, as reported by Capital Hill Blue (I've not seen it elsewhere), has included in a list of items that might just get the Repug agenda back on track another terrorist attack on the homeland. That could, of course, cut both ways, but a desperate regime in it's death throes hasn't got much to lose. This bunch wants total power, and I wouldn't put anything past them to get it or retain it. We've seen what they've done with two 'elections'.

Beyond that, support for this obscene war in Iraq has, to my mind, fallen so precipitously largely because we aren't winning it. If there were some tangible measures of success, and if the causus beli for the war was constant, true and transparent rather than a constantly shifting set of murky lies, inuendos, and rationales, I think the American public's willingness to accept casualties, ours that is, would be there - certainly for a while longer.

I realize it's next to impossible to figure out what 'winning it' actually means, which in any case depends on your politics, but clearly we don't control the ground even after 2-1/2 years; our guy/gals are getting killed, and the Iraqi population lives in a very real constant state of terror, not to mention deprivation. The civil war so long predicted is well underway, and we're treating it as if it were little random ground fires caused by the odd lit cigarette. Then, of course, we are going broke in the process, but no one seems to care about what this atrocity is costing us because we'll just cut all the social welfare programs to pay for it.

We aren't done with this bunch yet, but I'm keeping a bottle of champagne on ice in readiness.

Not meeting with Cindy Sheehan as soon as she arrived in Crawford, Texas in August was a huge miscalculation for Bush. His stubborness continued day after day and gave other protestors time to think about, to pack up the car and then join her on the side of the road. With all Washington and NY City on vacation too, all media eyes turned to Texas.

I've long thought the motivation for his stupid decision was vainty. Little Man Bush wanted to avoid a photo of the six foot tall Sheehan towering over him out in the middle of an empty field.

His heartless insensitivity to Cindy Sheehan was then compounded and affimed by Hurricane Katrina. Then when gasoline rapidly jumped to $3.50 a gallon across the country it was all over for Bush-- even the politcally numb can understand $3,50 a gallon.