Liberal troops and vets now have a place to talk about Karl Rove and they’re pissed. If W and his attack dog Rove manage to lose the allegiance of the armed forces, which Repubs have enjoyed since Korea, it will be the greatest favor they could ever do the Democrats. It was not only a terrible tactical miscalculation to call liberals traitors–it was a strategic “tell” that telegraphs the incredible weakness of Bush’s position. It is bad enough that his approval ratings are steadily below 50%–among independents, only 17% approve of his performance, one point lower than Democrats! It’s only the Ostrich-like Repubs, with their 84% rubber-stamp-fetish approval rating, who are propping Bush up. When the saner conservatives start snapping out of their trances and speaking up, like Sen. Chuck Hagel did this week (speaking, btw, to the VFW!), it’s going to get hilariously ugly for Bush.
One wonders what his approval ratings are among active-duty military folks and their families. Every soldier in Iraq must know by now, even those who refuse to admit it, that they are sweating and bleeding and dying in the desert for a Big Lie. Neither they nor their parents nor their spouses nor their children are likely to forget a lesson learned so poignantly any time soon.
My advice– hammer every last Republican you know with these numbers, the Rove slur, and anything else you’ve got. With their triumphalism in tatters, they are closer to seeing reason than at any time since 9/11 shoved them to the reactionary right. That sound you hear when the Repubs scream from the rafters about the “Liberals”? That’s just the sound of the might pendulum of public opinion Dopplering fiercely leftward! Payback is a bitch, Karl.