>>8 The American public were crept up into Bush's bosom by then, and the dems would have committed political suicide if they had done anything that would have hindered the war effort. Blame the knee-jerkers who couldn't look beyond the promises and emotional propaganda, and thus eliminated any debate. Then, later, they couldn't attack the shoddy, imperialistic handling of the war because by then flip-flopping was a registererd trademark. The reps created a black-and-white "put up or shut up" voting and the public was disappointed by the left along with the right.