I have been suprised that the press seems to be suddenly holding Bush accountable, and that Kerry seems to have magically grown a pair. This all started just about the time that the press began to bring Dean down, a couple of weeks before Iowa. I thought that a soon as Kerry locked up the nomination that the press would turn on him, and begin to re-inflate Bush. Maybe this will still happen, I am certainly not holding my breath.
But I am beginning to wonder if this is how our "Democracy" works. Maybe enough of us woke up that we really rattled thier cage this time. Perhaps our elites are always pulling the strings, but how much they get away with depends on us - on "the consent of the governed". If enough people get stirred up, enough to threaten real change, then they change course. Killing the messanger seems to be part of the price, but they seem to have gotten the message.
To tell the truth, maybe that is how I thought things worked before the Iraq war, although I could not have articulated it. What really sent me around the bend about the Bushies was thier lack of responce to the protests about the war. That is when I began to think we were seeing the rise of a facist state right here, and that I needed to do something about it. And while it still breaks my heart that we came so close to real change only to be denied, if they are at least willing to listen I can live with that.