52% of Americans say Bush "Intentionally Misled The American Public" Into Iraq War

Check it out.

The truly amazing thing about this statistic is that there has actually been very little concerted effort to bring down Bush's approval ratings on Iraq (despite the desperate attempts of Rove and company to blame it on liberal malcontents). The anti-war movement's last significant public action was the protest in New York city during the GOP convention. No prominent Democrat has made a habit of attacking Bush on his handling of Iraq. There are the occaisional Durbins and Conyers, but they are potshots at best and hardly evidence of an organized effort to undermine the leadership of this country in a time of war.

The dissapproval of Bush on Iraq has pretty much grown organically within the American populace. It didn't need protests to make it happen. In fact, the lack of protests may have actually helped. There is significant evidence that the vehement protests during Vietnam may have actually hardened the hearts of the average American. Citizens may have felt uncomfortable about what was happening in Southeast Asia, but their dislike of the "hippies" was even more pronounced. It took several years for the ugliness of LBJ's folly to overcome their distate for the "freaks".

Now the American people don't have "long hairs" in the streets to distract them from what is going on in Iraq. They are seeing it straight and they aren't buying the happy talk from the Bush crew.

I personally believe that, in the long run, it is better to make clear that there is opposition to actions like the war in Iraq. It's hard to project an image of strong leadership if all you do is just sit there (unless "sitting there" is part of your protest). But when you live in a society where the liars control all the levers and all the cameras it may actually make sense to just step back and let them fall flat on their face.

At least if you aren't standing near them it makes it that much harder for them to accuse you of tripping them.