Slippage?

I'm starting to wonder if the tide is actually turning in D.C. I could be totally thwarted on this, but I think when Bush announces the bullshit drawdown of 30,000 troops that were scheduled to come home at that same time next year anyway (and if he and Cheney attack Iraq we'll see who comes home really), a force reduction that would just put us at pre-surge levels anyway (a wasted 12 months?), no one is going to believe him.

Because we all stopped believing him a long time ago.

Because we are all now trained to read his customary expressions and mannerisms as duplicitous.

Or, occasionally, duplicitous and stupid.

Here's some odd signs that the bruising Senate committee hearings yesterday were actually a potential turning point in the national debate. When Petraeus accidentally told the truth, and maybe historically will because of the slip have redeemed himself beyond what Colin Powell will have achieved, it was the other shoe hitting on the side of reason. There's just no truth to the neocon policy, and in reality no tangible security element, so we must take an approach radical to the current policy if we have any hopes of reversing course towards a more secure Earth.

Hopeful signs include all the GOP Senators wailing on the mission -- Lugar, Hagel, Warner (the latter two definitely able to go conscience now that they've announced retirement) -- as well as announced Democratic leadership plans to fight whatever Bush proposes and instead legislate a true withdrawal strategy.

Another hopeful sign is Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) taking a hard rhetorical line against Cheney/Bush machine, even mentioning Iran. Richardson and Dodd, his Presidential nomination rivals, have whacked at his speech, but I think it's a welcome move in the right direction for the national debate.

There's also an Action Alert out on Iran. Per Crooks & Liars:

Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. We need to let our representatives know that Bush cannot attack Iran.

And then there's a couple tragic events unfolding that make me think the narrative could, with surprising speed, slip from the Pro-War establishment:

- Oil law compromise in Iraq got torched today (and Bush buddies from Texas, Hunt Oil, look plenty responsible -- amazing). Could this undermine the President's rhetoric enough, even get publicized enough?

- Two of the seven soldiers who recently authored a pro-withdrawal op-ed in The New York Times were killed in a vehicle accident today. Really icky karma for WarCheney and WarBush.

Oh, and after Pat Tillman, I'm not ruling out murder, i.e. political assassination.

Do you?