recently, many hard right people such as frist and santorum, among others, have been flip-flopping with public statements that were against present bush policy beliefs.

these include dissenters of the war and stem cell research. obviously, republicans (some) are seeing that the past 6 years have drained the patriotism and morality out of americans. afterall, no matter how much you may like ice cream, you can only eat so much of it before it gets boring and distasteful.

i hope americans have become wise enough to know that a zebra never changes its stripes. but, with so many republicans leaning "left", one has to wonder what platform the democrats will be standing on. it appears that it's going to be so crowded on the same stage that it will be hard to tell them apart.

October 04, 2005
2008 Republicans Move to Left of Bush

As Republicans "begin testing the waters" to succeed President Bush in 2008, the surprise is that "almost all the would-be contenders are standing to the left of Bush politically," the Boston Globe reports.

In fact, only two people "mentioned as possible Republican presidential contenders seem eager to adopt the Bush image of a president who is boldly aggressive overseas, committed to a steady run of tax cuts, and willing to pursue the social agenda of the religious right. Those would-be Bush inheritors are the president's younger brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, who is downplaying the possibility of a run, and Senator George Allen of Virginia, who is actively drumming up enthusiasm for an '08 run."

"But at least seven other would-be candidates have broken with the president on a variety of important issues." They are: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), New York Gov. George Pataki (R), and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"The seven differ from one another in many important ways, but they all seem to be preparing for two major course corrections. The first is a shift in approach on Iraq, to emphasize pragmatism over ideology... The second course correction seems to be an inching away from the religious right."

source and more:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/artic ... hort_list/

Hopefully you are correct and the political pendulum is swinging. I am more pessimistic toward our leadership and I perceive in my Machiavellian mind it is close to the time to create the allowance of a terrorist attack. One that would encourage Cheney to execute his drawn up plan against Iran.
I do not believe the neocons are going to go away that easily. They would rather see this nation destroyed than their plans go unfulfilled. They would consider that a step forward.

TUT

that's a good question, tut: if there were another "terrorist" attack in the US, would americans go back to post 9-11 fervor and want to engage in another war?

i would hope by now americans woke up slightly and would now question things before being so damned gung-ho. 5 more soldiers killed today...how many more need we lose before they say cindy was right?

i'm proud to say i was one of the 20% of the american population who didn't want nor believe in this war...nina can attest to that fact.

but, i have a feeling americans are slightly swinging opposite of the right and the republican party is aware of this.