too little, too late

Driving home listening to Ed Schultz interview Chuck Hagel on the Boston liberal talk radio affiliate, it occurred to me that up to November 2 I was harboring a (clearly naive) hope that moderate republicans would ditch the chimperor for the good of the republic and rally around John Kerry.

So now that those same moderates are just this week starting to make noises about Rummy's incompetence pisses me off all the more. In the past few days we've heard from Hagel, McCain, and Susan Collins on the subject. And why are they speaking out now? Because a soldier had the courage to speak truth to power.

I'm not one of those perpetually angry dems who believes that all politicians by definition are evil. I have a true and abiding faith, for example, in my own representatives in Washington, Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, and John Kerry. But Kerry is particularly dear to me because of his courage and character. Swift liars be damned; Kerry is a man who acts on his principles. I used to think the same of McCain, but his behavior during the campaign disabused me of that notion.

The more people in power who speak out loudly against Rummy the better. But let's be clear-eyed about this. Even if the shrub canned him what kind of delusional fantasy would lead to the assumption that his replacement would be any better? Shrub only goes to the bottom of the barrel for his nominees. When it might have made a real difference to the country these senators all stayed silent. They're going to have to live with that knowledge.

Am I the only one who is not in the mood for forgiveness?