Tacitus Squeaks:

If you told me in fall '00 that the next Republican administration would embrace mushy multiculturalism; wipe out our reputation for fiscal rectitude; preside over a massive entitlements expansion; embrace secrecy as a good in itself; and unnecessarily strain the US armed forces to the breaking point, I would never have believed it. But it has all come to pass, and we must be very clear on why it has come to pass: it is not because these things are expressions of the core principles of most Republicans -- it is because most Republicans have allowed them despite their core principles. In this, I am as guilty as the rest. It's difficult for outsiders to appreciate the depth to which the frustrations of the Clinton years scarred and shaped the Republican core.

Commendable.

Note this date. Go read the above in full. Unlike many who'll jump on his post as blaming Clinton for the Republicans Jingoism and Hubris, I think Tacitus sincerely recognizes precisely how myopic and bloodlusting Republicans have become; he senses the portent of a crash, not just for his party, but for the country. Good for him.

Tacitus works in this administration. He says he's not alone in his feelings. That computes. But the painful march to the obvious for elected and otherwise grown-up folks who should know better is the part that always jangles my fillings in these situations. The calories burned to noisily deny the existence of gravity, common sense and other laws would probably get Bush to Mars, with leftovers.

Good luck, Tacitus.