Standard pattern: if a source, like Kay, says something that fits the agenda, it becomes a solid block of truth at the foundation of that agenda. For example, "There are no large stockpiles of weapons in Iraq." Repeated a thousand times in every headline in America.

If he says something that doesn't quite fit the agenda, like "there was no pressure on the intelligence agencies," well, obviously he has no idea what he's talking about. What an idiot.

Never mind that three independent investigations have come to the same conclusion as Kay. Obviously, they must all be lying, idiots, or part of the Great Bush Conspiracy.

The problem the Left has now is that it is functionally incapable of accepting any facts or discoveries in the entire Iraq controversy that do not lay the blame solely on Bush. Screw the truth, Bush has to be destroyed. This means that possible serious problems with our intelligence system will be discounted by the Left and the media unless somehow Bush is seen as the reason for them. It should be obvious to the dimmest brain that any intelligence information disconnect in Iraq long preceded the Bush administration, and stretched far beyond U.S. intelligence agencies, which throws several large monkey wrenches into the "Blame Bush" theory.

But as Glen Reynolds says, the war on Bush has become fundamentally religious in nature, and it's just going to get worse over the coming year.