"I was struck by how in the above and in your other posts on this thread, you're careful to avoid addressing the main issue. Instead, you throw out these little bits of red herring, about poll numbers and the dictionary definition of "operative". Too painful to think about? Or is it simply OK with you that the President of the United States either lied bigtime, or fucked up bigtime? And not about a sleazy little affair, but about a matter of state and of national security."

The main issue? You hate Bush? You want to believe the bullshit you are fed? Not really worth talking about is it?
But here we go line by line:

"...and at the same time you're right in noting the appalling lack of outrage among Bush partisans. Politics trumps morality."

So, you think people should be outraged. Since you are so smart this means something is wrong with these people. What are you looking for? "You nailed Robert. Yeah! You go girl! I hate him too. He's a monkey. People who support Bush are weenies."

"I think the reason Bush got away with it for so long is that Americans had an unrequited bloodlust after 9/11. To put it crudely but accurately, a lot of Americans wanted to "spill some raghead blood", and Bush provided a rationalization to spill Iraqi blood. Yeah, we showed al Qaida, all right."

More about how Americans are wrong- you think they have bloodlust. Millions of American who couldn't give a rat's ass about "JFK" must be blinded by their bloodlust. The fact that they have a life which doesn't revolve around having a bloodlust is simply not possible.

"'Course, now we're beginning to sober up after the bloody party, and some of the people who supported Bush's war, those with a shred of decency, are starting to feel some remorse about our actions. Bush's declining approval rating is a reflection of...reflection. Sober reflection."

Well Bush approval rating regarding the war in Iraq has apparently dipped, but his general approval has risen, Perhaps, the sober reflection is Bush is not doing well at the moment in the polls, but Kerry is doing far worse, thereby making the President look good in comparison. Who knows? Who cares, it doesn't matter in regards to Nov, because it's 6 MONTHS away. But my general assessment, enonomy is doing well, Iraq is progressing, Afghanistan is doing well. One area of concern is the Republicans seem quite content to spend money like the Democrats. The bad news is that Kerry is wrong person to take on this an issue- he has absolutely no crediblity as far as fisal responsiblity- Liebermann might have had a shot at driving through this huge hole. The only one who has any chance at deceiving anyone that they represent a possiblity of fisal responsibility is Nader, but he a complete idiot, so it won't be much of a serious issue in this election cycle.

"In politics, that sort of thing generates a rebound effect: People don't take kindly to being fooled and tend to wreak vengeance against the leader they followed into disaster. Voters punish a leader who makes them feel ashamed or stupid, even if they went along enthusiastically at the time."

Absolutely, and that is why the Dems are going to get their asses kicked in Nov. They have "saturated" the media for months bashing Bush, the hardcore liberals are even getting bored with it. And who did they pick?
A vietnam protestor, who then fossilized in the Senate, who got the Dem ticket by bashing Bush- in other words, he's got nothing. He will probably get coal come Nov.

"The November election is a test of our national character: If the American people are worth a warm bucket of spit, we'll throw the bastard out on his ear."

Generally they re-elect incumbents. You might get a fresh Senator elected, but old wrinkly against an incumbent, against a war president with a strong economy? The only thing going for you is that Americans traditionally seem to slightly favor towards balancing the Congress and President.

"Or we'll leave him in office and validate the world's low opinion of us."

Which world is that? The world of France? And nobody in the world but the French like their whore of a President. Which of course doesn't matter because the French will vote him back in- he owns their sorry asses.

So that bring us to end of Robert's post. To review, what were the main issues raised? Robert hates Bush, thinks the public would be dumb to re-elect him. [and Robert probably think the American public is so dumb that it will re-elect Bush- maybe Robert wishes he was in France where all the smart people are- if not France, then somewhere else- anywhere else:]