Something's happenin' here; what it is ain't exactly clear 

There's a man with a gun over there telling me I want to be Democrat.

Holy crapperoonies. Dave points to a Salon article by Mark Benjamin reporting on military brass who want a Democrat congress, and about active-duty soldiers petitioning Congress to withdraw from Iraq. This is pretty much unprecdented -- isn't it? I want to, and have to believe this can make a difference. I hope the word gets out, beyond the internet, in time for dyed-in-the-wool conservatives to let this unexpected military perspective sink in over the next two weeks.

When I read this, it makes me angry to recall hearing the president remark so many times on how he is guided by the commanders on the ground. The guy clearly has blinders on, and only listens to people in the White House and elsewhere if they say, "You're right Mr. President. Of course you've always been right."

The world, she sure has changed. When you think about it, it makes sense to see shifts in alliances in the military-political-business triangle. In the Cold War era and until very recently, hawks put their faith in big military spending for missiles and expensive intercontinental weapons technology. It's a whole different kind of fight now, and I suppose it's not surprising to see players changing sides.

How will conservatives react to this? They could say we're hearing from a vocal minority, and they could be right, who knows, but we haven't heard about this kind of rank-breaking much before now. No doubt they'll vainly try to characterize the generals' comments as part of some dirty liberal smear campaign. Sometimes there's no sly campaign or conspiracy or tactical manoeuver in the case. Sometimes people are simply moved to talk about what they think is the right thing to do. For my part, this kind of testimonial from these particular folks is singularly compelling.