They seem to be moving to the Democratic party for no other reason than it is the party holding congressional power now. Not because they are evolving their political values. Hence the rightward shift of the party.

I think some of the voters who may moved to the Democrats because they saw the GOP and Bush as incompetents may have done so for exactly this reason, a way to keep enough power to "keep on keepin' on", if you will. I see this also in some commenters here lately claiming to be Democrats, and with their subtext claiming they want to "save" the party by moving it to the "middle", so that it will "appeal" more to the right.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Huh? The insulting assumption that people are stupid sheep carries on.

They are interested I think not in what they can do differently and what positive changes they can bring about with the power the party now has, but more in the naked acquisition of as much power as possible to enable carrying on tha same old way, particularly in foreign policy.

Althouse, perhaps unconciously, perhaps not, is reflecting that I think:

I'm upset because I think we have sent a terrible message to our enemies: Just hang on long enough and continue to inflict some damage, and the Americans will lose heart and give up.

Her comment is straight out of the Bush/GOP fearmongering playbook.
Republicans in diguise cynically up to the same old tricks. Phttht.

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
--The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again

". . It's the failure of Americans to support the war. It's the folding and crumpling because things didn't go well enough and the way we conspicuously displayed that to our enemies. They're going to use that information."

Doesn't sound all that bright to me.  More like a hack than anything.  Some could be forgiven for this kind of talk before '04, even though the lie should have been obvious.  By now you have to say such folks are either:

a. Too stupid to be taken seriously

b. Drunk on the cool aid

c. A charter member of the vast right wing conspiracy (otherwise known as all of the above)

After all only one person could be held responsible for abandoning the war on terror in Tora Bora.

We have 'enemies' in Iraq simply because we invaded their feeble country for no good reason. If I take out my personal frustrations by beating my children, who then fight back, should I complain that I have to keep beating them or they'll stop respecting me?

What I should do is stop beating them and try to mitigate the damage I have done (and I won't be able to do it without psychiatric assistance, but not from Charles Krauthammer).

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

A. What the less than inimitable Ms. Althouse calls "folding and crumpling" might be better--and less pejoratively--termed learning from experience and adapting.  She seems to buy into the superficial Bush mindset that it is better to stay the course than admit error and adjust accordingly.

Horse hockey and bull. That has never been true throughout history, is not true now and will not be true in the future. It is the saddest of straw horses.

And I speak as a veteran who spent 10 years in Naval Aviation. Did you serve?

What is true is that the non-combatants must support the combatants, and the failure to do so in the past has been looked upon with great disdain with mostly unpleasant side effects for the non-supporters. It is only recently, that they have been given any degree of respectability, and for that the country will eventually pay a heavy price.

It was this lack of support that General Giap recognized so plainly and established his strategy of not fighting battles, but guerrilla actions, killing enough Americans to allow the radical Left in the US, aided by the useful fools in the media, universities and some politicians to eventually undermine the effort to the point that the Demos gained control and fled. We are now on the same path.

And if we do not understand that the Islamic Fascists have recognized that, and are using the same strategy then we are truly stupid.

The difference is that though Vietnam triggered a large number of victories, we were dealing with nation states that understood that they could not attack us inside the US without suffering reprisals of horrific nature.  I refer, of course, to MAD.

That is not the case now. We fight a war on two fronts. The first is a culture war in which the Islamic Fascists are determined to turn the world into Caliphates ruled by Imams and judged under Shari law. They will not compromise and see terrorist attacks as a way to make us slowly agree to obey their commands. Islam is not a religion of peace and has a long history proving it is not.

To those who like to call attention to the Crusades, etc., I note that we are not being attacked by the Catholic Church, Jews or any religious group not associated with Islam.