The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Dancing Alone: "I thought the administration would have to do the right things in Iraq ? from prewar planning and putting in enough troops to dismissing the secretary of defense for incompetence ? because surely this was the most important thing for the president and the country. But I was wrong. There is something even more important to the Bush crowd than getting Iraq right, and that's getting re-elected and staying loyal to the conservative base to do so. It has always been more important for the Bush folks to defeat liberals at home than Baathists abroad. That's why they spent more time studying U.S. polls than Iraqi history. That is why, I'll bet, Karl Rove has had more sway over this war than Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Bill Burns. Mr. Burns knew only what would play in the Middle East. Mr. Rove knew what would play in the Middle West."

Yet another former supporter who is now suggesting that the emperor is very naked and very incompetent. This all sounds so much like John Dilulio's assessment that this administration was all about politics. I remember conservatives hated the fact that Bill Clinton seemed to be always in campaign mode, but this administration has only stopped campaigning to invade Iraq.