In case you were wondering which bush-hating America loathing liberal nutcase was responsible for yesterday’s quotation it was none other than…oops…Barry Goldwater. Oh well, these guys long ago stopped being conservatives if they ever were but read the entire article at the link. It’s a fascinating dissection of the shift in conservative politics that came about post-Watergate and has given us Bush-the-Coward as Frank Rich so aptly describes in his NYTimes op-ed of today (unfortunately behind the paywall).

The New York Times sets the standard for Iraq debate in today’s editorial and it’s about time that the discussion shifts to the realities they lay out. They don’t equivocate, beginning with:

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

and ending with

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war.

This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.

It is time for Washington to listen before more American troops are killed or maimed, to say nothing of prolonging the suffering of the Iraqi people any longer, just to keep Bush’s ego from being bruised.