The revenge of the bellicose libertarians

Many Europeans are delighted that US President George Bush is losing popularity. Ironically he is taking a beating not for being too bold, as Europeans hope, but for not being bold enough. See this roundup on the Miers debacle, and this too:

"I am seriously pissed off with Bush," says my buddy Jim the other night, apropos of nothing. "Yeah," say I, "who the hell is this Miers woman?" "Screw that," replies Jim. "What I want to know is why we haven't invaded Syria yet."
Jim, you see, is one of those bellicose libertarians that voted for GWB in droves. We carried on slating Bush for some time, listing the manifest idiocies and betrayals this administration has foisted on us. It was quite a litany. The Highway Bill. Medicaid. NCLB. SCOTUS. Not exploding Bashir Assad's skull. Letting the decadent Saudi toads finance world terror. Jim said he was probably going to sit the midterms out.

We'll see if this turns into a larger movement... I wish it did, because I do think there is still a chance that Bush will be responsive to it, if he sees that it will be necessary for a Republican win in 2006. I wonder if this development is a first sign:

As it steps up pressure on Damascus, the US is actively seeking an alternative who would take over from President Bashar al-Assad, according to sources close to the Bush administration.
Washington has consulted its allies in an inter-agency search co-ordinated by Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser. The US is also said to be considering military strikes on the Syrian border in response to its alleged support for Iraqi insurgents.

Meanwhile see this roundup of some excellent defenses of the war in Iraq.