I really wonder if anyone will have the balls to ask Bush - or even Snow - to reconcile the President's clear statement that we are winning with Gates' testimony that we are not.

Alternately, I wonder if any Congresscritters who still want to make points with Bush will take shots at Gates when his nomination comes up for the full vote...

Well, I'm glad the election put some spine in the Democrats!

Anderson,

I suspect that you are going to find that the democrats in congress are just as interested in getting re-elected and preserving/growing their power as the republicans were. As such, you'll probably find a lot less boat rocking than you would like to see.

Personally, I have been surprised at the party discipline the democrats have been able to achieve so far. It would have been easy to see them go over the top (e.g. Rangel and the draft), but they are certainly trying to keep it in check.

So Levin changed his mind and approves of him now as opposed to back in the early 90's? How noble of him...

Gates admits that we (well,Bush)is losing the war. When are LJD, Herb and Bithead going to chime in and tell us that he is an America hater and Bin Laden supporter?

Gates doesn't seem crazy or otherwise reprehensible. When a president's nominations stay within those minimal boundaries, they're accorded deference. Gates will pass w/o problem, though the hearings will and should be occasion for criticism of the war.

Anjin-san -- that is not what Dr. Gates said. read it again.

charles,

Read betweem the lines... or are you unable to go off script?

Lets try and remember what losing the war means. While Americans will continue their daily struggles- fighting the traffic, the boss, the weather, to pay their bills and raise their kids- Iraqis will be fighting for their and their children's lives.

The consequences of Bush's war will be with the world long after Bush has retired to a life of evangelical funded junkets where he will be lionised as a hero and the rest of us blamed for not persisting with his madness.