Poll: For First Time, Most Say Iraq War Was a Mistake

via (washingtonpost.com):

President Bush heads into his second term amid deep and growing public skepticism about the Iraq war, with a solid majority saying for the first time that the war was a mistake and most people believing that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld should lose his job, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

While a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties. This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict there was "not worth fighting" -- an eight-point increase from when the same question was asked this summer, and the first time a decisive majority of people have reached this conclusion.

There is an old definition of a liberal: someone who is right about most things, but too soon.

This story also casts Shrub's "I've earned some capital -- now I'm going to spend it" in a new light. I originally was struck by what a bizarre way that is for a Harvard B-School grad to speak (one does not generally "spend" capital -- unless, that is, one is a trust fund baby), but I now see that he had best spend it fast, because he may not have it much longer.