My war, drunk or sober

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," said Samuel Johnson. The same seems increasingly true for Republicans, though it might be repetitive to append the observation to the aphorism of our wise lexicographer. (All this, by the way, I say as a registered pachyderm.)

You need go no further than the ongoing tiff about tossing bombs in Saddam's backyard to see the proof. So far the rule has been to hand pompoms and megaphones to fans of the move and gags and duct tape to dissenters. The result has been few dissenters.

One, Sen. Robert Byrd, said in a hearing late last month, "If we expect to kill every terrorist in the world, that's going to keep us going beyond Doomsday."