As Fayetteville turns, so turns the country

Maggie says:
The news out of Washington is that Bush's approval rating just hit an all-time low of 32%. The news out of North Carolina is that support for the war in this (reluctantly) red state just dipped below 50%. The news out of Fayetteville, NC (a military and Republican stronghold if there ever was one) is that even in a town dominated by Fort Bragg, cracks are surfacing everwhere.

From an NPR piece this morning, we heard that the conservative bastion is:

• home to the general who started the (in-house) call for Rumsfeld's head
• a place where according to a local reporter, at every stoplight you can see a Bush/Cheney sticker on at least one bumper
• a place where "Democrats are coming out the woodwork" as the Iraq war's gotten messier

The folks interviewed for the story were certainly not progressive activists who've been in hiding since the Gore defeat. NPR spoke mostly to veterans, worried about their grandchildren stationed overseas, worried about the state of the military today, worried about the lack of preparation and exit strategy, and just plain... worried.

The moment when blind trust starts to break is a powerful one.

But for some, unwavering trust is the only way to truly be patriotic: One man, to paraphrase, said that "bin Laden must be laughing his head off listening to American detractors while he's eating his goat cheese," and that American protestors "are playing right into his hands."

Please.

One of my favorite bumper stickers is "Dissent is Patriotic." Have you seen it? That sticker will always piss off goat cheese guy and those like him. But for the Americans full of worry, regrets, second thoughts, and doubt about where Bush&Co are leading us - in other words, the Americans who listen to their hearts and heads and use them - it might just be an inspiration point.

The tide is turning, folks.