Few on this forum initially, publicly worried about the facts and their implications. With time, two groups developed.
A dogged few, assembling many small and oft times obscure pieces of the puzzle while most were just thankful for a champion that sounded like their savior. They listened politely but were unpersuaded.
By early 2004, after the Austrian's initial budget proposal, a third group emerged. Deeply loyal partisans who absolutely refused to accept the growing evidence. They ignored the facts and attacked the messengers. Their's was a policy of savvy politics; tolerating the bad to salvage a little good. Political compromise. This group still survives today having shifted their attitudes on slightly.
To the credit of the initial believers in an imported savior, as the Austrian continued his conservative rhetoric but practiced liberal policies their faith wained. It would appear that hiring one of Davis' chief strategist, the suspected architect of one of his most heinous grafts, trading an estimated $41M in taxpayer monies for a $250,000 campaign donation was the final straw. As a matter of fact, when the scheme was uncovered, it was the final straw for many Democrats in the legislature and Kennedy was forced to testify before them. Those hearings sealed Davis' fate.
Arnie's Army = Bushbots