[gondramB]

>>Am I the only one who is heartsick at what has become of us as a nation..

How did it get to this point.<<

This is gonna sound really cynical but we got here because the American public is fickle.
Check this graph of the Presidents approval.

The President had low approval. Then after 9/11 the public suddenly approved and demanded action. Congress authorized it for Iraq because Afghanistan went so well. The public supported the President. When the war dragged on the public support stopped.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

The Democrats had planned all along to sabotage the Bush Admin from day one. From election day until August 2001 the Democrats were obstructing Bush's cabinet appointments and otherwise trying to hobble the formation of Bush's Admin while the Socialist MSM bashed away about "election fraud" and other such nonsense, all intended to discredit Bush's reelection and to hobble his new administration.

Their plan was simple: Hobble the administration during year one by delaying cabinet and other appointments, obstruct all legislation by changing Senate operating rules, hammer away through the MSM for the next two years, and then defeat him when he ran for reelection....But then came 9-11...and the obstructors had to swim to the bottom of the political ocean and weather the patriotic storm which ensued.

After enough time had passed, the anti-american Democrat sharks swam back to the surface and began hunting anew. Only the extended duration of the Iraqi "war", coupled with endless bashing by the MSM, eventually saved the day for the otherwise useless democrats. And then November 2006 happened, and so here we are.

Of course, 9-11 and Iraq notwithstanding, one has to ignore an awful lot (economic news, etc.) in order to convince the public to agree with such an approval trend. But then, the democrats and MSM are masters at lying to the American public.