Do y'all feel fooled yet?

Do y'all feel fooled yet? I mean, when you hear the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates saying "we're not winning in Iraq" do y'all feel that maybe you've been a little misled.

And when I say y'all, I mean all of you Bush loyalists. If you're managing to cling to "job done" and "we're winning" even now - I got to hand it to you. But I'm guessing that maybe you might feel just a little bit silly after your vehement denials of civil war, quagmire, incompetence, or the lack of strategy, vision, plan and execution.

I'm not gloating. I don't think very many people in America really wanted to see us fail to achieve altruistic or even patriotic objectives in Iraq and the region. I think this has damaged America. I don't think any American really wants that - even though we might disagree about what's in America's best interest from time to time. And I do believe that there's a threat of Islamism rising in the Middle East - and I hoped our actions in Iraq would help - but I think it's probably obvious now that we've only made things worse with Bush's Iraqscapade.

I'm not gloating. I believed Bush, too. I believed Tony Blair. Even for stuff I wasn't too sure about (ability to deliver WMD to UK in 30 minutes - I didn't believe that), I gave them the benefit of the doubt on. I just haven't believed them in a while. (And just so you know, it wasn't after the WMD didn't turn up - 'cause I admit - I believed that Saddam Hussein had them and I still wonder if maybe Saddam believed he had them).

It was easier for me, I admit, to shake off my belief in what Bush and Blair were saying and doing. After all, I vote Democrat in the US and support the Conservatives in the UK - so I didn't have any party loyalty to blind me in this case. But when I realised it was a passle of lies, incompetence and self-delusion, I felt fooled. I felt pretty angry with myself. Even worse, I felt angry with Bush and Blair for making me look stupid for believing them in the eyes of the Marxists and Islamists and woolly-headed leftists.

So, all you Bush loyalists, you neo-cons and true believers, I'm just wondering. Do y'all feel fooled?