The metamorphosis of certain Republicans in congress from Party Sheep into elected officials since the Dems stomped in the mid-terms has been interesting. Since they no longer have to work in fear of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist anymore, they seem to have found their voices again. Many of my leftie brethren are a bit frustrated that it took them so long and there is something to be said for that. I’m just happy that they’re willing to admit their mistake in an effort to improve matters rather than heroically fighting a losing battle with reality like DeLay has been.

The latest of those who have seen the light is Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR). His speech to the senate last week was like a gunshot in a canyon – it got everyone’s attention and you can still hear the echoes.

Sen. Smith: And I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes for supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal.

He has since appeared on This Week with George Stephanopolis…

SMITH: I am for fighting the war on terror against jihadists. When you get to being policeman in a sectarian civil war, that is not what the American people enlisted for. That’s not what I voted for.

I voted for toppling a chief terrorist and tyrant, ridding him of weapons of mass destruction but not for being target practice in the middle of a sectarian strife that we see, where hundreds of bodies a day are pulled out of the Tigris River, Sunnis and Shias who are butchering each other, really, over the question of who has the rightful successor to Mohammed.

…and yesterday on The Situation Room.

Sen. Smith: I simply hit the end of the rope if you will. I felt I had to speak up because if these sacrifices are being made in pursuit of policy that cannot succeed then we need to admit it and readjust in a way that the American people and our soldiers find worth the sacrifice and this is not.—I find examples like the British generals day after day in the first world war would send thousands of their men running into machine guns and not make adjustments. I find that criminal.

And when we send our young folks out in vehicles that cannot take out, er, er accept these kind of blasts to them without taking their lives I don’t find that smart. I find that derelict in duty…

What I’d really like to see is the people who watch Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly have this kind of revelation. Things are not going well in Iraq – not by a long shot. Our reasons for being there have dried up to the point that not even Bush can name a reason for us to stay there other than “success”, whatever that means.