That Was Then, This Is Now

John Hinderaker of Power Line writes:

I bought a book today (Sharpe’s Rifles) in my neighborhood Barnes & Noble. It was the first time I’d been in the store since shortly before the election. I was struck by the difference: then, the tables were piled high with anti-Bush books. Dozens of them. Today, they had disappeared without a trace, not even in evidence on a remainder table. It was as though the book store (or the left) had said: Oh, well. Never mind.

Which got me thinking–remember the al Qaqaa story? Ten days before the election, it was of vital importance that we find out what happened to a “missing” one-tenth of one percent of the munitions in Iraq. Since the election? Who cares?

Or how about the draft? Remember how just before the election, the Democrats were feverishly trying to convince college students and others that, should President Bush be re-elected, there was a secret plan to reinstate the draft? Well, now that President Bush has indeed won re-election, shouldn’t the left be gearing up to resist this very real danger? Um, no. Forget about it. The draft rumor has served its purpose (or, rather, failed to serve its purpose). The left has Moved On.

Do you suppose, two years or four years from now, when the Democrats are again spinning fables, anyone will remember how quickly they abandoned some of the principal themes of this year’s campaign?

One thing the left has always been able to do, is turn on a dime, when they feel the need to.

I was about to say, “Just ask Winston“, except that that supposes that the clean-up in aisle #12 at Barnes & Noble (and Borders) is the result of some sort of top-down conspiracy–but I think it’s something in the left itself that allows it to instantly disgard old ideas and create new ones just as quickly as the American populace can go from one fad to another: skateboarding, rollerskating, disco, jogging, and down the line.