Michael Patterson’s editorial Bush’s war jeopardizes base support suggests that Bush is losing ground with his base.

Read that phrase again: Bush is losing ground with his base.

I think that Patterson is misreading the polling data. It’s not the base Bush is losing, it’s his more moderate supporters. But nevertheless, it’s a notion that makes me feel strange and tingly all over. It took me a while to identify what that feeling was — I haven’t felt it in so long — and then I realized that it was hope.