It is difficult but they have no choice. Iraq will be with us in '06, '08, '10, ... No amount of lights and corners and tunnels will change that. I don't think all the pro-war types need to flagellate themselves publicly for their stand, but it still shocks me that in '04 more Democrats couldn't have simply said what Joe Hoeffel said when asked if he'd still have voted to authorize the war:
Absolutely not. I voted for the war because I was convinced we needed to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction. I am now convinced we were lied to.
Hoeffel took it further another time:
I am now convinced I was lied to, specifically by George Tenet and Condoleezza Rice, on Oct. 2, 2002, in the Roosevelt room of the White House, and generally, lied to by the president and all of his people in the White House.
I don't know if it would've gotten them more success in the '04 election, but it certainly would've made them more credible going into '06.