I think that the issue is not so much that there has been a shift, but that people are troubled that _this_ is probably the explanation for the "fucking stagmire". That is, no matter what happened to this administration, support from the Armageddon Death Cult Auxilliary didn't waiver. In spite of having policy preferences that are clearly not those peddled by the Armageddon Death Cult Auxilliary voted the Bushevik Business Brigade back into office -- regardless as to what they'll do to the rest of the world, regardless as to the probability that they, themselves, are probably looking at a far less secure environment than they imagine.
BTW, hooey about how people in Podunk are afraid of getting suitcase bombed, I think it's more about the notion that, if we give up and skeedaddle, we'll be showing weakness and, as a result, the terrorists will come out in droves to attack us.
The Freudians have a name for the defense formation, don't they?
Kelley
"We live under the Confederacy. We're a podunk bunch of swaggering pious hicks."
--Bruce Sterling