It was actually amazing that the public caught on, that Bush hit sub-30 in the polls. As I used to say, they figured it all by themselves, because nobody on the teevee, or any of the Nice Polite Republicans, were telling them they should think that way. As Bush sunk lower and lower in the polls, David Broder was writing columns about the likely "Bush bounce," and reminiscing about dining on quail with Karl Rove.
They were okay with the war, they were okay with the torture, they were okay with these horrible monsters and the people they murdered, and are still mostly enraged by the people who think they're shitheads because of it.
Some will argue that the moment of a man's death is not the time to discuss just how horrible he was. That's ridiculous, at least as applied to public figures and not your shitty Uncle Jim, but more to the point, none of those people would've had unkind words to say about The Great Rumsfeld two weeks ago either.