The Republicans you see are not the Republicans who run for office.

There are Republicans who offer a nice face to the media, and there are those who run the election campaigns. They are not the same. Nor, are those who make the government decisions the nice ones. Here is Digby

Sometimes I get criticism from my readers for suggesting that the Democrats must play on the same playing field as the Republicans. They say, "we shouldn't become them." But I never suggest that the Democrats should lie, cheat or play dirty as the Republicans do. I suggest that they wise up and stop pretending that Republicans are anything but ruthless adversaries and adjust accordingly. They can be beaten with smart strategies, but not unless the Democrats internalize the connection between the nice men and women they are working with on capitol hill every day with the thugs they hire to get elected. They are all cogs in the same cutthroat political machine.

The nice Republican faces did not preemptively invade Iraq. Those nice Republican faces, however, are controlled by people such as Dick Cheney who are truly nasty people.

It is the Cheneyesqe decisions that are the face of America to the rest of the world, not the nice guys.