You are grossly underestimating the capcity of people to resist admitting having made poor choices. I don’t see this will cause actual desertions as much as firing up conservatives and near-conservatives who sat out the last round and, concurrently, deflating some liberals and near-liberals who will now sit down and keep mum for a while without ever actual mentioning the miscalculation or changing sides. The silence will only last as long as it takes Democrats (and the media spin-meisters) to shift blame back onto Republicans (and I don’t doubt Republicrats won’t give them an opening), and by desperately shifting the focus onto entirely different issues. The challenge for us is to keep them from changing the focus.

With any luck this kind of revelation will move more people to the right side of the aisle.