pudge's Journal: Principles

It is very common for people to make alliances based on principle. If you don't agree with me on immigration, abortion, gun rights, then I dub thee Wrong or worse.

However, most of those issues are purely philosophical, and some of the others (like immigration) largely so. You can argue facts all day long, but at the end of the day I believe that we are obliged to follow the rule of law, to protect the unborn, and to allow the populace to be armed.

But Iraq is not that. There is almost nothing philosophical or static about whether progress is being made or the surge is working, and there's very little objective truth to either question. There are facts that can be interpreted.

Yet MoveOn and others treat this like it is a philosophical issue, like you have to hold a certain position, regardless of any facts, in order to be on the Right side. Hence, when Rep. Baird changed his mind due to changes in circumstances, he was dubbed a Tratior to the Cause. He dared say the surge might be working.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "reality-based" community, my ass.

That's not to say that they are wrong. Maybe the surge isn't working. But what's clearly true is that if it was, they would say it wasn't.