Politics and Culture

"I'm not sure. It's a tough question. On the one hand, Iraq is much more peaceful, al Qaeda's defeated, and we have an ally in the region. On the other hand, MoveOn and my buddy Bill Ayers are very disappointed in the continuation of American hegemony. My world view would have been vindicated with a loss. Dissonance is painful. Have you ever had dissonance? It hurts."

This is a fundamentally different question than "Would you have invaded Iraq?" because one can argue that the Iraq invasion has and will have good effects beyond neutralizing a near threat from WMD.

The surge is nothing less than the strategy for victory. The only negative effect is that it made liberals look like fools.

This reminds me of when Obama said that he would raise capital gains taxes even if they brought in less revenue. "Facts be darned! This is about principle."