One of Our Obsessions Here

One of our obsessions here at Altercation has always been the incredible ability of most people to find ways to explain that no matter what the evidence may say, they happen to be right in the first place. If the evidence doesn't fit your prejudices, ignore the evidence .You can see this tendency almost anywhere, and most of the time, it's not that important. (In the case of say, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, it is rather important because tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of people are dying for it, but that's another matter.) The other day we took a short look at Christopher Hitchens' impressive ability to convince himself that he was right to join the neocon team and endorse virtually every catastrophe Bush and company have managed to pull off in Iraq and then some. But even so, I have to say, I don't think I have ever seen a more impressive example of it than Joe Klein's post yesterday in which -- I swear I'm not making this up -- he argues that he was correct when he wrote, just before the Bush presidency, "Given the circumstances, there is only one possible governing strategy [for George W. Bush]: a quiet, patient, and persistent bipartisanship."

Read the whole Altercation here.