"If I had been vociferously, prominently, moralistically, and disastrously wrong on the major foreign-policy issue of the time -- that is, if I had been all-out in favor of invading Iraq and had been withering in my dismissal of those not man enough to support that step or who said "what's the rush?" -- then I might, conceivably, be a little hesitant before striking similar cocksure poses about new issues as they came up," writes James Fallows. "But apparently this is just me."
But it's better than that. One could imagine a chastened supporter growing gun-shy and skittish about American force. What's hard to imagine is not merely doubling down, but moving from advocating belligerence on a small nation like Iraq to belligerence against %&*^*@$ China. It's like finding out that punching a cement wall doesn't get you to the other side, and so you lower your head and run skull-first into the barrier.
