VDH to Dems: Just Be Honest

Victor Davis Hanson, one of my all-time favorite authors on history and the War on Terror, writes yet another excellent article. The crux is this:

When both congressional Democrats and Republicans cast their votes to go along with President Bush, they even crafted 23 formal causes for war. So far only the writ concerning the fear of stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction has in hindsight proven false.

But we no longer hear much about these various reasons why the Democrats understandably supported the removal of Saddam Hussein. Instead, they now most often plead that they were hoodwinked by sneaky, warmongering neocons or sexed-up, partisan intelligence reports.

There is nothing wrong with changing your mind — especially in matters as serious as war. But the public at least deserves a sincere explanation for this radical about-face.

So why not come clean about their changes of heart?

Why not indeed? Probably because they're stuck between the frothing-at-the-mouth MoveOn/DailyKos types that control most of the money they need, and the rubes in what they call "fly-over country" who control most of the votes, they need. To come clean would be to lose one of those, and thus, lose power.

So they keep dancing on that tightrope. And it's quite entertaining to watch.