Duane--

Nice quote from Twain.  Had the US presented this argument to the UN
Security Council, the outcome may have been rather different.  But
instead Colin Powell embarrassed himself with diagrams and surveillance
photographs that did not prove anything.  Indeed, he simply confirmed
all of the suspicions on which UNSCOM was authorized.  So we invade a
country that poses no immediate threat to us to find weapons of mass
destruction that as yet do not exist.   We console ourselves that the
IRaquis are now free of the evil dictator.  I wonder if the tens of
thousands who've died are happier now.  I'm sure there's a Twain quote
to support my misgivings, but I think I'm entitled to my position
without his authorization.

Your claim of being vilified by academics when you've presented a
"rational conservative view" doesn't square with our earlier exchange.
I offered an argument for my criticism of Bush's presidency based on
three positions.  Your rejoinder was not a rebuttal of my
positions--and I even invited opportunites for counterarguments--but a
mischaracterization of my reasoned postion as "shrieking."  That's what
prompted my quip about Coulter.  When confronted with arguments,
Coulter and many other conservatives, don't join the debate, they
simply talk--and usually inaccurately--about the tone of their
opposition.   Since you claim that you know what that feels like, I'm
surprised that you would engage in the same behavior.

--LH