Faulty Logic

Patrick Ruffini, who is working in some capacity on the Guiliani campaign, has some thoughts on the upcoming election and how the Republican candidates are moving to the right (which will no doubt come as a surprise to many of the party base who sees them as a collection of sell-outs. But say it he does.

Today, virtually every Republican carries the banner of spending discipline. With the exception of Chuck Hagel, the primary candidates or prospective candidates haven't really wavered on the prosecution of the war.

So, if conservatism is a "broken" brand, wouldn't candidates be running away from it rather than running on it?

Chuck Hagel isn't in it yet, and, of course, polling numbers say that running on a promise to continue the Bush foreign policy may not end up being the best strategy. A lot of Americans are frustrated with how Iraq has turned out; promising more countries like Iraq probably isn't a winning strategy.

But I like the logic of this piece - Ruffini's basically saying that if pledging support for the Iraq war and continued belligerence were a bad idea, Guiliani and McCain wouldn't be doing it. But come on, Ruffini, isn't it at least possible that your candidates are idiots? Or maybe blinded by ideology? I mean a good political strategy is a strategy that works, and right now however passionately they support the war in Iraq, it's clear that they are out of step with the majority of the American people.