Tom is ever-hopeful, I think...
...but they just keep breaking his heart. A mean-spirited person might assume they were doing it on purpose.
Bowser's admitted several times that he argues as much to stir things up as he does from real conviction. I've gotta hope that's true, because he's too smart and world-wise, I think, to fail to understand that most of his arguments hold water like a bottomless pail.
Thing is, he's done it for so long I'm afraid he's actually bought into it.
I still read his posts because every now and then he writes something worth reading, but the substance--never especially concentrated--is increasingly dilute as time goes on.