A small but crucial difference
Everything the intelligent reports said about Saddam were being said under Clinton.
Except that Clinton didn't declare war on Iraq. The reports may have been consistent, but the biases and agenda of the leadership was profoundly different. Judgment was something of a factor, don't you think?
Quibbling about one point doesn't mean I disagree completely with everything else you've said. My take on it is that while Conservatives value consistency and conformity and uniformity, they're defeated by human nature, and in fact all Conservatives are not alike.
I perceive the "problem faction" to be the "evangelical Conservatives", the ideological militants who feel they must crush all dissent underfoot. While those squeaky wheels get all the attention, I know other Conservatives, the ones I sometimes call "Classic Conservatives", who are willing to coexist with, and work with, those who disagree with them.
Where's RNE these days? We could use an antidote to the fervent evangelism of TB and gbaikie.