John McCain's mind is stubborn, as is his sense of honor.
But his honor is brittle stuff indeed.
Honor, which I understand to be an adherence to some perceived set of universal principles of righteous conduct whether by a person or a nation, has a deontological logic to it. But it is blind, as is McCain, to the perverse consequences of its application to policy.
This brittle honor allows McCain to insist we stay in Iraq, while sending more troops to Afghanistan, and at the same time suggesting that genocide should not be permitted by the United States. This unthinking honor cannot acknowledge the resource constraints we face as a nation and the demands to choose amongst priorities.
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