Instapundit on Iraq/Althouse/Giving Up

As blogging drags onward, we can begin to track subtle changes in the attitudes and opinions of bloggers. See Josh’s ongoing jihad against Andrew Sullivan. Or peruse the bigger blogging sites for ongoing criticism of the Instapundit. It would seem that the allegeldy libertarian Instapundit has, for all intents and purposes, become a Republican. But because he won’t admit to such, readers have to sift through what little cover there is for his apparently new political position. In the case I’m about to cite, Reynolds agrees with the sentiment, but shields himself without actually saying it himself.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS DEPRESSED: “It’s the failure of Americans to support the war. It’s the folding and crumpling because things didn’t go well enough and the way we conspicuously displayed that to our enemies. They’re going to use that information. For how long? Forever.”…It’s okay to be depressed. It’s just not OK to give up…Austin Bay takes a less negative view.

In other words, Reynolds agrees with Althouse’s belief that Americans just gave up on Iraq, but he didn’t actually have to say so himself. What I don’t understand is that little reason for why Americans might (if you actually believe that they did) have given up on Iraq: the Administration’s jaw-dropping arrogance in the run-up and execution of the war itself. We don’t live in a world where either you’ve given up on the war, or you support whatever the administration says blindly. It seems clear that had the administration been willing to actually look at the Iraqi situation and adapt, things there might be better. Voters recognized this, and elected politicians who have promised to approach the war differently.

Why can’t Reynolds argue this? Isn’t he supposed to be the middle-grounder, the moderate, the man who looks at the evidence and makes reasonable conclusions? Yet, he seems perfectly willing to accept that America is a country in which only two possibilities are…well…possible. This is mistaken at best, and downright stupid at worst.

One of the problems with blogging is the polarization inherent in it, a belief that either you’re with us or against us, and you’re not capable of being in between. Instapundit’s recent blogging is evidence of this, sadly.