The reason many people were so incensed about the types of people Matthew is talking about is because the war could have been stopped. If there were few less liberal hawks running around imagining they were “more serious” than the anti-war folks, providing the mushy middle with reason to jump on the war train, it just might have been. The fact that a lot of center-left types, or what qualifies as center-left in our media anyway, took the pro-war position provided the pro-war media an easy excuse to completely marginalize all anti-war opinion.
Even now many of these same people still cling to the conceit that because they were previously for the war they now have a greater degree of credibility on this issue. Well, sorry, you were wrong. There were people who were right. Let them talk for a change.
Another group who should have spoken up earlier and more loudly was the “former generals” group. This was always my big problem with Wesley Clark. I understand that in his role of CNN analyst, which he was doing in the runup to the war, he wasn’t supposed to be particularly partisan (though, in these situations being “non- partisan” is an implicit endorsement of the status quo), but this was an important issue damnit. Screw being a CNN analyst! Quit your job and travel around the country trying to convince people that this is a really really bad idea.