Moderates and rightwingers
American Leftist discusses the problems of moderates Democrats, like Howard Dean, debating rabid rightwing loons like Richard Perle:
Both Howard Dean and Richard Perle believe that American foreign policy is fundamentally benign, that the goal of American foreign policy is to spread freedom and democracy, to protect America from external threats, to combat tyranny and so forth, that the United States may occasionally make bad decisions but that it means well. Howard Dean may believe that various actions were mistakes tactically or strategically given this frame, but he doesn’t believe said actions were immoral, illegal, or carried out in order to enforce and strengthen America’s domination over areas of the world that policy planners deem strategically important. When you put him in a room with someone like Perle you end up with a conservation about whether or not policy decisions were successful within the context of the shared frame, the big nice picture of smiley America, but you don’t don’t get a discussion about whether the big nice picture of smiley America corresponds much with reality.