John, 
AGREED!!! And many thanks for your insights in the new year.

BTW, Karl Rove said those very things in the second year of the George W. Bush admin. 
And NOW just look at the death and destruction they have brought about in the ME especially but also in the rest of the world. 
Then Bush proudly repeats that he stuck by his convictions or he followed his convictions as if those convictions actually are somehow sanctified. 
Also what G.W. Bush is really saying is that he went by his convictions which are really nothing but his BELIEFS and not the FACTS. Had he, Chaney and Bolton and his supporters gone by FACTS they would have arrived at conclusion based on the real facts. 
Bush lives in the fantasy land ( if I believe it strongly enough God will give it to me fantasy or if I believe it hard enough it IS true/must be true). Sarah Palin and her friend Patricia Heaton seem to believe the same thing. That they are the righteous.