I guess principled emotionalism only works for our opponents, eh? After all, they'll be the ones handing us the defeats.
See, now you're thinking.
Principled emotionalism can work, so long as it's unified, and running parallel to the mood of the country. Ours is neither.
As of right now, the pendulum is swinging against us. That's normal. We swing left and right as a society pretty regularly, and especially after frustrating stretches like what we've seen in Iraq. Capitalizing on frustration and a desire for change is good politics. We can either seek to minimize the damage by a compromise Rudy-style candidate, or just bite the bullet and accept a principled Newt-in-'08 defeat.
America, on the whole, is tired of war, and tired of the Bush/Cheney vibe in government. People are fickle. Voters even more so. They want change, and they're going to get it. Either we give them moderate change, or they'll take leftist change. Sorry, but them's the breaks.