Kerry, Yrrek, and principles

Principle- A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.

“Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.” -Winston Churchill

And some change their principles with the wind or the polls.
John Kerry said this, to the Council on Foreign Relations, when he wanted the votes of Republicans and Democrats:
“In fact, I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election. I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit. But it would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists. Security and political stability cannot be divorced. Security must come first, and that is why it is so imperative to succeed in building a genuine coalition on the ground in Iraq.”

He recently said this, on the Imus show, now that he only wants the votes of Democrats:
“Stay the course is not a plan. And what this administration wants is to have a fake debate, as usual. They're -- you hear the drum beat on every television show from every commentator, "cut and run, cut and run, cut and run, cut and run." That's their phrase. They found their three words. They love to do that. And they're going to try to make the elections in November a choice between "cut and run" and "stay the course". That's not the choice. My plan is not "cut and run." Their plan is "lie and die." And that's what they are doing. They lie to America, what's happening on the ground. They lie about why we're there. They lie about what's happening. And our plan is very simple. It's re-deploy to win the war on terror. Change to succeed. You have a better chance of success if the Iraqis are given notice that they've got to begin to take over and stand up for themselves. It's very simple. Iraqis have to fight for Iraq.”

Yet it’s happening before his very eyes.
Slowly, but surely, we are winning. Iraqis are fighting for Iraq.
Yrrek was right before he was wrong.

But some men don’t change their principles to coincide with the polls.
This is what our Commander-in-Chief recently said, at Kansas State University:

“First of all, when you make decisions, you've got to stand on principle. If you're going to make decisions, you've got to know what you believe. I guess the best way to summarize me is I came from Texas and I'm going back to Texas with the exact same values I had when I arrived in Washington, D.C.”

and our President won’t run the war between fundraisers and state dinners.
He also said this:

“Now, I want to emphasize something to you, you heard me say, "our commanders on the ground said," you see, sometimes in the political process people feel beholden to polls and focus groups. You don't have to worry about me. I'm going to be listening to the people that know what they're talking about, and that's the commanders on the ground in Iraq. They'll make the decisions. They will give the advice. Conditions on the ground will dictate our force levels over the next year, but the strategy is what I said it is: We'll stay on the offense, and we'll give these brave Iraqis the skills and training necessary to defend their own democracy.

Yep. We elected the right man.