I'm not obsessing about the Iraq war itself at the moment, just pondering the madness of the pundit crowds generally. Opinion isn't entirely homogeneous, but there is class solidarity, deference to hierarchies, groupthink, and of course unshakeable self-regard.
And the truth is if enough people with big microphones keep insisting 2+2=5, they win, and 2+2=5. Everyone who mattered went on teevee and said Colin Powell holding up a vial of sugar was a slam dunk case for war, and anyone who disagreed was ridiculous. We don't hear it quite as much now (though we will again!), but the inevitable doom of Social Security was just a fact for decades. All the smart people agreed!
