Dowd on Feith

Yep, that's pretty much right...

Some people simply don't seem to be capable of understanding when they are wrong. This is, of course, a fatal disadvantage to the rational inquirer. But to those in more practical fields, it is in a certain sense an incalculable advantage. An advantage insofar as it helps them impose their will, marshal their energies more single-mindedly...but a disadvantage in that they are as likely to do the wrong thing as the right thing.

If I ever screw up 1/1000th of 1% as badly as Feith did, I'll probably die of self-loathing. Feith, however, seems entirely oblivious to his sins. Truly astonishing.

The kind of single-mindedness and immunity from self-criticism on display here are characteristics conservatives have more often than liberals. This is one reason why liberals are right more often than conservatives, but also a reason why conservatives win more often. Liberals have their own characteristic vices, of course, but that's a different story.