"I consider this issue to be the height of stupidity when it becomes Rule or Ruin and can never support giving in to stupidity."
If you really believe that, then your FIRST principle is not to win the War On Terror, but to stand for the principle of never giving in to stupidity.
In politics, to achieve the greater goal, you often have to give in to a lot of what you think is stupidity on a lot of other fronts, because those other fronts are all somebody else's greater goal.
In this case, if the Democrats get Congress, funds are cut for operations in Iraq and the War On Terror is lost. Democrats will get Congress if the BorderBots leave. The BorderBots look like they have left, and won't come back unless they get what they want. You won't give them what they want, because you think it is stupid, and you think that giving into stupidity is the worst sin of all.
Which means that you're willing to lose the war in order to teach a lesson to the stupid.
I wouldn't stand on the "teaching a lesson" principle if I were you. Nobody ever learns that sort of lesson.
The better thing to do is focus on what you think is most important. Winning the War On Terror is a noble goal. To win it, you need to keep Congress. To do that, you have to give some people you think are stupid, demanding and petulant what they want. It's your only shot, and it doesn't cost you anything other than the irritation of agreeing to stupid things to appease stupid people.
But that's the price.
If, instead, you eschew winning the War On Terror in pursuit of the "higher" goal of teaching "stupid" people a lesson by not giving into them on principle, they won't get what they want, and the War On Terror will be lost. The plane crashes, and they will blame you and not learn a damned thing anyway.
With men, it's best to stick with the possible. Making stupid people smart is not possible, either way. I'm confident there are plenty of them who think YOU'RE stupid.
But you can work with stupid people to get the biggest part of your agenda. You originally stated that was the War On Terror. You originally stated that the War On Terror is an absolute, which we MUST win.
Here, you've said that you can NEVER support giving in to stupidity?
Well, you HAVE TO, if you want to win the War On Terror.
So, which is it going to be?
I think you were right all along: the War On Terror is too important to lose. And that means that you actually HAVE to "give into stupidity" on the Border and give the BorderBots substantially what they want. Otherwise the war is lost with Congress. And that's just not worth it in the service of stubbornness.
Knuckle under, or take the blame...nope, sorry, not buying it.
All they have to do to get the base on board is stick with the bird in the hand. You want to make it the bird's fault if the republicans lose it all going for "the one in the bush."
Not even ten years later, and they forget the lessons of 2000...
Sorry, wrong guy...
Your belief that the Unappeasables can be appeased is what I do not believe and why I do not pretend that they can be. They want a total deportation with the border shut down so tight that a fly won't get across unimpeded. They do not care if it destroys the business relations between countries. They want Mexico considered as an ENEMY. They do not care if it ruins thousands of American businesses.
Aren't you reading some of these threads? How does the sheer hatred eminating from some of these posters escape your notice?