"You'll Never Convince Me."

Baseball season is under way, and Mr. Right was trying to watch the Red Sox game in the Sports department. He is nearly as fanatical,maybe even more so, about the American League East as he is about politics. Mr. Peepers wanted to talk about Iraq. He does not know to leave well enough alone. All he needed to do was mention the recent PBS documentary on "Bush's War."

"Who calls it that?" Mr. Right demanded, "Why do they call it that? If a Democratic president had invaded Iraq, would they have called it Clinton's War, or Gore's War, or Kerry's War? But they call it Bush's War. It's not Bush's War. It's America's War. It's Our War."

But this movie showed that it is Bush's War, his and Cheney's," Mr. Peepers insisted, "They're the only ones who wanted it."

"It was the right thing to do," Mr. Right retorted, "There is nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. You'll never convince me that it wasn't the right thing to do."

That left me wondering whether Mr. Right was certain of his evidence, or merely strong in his faith, but the discussion went no further. Mr. Peepers moved on to another task, and Mr. Right was immediately re-enthralled by the ballgame. That's one of his admirable qualities, and on the political front, it might be an argument to keep baseball season going all year round.