This is a special edition of Doorstep Postings, the periodic political commentary column written by Josh Lieblein for The CJN.

At some point in the vast and inexorable history of Canadian political thought, it was decided that repeatedly humiliating yourself with climbdowns from the position you took until you got yelled at was a mark of leadership and willingness to consider an alternative point of view.

Every time someone like, let’s say, Doug Ford adjusts his position in response to pushback, and someone calls him on it, opinion-makers and pundits are compelled to talk about how skilled he is at defusing situations that could have gotten a lot worse. The worst you can say about Premier Doug is that he just wants to be liked, and how harmful is that? Are you really going to be so unreasonable that you’re going to stay mad at him for doing what you wanted?

See my statement below: pic.twitter.com/AAr6hO6uMk

And so, when foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly sends out yet another statement, reaffirming that at least for today, Hamas are the bad guys, the same thinking applies. If it’s better than her previous position, which I think was most recently that the two state solution was never closer, or if it was better than her boss Justin Trudeau’s previous position that Israel’s actions today are undermining support for Israel tomorrow, then what am I getting so upset for? Besides, I might not even have her position right, so who am I to criticize? I’m just a columnist around here.

It’s my job not to spread disinformation and it’s not her fault if I can’t be bothered to sift through weeks of shifting goalposts. Unless we want the Trump-style politics of Pierre Poilievre, we’d better be prepared for views to change when the facts change.

For example, when Hamas posts a video thanking........

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