Can I just say how irritating I find the argument, "You might disagree with him, but at least he stands by his principles. You gotta respect him for that."
I'm sorry, but if I find his principles repugnant, but I will not respect him for standing by them.
Unless a principle is truly morally repugnant (which few principles of politicians truly are), I think it's good to respect principled people. Even if you disagree on stuff like welfare and sociasm vs. capitalism, those things are coming down to a perspective of how you think the government should be involved in dealing with its citizens. It's not until you get into how the government actually views its citizens (fascism, Naziism, etc.) that you cross a dangerous line.
