I seek the perfect analogy. Lately I have been embroiled in a strenous debate about the potential invasion of Iraq. There are two reasons that I let myself get dragged into such irresolvable arguments. I am either 1) procrastinating and/or 2) feeling a need for some kind of intellectual community (that’s what happens when you have few friends). It strikes me that at some point in every long debate, the participants despair of making their point directly and turn to analogy. Then the debate turns from the issue to the imperfection of the various analogies. Is Iraq like Germany in 1938, with Cheney playing Churchill? Is the standard of evidence needed to justify an attack the same as that in a criminal trial? Straight descriptions fail because one side or both refuses to change their minds. Analogies fail under their own weight. The latter are more interesting, but ultimately they all become tiresome.