Wherein I Agree with Jonah Goldberg
BSG Spoilers, etc.
Jonah has a good point on Tom Zarek:
The brilliance of Zarek’s night of the long knives was that he understood better than anyone what they were doing. He was the consummate revolutionary and former terrorist, who understood at every step that victory mattered more than anything else (note: as a moral matter, I think this is all nuts) because he day dreamed about power while pretending to be a democrat. What I like about the characters on BSG is that they are flawed, deeply flawed, sometimes idiotically flawed. The notion that Zarek wouldn’t cross that line stems from a misguided belief that people with good intentions don’t end up doing terrible evil.
The one caveat I’d add is this; Zarek had the Quorum executed just a bit too early. He had the legislative body under his literal, physical control, and there was no need to execute them prior to their arrival at a decision. Adama was, as Zarek realized, a different proposition; Gaeta would have been well advised to shoot him in the back of the head at the first opportunity. The Quorum, however, represented no real threat to Zarek and considerable opportunity. Executing them when he did was premature. That said, I can understand why the writers telescoped events.
H/t Duss.