Consider this. Would a surgeon who does 90% of the things a surgeon does, be considered a surgeon?  He or she may dress like one, have an office with credentials on the door. claim the title, get paid a surgeon's fees, drive to the hospital, scrub, throw around orders, enter the operating room, and even ask for the scalpel. But if it stops there, and no incision is ever made? Is all that precedes that moment even relevant? 90% is a lousy record if you are the guy on the table waiting for that all important cranial-rectal-inversion reversal.

You might not see the light of day ever again.

Plumbers who are only 90% fitting of the title might also fail the test.  A creepy van with 80 year old fittings and a small animal cage, A uniform that says "Joe", A big ol pipe wrench hanging out a pocket, a half covered rear revealing a vertical horizon, an attitude, an already filled out invoice that requires a second mortgage to pay, muddy shoes to track into your home, a long story to tell you to pad the billing, and an excuse to make a trip to the wholesale plumbing store.  But without turning the pipes, unplugging the terlet or finishing the job a plumber has said he will do?

Right.

Reality check folks.  We get it.  

The test for such statements made by the Saulius Anuzises of the world is never made.  Of COURSE a surgeon who doesn't scrub can still be a surgeon if he cuts and removes (or adds) appropriate parts and pieces!  Of COURSE a plumber can be well dressed, with no attitude, and charge only what amounts to an afternoon spent at Starbucks!  In fact 60% of the aggregate might even earn them the title of proctologist or pipe technician.

What matters is that part which they ignore or are not participating in. The important part of a surgeon's job is most certainly the complicated act of knowing where to cut, and what areas are most dangerous for the patient to enter.  Without these skills or lack of applying them a Surgeon might well carry the title, but it is certainly name only. Lacking surgical garb or failing to scrub might make for poor surgical etiquette, but the principle skills are there.

Likewise, a plumber might have all the skills, all the tools yet fail to apply them.  He may simply show up to look at your flooded basement floor, and then do nothing to rectify the situation.  Alternately, he might be able to show up WITHOUT all the proper tools, yet can fix what the problem is because the skills are what makes him.

The 90% argument is a canard.  The trouble with it, is that the test of what it means to be Republican is never made.  If the Republican principles that are argued for cycle after cycle are ignored by those who wield the tools, and wear the uniform, then they are not Republican.  A person might NEVER go to a Republican function, never make a donation to the Republican party, never vote in an election for another Republican, and never talk about Republican or conservative issues, but he could still be a very real 'Republican' legislator.  The votes would define where he is at.  40% ignoring all things that identify as being consistent with the party, and everything is made right by the decisions of policy and leadership.

And what is truly based on principle.

One person's 60% might be FAR more important in the end that another person's 90%.

And yes, I would still like to see more 100% Surgeons out there.  Particularly the proctology specialists.