It is chilling. He may have found the Damascus road, the wolf is coming at the door, and if Bush is gone, we will have Kerry who will not cry wolf, but "lets try appeasement".
Nice.
bump for later
He gets that part.
I read somewhere that when Hillary Clinton was on the David Letterman Show he asked her much the same question. He asked "what if twenty years from now we look back and see President Bush was right in everything he said about Iraq, terrorism and the Middle East". From what I've read Hillary didn't answer.
A moment of doubt in the intellectual life of an earnest Bush-hater? He sounds like Jeff Jarvis.
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This part is so true:
" The people who dislike George W. Bush have convinced themselves that opposition to his presidency is the most compelling moral issue of the day. Well, it's not. The most compelling moral issue of the day is exactly what he says it is, when he's not saying it's gay marriage. The reason he will be difficult to unseat in November—no matter what his approval ratings are in the summer—is that his opponents operate out of the moral certainty that he is the bad guy and needs to be replaced, while he operates out of the moral certainty that terrorists are the bad guys and need to be defeated. "
An interesting article well worth a read.
In some ways the author basically seems to be considering a return to the idea of being a loyal opposition as was common among the left mainstream until fairly recently.
It is a true testament to how insane the left has become in its lust for power that this article does not even reflect the mainstream of leftist thought anymore, that now to the Left Bush is a fascist, and Islamism a phantasism merely evoked to provide Bush with a tool to advance his own power.
One would think the attacks on 9/11 would have changed such fantastical whimsy for good among the Left. And it did seem to though all to briefly.
I frankly cannot understand the level of willfull ignorance the Left wallows in, even understanding the will to power that is their primary motiviation. Cynicism and expediency are one thing, castigating the most notably anti-fascist world leader since FDR as a fascist while rushing to the defense of real fascists in the Islamic world is quite another.
"What haunts me is the possibility that we have become so accustomed to ambiguity and inaction in the face of evil that we find his call for decisive action an insult to our sense of nuance and proportion."
What he has described is the Clinton Administration's approach to the President's primary responsibility: that of defending America and its constitutional republic.
Charm, appeasement, and dedication to the leaving of a "legacy" should not be considerations in our leader's decision making. President Lincoln was more concerned about the Union than about his own reelection, and his "legacy" stands on its own. Clinton, on the other hand, "fiddled" while the terrorists continued their war on America, and we had 9/11.
It's time more of the Far Left began to ask this writer's question of themselves. I don't believe that on 9/12 many of them were saying, "Gee, I wish Bill Clinton or Al Gore were our leaders today!"
Great article, thanks for posting.
Excellent read. Good find, sir!
Interesting cross-pollenization of liberal and conservative feelings there. Also of note was the ability to dissassociate simple, visceral dislike from logic.
Resist the temptation to skip parts. The whole article is very insightful. :)
Excellent read.
A good read is John C. Waugh's "Reelecting Lincoln - The Battle For the 1864 Presidency". Many parallels between then and now.
This is exactly the sort of liberal person we need to see more of in 14 weeks. Yes, he's probably going to have different opinions than most conservatives but he gets the big picture that terrorism and national security is the issue of today. You can't argue about jobs, stem cell research and gay marriage if you are dead. The fact that we have not suffered another attack has given us the luxury of debating these topics. The left's distaste of George Bush has clouded their conception of reality to the point they just don't get it any more and are willing to satisfy the whims of their indignation at the expense of American lives.
People also forget that Winston Churchill was a man hated by millions of Brits when he became PM in May 1940.
He was seen as an upper-class swine who had stupidly sacrificed thousands of soldiers uselessly at Gallipoli, and had his cavalry ride down innocent Englishman in the streets during 1920s protests.
Oh, and he drank.
And when the War was over, they voted him out.
The G*d* 24/7 media cycle has destroyed any broad interest in a historical perspective, except the most banal superficialities.