[ArmoredCav]

A great article by a great historian.

[x]

This is one of the best pro-Bush/anti-Kerry articles of the year. Unfortunately, in Bill Clinton's America, a candidate's virtues don't make him prevail at the polls, and the vices of the opponent don't lose elections. If a people is determined enough to get a new government, they will, even if it means making a very bad choice.

[Savage Beast]

Excellent. Shout this to all the people of America:

"All the elements of anarchy and unrest in the Middle East and Muslim Asia and Africa are clamoring and praying for a Kerry victory.

The mullahs and the imams, the gunmen and their arms suppliers and paymasters, all those who stand to profit — politically, financially, and emotionally — from the total breakdown of order, the eclipse of democracy, and the defeat of the rule of law, want to see Bush replaced.

His defeat on November 2 will be greeted, in Arab capitals, by shouts of triumph from fundamentalist mobs of exactly the kind that greeted the news that the Twin Towers had collapsed and their occupants been exterminated."

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Wow, this is really big news. This guy laid it out in a world view way very clearly.

[RedRepublic]

What a great piece of work!!!

I knew that Bush must win. But the way that Paul Johnson put it, everything is so much cleared why we should keep President Bush in the White House.

Thank you for posting this article. I'll send it to some friends to read.

[Graymatter]

Now if only this were a full-page ad in every major newspaper...

[rightinthemiddle]

This is a great article to e-mail to newspaper editorial boards. It sounds much like an endorsement.

FReepers, unite! Forward this article to any paper with an e-mail address!

[Chgogal]

Thank you! Mega Bump.

The first paragraph is astonishingly true.

"The great issue in the 2004 election — it seems to me as an Englishman — is, How seriously does the United States take its role as a world leader, and how far will it make sacrifices, and risk unpopularity, to discharge this duty with success and honor? In short, this is an election of the greatest significance, for Americans and all the rest of us. It will redefine what kind of a country the United States is, and how far the rest of the world can rely upon her to preserve the general safety and protect our civilization."

Let us hope a majority of us in the majority of states vote wisely.

[willyboyishere]

Paul Johnson possesses absolutely the most lucid mind and offers the shrewdest judgements of any living historian.
It was absolutely thrilling to read so concise a summing-up of our current situation. I especially liked "there is nothing glamorous about the Bush Administration....it is all hard pounding...." as he refers it back to wartime 200+ years ago. Contrast the realities of the world the Bush Administration has dealt with for four years with the ersatz Nouveau- Camelot image the Kerry wannabes are trying to sell: it's simply the difference between Reality and Fantasy, and it's a reality we must face now, in this accelerated game of "catch-up" we've been forced to play by the unprecedented event of 9-11. But back to Johnson:
I have to recommend INTELLECTUALS, in which he deals with some prominent 20th century "public intellectuals" like the odious Lillian Hellman, bad boy Norman Mailer, and Jean-Paul Sartre, among at least a dozen others. Once you have read Johnson's analysis of Sartre, replete with some incredible real-life details, you will NEVER forget it, and NEVER be able to hear or read the name "Sartre" again without snorting. THANKS FOR THIS GREAT POST!!

[Tench_Coxe]

I'd say 'thank you' to this author. Well, thank you.
His analysis is spot on which won't be recognized by folks on the take or those with their head in the clouds.

[Billthedrill]

Great find, and thanks for taking the trouble to type it in for us. Anyone who honestly thinks that the UN can handle the radical Islamists is free to vote for Kerry. (I'd just as soon somebody that stupid didn't drive, but there it is.) What I find baffling is the level of deliberate denial among those who seriously consider a hugely-funded international effort that has committed the atrocities that radical Islam has to be a "nuisance." I'm sure there were those who thought that Pearl Harbor was but a pinprick, but at least back then they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it.

[Revolting cat!]

Paul Johnson gees it (in fact, in another article he recently wrote for Forbes magazine he points out the Bushies' mistake in Iraq in underestimating the Arab capacity for prolonged resistance - citation from memory) while most Americans, yes most, don't. If George W. Bush were in the next three weeks go into a grocery store, look at a barcode scanner and say "Golly, when did they invent that?" or, heaven forbid, mispell the word "tomatoe", he'll be sure to lose this coming election.

[HighWheeler]

bump. good find

[Rocky]

Anti-Americanism, like anti-Semitism, is not, of course, a rational reflex. It is, rather, a mental disease, and the Continentals are currently suffering from a virulent spasm of the infection, as always happens when America exerts strong and unbending leadership.

Bush must win. Fabulous. Thanks for posting this. I am e-mailing it to friends.

[McGavin999]

Well....from his mouth to God's ear. We all know this, that's why we've been so strongly behind this man. He's us, and he has to finish what has been started. This world is in a battle for it's very life.

[dead]

I'd like to drug Michael Moore and tatoo this entire essay on his belly.

Twice.

[Sam Cree]

thanks
check

[Congressman Billybob]

It is always a pleasure to read an article by someone who reaches deep into American history to find the right analogy to present circumstances. It is also why the latest book I am working on, is about Thomas Paine, who wrote the memorable line that is quoted in this article.

That line, which is also the title of my book, is "These are the times that try men's souls."

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Mein Fuhrer, I Can Valk!"

[kanawa]

Historian Paul Johnson on American Liberty

From the evil empire to the empire for liberty

[fight_truth_decay]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1248266/posts

AN IRAQI OPINION: THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS - "are more crucial than our own "..also why Bush must win; but by an Iraqi citizen (blogger)

[PJ-Comix]

Second, Kerry's personal character has, so far, appeared in a bad light. He has always presented himself, for the purpose of Massachusetts vote-getting, as a Boston Catholic of presumably Irish origins. This side of Kerry is fundamentally dishonest. He does not follow Catholic teachings, certainly in his views on such issues as abortion — especially when he feels additional votes are to be won by rejecting Catholic doctrine. This is bad enough. But since the campaign began it has emerged that Kerry's origins are not in the Boston-Irish community but in Germanic Judaism. Kerry knew this all along, and deliberately concealed it for political purposes.

FINALLY, someone has pointed this out in public. Kerry has known from early youth just EXACTLY what his background was. Think about it. If you had an Irish name wouldn't you be asking questions such as "Dad, what part of Ireland were our ancestors from?" or something similar. Kids are curious about stuff like that. According to Kerry he ALWAYS knew that he WASN'T Irish. So are we to believe that he didn't have the slightest bit of curiousity as to his REAL background. Kerry knew what his family background on his father's side was but kept his mouth shut so he could get into exclusive schools and organizations such as Skull & Bones.