I think you are reading too much into GWB's admonition in support of freedom.
He gave no specifics other than to say the world would be better off if tyrants were to disappear, and that America, aka mankind, should seek the better angels of our nature.
I find it astonishing that so many hard core conservatives are shaking in their boots tonight at the thought that America, with all its might, should be willing to offer help to those seeking to get out from under the boot of despots and dictators.
"I find it astonishing that so many hard core conservatives are shaking in their boots tonight at the thought that America, with all its might, should be willing to offer help to those seeking to get out from under the boot of despots and dictators."
I take it then that our policy should be to go into the Sudan in force tomorrow to save the large number of starving people who endure slavery, genocide and civil war and raise taxes to pay for it? That action would mean far more than the words we say. After that we need to mount a new Bay-of-Pigs expedition into Cuba? We will stand by you. If not, why not? Maybe we do so, the point is are people expecting our actions to match our rhetoric, and if not do we lose credibility and seriousness? I know you and I are both ready to sign up tomorrow, but Buckley is saying as I understand him that with finite resources heart-rending choices have to be made and losing credibility is a dangerous political precedent.