Posted on 04/07/2022 5:52:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
My British friend, Andrew Roberts, the Churchill biographer, spoke at a conference of conservatives in Brussels recently, and his remarks were reprinted in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. He reminded the assembled that there are times when conservatives are duty-bound to stand out and speak up. Roberts was disappointed in his remarks by people like David Stockman, the budget director under President Ronald Reagan, who, by the way, had a spotty career with the Old Cowboy. In his own words, Reagan "took him to the woodshed" on at least one occasion. It is time for Stockman to return to the woodshed.
Provoked by Stockman, Roberts elaborated, "Sometimes I feel that there are some in our movement who enjoy being contrary for its own sake -- out of perversity or a desire for attention -- regardless of the cost to the wider movement and how it looks to ordinary people. They fail to heed the enormous damage done to the right in denouncing Mr. Zelensky and the favorable opinion that is strongly held by many millions, perhaps billions, of people around the world who have been profoundly moved by Ukraine's plight."
What did Stockman say of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with other quislings presumably chiming in denouncing the Churchill of our time? Stockman said, "We were already getting sick and tired of this Zelenskyy clown." Clown! Stockman went on, "Zelenskyy should resign and make way for a collaborationist government that will sue for peace." Collaborationist! After all, Ukraine's present government is composed of "anti-Russian fascists and oligarchs." Stealing yet another line from President Vladimir Putin, Stockman added that Ukraine is not a real country and has no claim to sovereignty.
The language employed by Stockman has a Vichy-like quality to it -- for instance, "collaborationist" and when Stockman speaks of Putin's interest in territorial acquisition. Adolf Hitler used a more compact word, "Lebensraum." Still, I think Stockman's move to the Vichy right could have waited a few weeks. There were others who joined him. One was Rep. Madison Cawthorn, the youngest current congressman, who called Zelenskyy a "thug" and said that the "Ukrainian government is ... incredibly evil, and it has been pushing woke ideologies."
As I say, these quislings came out against Zelenskyy at a less than auspicious time for them. First, there was Zelenskyy's superb interview with Bret Baier on Fox News last week. Zelenskyy came across as reasonable and sympathetic, not beating his chest, only calling for that which he and his countrymen had earned. That is to say, a country free of Russian invaders and at peace with the world. Second came the revelations of the weekend. After Ukrainian troops pushed back the Russians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, they found civilian corpses strewn throughout the city, most showing signs of having been tortured. There were landmines the Russians had hidden in homes and within the corpses. Women had been raped in front of their children. Men had been executed with their hands behind their backs. Instead of fighting their enemies, the Ukrainian military, the cowardly Russians committed crimes against humanity as they fled, but flee they did.
Andrew Roberts is right in his summation. Says Roberts, "The martyrdom of Ukraine and the Churchillian leadership Mr. Zelensky and his people are showing has changed the political landscape. If we believe in uniting the right, and especially if we want to do it when the left is so disunited, now is the time for open-hearted and full-throated support of Ukraine and its leader."
As I have been ending this column for weeks: Glory to Ukraine!
You got one thing wrong, the Russian speaking family is most threatened by other Russians, not their fellow Ukrainians. The picture below is of members of the pro-Russian militia in the Donbass. They are the people who started the fighting, and they and their Russian army friends are killing the Russian speaking citizens in Mariupol as you are reading this.
“Government leadership is a necessary evil”
That is a core leftists notion. Were Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln necessary evils or heroic men who made America a land of freedom and liberty?
The left agrees with you. Conservatives do not.
In your world I guess it was our fault in the USA that the 9/11 terrorists attacked us, killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
What outcome does Zelensky expect?
The inevitable is being delayed at the expense of innocent Ukrainians.
“How many of the blue areas on this map would YOU be interested in risking your life to defend?”
All of them, because they comprise my country. More than 50 years ago I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Constitution IS the United States, because, without it, the United States would not and could not exist.
I still hold true to that oath.
However, if a “blue” area attacked me and mine I would fight back with everything at my disposal.
Biden, Putin and Zelenskyy all need quick and complete “removal”.
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” - James Madison
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” - Thomas Paine
Those quotes are about government itself, not leadership. Government is a necessary evil, but that does not mean that heroic men can’t be in charge of governments. Government by its nature is corrupting of those in power so anyone who does good when in charge has a certain heroism.
We should have statues aplenty of Washington, Churchill, and in future years Zelensky.
Wordplay.
I did not say all government leaders are necessarily evil (though all men are fallen and corruptible). The fact that we need government leadership is a necessary evil.
As I said before, the founding fathers realized this and structured the government to account for this.
Nothing woke about this.
“Tyrell’s all-time dumbest article - and if so, it has triumphed over some pretty stiff competition.”
Decades ago he was a great guy—but the world has changed and he has not changed with it.
Guarding our own border from illegal invaders is not optional—it is essential, top priority—the rest of foreign policy is irrelevant is this is not done.
If it turns out that the Ukrainians can never win a war with Russia. If it turns out that Ukraine will be another Afghanistan where Russia will continue to rain death upon Ukraine until they themselves have experienced too much death, then the killing could go on for years or decades.
Stockman may be wrong, but his opinions are within the realm of reasonable discourse and are not quisling in the least.
Never read a single thing from “Q,” despite your stomping and whining.
I’ll be sure to ping you when Zelenski gets his a$$ smashed. Love watching you mumblers weep.
“Why are there no comparisons of Putin to Lincoln?”
As one of the few in the known world to have Lincoln in my “Top 5 worst Presidents list”, I appreciate your train of thought here. My forebears went through hell fighting, brother against brother, father against son, crushing hearts of mothers whose families were destroyed because they settled around the Cumberland Gap before state lines were firm. They had a little piece of land to survive off and a long history in the region - no slaves, no politics, but conscripted and threatened with death if they failed to fight. So many things not taught in schools anymore.
Proud of my hillbilly roots even if the family tree is uncomfortably straight…
How does one “quisling” a Soros/Schwab disciple?
Zelensky is a brave man, but he is also an authoritarian. No Churchill, IMO.
Renfrew: "So you agree with the leftists who want to tear down the Founding Fathers and our early presidents?"
That's funny! So tell us, Renfrew - when did you stop beating your wife?
;>)
Lincoln messed up big time in the days following Ft. Sumter when he decided to raise an army to invade the south rather than make a localized operation to punish South Carolina and retake the fort. In 20-20 hindsight, had he done that, the divisions within the southern states might have been cleverly exploited to avoid the war. But there were hotheads on both sides who didn't want that outcome.
Lincoln's first inaugural address just six weeks before Ft. Sumter outlined a clear and just path to peace. His second inaugural address, just six weeks before his assassination, outlined a clear and just reconstruction. The fact that neither could be realized by subsequent events that he could not foresee does NOT make him a despotic villain of even the same class as Vladimir Putin.
The inevitable is being delayed at the expense of innocent Ukrainians.
By your logic we should just invoke Sharia law and join the Caliphate. After all, why delay the inevitable?
And by your logic, there is no point in even supporting conservative ideas. After all isn't the "inevitable" just being delayed?
I like when Zelenskyy refused Biden’s offer of a plane ride to safety, asking instead for guns and ammo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.