[American Quilter]

Just before reading the dispassionate, logical, and erudite Buckley article, I read Pat Buchanan's emotional and factually inaccurate one. Buckley's article makes observations and draws conclusions based on a careful analysis of the facts. Buchanan's article is an emotional statement of what he feels is true, and what he's sure everyone else must therefore feel, too.

Buchanan's wishful thinking is particularly unconvincing when compared with the masterful performance of Buckley.

[Carry_Okie]

"tendentious assertions, typically offered in the protasis of his sentences in order to enhance the aura of casual but apodictic assurance.

I can't remember reading a sentence in which I had to look up two words, but there it is.

[vrwinger]

>>>>>It would be interesting to step back and specify some milestones by which we could judge the campaign: what developments, were they accomplished, would lead us to judge the venture a success?<<<<<

What a great idea! If only the entities who you would assume would be charged with objectively reporting such milestones hadn't thrown in 100% with the DNC's agenda of "Bad news from Iraq = Good news for us." Is WFB as naive as he's pretending to be?

[ladiesview61]

Well, here is an article I'm going to save.

[Semper Paratus]

Reading WFB and NR in high school gave me a 96% score on the SAT vocabulary segment.

[Milhous]

A learned observer writes about that which he classifies as "increasingly surreal." "I find, about discussions of Iraq, two universes of discourse, parallel but not contiguous.

A surrealness symptomatic of a contemporary phenomenon that I call subtextual schism whereby conservatives and leftists use different sets of underlying assumptions about reality. Further illustrated with a couple of quotes that seem to mean different things depending upon your political orientation.

Our troops have become the enemy." Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania

“The fact is that, unlike during other times of national threat or crisis, the United States of America is not at war.” Jimmy Carter

[jveritas]

Why do they consider this guy a genius is beyond me. A genius is someone who can simply relate facts without all this complication of style and substance.

[Puddleglum]

What an excellent article. The reasoning is crystal clear, and the idea put forth is superb. Get a list of success crieria together then measure by them at a later date.

The Dims could not draw up such criteria, of course. Their rhetoric depends on short memories and rubber rulers.