"I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb"
We've been disappointed this year in conservative pundits. Peggy Noonan has either clearly gone off the rails, or she is spewing spite in John McCain's and Sarah Palin's direction for some contrived slight. Kathleen Parker has slammed Sarah Palin on more than one occasion, and often times in such snarky terms that it reminds us of a jealous 17 year old upset that she got snubbed as homecoming queen. Chris Buckley might be one of the best satirists writing today, but his political opinion has many questioning whether his father's ideology was flatly rejected by his son. And unlike some pundits out there, we don't consider David Brooks even close to conservatism.
But Charles Krauthammer calls the wet-finger wavers out today in a must-read piece:
Contrarian that I am, I’m voting for John McCain. I’m not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it’s over before it’s over. I’m talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they’re left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.
I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe — neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic/ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist/atheist (Christopher Hitchens) — yelling “Stop!” I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I’d rather lose an election than lose my bearings.
First, I’ll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The “erratic” temperament issue, for example. As if McCain’s risky and unsuccessful but in no way irrational attempt to tactically maneuver his way through the economic tsunami that came crashing down a month ago renders unfit for office a man who demonstrated the most admirable equanimity and courage in the face of unimaginable pressures as a prisoner of war, and who later steadily navigated innumerable challenges and setbacks, not the least of which was the collapse of his campaign just a year ago.
McCain the “erratic” is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart.
Nor will I countenance the “dirty campaign” pretense. The double standard here is stunning. Obama ran a scurrilous Spanish-language ad falsely associating McCain with anti-Hispanic slurs. Another ad falsely claimed McCain supports “cutting Social Security benefits in half.” And for months Democrats insisted that McCain sought 100 years of war in Iraq.
McCain’s critics are offended that he raised the issue of William Ayers. What’s astonishing is that Obama was himself not offended by William Ayers.
Moreover, the most remarkable of all tactical choices of this election season is the attack that never was. Out of extreme (and unnecessary) conscientiousness, McCain refused to raise the legitimate issue of Obama’s most egregious association — with the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Dirty campaigning, indeed. The case for McCain is straightforward.
The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic, soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.
Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who’s been cramming on these issues for the last year, who’s never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign-policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of “a world that stands as one”), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as “the tragedy of 9/11,” a term more appropriate for a bus accident?
Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign-policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts, but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?
Read the whole thing because Mr. Krauthammer isn't done. He reminds us of Joe Biden's recent comments about how Obama will be tested in a "generated" crisis created just for him. National security has been put on the back burner over the last few months as people fret over the economy. And while the economy still remains to be one of the largest issues this election, national security can't be tossed by the wayside. We live in a very dangerous world.
We have Russia flexing it's muscles again. North Korea's recent nuclear shenanigans put them back on the table. And then there's Pakistan, which is shaky at best; at worst unstable. And let's not forget Iran, and their recent bluster of considering a pre-emptive strike on Israel as Israel announced their discussions of a pre-emptive strike on Tehran. Then there's Hugo Chavez down in Venezuela, and he's spouting off again -- railing against the United States as Russian bombers fly in and out of the capital.
John McCain has the knowledge and the maturity to handle running this nation. Barack Obama doesn't. We believe he wrote this article in an effort to slap some sense into the "wet-finger conservative" crowd that are content to make decisions the way Bill Clinton used to. (Lick your finger and stick it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.) Maybe those pundits are buying the polls. It's sad if that's true because it's clear that the polls are being skewed. Or maybe it's because they just can't bear to live without the clinking martini glasses at the Beltway cocktail parties with the "elites;" hob-knobbing with them rather than with the average person casting the votes, and keeping this nation going.
It'd be nice to see more pundits taking a stand like Mr. Krauthammer. At least with him, over the course of the last few months, we had an intellectually-honest person that wasn't afraid to point out mistakes by the McCain campaign, and isn't afraid to stand behind the man that is the best choice for this nation. Sure McCain's made mistakes. But his last debate performance was far better than Obama's, and he's hammering Obama on his economic ideas. We already know that when it comes to national security McCain would be better than the man who wants to sit down and have tea and crumpets with our enemies. For Mr. Krauthammer, and for us, it comes down to the guy who can tell the difference between the lions and the lambs.
Publius II
But Charles Krauthammer calls the wet-finger wavers out today in a must-read piece:
Contrarian that I am, I’m voting for John McCain. I’m not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it’s over before it’s over. I’m talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they’re left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.
I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe — neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic/ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist/atheist (Christopher Hitchens) — yelling “Stop!” I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I’d rather lose an election than lose my bearings.
First, I’ll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The “erratic” temperament issue, for example. As if McCain’s risky and unsuccessful but in no way irrational attempt to tactically maneuver his way through the economic tsunami that came crashing down a month ago renders unfit for office a man who demonstrated the most admirable equanimity and courage in the face of unimaginable pressures as a prisoner of war, and who later steadily navigated innumerable challenges and setbacks, not the least of which was the collapse of his campaign just a year ago.
McCain the “erratic” is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart.
Nor will I countenance the “dirty campaign” pretense. The double standard here is stunning. Obama ran a scurrilous Spanish-language ad falsely associating McCain with anti-Hispanic slurs. Another ad falsely claimed McCain supports “cutting Social Security benefits in half.” And for months Democrats insisted that McCain sought 100 years of war in Iraq.
McCain’s critics are offended that he raised the issue of William Ayers. What’s astonishing is that Obama was himself not offended by William Ayers.
Moreover, the most remarkable of all tactical choices of this election season is the attack that never was. Out of extreme (and unnecessary) conscientiousness, McCain refused to raise the legitimate issue of Obama’s most egregious association — with the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Dirty campaigning, indeed. The case for McCain is straightforward.
The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic, soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.
Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who’s been cramming on these issues for the last year, who’s never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign-policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of “a world that stands as one”), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as “the tragedy of 9/11,” a term more appropriate for a bus accident?
Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign-policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts, but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?
Read the whole thing because Mr. Krauthammer isn't done. He reminds us of Joe Biden's recent comments about how Obama will be tested in a "generated" crisis created just for him. National security has been put on the back burner over the last few months as people fret over the economy. And while the economy still remains to be one of the largest issues this election, national security can't be tossed by the wayside. We live in a very dangerous world.
We have Russia flexing it's muscles again. North Korea's recent nuclear shenanigans put them back on the table. And then there's Pakistan, which is shaky at best; at worst unstable. And let's not forget Iran, and their recent bluster of considering a pre-emptive strike on Israel as Israel announced their discussions of a pre-emptive strike on Tehran. Then there's Hugo Chavez down in Venezuela, and he's spouting off again -- railing against the United States as Russian bombers fly in and out of the capital.
John McCain has the knowledge and the maturity to handle running this nation. Barack Obama doesn't. We believe he wrote this article in an effort to slap some sense into the "wet-finger conservative" crowd that are content to make decisions the way Bill Clinton used to. (Lick your finger and stick it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.) Maybe those pundits are buying the polls. It's sad if that's true because it's clear that the polls are being skewed. Or maybe it's because they just can't bear to live without the clinking martini glasses at the Beltway cocktail parties with the "elites;" hob-knobbing with them rather than with the average person casting the votes, and keeping this nation going.
It'd be nice to see more pundits taking a stand like Mr. Krauthammer. At least with him, over the course of the last few months, we had an intellectually-honest person that wasn't afraid to point out mistakes by the McCain campaign, and isn't afraid to stand behind the man that is the best choice for this nation. Sure McCain's made mistakes. But his last debate performance was far better than Obama's, and he's hammering Obama on his economic ideas. We already know that when it comes to national security McCain would be better than the man who wants to sit down and have tea and crumpets with our enemies. For Mr. Krauthammer, and for us, it comes down to the guy who can tell the difference between the lions and the lambs.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:35 AM
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