Friday, July 25, 2008

Notes on the News of the Day

  • I've just finished Victor Davis Hanson's excellent column on Obama's speech yesterday, in which he points out that it was not "the world" that saved Berlin during the airlift, nor did "the world" save the Muslims in the Balkans. It was, rather, the United States of America. For the historically and/or morally confused, it's a must read.
  • Appalling. That's how Derb describes both presidential candidates this year and it is hard to disagree with him. You know my views on Obama but I've said little about McCain. I tried to address McCain and his campaign last week but I just didn't have the energy, or the interest. Suffice to say that the main point of the aborted post was that McCain, rather than being any sort of 'maverick', perfectly reflects the current Republican party - a tired old man at the head of a tired old party. He has big openings - drilling, nuclear energy, secure borders, judges who follow the law and the constitution rather than make their own laws, lower business and capital gains taxes to get the economy going, foreign policy expertise - but he's only paying lips service to any of these issues. I understand the mainstream media's strategy is to ignore him as they fall humbly at the feet of the Obamassiah but there are ways to get your message across if you want. I think he'd be a disaster as president and the only reason to vote for him would be that he'd be only slightly less disastrous than Saint Barack.
  • Regular readers of this blog may think I'm too hard on politicians. Yes, I do subscribe to Mark Twain's famous remark that "there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." On previous occasions in this space I've called them cowards, boobs, and idiots. You may disagree but before you take me to task please open up the Wall Street Journal editorial page this morning and read its top two editorials: Housing Bill Hammers Taxpayers and Democrats Against Drilling. Done? I rest my case.

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