The Friday Furo Questus

Questus Furore
Handicapping 2008. (Oh boy.) I had an interesting email exchange with Jamo yesterday. Over on The Jamoblog, he has what he expects to be the contenders for 2008:

Barack Obama, senator from Illinois (D)
Hillary Clinton, senator from New York (D)
John Kerry, senator from Massachusetts (D)
Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts (R)
John McCain, senator from Arizona (R)

An interesting field, to say the least. As far as I know, the conversation is still going. Check it out.

My two cents? Well, head over to Jamo's for the conversation. Let's just say Romney is my favorite of that lot. And not just because he's LDS.

Recommended Reading
A VDH two-fer:
Keep Quiet and Listen!

Note that bin Laden omits any reference to American efforts to save Muslim Kuwait (a war in which in vain he also volunteered to fight against Saddam Hussein), to save Balkan Muslims (which his own mujahadeen had failed utterly to do), or to stop the Soviet killing of Afghan Muslims (a war in which his resistance counted on American arms to save his fellow Muslims).

The constant theme of this envious and insecure motor mouth? Americans saved Muslims, while bin Laden’s minions talked big, but couldn’t do much against much stronger Baathist Iraqis, godless Soviets, and nationalist Serbs.

Torn Apart Over Iraq

Someone could write an interesting article on the changing attitudes of our elites, especially U.S. senators and pundits — with then and now quotes — whose views reflected the changing pulse of the battlefield. Reading the transcripts of what over 70 senators (especially Senators Kerry and Clinton) said about the October 2002 Senate resolution authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam seems surreal these days.

Robert Harman: "Responding to Terrorism in the 21st Century."


Thought of the Week
“You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more "drive," or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or "creativity." In sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
-- C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Churchill Quote of the Week
"The price of greatness is responsibility."
-- Sir Winston Churchill