A Second Hand Conjecture

Instapundit reader on the cost of anger.
Glenn, you pose the question of what happened to Janeane Garofalo between 2003 and now. I’d submit that it takes a lot of energy to be that angry: it uses you up, consumes you, wastes you.
I hope it at least it kept her warm.

No Comments »

Stop the ACLU
“but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.”

No Comments »

Instapundit
Bill Whittle talks about McCain and Palin and their stand against a Legion of Narcissists and a Confederacy of Despair – the Liberal Left.

No Comments »

“Tattered Hope” by Nathan Rupert

Jason at postpolitical and I often get into testy email arguments about Barack Obama’s alleged “arrogance.” He is quite Greek in the sense that he thinks hubris is the fatal flaw at the heart of all political downfalls. I don’t entirely agree with that, nor with his contention that Obama represents an emblematic example of arrogant leadership. At least no more so than any other politician.

On this matter Jason is of course much more in line with majority opinion on the right than myself. Many conservative bloggers have argued for Obama’s arrogance for so long, it once was merely a kind of premonition.

(more…)

2 Comments »

Longtime Clinton ally Leon Panetta pronounces Barack Obama “intimidated” by Sarah Palin, and lost in a deepening cycle of reactive defense. With McCain now winning a majority of independents and erasing the gender gap, the blood is most definitely in the water. It’s now a legitimate question to ask whether McCain can finish him off. My sense is that the Obama campaign isn’t too many more mistakes removed from a serious structural collapse in a significant segment of its support outside the Democratic ranks. Panetta is quite right, Obama needs to regain the initiative and fast.

On that matter Jonathan Freedland is pessimistic. So much so, that he is evidently consumed with stomach pains of grief. He warns us that the entire planet will seek revenge against the United States if we fail to appoint Obama president.
(more…)

1 Comment »

I’m beginning to sense that anti-Palin hysteria is building toward a collective psychological meltdown of truly epic proportions on the Democratic side of our political divide. Today, Democratic consultant Dan Conley angrily pushed us a little further to the brink of that by arguing that the selection of Palin by McCain was “cynical, undemocratic and frankly, unpatriotic.” Wow.

(more…)

No Comments »

Republic of Georgia-US flag lapel pin for sale. Have you ever wondered why people who say flag pins are “empty gestures,” ironically always seem to be the same folks who think issue-ribbons (breast cancer, AIDS, etc) are meaningful (and vice versa). At any rate it’s an insulting statement to offer either way. Patriotism and national solidarity are abstract ideas within the individual mind. Expressing conviction in them symbolically is the only way to express them at all. And the ideals and loyalties of mankind are never empty gestures. They are profoundly important.

No Comments »

After speculating upon Hillary Clinton’s strategic thinking with respect to the Democratic nomination, James Taranto concludes (emphasis added):

To summarize, Mrs. Clinton maximizes her chances of becoming president if she (1) does enough damage to Obama to snatch the nomination away from him, (2) failing that, does enough damage to him to bring about his defeat in November, and (3) gets herself on the ticket, whether he wins in November or not.

Some will say Mrs. Clinton is being disloyal to her party if she undermines Obama’s chances of winning in November. But maybe she just practices a different kind of party loyalty. After all, if you can be a patriot while hoping your country loses a war, why can’t you be a loyal Democrat while hoping your party loses an election?

It is an interesting question.

1 Comment »