Shaking Spears: Calling Bob Dole: "Friday, November 05, 2004
Calling Bob Dole
'Britney (Spears) got $10 million bucks for the commercial. I got a lifetime supply of Pepsi.'
Ms. Shaker and I just returned from an evening at the San Jose, CA Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner, at which Bob Dole was the featured speaker.
Working the crowd like a seasoned nightclub comic, Dole offered up quips and self-deprecation to keep the well-attended crowd in stitches, but laced his talk with serious and inspirational observations that demonstrated the caliber of this man.
He said that he keeps getting invitations to these events because the audience expects him to come with free samples of his endorsed products (think little blue pills).
As a set up to his speech, a three-minute video was played that detailed his childhood in rural Kansas. What was notable for me was the fact that the video ended just as WWII began, never mentioning his war heroism or his long career in the U.S. Senate. One wonders how much more effective John Kerry would have been had he chosen to run as a silent, and humble, war veteran.
Dole recounted his recent trip to Libya where he met with Moammar Ghadafi. Ghadafi said that in preparation for their discussion he had read Dole's condemnations in the Congressional Record, and that he wanted Dole to know that he was committed to taking his country in a new direction that wouldn't warrant such criticism. Dole's anecdote reinforced the power and example that the U.S. wields on the world stage, and that our current course in the War on Terror is indeed yielding the right dividends - the dismantling of Libya's WMDs being prima facie evidence.
He spoke sincerely about the government's need to focus on ideas and problem solving vs. partisanship and polarization, using the bipartisan effort to reform Social Security in the 80s as a model of the spirit of American resolve. Tom Daschle could have heeded Dole's words.
Dole singled out the Mainstream Media as an institution that was in dire need of self-reflection, eliciting applause from this bipartisan California audience.
And he spoke of the WWII Memorial, and how a recent immigrant who was not a WWII veteran was the largest single contributor to the effort, writing a check for $1 million dollars. This Armenian immigrant wanted to give thanks to the U.S. for freeing Europe, and fighting for liberty and democracy around the globe.
Dole is an optimistic man, imbued with those heartland values that we are now being told are odd, intolerant, and somehow regressive. Yet it was obvious to all who attended that our government could use more men like Bob Dole to help smooth the partisan divide and coalesce our political rivalries around the big issues that confront us.
Calling Bob Dole."
Saturday, November 06, 2004
This great Isonomy of ours | Samizdata.net
This great Isonomy of ours | Samizdata.net: "I figured out as a child that the least wonderful aspect of a modern liberal democracy is that it lets the majority decide: the tyranny of the majority is to be feared. Votes are a mechanism to deal with the fact that some administrative variables affecting many people (speed limits, for instance, or surrenders) must be set at a predictable value for a recognisable group, or bad stuff happens.
I also figured out as a child that the good soul of a liberal democracy, the thing that has made us the most fortunate human beings in history, is the idea that every individual matters. None of us can be made to stop mattering because we look wrong or do wrong. That's why every individual has certain rights that cannot be..."
I also figured out as a child that the good soul of a liberal democracy, the thing that has made us the most fortunate human beings in history, is the idea that every individual matters. None of us can be made to stop mattering because we look wrong or do wrong. That's why every individual has certain rights that cannot be..."
Power Line: David Lebedoff on why Kerry lost
Power Line: David Lebedoff on why Kerry lost Read this especially the values issue.
Power Line: Why Michael Moore should reconsider
Power Line: Why Michael Moore should reconsider: "Why Michael Moore should reconsider
Michael Moore has compiled a list of 17 reasons providing consolation against suicidal despair for himself and his Koolaid-drinking followers. We think it would be a public service to compile a compelling response that would encourage Moore to rethink his position. Please send us your best arguments and we'll see if we can persuade Moore to walk the walk.
Posted by The Big Trunk at 10:36 AM | "
Michael Moore has compiled a list of 17 reasons providing consolation against suicidal despair for himself and his Koolaid-drinking followers. We think it would be a public service to compile a compelling response that would encourage Moore to rethink his position. Please send us your best arguments and we'll see if we can persuade Moore to walk the walk.
Posted by The Big Trunk at 10:36 AM | "
Friday, November 05, 2004
WorldNetDaily: America renewed Don't you Love It!!
WorldNetDaily: America renewed: "On Nov. 2, 2004, America said it was tired of activist judges legislating from the bench. It was the day America said that moral values meant more than empty promises. It was the day that America told the terrorists that they were losing. Indeed, that they have lost. The Osamas and Zarqawis of this world won't be facing a new and untested liberal government led by the leader of the Vietnam anti-war movement. They will continue to face the same George Bush as before, only unencumbered by political considerations or special interest groups."
Stop Specter Now!
Stop Specter Now!: "Tell the Majority Leader that the grassroots of the Republican Party worked hard to re-elect the President and we will not let Specter stand in the way of a common sense constructionist judiciary."
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Right on Reasoning
No Left Turns Archive We think that this is one country. It is neither a mini-united nations, nor a country divided into two, the haves and the have-nots. Demos should stop talking as if it were 1936 and we are on the verge of economic collapse, and the economic pie can never grow. They should remind us that our work creates our wealth, and encourage us to work and prosper. The purpose of government is to insure that opportunity. How we spend our public monies is secondary point, and depends entirely on the first. Let the Democratic Party think upon these things and maybe they can reach a point in twenty or thirty years when a Democratic candidate for president of the United States will be able to gather over 50% of the vote of the citizens. This hasn’t happened since 1964. Until that day, they will be the minority party of the country. They had better start looking for their identity, and start that search now before it is too late.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Why Arabs Lose Wars
Why Arabs Lose Wars - Middle East Quarterly - December 1999 - Middle East Quarterly - December 1999 Excellent article on the Arab culture and its effect on their military
Monday, November 01, 2004
Sunday, October 31, 2004
New York Post Online Edition: news
New York Post Online Edition: news: "FULL TAPE AN OSAMA A WOE SHOW"
Afganistan
No Left Turns Archive: "Charles Krauthammer says that the transformation of Afghanistan 'represents the single most astonishing geopolitical transformation of the past four years"
America cannot afford Terry Kerry - PittsburghLIVE.com
America cannot afford Terry Kerry - PittsburghLIVE.com: "America cannot afford Terry Kerry"
Kerry's Legacy: By POW
Printer-Friendly Version: "Kerry's Legacy:
No One Who Has Aided the Enemy Deserves to Become President
PAUL GALANTI
GUEST COLUMNIST
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Being a prisoner of war in Vietnam had some high points but many more low ones. The worst days physically were behind us in 1970, 1971, and 1972. After Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, the routine torturing of POWs for propaganda purposes pretty much stopped. Our captors panicked in November, 1970, following the daring raid on a closed POW camp at Son Tai 20 miles west of Hanoi - and moved all of us into the huge Hoa Lo prison in central Hanoi. We finally were permitted a semblance of societal life after years in solitary and/or stuffed into tiny windowless cells with two or three other POWs.". . . .
No One Who Has Aided the Enemy Deserves to Become President
PAUL GALANTI
GUEST COLUMNIST
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Being a prisoner of war in Vietnam had some high points but many more low ones. The worst days physically were behind us in 1970, 1971, and 1972. After Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, the routine torturing of POWs for propaganda purposes pretty much stopped. Our captors panicked in November, 1970, following the daring raid on a closed POW camp at Son Tai 20 miles west of Hanoi - and moved all of us into the huge Hoa Lo prison in central Hanoi. We finally were permitted a semblance of societal life after years in solitary and/or stuffed into tiny windowless cells with two or three other POWs.". . . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
