Quick Takes

Quote of the Week: "Americans would never knowingly adopt socialism but, under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."-Norman Thomas

As cited by Ronald Reagan in a radio address from his early days. His topic was socialized medicine.

The Compassion? of Socialism

Speaking of socialized medicine, a woman in the once Great Britain was told that she would have to wait 18 months to get a new hearing aid. No big deal you say? Well, the woman is 108 years old. She may not even live another 18 months. Compassionate socialism would leave her last months without the joy of hearing.

Gordon Brown Our Partner for Freedom

Speaking of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, who replaced Tony Blair as Prime Minister paid a visit to President Bush at Camp David last weekend.

Anyone hoping that the new Prime Minister would turn on President Bush and edge away from the strong alliance in fighting the war on terror was disappointed. As President Bush said in the news conference (transcript here) Gordon Brown "gets it" and understands not only the problems we face, but also the importance of unity between the two greatest English speaking nations.

Prime Minister Brown: Call it the special relationship; call it, as Churchill did, the joint inheritance; call it when we meet as a form of homecoming, as President Reagan did -- then you see the strength of this relationship, as I've said, is not just built on the shared problems that we have to deal with together, or on the shared history that is built, as President Bush has just said, on shared values. And these are values that he rightly says are universal. They're the belief in the dignity of the individual, the freedom and liberty that we can bring to the world, and a belief that everyone -- everyone -- should have the chance of opportunity.

And I do see this relationship strengthening in the years to come, because it is the values that we believe in that I think will have the most impact as we try to solve the problems that we face right across the world. And in a sense, the battle that we are facing with international terrorism is a battle between our values, which stress the dignity of every individual, and those who would maim and murder, irrespective of faith, indifferent to human life, often simply for propaganda effect, and of course with devastating effects, both on the communities that they claim to represent and the whole world.

So I want to stress the values that we hold in common, not in an abstract way, but in a very positive and concrete way, because I think the more we debate these issues about how the world would be organized to face international terrorism, the more we come back to the values that unite decent, hardworking people right across the world, whatever their faith, whatever their country, whatever their continent.

And it's been a privilege to be able to have these discussions with the President about how we can deal with all these challenges by applying not just our values, but applying the strength that comes from the strong relationship that exists between our two countries.

Finding A General That Can WIN!

All this talk of Churchill brings up a very excellent piece by Tony Blankley in the Washington Times:

The hinge of fate in Iraq
by Tony Blankley
Washington Times
August 1, 2007

...Almost three years into World War II, repeated military failures had induced considerable war fatigue in Britain. In February, Singapore fell to the Japanese with 25,000 British troops being taken prisoner. In March, Rangoon fell. This was vastly damaging to Churchill's prestige in Washington, as Rangoon was the only port through which could be shipped aid to China's Chiang Kai-shek — a very high priority for the United States in Asia.

In April, the Japanese navy drove the Royal Navy all the way back to East Africa and shelled the British Indian coastal cities.

Then on June 21, 1942, Tobruk in North Africa fell to Gen. Erwin Rommel, with 33,000 British prisoners taken and the Suez Canal (Britain's lifeline to her Asian empire and oil) threatened.

A week later Churchill struggled to win that vote of no confidence. But shrewd political observers in London at the time (very much including Churchill himself) believed he was one more lost battle away from being removed from office — or at best stripped of his minister of defense cabinet powers and rendered a mere figurehead leader.

But during those months Churchill had been busy firing or reassigning the generals who were not bringing victories: including Gens. Wavell, Dill, Auchinleck, Ritchie, Norrie, Brooke-Popham, Messervy and Corbett — among others.

Finally he found a general who could win — Bernard Law Montgomery. And at the second battle of El Alamein in October and November of 1942 Montgomery beat Rommel and started the drive west across the rim of Africa, finally driving Rommel and his Afrika Corp clear off the continent. Both for Churchill's government and the eventual victory in WWII, El Alamein was the "hinge of fate." As Churchill said: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat."

Blankley goes on to suggest that in General Petraeus President Bush has finally found his Montgomery. We're also reminded of President Lincoln whose General McClellan was so overcautious that the Civil War lasted longer than it otherwise would have. It wasn't until General Grant came along that things started to change.

Great Minds Think Alike!

And speaking of that change in the Iraq front on the global war on terror, the surge in support for VICTORY continues. Read my column "Are the Wheels Coming Off the Democrat's Iraq Defeat Express" and then read Michael Barone's excellent piece "Is the Surge Working." Each was posted within a few hours of the other (Barone beat me) but it's interesting that he cites nearly the same set of changes affecting public opinion as I did. I wish I had seen his piece when it first came out. It would have saved me the work.

Jack Kelly also cited the same sources in this excellent piece.

I dare say we may have entered a perfect storm of public, political and media opinion ready for the first time to recognize progress is being made in Iraq and why settle for the terrible consequences withdrawal and defeat would bring when we can have VICTORY?

Obama: Talk to Our Enemies, Invade Our Friends

Dangerous, naive light weight is the phrase which best describes the latest policy pronouncement from Democrat presidential hopeful Barrack Hussein Obama.
ABC's "The Note" had this to say:

...This is Obama as tough guy: He'll use military might, not just chat with dictators -- take that, Hillary. It's tough to guard against because it means Obama, D-Ill., is now pressing Clinton from both the left and the right. But if you're confused, you're not alone. And if Obama is piecing together a coherent foreign-policy vision (rather than just responding to the political pressures of the moment) yesterday's address can't be the last word.
...
[H]is stances are united by little more than their hostility to the Bush administration.

I wonder how the "anti-war" crowd views B. Hussein Obama's latest sabre rattling?

Dems Pander to Kos Kooks, Diss the Adults at DLC

Speaking of left wing crazies, Isn't it interesting that all the major Democrat candidates for President will attend the Kook Konfab of Daily Kos readers, but not the centrist convention of the Democrat Leadership Council?

Readers may recall that the DLC represents the moderate wing of the Democrat Party and was instrumental in assisting then Governor Clinton to reach the White House.

DLC leaders wrote a rather amusing piece suggesting that the diss by Dem candidates was no big deal. But don't you think it's funny, that Hillary Clinton, who wants to position herself as a more moderate candidate, and who is one of the DLC's KEY LEADERS, did not bother to attend?

Fred Thompson Missing The Moment?

First it was suggested that Fred Thompson would officially declare his candidacy for President on July 4th. Now, perhaps it's Labor Day. Meanwhile, a raft of stories have come out in the past week that suggest Fred's pre-campaign isn't going as smooth as many hoped it would.

There was always the danger that Fred's candidacy generated almost impossible expectations early on as many conservatives want to believe he is the candidate in whom they will not have to compromise on as many core values as the other top tier.

How do the Fred Head's feel now?