The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 10)

just love to hate. So the real question here becomes, if, indeed, World War IV is in full throat, who among the favorites has the guts, grit, eloquence, and sense of national purpose to finish this war? I suppose you can ask the troop loving, MoveOn beholding, lifelong Yankee fan from Chicago, whose never set foot in Yankee stadium, or, perhaps, you might ask the man who walked into those Twin Towers as the inferno raged around him. br> -- Anthony DiPentima /p>

One of the factors recommending Rudy Giuliani is the facial trend he represents and will send forward. At the start of our Republic, Presidents generally had flowing hair, sans wigs. They were models of Republican honesty, plain and manly. When the republic's survival was at stake, President Lincoln begat the beard, first as a disguise to reach his Inauguration, then in the manner of a serious Biblical Quest. Nearly all the succeeding Presidents maintained the mane, with a few mustached exceptions like Arthur, TR and Taft. This was the rough work of civilizing a continent.

With Wilson, America enjoyed the maturity of the academic pursuit of a more just society. Gone were the beards, sideburns and moustaches of a rougher-hewn era. The Presidents wore fedoras and spoke reason to the nation via radio and TV. With Kennedy, the era of vitality and action was reborn, but with the hatless image of youth. Even aged Presidents as Reagan appeared youthful and vital next to wrapped commissars of the Kremlin.

p>In 2008, we enter the era of executive competence so evident in Mayor Giuliani's extensive resume. Perhaps his most lasting imagery, beyond the dust mask on 9/11, was forsaking the childish comb-over of his latter years for the straight open pate of fortitude and experience. Pass on the trendy hairdress of Ms Clinton. This is the look of power in our time, not withery bald like Ike or McCain but dynamic and forceful like the modern CEO. This is the American Standard Bearer. br> -- Timothy P. O'Neill br> Pompano Beach, Florida /p> p> Rudy was

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Taxes, John McCain, Bill Clinton, Mainstream Media, Abortion, Environment, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, NATO, Conservatism, Immigration, Oil