The American Spectator

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Slap Happy

10.9.07 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 4)

A Hillary Clinton presidency will change America as we know it. But it may be the only thing that will renew and wake up the conservative cause. The Republican establishment seems loathe to back a true conservative for 2008. A 2008 disaster for the Republicans may kill the wobbly Republican establishment-style of leadership that has been increasingly prominent since Bill Clinton faced down Newt Gringrich over the 1995 Federal budget standoff and after Clinton won the 1996 election. Four years of bad governing from her and Democrats and an amnesty for millions of illegal aliens who will vote mostly for Democrats will compel a large grass roots movement within conservatism by 2012. It may be large enough to overcome all the mess that will result from a Hillary Clinton presidency. I believe that by 2012 the conservative movement, by necessity, will be stronger than the one that emerged after Reagan and Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract with America won the Congress for Republicans. Remember the 1994 Republican Congress was weakened in just 4 short months after it gave in to Clinton on the budget. By 2012, providing conservatives can regain the White House and come close to parity in the congress we will instinctively know that we will not be able to afford such quick and easy defeats.
-- Steve Cade
Astoria, Oregon

WEANED FROM LIBERALISM
Re: Jeffrey Lord's The Goldwater-Reagan Victory:

Several years ago, fresh faced and just out of college full of liberal weanings, I mean leanings, I attended a business seminar and the high energy speaker said something so simple and so profound I have never forgotten it; in fact it remains a staple in my business and personal life. To wit: "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got." I find it absolutely befuddling that otherwise intelligent people cannot get this simple axiom through there soft hearted heads, instead relying on emotion, parroting like infants the big lies of the current leftist propagandists. One only has to look at the hyperbole over the veto to expand the SCHIP program coming from the pie holes of Hillary, Teddy, Nancy, Harry, et al. Goebbels would have been proud! As for Rush, he will be in the famous "Attila the Hun" chair educating those who chose to listen and skewering the fools on the left as long as he chooses.

Sic semper tyrannis!
-- Stuart Reed
Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

BASTARDY AND IMMIGRATION
Re: Reid Collins's Bastard:

Mr. Reid Collins's trenchant criticism of societal indifference, nay, acceptance, of the growing numbers of "bastards" being born in this country would be described by modernists as "quaint"; nonetheless, he has set out a disturbing mise en scene regarding another aspect of this nation's serious moral collapse. The pathology he alludes to, however, is far more likely within the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, where multiple children from multiple parents are much more common, than with the Bradys and Berrys of this world, which is not to excuse their contributions to the problem. If, however, the optimists among you believe that such a phenomenon, either among the rich or poor is a passing affair, allow me to intone the words of the late entertainer, Al Jolson: You ain't seen nothing yet!

In May of this year, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) issued a "Backgrounder" written by its Director of Research, Steven A. Camarota. Entitled "Illegitimate Nation," Camarota's conclusions, based on data from 1980-2003, using private and public sources, should deeply worry anyone who cares about the moral state of this country. Included in those findings, which tracked the meteoric rise of a "bastard" nation, was that teenagers ."..have the highest illegitimacy levels..." And, if we didn't already know it, "Research shows that children of unmarried parents are much more likely to live in poverty, have low academic achievement, and have higher high school dropout rates than those born to married parents." But there are other elements of the CIS study which also cannot be discarded. Camarota concluded:

The country is currently debating whether to legalize illegal aliens or alternatively, to enforce the law and cause them to go home. Since 60% of illegals lack a high school diploma and 80% are Hispanic, legalization could contribute to the illegitimacy problem by allowing illegals to remain in the U.S. (N.B.: California, with the greatest number of illegal aliens, led the U.S. in illegitimate births in 2003: 42.6%.)

Thus, the idea that immigration will reinvigorate traditional family values is unrealistic.

It would be inane to believe that immigrants are the only factor in the moral decline of this country, a position that Camarota assiduously avoids. The open and pervasive use of inappropriate language and sexual situations in movies, the growing sexual innuendo of programs on television (forget cable), and the rise of "shock jocks" on radio all have played their part. But to add to that witches brew a situation that is, at least, subject to our correction, and do nothing about it is just plain dumb. Unless, of course, we plan to amuse ourselves on the path to national suicide.

Pax Tecum,
-- Vincent Chiarello
American Council for Immigration Reform

Pretty big difference between Brady & Berry. Berry pre-meditatively decided to have the children out of wedlock. It's not as though Brady is running away from the situation, but it's common knowledge that Brady was breaking up with his girlfriend when she "somehow" got pregnant.
-- Geof Narlee
Walpole, (of course) Massachusetts

Kudos to Reid Collins for his excellent article regarding a subject which is rarely brought into the sunshine. It is despicable that we in this country are applauding the idea and fact of bringing children into this world absent of a family unit. Thank you, Mr. Collins, for expressing my heartfelt feelings about this subject.
-- Jane Straley
Berlin, Maryland

FIFTH COLUMNISTS
Re: William Tucker's The Real Lesson of Vietnam:

You are forgetting about the power of propaganda to form public opinion and how crucial this was to the North Vietnamese victory.

For ideological reasons the American press concentrated on reporting as much bad news as possible (e.g., Hamburger Hill), and even reporting good news (e.g., the total failure of the Tet Offensive) as American failures.

You can argue that "objective" reporting requires that all the news be reported; but this it total rubbish. For whatever reason, the press did not report all the screw-ups during WWII which cost thousands of American lives. Even the successful Normandy invasion was one botched effort after another. Let's not even mention Anzio, Operation Market Garden and the myriad death-beaches for US Marines on Pacific islands that perhaps never should have been invaded in the first place.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Mainstream Media, Television, Business, Federal Budget, Movies, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Socialism, Conservatism, Immigration, Energy