DISCOUNTING VALUES
Re: W. James Antle III’s Against
Discount Values:
When Mr. Antle suggests that social conservatives should spend
energy to try to move Giuliani toward their way of thinking, what
he’s really saying is that they should try to get him to
say the right things. This is precisely the lesson that Mitt Romney
has put into practice for his own campaign the last couple of
years, and it has even worked to some extent, witness ostensible
cognoscenti such as Mr. Antle accepting as bona fide Romney’s
claimed pro-life conversion, his many contrary past utterances,
actions and inactions on the matter of abortion
notwithstanding.
Note to Messrs. Antle, Tyrrell et al. at TAS: There are
hundreds of thousands of voters in the social conservative bloc who
understand for what it is the tactic of politicking known as “Screw
what I really think; just tell ‘em what they want to hear.” As much
as we despise Bill Clinton’s worse half, we are animated far more
so by our pro-life principles, which are nonnegotiable. Our
prospects for having a reason to turn out in November of ‘08 grow
bleaker by the week.
— Francis M. Hannon, Jr.
Melrose, Massachusetts
Whether or no some Evangelical conservatives warmed up to Giuliani
in D.C., yours truly, Catholic and conservative, simply will not
vote for a pro-abortion, pro-queer, antigun hedonist who was a
draft dodger during my little war in Vietnam. I.e., I won’t vote
for Giuliani even at the risk of letting Hillary capture the White
House.
Nor will I vote for a Mormon (and another draft dodger) under
any circumstance whatsoever.
It increasingly looks like in ‘08 my vote will go to a 3rd
party.
Is the GOP indulging in the fulfillment of a death wish?
Dominus vobiscum,
— Dave Livingston
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Values voters and social conservatives enamored with Mike Huckabee
should be skeptical not only of his fondness for taxes, but his
dubious ethics. As Governor of Arkansas, on the ethical front he
had more in common with his predecessor Bill Clinton than with
Ronald Reagan or both Bush Presidents. Still any one of the
Republicans stands head and shoulders above the Democrat
Presidential contenders, who as a group embody the corruption and
dishonesty of the morally bankrupt Democrat Party.
— Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina
GET OUT THE WAY
Re: Jeremy Lott’s Watch Out
for Lynne Cheney’s Elbow:
What a great article Mr. Lott has brought us here. Mrs. Cheney
is a tremendously underrated politician/bureaucrat and an
absolutely brilliant woman. She and Dick Cheney have been
tremendous assets to this administration. Unfortunately the
President has discarded some tremendously talented assets, like
John Ashcroft at Justice, Porter Goss at CIA, Donald Rumsfeld at
Defense, Amb. Bolton at the UN, Gen. Peter Pace as CJCS, and Adm. G
as his number 2, and others. All the while giving us a plethora of
Clinton holdovers well into the first term, while trying to jam
unqualified candidates down our throats like Harriet Miers for
SCOTUS, while giving us Alberto Gonzales at Justice to succeed
Ashcroft.
All the while Bush absolutely refuses to defend himself and his
administration from the vicious attacks from Capitol Hill, and the
news media, and the radical activist Left. No, for almost 7 years
now we have been charged to “change the tone.” Well, the tone has
indeed changed, it has gotten orders of magnitude worse.
We need more of the attitude of the Cheneys and a good deal less
of the attitude of the Bush clan.
— Ken Shreve
She is the woman I would vote for for President. I have been a big
fan of hers for years.
— Janis in Independence.
STRIPPING THE COLONEL
Re: George H. Wittman’s The Scores
of Tripoli:
Do we need yet another sign of decay and defeat at the hands of
terrorists and thugs like Gaddafi? Apparently not — the appetite
of the Bush administration for self-mutilation makes masochism look
positively benign. When is somebody out there go to tell the
emperor that he is parading around buck naked? Please, God, do it
quickly before these idiots do something really, really stupid.
— Christopher Holland
Canberra, Australia
As a veteran of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower’s
mid-eighties free navigation rights exercises in International
waters that included flight operations below the infamous “Line of
Death” in the Gulf of Sidra, and having been onboard when Col.
Khadaffy ordered his air force (such as it was) to go and “Sink the
Eisenhower,” I don’t have a lot of use for Libya or
Khadaffy on a good day. Watching Libya buy its way back to
respectability in the UN doesn’t improve my opinion of them one
bit.
Just like with Fidel Castro, the world cannot be a better place
until Libya’s Dictator for Life finally assumes room temperature,
one way or another.
— Bob Koski
ABECS(AW) USN (Ret.)
FEARLESS LEADER
Re: Mark Tooley’s Asbury,
Itinerant Leader:
Mr. Tooley writes an interesting and timely article, a quick
look into the life and times of Asbury. Would that our once great
country contained far more like Bishop Asbury today, and far less
of what passes for leadership within the Methodist structure of
today. The question that occurs to me is just this. If Bishop
Asbury were alive and active today, would he be apt to lead a
rebellion against what the Methodist Church and it’s hierarchy have
become, or would he simply form his own sect that returned the
church to it’s biblical roots of preaching the Gospel, the
renouncing of sin based on the laws given to Moses by God Himself.
Or is it possible that Bishop Asbury would have been so influential
within the Methodist Church that he could have stopped the drift
away from Scripture, and held the line against the secularization
of Methodism. Mayhaps he would have been so towering a figure, so
influential a voice that he could have helped to strengthen the
good biblically oriented folks in other Christian communions. Then
again, Billy Graham tried mightily to staunch the drift away from
the Bible by the leadership elite within the Christian hierarchy
also, and he only managed to slow the drift by an almost
imperceptible amount. The mainstream of much of the Christian
church in America certainly has left the teachings of great
preachers like Bishop Asbury in their wake.
— Ken Shreve
RUNNING AT LARGE
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Their Seven
Deadly Sins:
I read with great interest your recent article entitled “Their
Seven Deadly Sins,” but it only serves to add to my complete
frustration and disgust with what is going on in America today.
With all due respect, I have no idea what the readership of The
American Spectator is, but it apparently is not enough to get
the truth out to the American electorate. Equally discouraging is
the fact that no one in the national spotlight ever fights back and
reveals the true facts about the Clintons.
I feel as though I am witnessing a true phenomenon as I observe
that not one of the few conservative newspapers, none of the
conservative talk show hosts, none of the Republican presidential
candidates , NO ONE ever dares tell the truth as it is. WHY IS
THAT? Whatever the reason is, the Clintons will forever be able to
do whatever they want because most people don’t know about it and a
great percentage of the others don’t care. Does no one care that
Bill Clinton desecrated the Oval Office? Of those that claim that
what he does with his personal life is his personal business ever
consider that fact that Monica Lewinsky could have been a foreign
espionage agent to whom he might have revealed secrets about
national security? Sometimes I feel as though I’m one of very few
people on earth who never forgets that the Clintons are liars and
felons who even stooped so low as to steal silverware from the
White House? Why is it that no one seems to care about the Clintons
“Seven Deadly Sins”?
My frustration reached an all time high one day last week when I
heard a woman who had called in to the Hannity show make a
statement that she was going to vote for Hillary Clinton because
she is a woman and because she is a mom. With that level of
ignorance that exists within the American electorate, how can the
most qualified candidate (or ANY qualified candidate) ever get
elected?
Mr. Tyrrell, I am almost totally despondent in my realization
that this country, or indeed possibly the entire world, cannot
possibly continue to last in any logical fashion while we are
hurtling down this road to self-destruction. Assuming that the
liberal leadership in this country are not totally ignorant
persons, what can the motivation to the destruction of our
country’s social and economics systems be? In their view, is
political power more important that the well-being of our
country?
In closing, I congratulate you for your truthfulness, honesty
and courage to present the facts as they truly are encourage you to
continue your good work
— Anthony Penizotto
Her Royal Clinton (HRC) and The Boy President have a clear history
of corruption that has gone grossly underreported from Arkansas to
Washington to New York. With one glaringly “fair and balanced”
exception, televised news leans strongly to the left, so the under
(or non) reporting of this unethical and immoral behavior is no
surprise. The print media has been much better shepherd, sounding
the trumpet more frequently, but the sheep are too often either
blind or tone deaf to head the call. If the clarion is acknowledged
at all, it is quickly dismissed as “old news” or part of the “vast
right wing conspiracy.”
When The Great Communicator, President Regan, God rest him, left
the White House, the party of Lincoln lost its moral compass. When
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich resigned, the GOP then lost is
collective backbone. Only one man running for president is hard
boiled and spinal enough to not only speak the truth, but to shove
it down Hillary’s throat. That candidate: Mayor Giuliani. If Da
Mayor brings up these issues in the presidential debates, the stink
of the dirty laundry might just penetrate the nostrils of the
American public. The stains, once again brought to light, will be
so blatant that even the mainstream (i.e., liberal) news will have
to acknowledge that the empress’ new clothes cover many weeping
abscesses, some old and some new, all needing serious attention. If
Giuliani is given the chance to face HRC, only the most mindless
loyalists will have any taste for the spew that HRC serves up.
Conservatives, unless they can find a messiah, will have to hold
their noses and accept that no Republican candidate is without sin,
and only one has the steely eyed, crisis tested, testicular
fortitude to stand up to the lady who wishes to once again hold the
balls, and other social functions, of the White House.
— Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York
MARKET UNREADY
Re: Garin K. Hovannisian’s The
Liberaltarian Delusion:
I really enjoyed the article. It amazes me how ignorant
Democrats are on economic freedom…They get social freedom but
they miss the best part of libertarianism (in my opinion), the free
markets. Thanks for the article keep up the good work
— Matthew Elliott
THE ONE AND ONLY
Re: Ben Stein’s I Had No
Alternative:
I want to add my thanks to the Spectator for bringing
Ben’s views and analysis to the fore. And my thanks to Ben for his
countless thought-provoking and timely articles.
— Tom Bullock
West Covina, California
TWO LITTLE JOE’S
Re: Lawrence Henry’s A Cook’s
Vocabulary:
I have eaten at Little Joe’s many times but it’s in North Beach
on the Chinatown side of Broadway. I learned to saute squid there
from an ancient Italian who liked me. I see there is a Little Joe’s
on Van Ness, but one on Union Square is news to me. Where exactly
was it?
— James Jackson
Lawrence Henry replies:
There are two of them. The little luncheonette, if it’s still
there, is in North Beach near Broadway, you’re right. The fancy one
is in Union Square.
THIS IS DEDICATED
Re: Liz Mair’s Script and
Stage:
Hillary requested that her campaign supporters come up with a
campaign song.
Here’s one that is making the rounds.
— Fred Edwards
