The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Greenlight Special

9.30.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 4)

Egads!
-- Dan Hirsch
Paris, Wisconsin

First, newscrater Couric's behavior toward Governor Palin and, then, with the big "O" and his minions, the self-proclaimed guardians of the dignity of all mankind, proudly and publicly engage in the most petty and sophomoric of insults. They were expecting "a flash of [the] McCain infamous temper," but forgot that he endured far worse insults at the hands of their philosophical brethren in Indochina...which, I suppose, makes it all the more sophomoric.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

BRILLIANTLY FLAWED
Re: Daniel Mandel's The Hero of Trafalgar at 250:

As an unapologetic fan of Lord Nelson (I have always been aggrieved that my birthday misses Trafalgar Day by one day), I would like to make two observations. The first is that Nelson was not the universal hero of his time that is often assumed today. When he was alive he was actively shunned by the English upper classes because of his disgraceful abandonment of his loyal wife and his sordid relationship with Lady Emma Hamilton and her cuckolded husband. Nelson was extremely popular with ordinary men and women in England, large crowds followed him everywhere and the account of the public reaction when he left England for the last time to command the fleet at Trafalgar is extremely touching, but he was a leper to the drawing rooms of London. The Duke of Wellington meet him during his last visit to London and thought him the most vain and silly, the biggest fool he ever meet. Young women from good families were warned not to associate with Nelson and the Hamiltons because it would destroy their social reputations forever. Nelson's own daughter Horatia refused to her dying days to accept that Emma Hamilton was her mother, although she was proud that Nelson was her father.

The second point is that when the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar was celebrated in Britain it was scarcely mentioned that the French were the losers. It was a classic example of political correctness at its most foolish. Don't expect another Nelson when then the real one is an embarrassment to his country and his achievements are
swept under the carpet. While I certainly see the need for leaders as brave, innovative and inspiring as Lord Nelson I don't expect to see them -- Nelson was a man of his own time, he had character flaws that were serious then and would be regarded in the same light today, and, above all, our times are different. No military that produces no risk, no responsibility, mister nice guy diplomats and paper shufflers like Colin Powell is ever going to lower its standards and promote somebody as brilliantly flawed as Lord Nelson.
-- Christopher Holland
Canberra, Australia

OMINOUS PREVIEW
Re: John Tabin's The Great Debate Escape:

Well, well, well, we now have a preview of a McCain administration. John suspended his campaign, rode to the rescue, and what was the result? He contributed nothing to the final result of the sickening bailout, went back on his promise to work on the problem and miss the debate if no solution was in hand, returned to his Virginia office after the debate, and worked the phones -- just like the campaigning Obamamessiah! You can garb the resulting crony capitalism in a Republican fig leaf (all that's left of the Republican's flawed--but somewhat better--plan), but Republicans, apparently including Senator McCain, are going to vote for a government bailout of Wall Street that is neither conservative (unprecedented intervention into the financial system) nor libertarian (for all the obvious reasons). Senator McCain looks, well...flighty and unserious. Which, of course, he is! The crucible of financial crisis has exposed a senator of the United States at sea, lacking any real understanding of the economic problem or how to best resolve it.

You would think his "honor" politics would cause him to resist any solution emerging from the likes of a Hank Paulson or Barney Frank or Chuck Schumer, considering that these fine gentlemen were involved up to their eyeballs in the creation of the mortgage mess, but our old Navy pilot is looking for some bread crumbs somewhere marking a path forward from the economic crisis. Combined with his odd debate performance (Americans look one another in the eye, Senator), the American people have now taken the measure of our foremost war hero: a brave man promoted above his competence level when he left the House. The polls are showing this, and Senator McCain will have to overcome his failures of this past weekend if he hopes to convince enough doubters to return this race to some semblance of competitiveness. Maybe some of those nutso conservative "intellectuals" who are so eager to throw Sarah Palin overboard should turn their attention to encouraging Senator McCain to withdraw "for health reasons." At least Sarah has common sense, a governing temperament, and the ability (and interest) to learn what she does not know. Would that we could say the same for Senator McCain!

Just imagine Senator McCain looking for new "bipartisan" solutions to economic problems as this bailout creates its unintended consequences! Maybe, he'll make Barney Frank his economic czar and new BFF! That'll work! The only question in my mind is who will be Herbert Hoover in this little drama: George W. Bush for ceding economic policy to a Wall Street insider and crony capitalist, or (should he actually be elected) John McCain for increasingly peevish know nothing economic interventions? I would imagine that blanking the Presidential line on the ballot is looking a lot better to conservatives and libertarians today than it did as recently as last Thursday. Hey, I know we all shudder at the possibility of an Obama administration, but think about the long run consequences of a McCain administration based on what you saw this weekend! (Not that what we do may make much difference now...)

Moreover, I hope we are all watching the vote on the bailout. A vote for the bailout should disqualify any Republican legislator for any future leadership role in the Republican Party. Boehner and McConnell should be removed from their leadership roles after the election, and replaced by legislators that stood up for America in the face of all the pressures.

The one good thing about the bailout vote is that it will identify all the weak sisters in the stupid party. And we should also note which self-styled leaders of conservative opinion are supporting this bailout, whether reluctantly or not (yes, that would be you Rich Lowry, among others). Unfortunately, too many journals of conservative opinion are off the rails on this one.

Let me give some free advice to Senator McCain, not that he would ever take it. The government should suspend "mark to market" for securities in a temporarily illiquid market and replace it with "fair underlying economic valuation." If there truly is a general liquidity crisis, I would even accept Fed action to inject liquidity into the market (but only to kick start the economy, not to prevent a recession, which is inevitable). Provide a low tax environment that encourages capital formation. And then the government should do nothing. Allow the stock market to fall significantly (better take the hit now and position for recovery than tolerate the slow, long-lasting leakage from ever more counterproductive government interventions). Allow creative destruction. Allow Secretary Paulson's cronies to go out of business. Understand that better, more efficient capitalists will (thankfully) replace them. Oh, and never, never, never allow a Barney Frank to dabble in our financial markets ever again. The American people are looking for accountability. We should make sure that everyone in this nation understands the central role that such as Barney Frank (and his allies among "community organizers" and Wall Street crony capitalists) played in creating this economic mess. Not that the stupid party could ever conceive this, but there should be sarcastic laughter at any future economic pronouncement made by the proponents of shaky mortgages. Our message to the American people: Never Again!
-- Stephen Zierak
Kansas City, Missouri

RIGHT INTO MY TRAP
Re: Mike Roush's letter (under "He's Baa-aack") in Reader Mail's Snooty Katie:

Along with rest of the TAS community, I wish to welcome Mr. Roush back from his self-imposed exile from these pages. Our imaginations would surely just fly away if it were not for his raspberries from the sidelines.

In response to my ethnography on Liberal behavioral patterns, Mr. Roush resorts to the "so-iz-you" defense suggesting that, if I merely transposed the words "Liberal" and "Conservative" in my missive, we would "have a fair approximation of how some liberals view their counterparts." Thus, unwittingly, Mr. Roush reinforces my point that Liberals are befallen with the psychological malady of projection "where they accuse others of the very attitudes and behaviors they themselves engage."

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hank Paulson, Business, Environment, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Immigration, Energy, Oil