Arlingcon's blog
Posted at 1:22pm on Dec. 3, 2006 Giuliani Problems
By Arlingcon
I'm not going to chuck Rudy G. just because he's had some marital problems and is more than a bit squishy on social issues. I could grudgingly look past those on occasion of his (or what I think will be his) solid credentials on national security. He's the one candidate that I think might actually do what is probably necessary to make sure the US emerges on top in the GWOT. And if Rudy's the nominee I'll be voting for him without a worry.
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Posted at 1:03pm on Nov. 18, 2006 United 93 or Munich?
By Arlingcon
I recently watched both movies, Munich first then United 93 yesterday.
I have to say that it struck me, the two movies that is, as a perfect analogy of the recent election (and mood of the country).
Munich, fascinating as it can be early, ultimately is disappointing. In the end the movie's seeming failure to take a moral stand beyond throwing one's hands up is an apt description of the recent election. Yes, Avner has dreams about the Israeli athletes slaughtered but he seems to bend over backwards to avoid blaming the Palestinians for engineering that demise. Something else seems to have killed them. They are as cardboard characters executed by an author in a book - mere phantoms of thoughts from the past - not ever real people.
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Posted at 12:05am on Sep. 10, 2006 Michael Steele ads in Maryland
By Arlingcon
I just caught Michael Steele's ads. Clearly they won't make conservative firebreathers happy but I thought they were perfect for the market he's running them in.
For those without access to them they feature Steele sitting on a stool speaking a series of positions as the camera moves around. Intercuts are filled with him chuckling. Very Dr. Phil. Not at all threatening to the "moderates" that populate the Maryland suburbs.
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Posted at 4:12pm on Aug. 19, 2006 Quick thoughts on Andrew Sullivan
By Arlingcon
I worked with Andrew Sullivan for a couple of years as a radio producer in the early 1990s. I believe I was at his condo watching the 1992 election results - it was a The New Republic election party... I was miserable.
Anyway.
Andrew Sullivan has a doctorate or whatever they have in England from Oxford. His "thesis" was an examination of Michael Oakeshott. He was very young when he got it (early 20s). Many Englanders think he is (was) a genius. He apparently did impress a number of Maggie Thatcher's advisors.
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Posted at 12:45am on Aug. 16, 2006 Reagan, Now More Than Ever!
By Arlingcon
Rich Lowry of National Review seems to have decided that Iraq is Vietnam after all and we're doomed. His evidence? Nothing he mentions but just a growing sourness exhibited at the magazine and the website.
Ronald Reagan really was an oddball conservative. His sunny disposition contrasted heavily with most of the conservative leadership of his time. Even Buckley's NR was under the guidance of constitutionally dark personalities such as Whittaker Chambers and Jim Burnham. Both men thought that, contrasting with Reagan, America's best days were behind her... Buckley himself has never demonstrated a great deal of faith in America just something of a dreary confidence that this is the least bad of all possible worlds.
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Posted at 3:55am on Aug. 15, 2006 Bush Sold Out Israel?
By Arlingcon
I'm currently reminded by those bellowing that Bush sold Israel out of the old days during the Reagan administration.
Whenever Reagan would offer a plan that didn't involve nuking the Soviet Union off the face of the planet the usual suspects would immediately flip out. Like clockwork Paul Weyrich, Howie Phillips, et al, would scream that Reagan had sold us out, lost his nerve or been co-opted by the cookie pushers at State. And occasionally this was true - but in the long run it wasn't true.
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Posted at 7:48pm on Aug. 13, 2006 Why the NYT doesn't fear the terrorists...
By Arlingcon
A few weeks ago the great Deroy Murdock wondered why the NYT, with impunity, published state secrets that obviously helped our enemies. He asked did not the New York Times worry about its safety - being in mid-town Manhattan not all that far from terrorist targets?
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Posted at 7:43pm on Aug. 13, 2006 Did we topple Saddam too quickly?
By Arlingcon
Lately I've come to think that maybe we toppled Saddam a bit too easily and quickly.
When WWII ended our main adversaries, Japan and Germany, lay in ruins. Not many citizens or soldiers wanted to fight anymore. These people knew they were beaten and in Germany the threat of the Soviets focused the mind exceedingly well. Both countries (West Germany for Germany) were fairly docile and became good citizens. The possible return of fascist Germany and Imperial Japan is laughable.
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