Roger’s Rules

October 25th, 2008 10:00 am

Who do you want answering the phone at 3:00 a.m.?

Some wise words and a few pointed questions from Charles Krauthammer:

The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.

Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who’s been cramming on these issues for the past year, who’s never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of “a world that stands as one“), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as “the tragedy of 9/11,” a term more appropriate for a bus accident?

Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?

Read the whole thing here.

Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:

1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.

2. Stay on topic.

3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.

4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.

5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.

The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.

These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.

10 Comments

1. mtraven:

Let’s see, who do I want answering the phone and commanding the military, an intemperate old man who makes hasty gut decisions (Palin), whose first instinct is to inflame hostilities, invade or bomb countries that haven’t attacked us; or a cool-headed young guy with good advisors and the brains to listen to them, and who was smart enough to know that Iraq was a mistake from the start? Gee, that’s a toughie!

Oct 25, 2008 - 10:58 am 2. heather:

If Obama becomes president, it will be a joyous day in Teheran. I wonder if Israel will pay attention. And if I lived in Vienna, I would be measuring the distance – as the crow and the missile fly – from Iran to my city (given the Siege of Vienna.)

Oct 25, 2008 - 1:43 pm 3. The Eagle:

Excellent point, Roger ! Unfortunately the financial crisis has made almost everyone blind to the crude reality out there. And it is real danger that awaits – not only the US – but the whole world if a candidate gets elected who was capable to associate himself with Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright and many more of those US-haters – no matter if he is a “smart young guy”.

Oct 25, 2008 - 4:52 pm 4. ehunter:

Why are we pretending that the people who are electing Obama are doing so because of
deficient information, or faulty reasoning?
These people arent thinking at all. They are voting race, they are voting ignorance, and they are voting for a man that will protect their ignorance and cater to their special interest group no matter what it
costs America. No amount of ideas or argument will change these peoples minds..they have no minds to change. Obama is a result of 40 years of mass immigration, mass dumbed down education, and a legion of hucksters and con man playing the race card. The country has been given away by whites are too dumb to know whats being done to them. If you want to save this country think DEMOGRAPHY..not debate. If you dont believe me…try debating with an Obamabot and then maybe just maybe you will be ready to break out of the stranglehold of Political Correctness.

Oct 25, 2008 - 5:52 pm 5. G. Clark:

Neither, of course. They will both be a disaster for the USA and her interests. The Trotskyite neo-con, Christopher Hitchens, did make a valid point in his recent endorsement of Obama. He wrote, “there really isn’t a very sharp or highly noticeable distinction to be made between the two nominees.” Indeed. Neither of them is a conservative and Obama seems fairly hawkish on most things except Iraq. As bad as BH Obama will be for the USA, his victory will do us the service of further discrediting the Republican party and the neo-conservatives that have controlled it. We can only hope that out of the ashes a new and truly conservative party will emerge. One that doesn’t believe in loony notions like fighting wars to impose democracy or for the benefit of other countries.

Oct 25, 2008 - 6:01 pm 6. ehunter:

How can someone be a “Troskyite neo-con”.
After that bit of gibberish G.Clark goes on
to tell us Obama is “hawkish”. This has all the earmarks of Obamathought itself. The only thing that has any coherence in anything this nitwit says is the usual Bushbashing tripe.

Oct 25, 2008 - 6:51 pm 7. George:

Some things that liberals support and Hussein Obama believes in.

Is separating individuals into male and female as “evil” as racial apartheid?

Scientology Hollywood believes sex is a “role” not a genetic fact.

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/TVCSpecialRptTransgenders1234.PDF

Oct 25, 2008 - 7:28 pm 8. G. Clark:

@6 I would expect that sort of ignorance from a Bushie. Christopher Hitchens has never changed his admiration for Trotsky back from the days when he was a Bolshevik. Trotsky is a hero of his til this day. And the two ideologies are similar. I refer to you this excellent article on Hitchens by Tom Piatak.

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/oct/10/00022/

Oct 26, 2008 - 7:29 am 9. Sean Casey:

Hell yeah–it’s Krauthammer time!

Well, not really.

There’s must be gaggle of ghost writers somewhere churning out this Krauthammer and Sowell material. The same stuff said in the same way.

Say what you will about Hitchens and even Kimball Jong Ill, both dudes can write.

(Hitchens spells better, though.)

Oct 26, 2008 - 2:04 pm 10. cfbleachers:

Good advisors? Now that comment had me actually chuckle.

I have never seen an advisory team so poorly constructed and the mere thought of what lies ahead is a bone chilling nightmare.

The entire foreign policy tack this wayward and port listing ship is sailing upon, makes no new footprint, it simply follows in the limp-wristed wake of Jimmy Carter. Himself a disaster of epic proportions from which we have yet to fully recover. An appeaser toward our sworn enemies and turncoat to our allies, shaking in his boots at the ferocity of a bunny rabbit. The entire team carries the stench of fear, cowardice and disloyalty to allies.

Joe Biden and John Murtha, two aging simpletons who can’t seem to get out of the way of their own ignorance. When either of these two speak about foreign affairs, it comes out as if in a foreign language, lost in translation. Dumb as a stump and twice as wooden, it makes for the laughs of lowbrow comedy or heaven forbid they ever obtain real power, terrifying high drama.

Tim Mahoney and Barney Frank, apparently believing that it’s not enough of a job to help cook the books at Fannie and Freddie…but to book the hookers as well. It’s nice to be lectured on how to behave as a world citizen by guys who are equal opportunity scandalmakers. Nice work, if you can find it. “We have bankrupted the economy and kept the felonies to a minimum”.

Built a great advisory team, so that should give us confidence at 3:00 AM? I’m terrified at 2:00 in the afternoon, in broad daylight.

No, really…thanks for the chuckle.

A wimp, a simp and a pimp…yep, that’s the ticket.

Oct 27, 2008 - 1:38 am