Gore Vidal: Military Dictatorship After Obama

MC can think of almost nothing political with which it agrees with Gore Vidal. That said, he remains one of the most intelligent, formidable people on the planet and MC reads everything he writes and goes out of its way to catch any television program on which he appears. Everyone's beliefs should be comprehensively challenged from time to time and he's our foil. Lucky us.

In an interview published today on the TimesOnline he makes plain his disappointment in Obama and cites the latter's inexperience. He then goes over the top and suggests a military dictatorship will follow Obama because nothing else can fill the void of the Vapid One. MC is reasonably confident civilian command and control of our armed forces will continue in effect, Obama or no.

Click on the title of this post to read a wide-ranging interview with Vidal. If you're easily offended (ie, being called very stupid) then this piece isn't for you. But if you can take a shot then do click and enjoy.

The Neoconservatives Make A Comeback

Actually, we never really left but the Paul bearers thought we did. They can have Susan Rice as UN Ambassador while we'll take John Bolton. We took a pass on seeing Ron Paul in the flesh when he appeared with Michelle Bachman; we're not much for cult followings. And unlike the loony Paulites, we don't think highly about legalizing all drugs. Oh! And auditing the Federal Reserve. Surely we'll find the second gunman in Dealey Plaza lurking somewhere in that paper trail. The surge in Iraq worked, despite the nasal scolding Dr. Paul never tired of giving. MC finds little coherence in his or his followers' agenda or issues that remain. Color us unimpressed and bored.

Brett Stephens in yesterday's WSJ has an excellent article on neocons and neoconservatism ("the neocons are back because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin never went away"). Heh.

Click on the title of this post to read it.

RIP: William Safire 1929-2009

Buckley, Novak, Kristol and now the sui generis William Safire have left us. MC feels a bit bereft but we trust in the future. We're conservatives after all. Click on the title of this post to read the New York Times' obituary on one of its best columnists (though that was far from all he was).

Obama's Age Of Atonement

Christopher Caldwell has a must read piece in the Financial Times. Click on the title of this post to do so.

Sarkozy Mocks Obama At UN Security Council

But you wouldn't know it from the drive-by media! In fact, MC only became aware of it due to reporting by Big Government. Here are some of the highlights of his remarks:

“President Obama dreams of a world without weapons … but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.

“Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993.

“I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium enrichment and declarations by the leaders of Iran to wipe a UN member state off the map,” he continued, referring to Israel.

The sharp-tongued French leader even implied that Mr Obama’s resolution 1887 had used up valuable diplomatic energy.

“If we have courage to impose sanctions together it will lend viability to our commitment to reduce our own weapons and to making a world without nuke weapons,” he said.

Mr Sarkozy has previously called the US president’s disarmament crusade “naive.”

Click on the title of this post to read the whole report.

Hat tip: www.biggovernment.com

Now Here Is A Leader With A Moral Center!

MC wishes our President were half the leader Bibi is.

Can It Get Any Creepier? Seriously.

MC has no idea why teachers would make young children do such a thing without thinking: "Wait, isn't this too Kim Jong Il?"

Obama & The Worst Foreign Policy Ever

The Vapid One gave a horrible speech to the fools at the United Nations. MC was appalled at its denigration of this country. Yesterday the Washington Times had a devastating critique of Obama's foreign policy; we enjoyed this bit a great deal:

Then there is the catalogue of Mr. Obama's embarrassing moments on the world stage, a list which includes: giving England's Queen Elizabeth II an iPod with his speeches on it; giving British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of DVDs that were not formatted to the European standard (by contrast, Mr. Brown gave Mr. Obama an ornamental desk-pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, among other historically significant gifts); calling "Austrian" a language; bowing to the Saudi king; releasing a photo of a conference call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the president was showing the soles of his shoes to the camera (an Arab insult); saying "let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's"; saying the United States was "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world"; suggesting Arabic translators be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan where Arabic is not a native language; sending a letter to French President Jacques Chirac when Nicolas Sarkozy was the president of France; holding a town-hall meeting in France and not calling on a single French citizen; and referring to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when he meant Cinco de Mayo. Also of note was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton giving Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a "reset" button with the Russian word for "overcharge."

Click on the title of this post to read the whole editorial.

Are You A Racist? Follow This Flow Chart!

Click to enlarge and if you do, that's another indicator you're a racist!

Hat tip: Missourah.com and Powerline.

RIP: Irving Kristol 1920-2009

MC mourns the passing of a very great man.

UPDATE: We simply have to pass on this bit:

Robert Kagan writes at the Washington Post on the passing of Irving Kristol:

He was a truly great man, a great intellectual, and a great, patriotic servant to his country. He was also a unique inspiration, to me personally, and to untold thousands of other young people for whom he provided a model of the intellectual life well-lived. He was a deep and fierce thinker, who nevertheless delivered his thoughts in the most amiable fashion, without animus or bile. He was curious and invited others to be curious, to engage in serious dialogue on the important issues of the day.

He was also a creator of communities and institutions. He occupied a unique space between the world of the mind and the world of action. Networks of thinkers, policy-makers, and politicians revolved around him -- and not because he thrust himself into their midst but because his mind and character attracted them to him. To go to work for him, as I did fresh out of college almost 30 years ago, was to enter a rich and exciting intellectual universe, filled with learning and integrity and a commitment to the well-being of society. I fear such a universe may no longer exist. But the memory of what Irving Kristol created is enough to warm the soul for a lifetime.