Kevin Sullivan

Cyrus and the Vessels

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Mahmoud takes Baghdad.  Start the parade:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit comes after an invitation from the Iraqi government and will be the first by an Iranian president to Baghdad since 1979.

Bush used his own trip to the region last month to cajole moderate Arab allies to join a U.S. drive to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program and what Washington sees as stoking violence in Iraq.

“President Ahmadinejad’s visit is aimed at stealing America’s thunder … the Iranians are masters of propaganda,” said Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.

“It is his (Ahmadinejad’s) moment of triumph. It is his ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment,” Rubin said, referring to a visit by Bush to a U.S. aircraft carrier in May 2003, two months after the invasion of Iraq, in which he addressed troops under a banner saying “Mission Accomplished.”

If we’re discussing American withdrawal from Iraq, than we must consider the Iranian factor once we depart.  No matter how we interact with the republic, the Iranian role in Iraq is now undeniable.  The question for American leadership is the amount of room we’ll grant them to operate there.  If we withdraw completely, you can certainly add Iraq to Iran’s list of terrorist staging grounds. 

Want a precursor for Iraq?  See the Turkish invasion of Kurdistan.

If Obama Wins, Children Will Die

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Yes!  I need more of the good crazy!

I can’t speak on behalf of normal people around the country, but I love this stuff.  I’ve been saying for days now that Clinton will be like a cornered animal leading up to Tuesday, and this spot proves my point.  What’s really hilarious about this ad is that a good friend of mine thought it up months ago, except in his hypothetical it was 3 am at the White House.  The phone rings…”something has happened.”  But which Clinton answers the phone!?  Is it Hillary, or her more experienced and tested husband?  Uh-oh!  Etc.

I need more of this.  It reaffirms my faith in the absurd.

More at memeorandum.     

Hilarious

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Shorter Patrick Seale: Obama will be good for Israel, because he’ll make Israel kowtow to despots, dictators and terrorists.  Ugh.

Paul Mirengoff has it right.  With friends like that, who really needs enemies?  Obama’s entire foreign policy universe worries me, and I think it could be a serious issue against McCain in the general.

More at memeorandum.     

Machiavelli and Mercs

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Stop the presses. I agree with Cernig on private security forces in Iraq.  It’s unclear just how much an Obama administration would lean on mercenaries, but they obviously view them as a substitute for the genuine article in Iraq.  I can’t get down with that.  If you can’t fight the war with your own citizens–or if you’ve lost the political will to do so–then it’s time to withdraw.  No hybrid imperialism, no unaccountable guns for hire with American flag decals parading about.  No thanks. 

The United States government always has and always will outsource a certain amount of its overseas services to private contractors.  This is fine, but as we’ve seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, the government simply can’t administer the levels we’ve reached today.  United States servicemen and women, furthermore, make an oath to defend the Constitution.  Private contractors, while bound by U.S. law, are in fact driven by far less virtuous ends.  When it comes to this topic, I tend to stick with Machiavelli:

I conclude, therefore, that no principality is secure without having its own forces; on the contrary, it is entirely dependent on good fortune, not having the valour which in adversity would defend it. And it has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its own strength. And one’s own forces are those which are composed either of subjects, citizens, or dependants; all others are mercenaries or auxiliaries. 

Fight with your own, or go home. 

Buckley as Trojan Horse

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Jonah Goldberg suspects that Liberals will use WFB’s legacy in order to browbeat modern conservatives:

In the next few days, there will be a wave of liberals — Frank Rich comes particularly to mind — who will use WFB’s memory to beat up on today’s conservatives. Ramesh and I wrote a piece about this tendency last year. Liberals today bemoan how wonderful the conservatives of yesteryear were solely to lament how terrible they are today. The recent bout of Goldwater nostalgia on the left was a perfect example. The  strange new respect liberals have for Ronald Reagan would be another. And you can be sure they will use Buckley to that effect too.

Well, maybe, and why not?  Buckley viewed the Iraq War as a failure.  Had he been in the halls of Congress at the time, he might have been accused of murdering our troops by his fellow Republicans.  This Republican Party’s fiscal discipline certainly wouldn’t make them worthy of Buckley’s mantle, either.

But beyond policy, there’s something to be saidfor the style and class Buckley exhibited towards his opposition.  Disputes can’t be mediated or reconciled without genuine dialogue.  Buckley trusted, and sought verification.  Knowing what it felt like to be a political pariah, he interviewed and debated all types of thinkers and ideologues (his exchange with Chomsky comes to mind).  The same truly can’tbe said of today’s conservative ilk.  Sean Hannity prefers to interview the likes of “Dog” The Bounty Hunter, and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program is incredibly contrived and controlled.  I don’t begrudge them this, because they are first and foremost entertainers beholden to an audience.  But they don’t even come close to Buckley. 

Andrew Sullivan highlights this today with a post on Buckley and gay rights.  Despite his personal feelings on the practice and its policy application, he maintained a degree of ”grace and manners” absent from today’s Republican intelligentsia.  Opinion didn’t concede to civility, they merely complimented one another.  Anti-gay initiatives are thrown on state ballots today to mobilize–rather than educate–their party’s base.  For the talking heads, it’s imperative that one remain confrontational and self-aggrandizing in order to keep viewership/readership/listenership.  As I’m so fond of saying, there are careers at stake here.  Buckley’s interviews were interesting and thought provoking, but they’d make for boring and tedious television in today’s market.  The scholar has been replaced by the novice, with the likes of Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck now supplanting the Buckleys of the world. 

Jonah’s right to anticipate such well-placed scrutiny. 

Breaking

Posted by Kevin Sullivan under Uncategorized

Sorry, I’ve been on a 90’s kick lately, and the percussion in this song is great.

When Jindal Runs

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No matter what happens in 2008, it’s pretty obvious who is on the short list of Republican superstars for the future.  Recently elected Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has just pushed a milestone piece of reform legislation through the state’s legislature.  In a state best known for its layers of cronyism and corruption, the land of Long is now run by a reform-minded conservative with undoubtedly no ceiling at this point in his career. 

Rush Limbaugh has referred to Jindal as the “next Ronald Reagan.”  The comparisons could soon prove to be apt, with the conservative base seemingly on the outside of the presidential nomination process for the first time in decades.  The question is whether or not Jindal will have the credentials–both ideological and professional–by 2012 or 2016 to legitimately make a run at the White House.  Just a cursory skim of the governor’s record should assuage those concerns.  At the age of 36, Jindal already has more experience than he knows what to do with.  He has served at the federal, state and local levels of government, having already managed 40% of Louisiana’s budget–the department of health and hospitals–with relative success.  He was unanimously appointed by the U.S. Senate in 2001 to be the chief policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  

Buckley and the Beats

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A classic exchange between two men that were, at least on the surface, different as night and day.  I sadly can’t embed Kerouac’s famous (and depressing) appearance on Buckley’s Firing Line from 1968, but the link has the full interview. It’s said that the two men actually became rather friendly, and found that they were actually much closer on substantive policy than either would’ve initially believed.  

This is what critics should take away from Buckley.  He had all sorts on his program, and embraced all forms of political dialogue and debate.  He did it with wit, class and calm.  We need a little bit more of that today, I think.  Especially in the age of “New Media,” where partisan blathering and bickering tends to get you hit points like in some role playing game. 

And now, to expand on my point, a song:

UPDATE: “The topic tonight is the…hiiiippies.”

Wow

Posted by Kevin Sullivan under Uncategorized

William F. Buckley, Jr. has died at the age of 82. 

I’m sure this story will soon overtake the day.  Maybe I’ll add more later, but for the sake of brevity I’ll say this: Taking off my partisan hat, as an objective student of ideology and political theory, Buckeley was huge.  Without National Review–the case could be made–there is no Goldwater, perhaps there’s never a Reagan.  The face of American conservatism would be completely different.  The Republican Party might be unrecognizable.  Hopefully, we can go without the vitriol over the man’s legacy for a few days. 

A sad day for conservatives and political junkies of every ilk.  RIP.   

Much more at memeorandum.    

Setting Sun

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I can’t help but think chatter about the decline of the Clinton Empire is somewhat premature.  Momentum appears to favor Obama, but the race is in all reality still a dead heat.  Clinton’s problem isn’t so much that she can’t win, it’s that she can’t win and still manage to shirk Obama at this point.  The proportional system used by the Democrats favors a sexy candidate like Obama, because it allows them to build up support right to the very end and pull precious delegates away.  This is Clinton’s dilemma.  Win, and you must ask Barack Obama to be your running mate, or risk party strife.  I still strongly believe that Democrats will “come home” to either of the two, but I see this less likely with a Clinton candidacy.

And if this is the end, well, so what?  It was difficult for the Democrats to say goodbye to Adlai Stevenson in 1960, but eventually that umbilical chord needed cutting.  Because they are nationally elected, presidents (as we are witnessing today) can do eight years of service, or eight years of damage.  Eye of the beholder sort of thing.  Senators–the good ones, anyway–generally suffer less scrutiny, ultimately being accountable to less people.  Senator Clinton could continue on in the senate, and she will still be a remarkable figure in American history.  The first lady who rolled up her sleeves and went to work in Congress.  Etc.

This thing isn’t over, but the republic will prevail without a Clinton or Bush in the Oval Office.  I promise.