Quote of the day

The goal must be nothing less than to break the cycle – to make intellectualism a permanent value of American culture.

With the coming of Barack Obama to the presidency, the phrase “sea change” is not too strong. Here is a former academic who is deeply familiar with the world of thought. In his inaugural address, Obama pledged to restore science to its “rightful place” in our government; heck, he even extolled the virtue of “curiosity”.

What?! The kind of “intellectualism”, like Crazy Guggenheim Obama, that believes in retrograde fairy tales like Gloooobal Waaaarming or the kind that thinks that you can spend yourself out of debt? Where I come from that is not called an “intellectual”, as in intelligent, but it’s called a dope.

The founding fathers were real intellectuals and Obama and his ship of fools are close to being the very polar opposite of them.

MB4 on May 12, 2009 at 10:55 PM

Intellectuals brought us eugenics. Intellectuals brought us fascism. Intellectuals brought us nearly a century of Communism.

They also brought us Vietnam.

And we got all the problems both JFK and LBJ gave us along the way.

See above. JFK and the “intellectuals” that he left behind for LBJ.

Being “smart” and believing you have all the answers is hubris, not intellectually sound reasoning. Being “dumb” enough to seek out answers from folks who have walked the walk works a lot better…one of the hallmarks of Reagan.

coldwarrior on May 12, 2009 at 11:02 PM

“In his autobiography, American Soldier, Franks describes a conversation with his subordinates who were upset with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith; Franks tells them, ‘Here’s the deal, guys. I know OSD – Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith – are demanding a lot. But they are not the enemy. Don’t start thinking good guys-bad guys. We’re all on the same side.’ They could see I was serious. ‘I’ll worry about OSD, all of them – including Doug Feith, who’s getting a reputation around here as the dumbest @ucking guy on the planet,’ I continued. ‘Your job is to make me feel warm and fuzzy. Look, we’re all professionals. Let’s earn our pay.’

Franks shows a military man’s ability to get to the heart of the matter. But Feith isn’t dumb. His defenders, in fact, frequently stand up for him by citing his brilliance. But Franks’ lament is a blunter, less eloquent version of what Fallows wrote in the Atlantic of the office of the secretary of Defense, particularly Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith: ‘What David Halberstam said of Robert McNamara [,and the Bundy brothers, et all] in The Best and the Brightest is true of those at OSD as well: they were brilliant, and they were fools.’”

MB4 on May 12, 2009 at 11:22 PM

The “Bush lied about WMDs” meme is a good example. The facts say he didn’t “lie” and that is was a belief shared by almost everyone in the first world at the time.

18-1 on May 12, 2009 at 11:20 PM

“Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime … He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation … And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction … So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real…”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
– President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
– President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

“We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.”
– Madeline Albright, Feb 1, 1998

“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
– Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
– Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

“Hussein has … chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.”
– Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
– Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
– Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
– Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
– Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

Of course, the above, like with Pelosi and water boarding, is all before history was rewritten, so it never really happened.

MB4 on May 12, 2009 at 11:28 PM