Interview with Robert Kagan

A fascinating interview in Der Spiegel, where Mr. Kagan declares America remains number one. I enjoyed it.

Filed under: America, Axis of Evil, Current Events, Education, Election 2008, Europe, McCain, Politics, Terrorism, The West, United Nations

Reap What You Sow

The Wall Street Journal imagines the coming Liberal Supermajority. Hooray!

Filed under: America, Current Events, Election 2008, End of the World, Hippies, McCain, Politics, Pro-Life

Right Place, Right Time

Some of my seminarian brothers got to meet someone kind of famous and got their picture in Boston’s newspaper of (sort of) record, the Boston Herald:

That’s Sen. John McCain’s daughter. I guess she was on BC’s campus the other day.

(And no, this is not the seminary endorsing a candidate.)

Filed under: America, Catholic, Cool Picture, Current Events, Election 2008, McCain, Politics, Pro-Life, Religion

Going John Galt

Dr. Helen wonders if we shouldn’t “go John Galt” after this election. I don’t get it; why does she want to be my brother (who is John Galt, as far as I can tell)?

Kidding aside, I think it’s a dumb idea. I say if the American people want socialism in this country, let them have it!

UPDATE: Or should we go anti-John Galt?

Filed under: America, Books, Current Events, Election 2008, McCain, Politics

Palin as VP

Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked that it will be Gov. Palin who will run for VP on the Stupid party ticket in November. She is a high-risk/high-payoff kind of pick: if she does great, she helps a great deal; if she does poorly, she completely blows any chance the Republicans will be in the White House after January 2009. There’s lots of back and forth on her in the blogosphere, but I think it’ll end up being a plus for the ticket overall. I think (and hope) she will do well, but we shall see.

Often noted is the fact that her youngest and newest son has Down Syndrome. Apparently she knew about this due to prenatal screening, and decided to go through with the pregnancy. One of the things about abortion nowadays is that it has turned into de facto eugenics: see this George Will column for further explanation. So, Gov. Palin is quite counter-cultural when she chooses life for her baby. In short, I think that her choosing life in such a way and in such a culture that we have today speaks volumes about her as a person.

Rich Lowry agrees with me on that, and over at The Corner, he tells a story of an airplane ride he recently had. On it, he met Ian, a young man with Down Syndrome. Rich notes that, like many people “suffering” from Down’s, Ian was very friendly and helpful. He concludes thusly:

From this brief encounter, I dare say Ian is friendlier, better adjusted and more considerate than about half of the people on the streets of Manhattan or San Francisco on any given day. Yet most of those people are perfectly unperturbed by the elimination of babies with Down syndrome in the womb. To hell with them. God bless Sarah Palin for bringing Trig into the world, and may he shower those around him with as much sunshine as the gentleman I met on that flight.

Amen. Reading Rich’s story made me think of Senior year in high school when I volunteered in the Special Education classroom. It was nothing much: just playing games, watching movies, chatting with the students. But they (and I!!) had a blast.

Anyways, congratulations to Gov. Palin, and good luck to McCain-Palin ‘08!

Filed under: America, Catholic, Current Events, Election 2008, McCain, Personal, Politics, Pro-Life, Religion

McCain’s Veeps

Sen McCain will be hosting a few possible vice-presidential candidates at his Memorial Day BBQ. McCain has a good reason to pick each one of them: Crist is governor of a battle-ground state, Romney raises money like it’s his job, and Jindal is a minority (nice against Sen. Obama). I wonder if he will pick any of them.

John O’Sullivan has some related thoughts.

Filed under: America, Current Events, Election 2008, McCain, Politics, Romney

Curtis Asks, I answer

My buddy Curtis asked me what I thought about the McCain-Hagee kerfuffle. Far be it for me to not give an opinion on something!!

Let’s review: prominent Evangelical preacher endorses Republican candidate for President. The problem? Said prominent Evangelical preacher likes to say stuff like this:

Ahh. Cue outraged masses? Well, not for me. Besides the fact that these arguments have been made (and refuted!) since the time of Luther and Calvin, I don’t really give a damn what he thinks. I think most Catholics would not like it, but I doubt anyone would be crazy enough to ascribe his views to McCain.

So, why don’t we let the Stephen Colbert have the last word:

“I wish this guy could have been alive in 16th century Spain.”

Filed under: Catholic, Current Events, Election 2008, Entertainment, History, McCain, Religion, Rome, Stephen Colbert, TV

Mac 2008!

OK folks, here’s the thing: John McCain needs to become president in 2008. Obama is an empty suit, and Hillary is a Clinton. He’s the only option right now. There, I said it.

My conservative brethren are quite upset that McCain is going to be the nominee. Understandable, to be sure. But the Republican Party is not a conservative party; it’s just the closest thing we have to one. So, no, I don’t expect the Republicans to be my perfect party; only much better than the alternative. And so I vote for them, year in and year out.

Is he my favorite candidate? No. Was he even in my top three? Heck no! But he’s the nominee (or rather, all but). Huckabee needs to drop out and we need to gear up for the national campaign, the one for all the marbles. With probably three Supreme Court slots opening up in the next four years, we don’t have a choice. So, suck it up and vote for him.

UPDATE: “Ambrose” in the comments brings up a good point which I forgot to mention: McCain could actually get Dems to vote for him. I don’t know, however, if any Republican would vote for Obama.

Filed under: America, Current Events, Election 2008, Hippies, Huckabee, McCain, Politics