7-14-08

David Ignatius: “Politicians repeat, ad nauseum, philosopher George Santayana’s maxim that “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The U.S. Army is that rare institution in American life that is actually putting this precept into practice.”

MsUnderestimated: “Dear God, please let the Patriot Guard Riders know about this ahead of time. The Phelps gang is ready to strike, and they outline their intent here.”

AJ Strata: “Obama is looking as quite the lost soul. Based upon news reports Prime Minister Maliki would like to consider a timeline for the successful withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, now that Maliki believes victory is at hand, Obama is trying to claim is calls for surrendering Iraq to al-Qaeda now make sense.”

Ed Morrissey: “Barack Obama based his editorial on Iraq in large part on the assertion by Nouri al-Maliki wants timetables for American withdrawal.  Unfortunately, as the BBC notes, Maliki didn’t actually say that — although the fault really does not lie with Obama.  In fact, the Maliki government doesn’t want date-certain withdrawal dates, and may not want a withdrawal at all”

Michael Barone: “Sixty years ago this month, the top story in campaign year 1948 was not the big poll lead of Republican nominee Thomas Dewey or the plight of President Harry Truman. It was the Berlin airlift. On June 23, the Soviets cut off land access to West Berlin. Gen. Lucius Clay, the military governor in Germany, called for sending convoys up the autobahns, but Allied troops were vastly outnumbered by the Red Army, and everyone feared they would overrun Western Europe unless the United States retaliated with the atomic bomb.”

Christopher Hitchens: “If there is one element of moral and political certainty that cements the liberal consensus more than any other, it is the complacent view that while Iraq is “a war of choice,” it is really and only Afghanistan that is a war of necessity.”

Conn Carroll: “In 2004, after a tip from a whistle blower who was later fired, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) issued a report finding that the government-sponsored entity Fannie Mae had engaged in Enron-like accounting machinations that allowed Fannie to overstate its earnings and underestimate the risk the company faced. The accounting wizardry Fannie engaged in was designed so that Fannie could meet profit targets to maximize bonus payments to company executives like Clinton administration deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick and Carter administration assistant director for domestic policy Franklin Raines.”

FormerSpook: “As Patterico reminds us, one candidate will be conspicuously absent next month, during a planned “military town hall meeting” near Fort Hood, Texas. The candidate, in case you’ve haven’t guessed, is Barack Obama, and his refusal to participate in the forum (scheduled for 11 August) is emerging as an issue in the campaign.”

Filed under: Chip by Chip