Democrats in the Desert

Michael Barone surveys the
plight
of the “bookless” Democrats. Nobody is coming up with
good ideas, and it doesn’t look like things are going to change.
Some day, perhaps, a Democrat will come up with a progressive idea that doesn’t involve
expanding the powers of government. When that day dawns, Republicans should look to their powder.

Steyn: Yeah, Terrorism in Ireland

Never mind Al Qaeda. Let’s talk about the
terrorist warlords
in Northern Ireland and the
sisters of the slain Robert McCartney.
For years British governments have been appeasing the IRA and now, suddenly, its power
has come up on the radar with the brutal killing of McCartney in a Belfast pub.
“There were 70 witnesses in the bar but none of them saw a thing.” Needless to
say, Mark Steyn has something to say about all this.

Ronnie We Hardly Knew Ye!

As democracy starts to bud in the Middle East, this commentator remembers the “surprising” day the Berlin Wall fell and Ronald Reagan’s commentary on ABC. Why, he asked, should we be surprised at all this? Why was it “that anyone should be surprised that a people enslaved for over four decades should want to agitate for their freedom. The surprising thing was not that people wanted to be free. Rather, it was that they were enslaved in the first place.” Yes. Why is that?

Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie, you “amiable dunce.” How little we knew you when you ran for office, and even as you presided for eight years as president. It seems that only now are we fully coming to understand you, the world-historical genius that came from humble beginnings in Dixon, Illinois, to lead this nation to honor and glory.

Slip in the Shiv

Let’s stick it to
Dan Rather
one more time! There is so much to tell, so little time to tell it.

Cuddly Pessimist Admits Error

America’s most cheerful pessimist, Ex-Brit John Derbyshire, cheerfully
admits
that the pessimists were wrong, he being one of them, of course. But
still, there is plenty to be pessimistic about. Things could still go horribly wrong.
And anyway, what is the point of being pessimistic unless
your pessimism turns out to be too pessimistic. Or something like that.

Steyn: Assad Checks the Eye Chart

Finally, the “arab street” is being heard from, and it is holding up an eye chart not for
Uncle Sam but for Boy Assad in Syria. Mark Steyn is
gloating again.

Spengler: 20th Century Losers are Dying Out

Look at the UN population projections,
advises
Spengler, and think about what it means. The nations
that are losing population are the ones that lost the wars of the twentieth century. Ukraine, Russia, Germany.
There is no substitute for collective identity, he warns, of the kind that showed its ugliest side
with Hitler and Stalin. Depopulation begins with the Ibsen woman: “Instead of children, she has soul-conflicts.”
We know all about that, these days, don’t we?