Open Thread (7/18/2008)

Posted July 18th, 2008 at 04:33 AM by IlliniPundit
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Friday, July 18, 2008.

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On July 18th, 2008 at 10:21 AM, Ralph Langenheim (not verified) said:

"When he framed the artful system of Imperial authority, his moderation was inspired by his fears.  He wished to deceive the people by an image of civil liberty, and the armies by an image of civil government." Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1, p.29, 'The Great Books Edition,'  1951.  Does this sound contemporary?  Ralph Langenheim

On July 18th, 2008 at 10:51 AM, Ralph Langenheim (not verified) said:

The quotation refers to Augustus Caesar and his imposition of imperial authority.  Ralph Langeheim

On July 18th, 2008 at 12:54 PM, D-Man said:

Does this sound contemporary?

Only if you feel that your civil liberties are nothing but a sham or if the army stopped taking orders from the civilian leadership.

McCain and Obama are both good candidates, but I'm withholding my support for the first general to be able to lead his army into the capital when the emperor, George Bush, dies of old age or is poisoned by one of his relatives.  And I'll just keep my Christianity on the down low so as to not get fed to the lions.

redstatewannabe's picture
On July 18th, 2008 at 05:49 PM, redstatewannabe said:

I was going to post this as a full-blown entry, but decided that might look like piling on.

Tough piece on Obama from Charles Krauthammer - he concludes:

For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?

We are getting to know. Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.

Ouch.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

 

On July 18th, 2008 at 09:01 PM, Michael (not verified) said:

Yep, Krauthammer is calling Obama "uppity," while having no problem with Karl Rove refusing a lawful subpoena from the Congress. Rove belongs in prison, and Krauthammer belongs in the unemployment line.

On July 18th, 2008 at 11:43 PM, xian said:

That reminds me--it seems like there are a ton of far reactionary columnists these days. That's fine--there should be a variety of perspectives featured on the opinions page. But it doesn't seem very representative...who are their ideological foils from the other end of the spectrum? I mean you pretty much have three categories of major columnists: moderate liberals, moderate conservatives and people like our friend Jonah, who seem to be unintentionally emulating Jon Swift.

On July 20th, 2008 at 09:50 AM, Michael (not verified) said:

McCain's campaign meme is an example of projection.

On July 20th, 2008 at 03:28 PM, Run4cvrlib said:

Michael-who's Steve Benen and why should I trust his twisted quotes from Blog commenters. I agree McCain has changed some of his positions moving more toward his party. Obama on the other hand is kicking his party base and his supposed ideology to the curb as he ticks off a laundry list of items to get elected. Right now Obama's on his world tour visiting troops and going though Europe. I guess a quick round trip of the world, makes him an expert on foreign policy, the news media likes it the big three news anchors went with him?