Friday, July 09, 2010
War! What Is It Good For?
...if not "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (say it again)," it's increasingly become a topic of real debate on the right. What hath Michael Steele wrought in his impolitic (and quickly retracted) charge that Afghanistan was a war of Obama's choosing?
Bill Kristol said that Steele should resign; Ann Coulter then wrote a column declaring that Kristol should resign and raised the seemingly-verboten question whether "permanent war" had become a conservative precept.
That column has triggered requests for open discussion on matters of war and peace -- Afghanistan in particular, but the broader question of foreign policy interventionism. Conservatives Matt Lewis and David Freddoso discuss the lay of the land.
In the past, it's been said that a slip of the lip can sink ships. It would appear that Steele's slip of the tongue (if one can charitably call it that) may actually spark a conversation within the GOP that leads to the ships, planes, tanks, etc., returning home.
And here's an interesting irony: The fact that this debate is breaking out in the Republican Party is one more indication that Ron Paul's 2008 campaign (and its war-skeptic rhetoric) may prove to be one of the most influential efforts by a presidential also-ran ever.
Stay tuned.
|
Bill Kristol said that Steele should resign; Ann Coulter then wrote a column declaring that Kristol should resign and raised the seemingly-verboten question whether "permanent war" had become a conservative precept.
That column has triggered requests for open discussion on matters of war and peace -- Afghanistan in particular, but the broader question of foreign policy interventionism. Conservatives Matt Lewis and David Freddoso discuss the lay of the land.
In the past, it's been said that a slip of the lip can sink ships. It would appear that Steele's slip of the tongue (if one can charitably call it that) may actually spark a conversation within the GOP that leads to the ships, planes, tanks, etc., returning home.
And here's an interesting irony: The fact that this debate is breaking out in the Republican Party is one more indication that Ron Paul's 2008 campaign (and its war-skeptic rhetoric) may prove to be one of the most influential efforts by a presidential also-ran ever.
Stay tuned.
Labels: Ann Coulter, Bill Kristol, conservatism, Michael Steele, war on terror
