THE FOUNDATION: RELIGION AND MORALITY

“Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness.” —Samuel Adams

INSIGHT

“Christmas casts its glow upon us, as it does every year. And it reminds us that we need not feel lonely because we are loved, loved with the greatest love there has ever been or ever will be.” —Ronald Reagan

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.” —Roy L. Smith

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” —Calvin Coolidge

“Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream… the incarnation of perfect love.” —Lucinda Franks

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” —Charles Dickens

UPRIGHT

“At the summit of national power, politicians and bureaucrats are terrified at the idea of endorsing the religious views of the majority of Americans. Our First Amendment forbids the establishment of a state religion, but many of our governing elites are taking it a step further, outlawing its very existence from the public conversation.” —L. Brent Bozell

“It’s two centuries since the passage of the First Amendment, and our presidential candidates still cannot distinguish establishment from free exercise.” —Charles Krauthammer

“The leftist argument against religious Americans’ ‘injection of religion into politics’ is merely its way of trying to keep only the secular and religious left in the political arena—and the religious right, primarily evangelical Christians, out.” —Dennis Prager

“The true spirit of Christmas is ‘gratitude.’ No matter how much we have, or how little, or how much we have lost or been taken advantage of, gratitude is the answer… Let everyone now spend a few minutes writing down a list titled ‘I am grateful for…’ The gift of Christmas will come for you, even if you think you have nothing to give.” —David Usher

“It’s common, around this time of year, to hear people grumble about Christmas being ‘too commercial.’ They have a point, of course. It’s easy to get so caught up in the buying frenzy that we forget why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. But let’s not sell ourselves short. The observance of Jesus’ birth also inspires countless acts of kindness and generosity.” —Rebecca Hagelin

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“Time magazine hasn’t announced its pick for ‘man of the year’ yet, but we certainly know ours: Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multinational force in Iraq and architect of the surge strategy that is turning the tide in the war. Petraeus formulated a brilliant counterinsurgency plan. He executed it with care and diligence. And when much of the country didn’t want to notice the security gains that the surge had wrought, he took the national media spotlight to defend his strategy and his honor. In all this, he was nothing less than masterly. When Petraues testified on Capitol Hill in early September, much of the media and the Left simply refused to believe that violence in Iraq was down… And the day Petraeus’s testimony began, MoveOn.org ran its infamous ‘General Petraeus or General Betray Us?’ ad. It said that ‘every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge strategy has failed’; that Petraeus ‘is constantly at war with the facts’; and that the general ‘is cooking the books for the White House.’… Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped just short of calling him a liar, saying that to believe his report required ‘a willing suspension of disbelief.’ Less than a month later, however, Petraeus’s critics had been effectively silenced… That the surge has worked is no longer up for debate. On a trip to Iraq the week after Thanksgiving, even John Murtha stated flatly, ‘I think the surge is working.’… That Petraeus has achieved so much in such a short time despite the frustrations of Iraqi politics is a testament to his skill as a strategist and a leader of men. For making victory in Iraq look possible again, and for pulling a nation back from the brink of civil war, Petraeus deserves the praise and thanks of all Americans. With or without a Time cover, he is the man of the year.” —National Review

DEZINFORMATSIA

Bush can’t win: “[The surge] was too late, there were a lot of officers and military analysts who said early on that we needed more troops there, the fact that the surge came so late in the process is, I think, a black mark against the war planners and against the administration.” —former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw

Bah, humbug: “It may be that no amount of hall decking can convince Americans to be jolly about the economy this holiday season.” —ABC’s Claire Shipman

It’s all about warming: “[Al Gore has] had an extraordinary year. He’s had an extraordinary influence. There was a real tipping point this year in terms of people being conscious of the environment. So, he would be a superb choice [for ‘Person of the Year’].” —Time magazine’s managing editor Richard Stengel ++ Sometimes they get it right: “What a pompous jerk… It’s time for Al Gore to get over himself. Does he think there’s anybody at that conference in Bali that’s unaware of the U.S. opposition to the Kyoto protocols? I mean, ever since he won the Oscar, he thinks he’s some movie star, so I’m tired of Al Gore…” —CNN’s Jack Cafferty

This week’s “Clintonista Media Sycophant” Award: “Is [Hillary] a natural target [for late-night jokes] because she’s so pure and good?” —MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, perhaps tongue in cheek, but still deserving of the award ++ “The appeal of the Clintons over the years and the reason why the Democratic Party is in love with the Clintons is that the Clintons, with all their flaws and perhaps arrogance, care about the regular person in this country, the regular middle-working class family with all their problems of health care and raising their kids. Hillary Clinton, especially, cares about those things. It’s obvious she does. It’s not a fraud.” —Chris Matthews

Newspulper Headlines: Who Says There’s a Clash of Civilizations?: “Christians Agree With Muslims They Must Have Goat in New Jersey” —Bloomberg

Breaking News From 1492: “World Is Not Flat, Academic Says” —Reuters

Barack Obama, the Only Sane Choice: “Nutter Endorses Clinton” —Philadelphia Inquirer

Answers to Questions No One Asked: “George Clooney Says No to Presidency” —Hollyscoop.com

News of the Tautological: “Credit Card Use Leads to Rise in Consumer Borrowing” —Associated Press

Bottom Story of the Day: “Democrats in Debate Urge Taxes on Rich” —Associated Press (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

We’re not holding our breath: “I certainly want my speakership to be distinguished by a level of civility and bipartisanship when that’s possible. That is what I hope to do in this next year, I really do.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ++ Case in point: “They like this war. They want this war to continue…[T]he Republicans have made it very clear that this is not just George Bush’s war. This is the war of the Republicans in Congress… I shouldn’t say they like the war. They support the war, the course of action that the president is on.” —Nancy Pelosi

Sick comparison: “Hillary Clinton, in some Republican areas, is unpopular. George W. Bush across America… would poll behind several different forms of venereal disease in most of this country. They hate Bush in America.” —Clintonista Paul Begala

Right where she belongs: “I’ve been to cattle barns before and sales before, in Arkansas, but I’ve never felt like I was the one that was being bid on. I know you’re going to inspect me. You can look inside my mouth if you want.” —Hillary Clinton, who certainly belongs in a cattle barn

Wannabe First Lady watch: “[T]he first thing she intends to do is to send me and former President [George H.W.] Bush and a number of other people around the world to tell them that America is open for business and cooperation again.” —Bill Clinton on Hillary’s first “presidential” priority **For the record, Bush the Elder said he would not be taking part in the festivities.

Speaking truth to self: “The few, the powerful, the well-financed, they now control the government. They’ve taken over your democracy. And it affects everything that happens in this country.” —John Edwards

VILLAGE IDIOTS

From the “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like X-Mas” Department: “It has come to our attention that the City of Dallas is displaying a large crèche in the triangle two blocks from City Hall and across from the First Baptist Church. We write to inform you that this display violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to ask that you remove the crèche.” —Nancy Leong, spokesmouth for Americans United for Separation of Church and State

It’s all about warming II: “[P]art of what these [global warming] deniers try to communicate is that the only way to solve this crisis is for individuals to make changes in their own lives.” —Al Gore, who admits his problem with individuals making their own choices ++ “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. We all know that.” —Al Gore addressing the Bali climate-change conference

Belly laugh of the week: “[Al Gore] would have only to discuss the issues near and dear to his heart and meekly proclaim that he desires only the opportunity to restore America’s prestige in the world by tackling the single greatest threat to the world’s and America’s security: global warming… If Gore ran [for president], he would guarantee his place in history as one of the greatest of all American presidents and world leaders.” —former president of State University of New York Roger Bowen

Blame Rove!: “Karl Rove may not be working in the White House anymore but you can pretty much be sure he’s going back in the presidential race… I believe he’s going to be back and he’s going be doing that same kind of Rovian politics that we’ve seen before—the kind of attacks that we saw against Sen. McCain in South Carolina we can expect to see against our nominee, ‘swift boating,’ all of that kind of stuff again.” —Elizabeth Edwards

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Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis!

Mark Alexander

Publisher