THE FOUNDATION: NATIONAL DEFENSE

“To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprised of the reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed.” —James Madison

INSIGHT

“Freedom was given to humanity by God. But, governments, if they can help it, never give freedom. They just hand out slavery with slogans.” —Taylor Caldwell

“To prevent inquiry is among the worst of evils.” —Thomas Holcroft

“The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.” —William Hazlitt

“That’s what a Congressman or a Senator is for—to see that too much money don’t accumulate in the national Treasury.” —Will Rogers

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“If the New Hampshire debates settled anything, it’s which party has the stomach to take on radical Islam. The Democrats couldn’t even identify the enemy. Not once. Really. We scanned the transcripts of Saturday’s debates hosted by ABC News and tallied up the references to Islamic terrorism. The rhetorical divide between Democrats and Republicans on that score alone—ignoring the yawning gaps in policy—is stunning. None of the four Democrat presidential candidates—despite running for an office that demands they lead the ongoing global war against Islamic extremists—could bring himself or herself to define the enemy we face as Islamic. Their combined references to ‘Islam’ or ‘Islamic’ totaled zero—even though moderator Charles Gibson prompted them with a question about ‘Islamic radicals’ threatening the U.S. with nuclear terrorism. But Democrats refused to go there. Out of respect for their constituency, there was a complete blackout regarding Islamic jihad… Republicans, on the other hand, called the enemy by its proper name. The candidates referred to terrorists and terrorism as ‘Islamic,’ while also citing radical ‘Islam’ as the problem, no less than 22 times… They get it. Democrats don’t. They talked a lot about ‘fighting’ —fighting insurance companies and big business and Wall Street and polluters. But will they fight the real enemy—Islamic terrorists?… These contrasting performances in New Hampshire should crystallize in voters’ minds more than any other recent example how one party understands the titanic challenge we face from radical Islam, while the other decidedly does not.” —Investor’s Business Daily

UPRIGHT

“As you know by now, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and John McCain won the Republican primary in New Hampshire thus jumbling both the Republican and Democratic nomination pictures like your three-year-old tipping over the card table with that 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle you’ve been working on since Christmas.” —Rich Galen

“A political alliance isn’t a marriage. You don’t have to take a presidential candidate for better or worse. Only when they’re right.” —W. James Antle III ++ “The question of what kind of President each candidate would make is infinitely more important than all the ‘horse race’ handicapping that dominates the media.” —Thomas Sowell

“Liberal voters want desperately to cast a history-making vote and, if that’s your priority, Barack Obama is a much more appealing way to cast it than Hillary. Don’t worry about this ‘Change You Can Believe In’ shtick. Obama doesn’t believe in it, and neither should you. He’s a fresh face on the same-old-same-old—which is the only change Democrats are looking for.” —Mark Steyn

“These are hard days for democracy. That is not a reason for giving up on it… For the spread of democracy today, we need to practice our own brand of syncretism and learn not to abandon the field when forced to settle for regional adaptations that fall short of the Jeffersonian ideal.” —Charles Krauthammer

“The titans of the major media don’t see themselves as in need of reform. They think the voters have to be reformed, not the media.” —Brent Bozell

“It’s getting lonelier all the time at the top for America, which with a corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the few developed nations left with a rate of more than 30%… Foreign leaders have learned that, in a world of easy global capital flows, high tax rates chase away investment and entrepreneurs.” —The Wall Street Journal

DEZINFORMATSIA

Memo to Chris: Bush is not on the ballot: “There’s no doubt about it. And there’s no way to read it except as a rebuke to President Bush.” —MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Barack Obama’s caucus win in Iowa

From the Sycophant Files: “No subject is too small. No issue too dense. Hillary Clinton is taking question after question from voters, from reporters. She’s pounding the pavement, literally going door to door for votes.” —ABC’s Kate Snow

Nope, no bias here: “Besides a decided preference for operating in the dark, the Bush administration has contributed to the woes of the press in another way. It has helped create a toxic climate for the press by inflaming the polarization of our public.” —New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller

From the Class Warfare Department: “There was a statistic that came out this week from the Congressional Budget Office which was just stunning to me. It said that in the last two years—from 2003 to 2005—the increase in income for the top one percent exceeded the total income of the bottom 20 percent. Given that, what would be wrong with letting the tax cuts for the top one percent expire and plowing that money into education?” —ABC’s George Stephanopoulos

“We’re the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn’t insure all of our citizens. If we can afford a trillion-dollar war in Iraq, why can’t we afford medical insurance for everybody?” —ABC’s Charles Gibson to the Republican candidates at the 1/5/08 debate **Sorry Charlie—check the Constitution.

A broken clock is right twice a day: “[Hillary] claimed that she disliked the red state, blue state terminology—’We are one country,’ she said, echoing Obama—even as she added that she should be the nominee because she’s the best one ‘to withstand the Republican attack machine.’ What she doesn’t mention is that she knows how to fight off the Republican attack machine because she and her husband were so adept at revving it up.” —New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd

Newspulper Headlines: Noah, call your office: 3 Dead in Ind. Floods, 1 in Ark. Tornado —Associated Press

Breaking News From 1997: “Gates Pushes Idea of Windows Everywhere” —Associated Press

News You Can Use: “Dallas Police, Officials Discourage Random Gunfire” —Dallas Morning News ++ “College Drinking Games Lead to Higher Blood Alcohol Levels” —HealthDay.com

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Bush Won’t Visit Yasser Arafat’s Tomb” —Jerusalem Post ++ “George Clooney Boycott Threat to Oscars” —Times (London) (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

The moving target: “After 9/11, I would never have taken us to war in Iraq. I would have stayed focused on Afghanistan because the real threat was coming from there.” —Hillary Clinton, who voted to go to war in Iraq

You don’t say: “The Clinton campaign has no conscience.” —John Edwards

You don’t say II: “I can’t make her younger, taller, male. There’s lots of things I can’t do.” —Bill Clinton on Hillary

Try to figure this one out: “I want to make change, but I’ve already made change. I will continue to make change. I’m not just running on a promise of change. I’m running on 35 years of change.” —Hillary ++ Sort of getting it right: “One of my opponents said we can’t just, you know, offer the American people false hopes about what we can get done. The real gamble in this election is to do the same things, with the same folks, playing the same games over and over and over again and somehow expect a different result.” —Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton

Jaw-dropper of the week: “My goodness I’ve been accused of everything. Of all the people running for president, I’ve been the most vetted, the most investigated, and my goodness, the most innocent it turns out.” —Hillary “the Innocent”

When all else fails, “cry”: “It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I didn’t passionately believe it was the right thing to do. I have so many opportunities from this country just don’t want to see us fall backwards [fake tears]…” —Hillary, who, according to Rush Limbaugh, just “set back feminism back 50 years”

More from the Class Warfare Department: “[Last week’s] jobs report confirms what most Americans already knew: President Bush’s economic policies have failed our country’s middle class.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

VILLAGE IDIOTS

Warning: May induce extreme nausea: “His supersized fondness for life, humans, activity, accomplishment, makes you aware of your own negative mind. His seemingly boundless energy makes you aware of how prematurely you habitually pronounce yourself tired. A hopeful, almost naive quality he has… feels somehow generational: vestigial evidence of the Summer of Love. His drive, his fame, the public nature of everything he does, makes you giddily grateful for the humble scale of your own life.” —author George Saunders in “Bill Clinton, Public Citizen” ++ “Of course he’s sexy. He seems to be flourishing and following his calling. It’s just the most enviable thing in the world, like watching a beautiful racehorse run.” —actress Uma Thurman on Al Gore

Priorities: “If you want to get out of Iraq and refocus America’s priorities to really fight terrorism, vote for a Democrat for president. If you want to ensure that all Americans get affordable healthcare, vote for a Democrat for president.” —DNC chief Howard Dean

From the “religion of peace”: “The occupied territories are awaiting their first visit by the crusader Bush and the mujahideen are also waiting for him.” —American al-Qa’ida leader Adam Gadahn issuing threats about the President’s visiting the Middle East this week

Not all the corn is in Iowa: “I have not been heavily involved in singing the praises of the Nixon administration. But the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney is far stronger than was the case against Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew after the 1972 election. The nation would be much more secure and productive under a Nixon presidency than with Bush. Indeed, has any administration in our national history been so damaging as the Bush-Cheney era?” —former Sen. George McGovern

SHORT CUTS

“With Barack Obama and John Edwards constantly bashing her, how is it that Hillary Clinton hasn’t yet complained about the vast left-wing conspiracy?” —Burt Prelutsky

“[Mike] Huckabee likes to head-fake people into thinking he’s Gomer Pyle, but he’s more like the barefoot boy of the green room. He’s more James Carville than Jim Nabors.” —Peggy Noonan

“Rudy Giuliani’s team are betting that after a Huck/McCain seesaw through the early states, by Jan. 29 Florida voters will be ready to unite their party behind a less divisive figure, if by ‘less divisive figure’ you mean a pro-abortion gun-grabbing cross-dresser.” —Mark Steyn

“Everybody in this race, Democrat and Republican, is now officially for Change. They get more fervent about Change every day; it’s only a matter of time before they start calling for tactical air strikes on Washington. I’ll be honest with you: I’m getting tired of Change. I think it’d be nice, for a change, if a candidate came out against Change, maybe with a catchy slogan like, ‘Remember: It Could Get Worse,’ or ‘Hey, At Least You’re Not Dead’.” —Dave Barry ++ “Would some change-minded candidate or other kindly inform the American people what this business amounts to? Change what into what? We’re durned if we know.” —William Murchison

David Letterman: From the “Top Ten Signs You’re Watching Bad Election Coverage”: TV reporters seem to be using the word “dude” a lot; Because of the writers strike they show reruns of the Reagan-Mondale election; Exit polling question: “Did you have trouble finding the exit?”; Three candidates each received 50% of the votes; Top half of screen shows election coverage, bottom half is “American Gladiators”; Pundit says it’s looking unlikely Bush will be re-elected; It’s 3 hours of Dog the Bounty Hunter yelling racial slurs; Still haven’t projected winner from Iowa.

Jay Leno: Congratulations to Barack Obama, the big winner in the Iowa caucus. He got 57 percent of the youth vote and 100 percent of Iowa’s black vote—a guy named Larry. … And congratulations to Mike Huckabee, the Republican winner. Just one appearance on the “Tonight Show” and he won! … Hillary Clinton came in third—third! Apparently she chose the wrong talk show to appear on. … One of Hillary’s campaign people said, “[Iowa’s] defeat is just a bump in the road.” Kind of like the scene in “Titanic” when the guy goes, “What was that?” “Oh just an iceberg…” … Isn’t it about time reporters stopped asking stupid questions? [To Barack Obama] “Do you think America is ready for a black president?” Like he’s gonna go, “Oh you got me! C’mon honey, let’s go home.” … It finally stopped raining. Even though we’ve had all this rain the last couple of days, forecasters say California could be looking at a three years’ dry spell due to a weather pattern called La Nina. Ever notice when we have bad weather we blame it on the Mexicans?

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)