07.02.10
The face of Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome
Lindsey Graham says the tea-party movement will “die out.”
04.25.10
How a Reasonable Gentleman sets priorities
A word of explanation may be in order for new readers. At BN, we employ some terms of our own coining, one of which is Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome. It refers to the notion that normal people who cherish liberty enough to give it some thought when examining particular issues, particularly normal legislators and those responsible for government policies, can “reach across the aisle” and work with Freedom-Haters. It’s that mindset that assumes that because one sees these people in the Capitol Hill mess at lunch, or at social functions around town, or on Parents day at one’s kids’ school, one can be assured that FHers are really just nice, reasonable Americans looking for real solutions to issues, albeit coming at them from a little different angle. Many a normal-person-type statesman has had his or her entrails clawed out for making such a calculation.
Lindsey Graham buffs up his RG bona fides by telling Harry Reid that, by golly, he has principles, and won’t put giving a wink and nod to illegal aliens before imposing tyranny in the name of discredited science. Now, that’s some cajones, Congressman Squishy!
04.01.10
Which will finish off America first, Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome, or FHerism?
Disturbing signs of Pubs going wobbly on repealing FHer-care.
03.22.10
Your chance to get a close look at a vanishing species: the Reasonable Gentleman
This species is dying out due to a congenital condition intrinsic to it: Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome, also known as Clueless Appeaser Syndrome and Useful Idiot Syndrome. The advanced stages of this affliction are evidenced by the utterances of such phrases as “Republicans should have compromised” and “talk show hosts are basically entertainers trading in a frenzied audience.”
Today’s exhibit is called David Frum. He actually believes that Rush Limbaugh is to blame for the socialist wrecking ball that hit America last night.
Observe closely. Perhaps you’d like to get some video footage. With extinction immanent, there won’t be many more opportunities to see this fatefully malformed creature live.
08.11.08
Georgia’s back has been broken
I’ve been trying get a handle on the mind of Vladimir Putin. It’s not a Marxist-ideology motivation that drives him, certainly. He probably feels unencumbered in the pursuit of his ambitions not to have that leviathin bureaucracy circumscribing his maneuvers. It doesn’t lok to me like it’s really a KGB / police state mindset, either. I think he basically thinks like a gangster.
What of his acceptance by W, who so famously looked into his eyes and took the measure of his soul, or the G-7 leaders generally, who let him into their fold? Well, they were anxious to foster – or at least be seen as fostering, a new, flexible, post-Soviet Russia, in which a dynamic economy and ample resources would yield lots of trade and openness. For his part, Putin liked the legitimization, much as when Mafia dons brag about friendships with mayors, senators, or civic leaders.
Non of this had any intrinsic significance, it turns out. It was all strategy, putting everything in place for the moment to maximize his empire. Apparently he sees that moment as having arrived.
What’s at stake in the Caucasus
Georgia’s president weighs in on the op-ed page of the WSJ. His point dovetails with one I’ve made here and elsewhere: the West, at this late date, is really a set of principles and values more than a geographic bloc.
