For instance, he quotes the president: "Governments accountable to their people do not attack each other." An exasperated Buchanan follows with: "This may come as a surprise to descendants of those who fought for Southern independence. Does Bush think Mr. Lincoln's Union or the Confederate States of America were not accountable to their people? Democratic Israel bombed democratic Lebanon. In 1914, the most democratic nations in Europe plunged into the bloodiest war in history. Democratic peoples are not immune to blood lust."
Pat always has written with passion, but in this book, there is a palpable anger at a president he believes has done terrible damage to America. He quotes President Bush: "Freedom is the design of our Maker and the longing of every soul. Freedom is the dream of every person in every nation in every age." Pat responds with uncharacteristic sarcasm: "One wonders: Who writes this, and does the president read it before delivery? Again, did Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Fidel, Uncle Ho and Pol Pot long for freedom in their souls?"
For anyone who can't put his anger or frustration with President Bush into words: Read this book. Because Pat gives you the words, the passion, the argument and the evidence to support your feelings.
But even if, like me, you are generally supportive of President Bush, this book will challenge you fairly to defend your views. Certainly his case that the ideology of free trade is contradicted by both history and current evidence is not easily dismissed. As I argued in this space last week, it is time to have a major, nonideological, practical national debate about free trade. Of course, his position about controlling illegal immigration, which he championed long before it was popular, now has gained clear majority support in the country -- in measurable part because of his leadership through the years.
Where I disagree with Pat most strongly in this book (and with which I will deal in my next book, to be published in the summer) is his assertion that America can best protect itself by broadly withdrawing from the world, bringing our troops home from almost everywhere and letting the world unfold without our active intervention and management.
Nonetheless, 15 years ago, Pat was dismissed as a paleoconservative at the margin of American politics. It is a tribute to the power of his words and ideas -- exemplified by and reaching climax in "Day of Reckoning" -- that he now may well be pointing the way to the future policy of the American people and their government.
Tony Blankley
Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the 1990s, when Republicans took control of Congress, died Sunday January 8, 2012. He was 63.
Blankley, who had been suffering from stomach cancer, died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, his wife, Lynda Davis, said Sunday.
In his long career as a political operative and pundit, his most visible role was as a spokesman for and adviser to Gingrich from 1990 to 1997. Gingrich became House Speaker when Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives following the 1994 midterm elections.
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