David Frum predicts that my fellow Texas crackpot Ron Paul will run for President as a third-party candidate when he fails to get the Republican nomination next year:

“He’ll have the money, he’ll have the ego, and he will have the cause. Will he have the votes? Maybe. If Hillary Clinton tacks to the center on national-security issues after Iowa & New Hampshire, as one assumes she will, or even if she appears to tack to the center, a space will open to her left, with at least 2% or 3% of the vote available there. That’s not much – but it may be enough to make a surprising difference.”

Frum seems to think Paul would pull more votes Hillary than from the Republican nominee. I hope that’s the case.

As we know, In 1992 Ross Perot pulled votes away from both major party candidates but more from Bush 41. Hillary’s husband won the White House with only 43% of the vote, and the rest is tragedy….I mean history.

In the wake of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s announcement that she will not seek reelection to the U.S. Senate in two years and might even retire before her term is up, there’s been a flurry of speculation about who would be the best candidate to replace her.

First, let me take my name off the table. If nominated, I will not run; and if elected, I will not serve; if nagged I will put on my IPod and head for the gym. I have way too much going on right now and serving in the U.S. Senate would not only entail a pay-cut but also the need to establish a residence in the most expensive real estate market South of the Upper West Side. So, cancel the groundswell of grassroots support.

With that settled, I like current Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. Dewhurst is on the right side of all the issues; is a gifted politician; and from what I hear, a genuinely nice guy. In my view, Dewhurst is highly preferable to current Governor Rick Perry.

Another interesting option would be former Congressman Tom Delay. A Delay candidacy is appealing not just because he is a real-deal conservative who knows how to get things done in Washington; it would also make liberals and the MSM apoplectic.

If Delay won the Republican primary (and therefore the general election), the teeth-gnashing in Hollywood would be audible all the way to Houston. The garment-rending among the news business elite would send Brooks Brothers stock up 25 points. And Michael Moore’s head would explode and his body would burst into flames—a spectacle that promises to be visible from space.

Good times. Good times.

I was browsing online resumes on the Dallas version of CraigsList and came across this startlingly frank approach to getting hired. . . http://dallas.craigslist.org/res/443360088.html

Good luck with that, dude.

As I mentioned here, I’ll be posting some thoughts as I (slowly, given my available time) work my way through Norman Podhoretz new book, World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism.

Chapters 1 and 2 are an overview of how we got to 9/11. As was the case when reading Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, it’s a pretty depressing and often maddening story. Just plumbing the depths of the incompetence and wrongheadedness of the Carter Administration would require volumes, but Podhoretz touches on the highlowpoints. For example:

In seizing the American hostages in 1979 and escaping retaliation, Khomeini inflicted great humiliation on the United States. But at the same time, he also exposed the foolishness of Jimmy Carter’s view of the world . . . In one fell swoop, the Ayatollah Khomeini made nonsense of Carter’s delusionary philosophy in the eyes of very large numbers of Americans, including many who had previously entertained it.

Chapter 3 centers of the emergence of The Bush Doctrine following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and compares it to the successful Truman Doctrine of containing Soviet expansion all over the world.

The farther I get into this book, the more keenly aware I am of how important this next presidential election is. It is hard to overstate how vital to our nation’s future it is that the Democrats do not win the White House. As much as I loathe Mr. McCain’s views on immigration and have concerns about Mr. Giuliani’s views on abortion, there is little question that they understand and are willing to fight World War IV. The alternative is appeasement and surrender under the Dems.

My good friend Fergus from the North of England sent me a link to this David Brooks column in the NYTimes.

In it, Brooks observes:

There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.

Brooks’ observations ring true for me. And although he says this phenomenon primarily exists among those born after 1964, my experience lines up perfectly with what he describes. The only difference is that my “Odyssey” phase lasted only five years (1982-1986) rather than a full decade.

In those years I broke off an engagement, dropped out of college (twice), bought and sold a red corvette, tried a variety of disparate jobs, a moved frequently (which wasn’t difficult because you could fit pretty much everything I owned in my little, post-corvette car.)

The emergence of this “odyssey” phase is easy to understand in the light of the explosion of choice our freedom and prosperity has delivered to the typical 21 year old. Never in history have 20-somethings had so many life-path options from which to choose. And as the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less pointed out, increased choice doesn’t lead to corresponding increases in happiness.

This “Gomer” from rural Oklahoma found his way through his odyssey, in no small part due to a praying mother and the gracious hand of Providence. And in an era of predicted increasing lifespans, perhaps a 10 year odyssey for most people isn’t such a bad thing.

I learned a valuable lesson from observing the Iran-Iraq war back in the 80s. Namely that, despite what all the movies and TV shows I’d watched growing up suggested — in some fights, there is no “good guy.”

In other words, there are some wars where you don’t root for one side or the other, you just sit back and hope they inflict as much damage upon each other as possible and keep each other occupied.

I was reminded of that truth when I saw a clip of Jon Stewart’s recent interview of Chris Matthews on the Daily Show. I’m no Chris Matthews fan. I find his style obnoxious and his views offensive. But 30 seconds into the interview I found myself actually feeling a little sorry for Matthews. (Sort of like I used to feel sorry for the human waves of Iranian fanatics when Saddam would use mustard gas on them.)

What struck me as I watched the interview was how completely cynicism has consumed Jon Stewart’s persona. It’s more than his schtick now, it seems to be his religion and his worldview.

You can watch the whole awkward spectacle here.

It is no wonder Stewart is this nihilist-postmodern generation’s Walter Cronkite.

Of course, the true parallel to the Iran-Iraq war would be Jon Stewart and Bill Maher interviewing each other. Each would have half of the audience filled with mindless goons to whoop and hoot every time their guy got off a “good one.”

You know, that’s not a bad idea. They could keep each other occupied.

That’s what I need to do and where I am. . . LAX airport that is.  Just when I think air travel has gotten as trying and stress-inducing as it can possibly get, a new annoyance is introduced to vex me sorely.

It’s hard to believe but there was a time in which I thought having a job that required frequent air travel would be the ultimate in fun. That was probably because I didn’t take my first trip in a commerical airliner until I was a Sophomore in college.

By the age of 26 I had only flown 3 times. But I made up for lost time after that. 

Of course, back in those days it was easy to believe that the appeal of flying would never dim. But somewhere between the airlines’ figuring out how to scientifically make sure that every single flight is overflowing with squalid humanity; the shoe bomber making it necessary to queue up in sock feet; 
and the Islamic shampoo chemists making it impossible to have some Aqua Velva in your carry on, the exercise has lost a bit of its charm.

I’m sure my forbearers who traveled from Tennesee to Texas in the mid-1800s by horseback and buckboard would cry me a river.

This week the call of duty has taken me to Southern California. . . Mission Viejo yesterday. . .Santa Barbara today and tomorrow.

If you have to be away from the comforts of hearth and home, I suppose there are worse places to be exiled to.

Christian Conservatives Consider Third-Party Effort