Selections

A Family’s Benign Neglect at Dow Jones - New York Times

A Family’s Benign Neglect at Dow Jones - New York Times

“The primary reason I was in favor of the deal,” said Elisabeth Goth Chelberg on Wednesday, “is because I did not think that family ownership was ever going to be in the best interest of the company.” She paused for a second, and then offered a small, sad correction. “I mean this family ownership.”

--Joe Nocera, The New York Times

McCain’s Double Feature - New York Times

McCain’s Double Feature - New York Times

They also thought voters wanted a president who had the gumption to stick to his convictions. We like to imagine that’s true, but in fact we only love politicians who stick to our convictions. There’s actually nothing we hate more than a leader who insists on doing something we don’t like and tells us it’s a matter of principle. We’ve got one of those now, and look how well things are turning out.

--Gail Collins, The New York Times

McCain's Courage: A rare American politician. --National Review Online

McCain's Courage: A rare American politician.

Whether you agree with him or not, Senator McCain’s actions demonstrated the qualities we rarely see in Washington — courage, character, honor, and dignity.

--Senator Tom Coburn, National Review Online

Of Tax Cuts and Terror: New York's former mayor makes his case to be Reagan's heir. --The Wall Street Journal

Of Tax Cuts and Terror: New York's former mayor makes his case to be Reagan's heir.

Among many other things:

Speaking of justice, Mr. Giuliani has been more circumspect than some of his rivals on whether he would pardon I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. And he repeated again that he wouldn't pardon Mr. Libby "right now." On the other hand, Mr. Giuliani advanced a pretty good argument that he should never have been tried. "Perjury has to be material--it has to relate to what you're investigating," he offered. "If someone goes in front of a grand jury and tells a lie about an insignificant fact, it's a lie but it isn't perjury. There's all kinds of lying that isn't criminal . . . If the investigation is about a non-crime, when you know who did it, how could anything be material to it?" That sounds an awful lot like an argument for a pardon, even if Mr. Giuliani seems to think the time may not be right.

--Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal

American Power: Still Number 1 --The Economist

American Power: Still Number 1

It is hard to deny that America looks weaker than it did in 2000. But is that really due to a tectonic shift or to the errors of a single administration?...

If America were a stock, it would be a “buy”: an undervalued market leader, in need of new management. But that points to its last great strength. More than any rival, America corrects itself. Under pressure from voters, Mr Bush has already rediscovered some of the charms of multilateralism; he is talking about climate change; a Middle East peace initiative is possible. Next year's presidential election offers a chance for renewal. Such corrections are not automatic: something (a misadventure in Iran?) may yet compound the misery of Iraq in the same way Watergate followed Vietnam. But America recovered from the 1970s. It will bounce back stronger again.

--The Economist

Richard Cohen

Psst! There's a liberal in the White House

"[O]ne reason for our involvement was an attempt to do some good -- rid the world of a really bad guy and make life better for Iraqis and others in the region. This 'liberal' intent may have left Dick Cheney cold and found Don Rumsfeld indifferent, but it appealed to Bush and it showed in his rhetoric and body language. Contrast it to the position of the so-called foreign policy realists, exemplified by the first President Bush and his trusted foreign policy sidekick, Brent Scowcroft.

"It was their decision -- cold realism at its best -- to end the first Gulf War with Saddam Hussein still in power, and not to intervene when Saddam later decimated rebellious Shiites in the south. Realistic? Sure. But also sickening.

"...For years to come, his war will be cited to smother any liberal impulse in American foreign policy -- to further discredit John F. Kennedy's vow to 'pay any price, bear any burden ... to assure the survival and the success of liberty.' We shall revert to this thing called "realism," which is heartless and cynical, no matter what its other virtues. The debacle of Iraq has cost us -- and others -- plenty in lives. But in the end, it will cost us our soul as well."

--Richard Cohen, The New York Daily News