The Reality-based wing of the Democratic Party (Population: 1)

Joe Lieberman reminds us, once more, why he is at least as far removed from his party's base, leadership and current center as Zell Miller ever was, with a must-read in today's WSJ.

It is a war between 27 million and 10,000; 27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists who are either Saddam revanchists, Iraqi Islamic extremists or al Qaeda foreign fighters who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern. The terrorists are intent on stopping this by instigating a civil war to produce the chaos that will allow Iraq to replace Afghanistan as the base for their fanatical war-making. We are fighting on the side of the 27 million because the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America. If the terrorists win, they will be emboldened to strike us directly again and to further undermine the growing stability and progress in the Middle East, which has long been a major American national and economic security priority.

Profile in Courage

A Democratic President, optimistic about America's Role in the world, confident that any struggle is worth fighting in the interest of Liberty, and conscious of America's Destiny as Man's Last, Best Hope.

It sounds like a throwback to an earlier era - and it is.

But it was an era that proved decisive, and Freedom might not have prevailed if it hadn't been for courageous, patriotic Democrats like Harry S. Truman or John F. Kennedy.

Truman courageously took on the Soviet Union, at a time when many, even in America, did not see the need to be so "confrontational".

Kennedy made it clear to every Free European that the United States would not surrender them. And he initiated the Alliance between the United States and Israel, which still shines a light for freedom among one of the darkest and least hospitable regions. For that alone, we salute the first Catholic President of the United States.

His Inaugural Address remains one of the greatest speeches in American History:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.

It is hard to imagine any Democrat making a comparable pledge today.

It is not hard to imagine that JFK would feel very much at home in today's Republican Party.

His spirit lives on, tirelessly committed to the survival and success of Liberty, on the Seven Seas, as part of the greatest Navy ever. A fitting tribute.

One of the year's most important books

... by the incomparable and unsurpassable Thomas Sowell, covering a wide range of subjects, all covered in impeccable and mind-broadening fashion. Seldom have I learned so much in any volume.

Just one quote, from the second part:

When people are presented with the alternatives of hating themselves for their failure or hating others for their success, they seldon choose to hate themselves.

It should also make a marvelous Christmas present, for it is hard to imagine how anyone would not learn something new and intriguing.