by Patrick J. Buchanan

Gerald R. Ford was a good man who served his country well in an evil time. When he took office on Aug. 9, 1974, and declared, “Our long national nightmare is over,” Ford did not fully appreciate that those who had done the most to create the nightmare were still here. The establishment that Nixon had humiliated in his 49-state landslide, having just effected a coup d’etat, had crawled back into power. That establishment, which had hated Nixon since the Alger Hiss case and loathed Spiro Agnew for his wildly popular attacks on the liberal press, embraced “Jerry” Ford, and never more eagerly than when he elevated one of their own, Nelson Rockefeller, to the vice presidency…

by Patrick J. Buchanan

“I grew up in the Episcopal Church. I hope I don’t cry when I talk about this. But the issue is: Are we going to follow Scripture?” So an anguished Katrina Wagner, a member of the leadership of Truro Episcopal parish, told Washington Post reporters Bill Turque and Michelle Boornstein. They have been covering the sad Christmas story of the breakup of the Episcopal Church in Northern Virginia. Nine parishes have voted to secede from the American church. So an anguished Katrina Wagner, a member of the leadership of Truro Episcopal parish, told Washington Post reporters Bill Turque and Michelle Boornstein. They have been covering the sad Christmas story of the breakup of the Episcopal Church in Northern Virginia. Nine parishes have voted to secede from the American church…

by Patrick J. Buchanan

The insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost fewer U.S. lives than the Filipino insurgency of 1899-1902. Yet Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker warned Congress last week the U.S. Army “will break” without more troops. We started this war “flat-footed,” with 500,000 fewer soldiers than we had before the Gulf War, says the general, who wants 7,000 soldiers added yearly to the 507,000 on active duty. The Army is “about broken,” agrees Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Powell believes we “are losing the war” in Iraq, but opposes any “surge” of 15,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops, as urged by Sen. John McCain…

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Since 1927, the year Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in his single-engine Spirit of St. Louis, Time has devoted its final cover of the year to the Man of the Year. The Lone Eagle was first. In the 1930s and 1940s, FDR was the Man of the Year three times. Stalin, Truman and Churchill made it twice, though the selection of Churchill in 1949 seems dubious, as he had been out of power four years, while Mao was seizing China by the throat in the bloodiest revolution of the century. Hitler was chosen in the year of Anschluss and Munich, 1938. Gen. Marshall made it twice, as did Ike, in 1944 as victor of Normandy and, 15 years later, as president…

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Gov. Mitt Romney, leaving office, has just taken a modest step to protect the people of Massachusetts. Romney signed an agreement with the feds to empower 30 state troopers — to be trained by the feds for five weeks — to determine if arrested crime suspects are illegal aliens. If so, the troopers could hold them on immigration violations. Here is how it would work. If an MS-13 gang member were arrested for assault and battery, and the victim was too terrified to testify against a Mara Salvatrucha member, the state troopers could hold the alleged assailant, call in immigration authorities and have him deported. The troopers would also be empowered to arrest and hold illegal aliens leaving prison, to ensure their deportation by the feds…

by Patrick J. Buchanan
“I believe this is a recipe that will lead to our defeat … in Iraq,” said John McCain. He has a point. For what does the Iraq Study Group say? We are not winning this war. Our situation is “grave and deteriorating.” Yet we may succeed if only we will withdraw all U.S. combat brigades in 15 months and bring Syria and Iran to the table to resolve the political crisis. This is simply not credible. Nowhere in this report are there any "disincentives" to cause al-Qaida, the Sunni insurgents, the militias, the Mahdi Army or sectarian death squads to call off their campaigns to inflict a historic defeat on the United States and expel us from Mesopotamia….

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 8, 2006

“The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating,” declares the Iraq Study Group in the lead sentence of its long-awaited report. It continues on in this grim vein: “A slide toward chaos could trigger the collapse of Iraq’s government and a humanitarian disaster. … There is no guarantee for success in Iraq. The situation in Baghdad and several provinces is dire. … Pessimism is pervasive. … Violence is increasing in scope, complexity and lethality.” This is the portrait of a nation descending into hell…

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by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 5, 2006

During last summer’s Israeli-Hezbollah war, Condi Rice assured us that we were witnessing the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” Condi may be right. But that new Middle East appears to be one in which U.S. influence is visibly waning and America is on the way out. Consider the returns from November. Bush’s war was repudiated in a Democratic triumph. Our NATO allies begged off sending more troops to Afghanistan to fight the resurgent Taliban. After a leaked White House memo insulted him as ignorant or incompetent, Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stiffed Bush by refusing to join him and the king of Jordan for dinner….

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 1, 2006

A few days back, the “Today” show, speaking for NBC News, declared Iraq a “civil war,” and said the network and CNBC and MSNBC would henceforth use that term to describe it. President Bush and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow angrily objected. A civil war, said Snow, is when two identifiable armed forces war with each other for control of a government and nation. And Iraq is not that…

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PJB: The War of All Against All
by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 1, 2006