by Patrick J. Buchanan

The Iraq war has probably killed the idea of using U.S. troops to intervene in the name of Mr. Bush’s “world democratic revolution.”

The Middle American revolt that killed amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens has buried the idea of open-borders immigration.

Come now the SWFs, which may bring an end to America’s folly in her unthinking embrace of global free trade.

What are SWFs? They are Sovereign Wealth Funds – huge capital funds controlled by regimes that are the big new boys on the block in the world of global finance.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

When, in the South Carolina debate, Barack Obama said he would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran and North Korea in his first year as president, he stepped into a cow pie.

Hillary pounced, declaring that in a Clinton White House, there would be no promised first-year meetings with any dictator or enemy of the United States.

The morning headline in Miami roared that Obama was open to meeting Fidel. In the Jewish community, word was surely being moved that Obama had opened the door to a face-to-face meeting with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust skeptic who has predicted the Israeli state is not long for the Middle East – and should be transplanted to Europe.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Of all the preseason games in the run-up to the GOP nomination, none is more crucial than the Iowa Straw Poll.

As usual, it will be held in Ames, Sat., Aug. 11

Analysts have downgraded its importance since McCain and Rudy dropped out. They are mistaken. The McCain-Giuliani forfeiture of the straw poll already testifies to its importance – and to their weaknesses.

Rudy dropped out first. Why? His front-runner image would have been shattered had he been routed at Ames. Rather than risk a beating, Rudy quit. By dropping out, he concedes that today he lacks the troops or organization to contest the caucuses in January. And if he doesn’t have them now, when and where does he find them?

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Responding to the call of Pope Urban II at Claremont in 1095, the Christian knights of the First Crusade set out for the Holy Land. In 1099, Jerusalem was captured. As their port in Palestine, the Crusaders settled on Acre on the Mediterranean.

There they built the great castle that was overrun by Saladin in 1187, but retaken by Richard the Lion-Hearted in 1191. Acre became the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the stronghold of the Crusader state, which fell to the Mameluks in a bloody siege in 1291. The Christians left behind were massacred.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Is the United States provoking war with Iran, to begin while the Congress is conveniently on its August recess?

One recalls that it was in August 1964, after the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, that the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred.

Twice it was said, on Aug. 2 and Aug. 4, North Vietnamese patrol boats had attacked the U.S. destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy in international waters. The U.S. Senate responded by voting 88 to 2 to authorize President Johnson to assist any Southeast Asian nation whose government was threatened by communist aggression.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

“Come here,” Richard Nixon whispered.

I did – as Nixon peeled the curtain back to reveal a group of reporters gathered for his press briefing.

“There,” Nixon nodded. “That is the enemy.”

Nixon had directed my attention to a swarthy fellow seated in the front row, separate from the rest, who seemed to be scowling, but at no one in particular. It was Robert Novak. That was 40 years ago, in Indiana, in the fall of that Republican year of 1966.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Elevated to the papacy at 78, Benedict XVI will take no action greater in significance for the Catholic Church than his motu proprio declaring that the Latin Mass must be said in every diocese – on the request of the faithful. Dissenting bishops must comply.

“What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us, too,” said the Holy Father in his apostolic letter, as he authorized the universal use of the sole official version of the mass allowed in the four centuries between the Council of Trent and Vatican II.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Why did Bush do it?

Why did he suddenly barge into the legal process and erase the entire 30-month sentence of Scooter Libby?

For, from his own statement, Bush found the act deeply distasteful.

In that statement, Bush calls Libby’s crimes “serious convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice.” He praises Patrick Fitzgerald as “a highly qualified professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged.”

Bush indicated no disagreement with the verdict.

by Patrick J. Buchanan

“I’ll see you at the bill signing,” said a cocky George W. Bush in Bulgaria, when he heard the Senate had just fallen 15 votes short of voting cloture on the Kennedy-Kyl immigration bill he had embraced.

Bush returned home, went to the Hill and implored the Senate Republicans to resurrect his bill. They did, only to have it go down to crushing defeat a second time, 46 to 53, last Thursday.

Bush has sustained a major humiliation. But he is not alone.