Charles Krauthammer: Case for McCain "Straight Forward"

Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated, national columnist and frequent guest commentator on Fox. His life has a truly inspiring story as he became paralyzed in a diving accident in college, still went on to earn an M.D. from Harvard; became the Chief Resident in psychology in Massachusetts General; then entered the world of politics as a speech writer for Jimmy Carter, followed by a political writer and commentator.

His writings have defined terms such as the Reagan and Bush Doctrines. He corrected Charlie Gibson’s understanding of the Bush Doctrine when Gibson used it against Palin citing Gibson did not understand the term himself. He is a very independent, non-partisan thinker. When reading the link above, you will see how his art has influenced life.

Unfortunately, he is pro-choice but I predict he will come around to the pro-life side eventually. I see some rumblings in his writings.

He had the quote of the week last week humorously stating the Joe Biden was a plant by the Republican Party after the umpteenth gaffe by Biden.

Krauthammer wrote a great column that should be read in its entirety, here are a few excerpts:

"The case for McCain is straightforward. The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.

Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who's been cramming on these issues for the last year, who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism (e.g., the Berlin Wall came down because of "a world that stands as one"), and who refers to the most deliberate act of war since Pearl Harbor as "the tragedy of 9/11," a term more appropriate for a bus accident?

Or do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts, but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?

There's just no comparison. Obama's own running mate warned this week that Obama's youth and inexperience will invite a crisis -- indeed a crisis "generated" precisely to test him. Can you be serious about national security and vote on Nov. 4 to invite that test?

And how will he pass it? Well, how has he fared on the only two significant foreign policy tests he has faced since he's been in the Senate? The first was the surge. Obama failed spectacularly. He not only opposed it. He tried to denigrate it, stop it and, finally, deny its success.

The second test was Georgia, to which Obama responded instinctively with evenhanded moral equivalence, urging restraint on both sides. McCain did not have to consult his advisers to instantly identify the aggressor.

Today's economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates. Whom do you want on the parapet? I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb."

This column appeared in Krauthammer's 200 syndicated newspapers. I hope it gives people pause before they vote next week.