"I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb"

"In popular usage, SOS [Morse Code distress signal · · · — — — · · · or three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits] became associated with phrases such as 'Save Our Ship' and 'Save Our Souls,'" says Wikipedia. "These were a later development, most likely used to help remember the correct letters (something known as a backronym). Unattributed illustration from "The origin of the distress call 'May Day.'"

"I will go down with the McCain ship," writes Charles Krauthammer, stalwart on the field of battle as fellow Northeast Corridor Conservatives head for the nearest exit like democrats abandoning ship:

Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years … I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I'd rather lose an election than lose my bearings …

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? …

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?

"Today's economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates," concludes Krauthammer:

Whom do you want on the parapet? I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb.

We quibbled with Charles — may we call you Charles? — that day last August when he told a Fox anchor, in reaction to McCain's VP pick, that the Arizona Senator should have picked someone "safe" like Fred Thompson. As we wrote then:

We LOVE Fred, of course, and our sis will remind us that we have a heart too soon made glad, but the Governor of Alaska gets our girls-just-wanna-have-fun juices flowing. Sarah, get your gun!

Like McCain himself, she can tell the lion from the lamb.

Update: Drudge links Krauthammer's piece, sixth item, central column. You go, boy!

Comments

[goomp]

Lambs are sheep. I know from personal experience that while sheep are followers they also can be as mean spirited as any lion or human. I have seen a pregnant ewe just about ready to give birth in a day or two standing peaceably butted in the side by another. Given power it takes an understanding of animal nature including human nature to lead effectively. Lack of understanding human behavior is the great failing of the liberals.

[Gayle Miller]

Less than two weeks before the election and some pundits are just figuring this out?
I'm sorry - I was voting for McCain from the moment it looked like The One was going to be nominated by the Dems. Didn't like him then, don't like him now. And my dislike of him has not one thing to do with the color of his skin - but it has a great deal to do with the [lack of] content of his character!

I may not agree with all (or even most) of John McCain's philosophies but in one area I know we can absolutely trust him and that area is national security. From that realization, supporting him is a total no-brainer.

[jameshigham]

Interesting if she becomes Prez but even more interesting is if Biden does.