The Hound Of Ulster

But the analysis is not.

Captain Ed TALKS about the coming years. He thinks we need to come in off the ledge, and role up our sleeves. The “licking our wounds” approach could be very, very dangerous.

The American voters made their choice. Now we have to go to work, preparing a positive agenda for the nation, engaging the Democrats on issues where we can find agreement, and opposing them when we cannot. Gridlock will be likely, and that’s not a bad thing on domestic issues, but we cannot afford to be paralyzed on the war effort. That requires a large effort by Republicans to work with Democratic leadership — because we simply have no choice, not for the next two years. If we dig in our heels, we will leave this nation dangerously exposed to terrorists, and that’s neither responsible nor Republican.

My advice to my blogger friend and the CQ community is to rationally plan for the next two years in the minority. We have to remain firm on our principles while still working to serve our nation. Sometimes that will require compromise, and sometimes it will require tenacious defense of our own principles. That’s honorable and necessary work, and we will have plenty of it to do until 2008.

Jonathan Alter BEATS the “conservatism is dead” drum - an instrument I find utterly uncompelling.

The Category 4 political hurricane of 2006 was more than a referendum on an unpopular war and president: it signals the end of the conservative tide that began rising 40 years ago; it’s the end of a pernicious six-year experiment in “governing for the base,” and in many ways it’s a blessing in disguise for George W. Bush, who now has the opportunity to salvage something of his presidency.

Apparently, there is a lot of infighting amongst the various connage. In fact, there are so many “cons” listed in that article, I have trouble keeping them straight. Course, I have almost no idea what a neocon is, anyway. And theocons fall into the same boat, only deeper.

I think Mehlman is far more likely to be RIGHT, myself.

The election, he told the crowd at the headquarters of Americans for Tax Reform, was not a repudiation of conservatism. It was a mandate to “recommit ourselves to being reform conservatives,” he said, telling them that the president would not flinch from arguing for ideas like privatizing Social Security.

Elizabeth Dole SAYS there was nothing she could have done.

“I can sleep well at night knowing we did everything possible to hold the Senate,” she said in a telephone interview Thursday. “All I know is I worked my head off, and that’s all you can do.”

Sorry, Mrs. Dole, but that’s not quite right. You could have worked like you hadn’t lost your head. That would have helped a great deal. Hard work is not enough. Hard work and genuine ideas are what is required. And no, THIS is not the sort of intelligent message I’m talking about. Or THIS. Ugh.

Some Have Hats makes a great - and greatly frightening - POINT. And THIS isn’t helping me feel any better, either.

The Democrats — the incoming majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada; the incoming Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan; and the incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware — said a phased redeployment of troops would be their top priority when the new Congress convenes in January, even before an investigation of the conduct of the war.

“We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months,” Mr. Levin said in an appearance on the ABC News program “This Week.” In a telephone interview later, Mr. Levin added, “The point of this is to signal to the Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over and that they are going to have to solve their own problems.”

Rosie has similar THOUGHTS.

On her ABC show “The View” last Thursday, the shoot-from-the-lip actress-comedienne explained in less-than Rooseveltian fashion that Americans have nothing to fear but fear itself.

“Faith or fear, that’s your choice,” she told co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck and panelists including Barbara Walters and Beverly Sills.

“You can walk through life believing in the goodness of the world, or walk through life afraid of anyone who thinks different than you and trying to convert them to your way of thinking. And I think that this country … .”

To which Hasselbeck interjected: “Well, I’m a person of faith, so I, but I also believe … .”

“Well then, get away from the fear,” interrupted O’Donnell. “Don’t fear the terrorists. They’re mothers and fathers.”

I’ve heard a Sting song that advocates something like this. But even there, I’m pretty sure Sting is hoping it’s true, not saying it’s true. I don’t feel well. Though THIS does make me feel slightly less queazy. Very slightly.

This is the latest:

Father’s MRI revealed that he suffered a serious stroke in the brain stem.  His doctor said a stroke in this area explains why    Fathers speech and mobility have not improved.  Over the weekend, Father contracted pneumonia, which can be very dangerous for someone in his condition.  The pneumonia is being treated with antibiotics and the doctors are doing everything they can to keep Father comfortable.

There is a chance that Father will not survive the pneumonia.  This morning (Monday) he seemed to be resting comfortably and breathing a little easier than he was yesterday.  If Father overcomes the pneumonia and stabilizes, the doctor said it will be a month or so before he knows the degree of functioning Father will attain.  The doctor is not optimistic, but said that he has seen some miraculous recoveries from strokes of this magnitude.

Members of Fathers family will arrive this week, and we are organizing visiting times for some of the faculty and staff wives.  I will speak to the assistant dean and the prefects about organizing student visitation.  Father has been moved from the ICU to what they call the med-surg ward.  He is still at the same hospital.

If you wish to pay your respects to Father personally, I would recommend that you do so now.  Please continue to keep him and his caregivers in your prayers.  Thank you.

Please keep praying for Father.

Film composer Basil POLEDOURIS passed away WEDNESDAY.

LOS ANGELES – Basil Poledouris, the Emmy-winning composer of Lonesome Dove and composer for such films as Conan the Barbarian, Free Willy and The Blue Lagoon, died of cancer Wednesday, Nov. 8, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 61.

Best-known for his powerful music for action-adventure films of the 1980s and ’90s, Poledouris scored both of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearances as the sword-and-sorcery hero in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984).

His orchestral-and-choral scores are today considered high points in the genre of music for fantasy films.

For some reason, most of the articles I’m reading fail to take significant notice of what I consider to be his finest score. His work on The Hunt for Red October is wonderful stuff - the perfect blend of score and material. The semi-electronic, percussion-heavy musical queues for the McTiernan film’s action sequences, such as CHOPPER, are far from classically derived, but they are exactly what is required for the cinematic storytelling to work. So many film composers allow their scores to take on a life of their own, and that’s never a good thing. (I’m looking at you, Horner.)

And what about the movie’s opening track? The Hymn to Red October? Basil hit the jackpot on that one: wonderfully effective within the film itself, and also downright gorgeous in its own right. Transforms that opening sequence from “fairly effective” to “iconic.”

Can anyone think of that film without immediately thinking of the opening?