Saturday, March 05, 2011

Eminent British Historian: Palin Has Courage Like Reagan and Thatcher

In the Wall Street Journal from Brian Carney's interview with British Historian Paul Johnson:
"Then he deepens his voice for effect and adds: 'And I like that lady—Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib.'

"The former governor of Alaska, he says, 'is in the good tradition of America, which this awful political correctness business goes against.' Plus: 'She's got courage. That's very important in politics. You can have all the right ideas and the ability to express them. But if you haven't got guts, if you haven't got courage the way Margaret Thatcher had courage—and [Ronald] Reagan, come to think of it. Your last president had courage too—if you haven't got courage, all the other virtues are no good at all. It's the central virtue.'"
Heh. Lots of people will be calling their office after this interview including a well known opinion writer at the Wall Street Journal.

2 comments:

Gordon R. Durand said...

You beat me to it. I saw the article last night but didn't post until this morning.

Have you read any of Paul Johnson's "thick" books? They're well worth the time.

T. D. said...

Gordon,

I have read some in Paul Johnson, but not a complete work.

He's exactly right about courage being the indispensable quality.

Interesting that Gov. Palin used the same word in talking about cutting when you don't have to and everyone else is spending. Though the sort of courage she has shown is way beyond that. And Johnson has noticed.

If Palin gets the chance to prove her stuff in the presidency, it will be interesting to see how some conservatives walk back their Clark Clifford like comments.

By the way, whenever I enjoy a violin piece lately, I think of you. :-)