You don't want to get on the wrong side of Joe Sobran's pen. The columnist's piece on George W. Bush is a must-read. As usual, Sobran is scathing and hilarious. With Joe, the two usually go together.

"Like rap music," he writes. "Bush is an alarming sign of America’s cultural decline. When the president of France and the king of Jordan speak better English than the successor of Jefferson and Lincoln, something has gone wrong. It’s not just that he has trouble with big, fancy words; he even misuses prepositions like to and for. At his most recent press conference, the reporters could have gotten more thoughtful answers from a Magic Eight-Ball."

You're guaranteed to get a laugh reading Sobran, but Bush's policies have been more tragic than comedic. The Republican President has created a more gargantuan federal government, OK'd more intrusive campaign finance laws, pursued nation-building military adventures in Iraq and Haiti, sought to bankroll an idiotic mission to Mars, helped increase the deficit and the debt, and signed into law liberal policies on health care and education. When your strongest argument for four more years is "I'm not John Kerry," this is usually not considered a sign of a job well done.

"What’s amazing, and appalling, is that so many traditional conservatives, not just the neocons, are still groveling before Bush, who has not only abandoned but flagrantly violated their once-sacred principles of limited government and prudence," Sobran concludes. "It will be a tragedy for conservatism if it comes to be identified with a president who is a deadly enemy of nearly everything conservatives used to espouse."

Poor Sobran just doesn't get it. "Bush a sign of cultural decline"! Preident Bush is calling attention to the decline, but he certainly isn't part of it. Sobran is a mocker who enjoys "skewering" people he dislikes by making fun of their weaknesses. People like Sobran would never make fun of someone with a physical handicap, because then they would be "skewered" themselves. But they feel they can get away with making fun of what they consider to be Bush's way of speaking that is "beneath" their own skills of oratory. Well golly gee! Some people speak better than the President. (I am shocked! The U.S. is doomed!) Who cares? I like the way Bush speaks. It reminds me that Bush is a more down to earth person, who obviously does not have the insecurities of those who must at all costs appear to be the better of those around them. I thank God that Bush isn't too concerned with public opinion about his speech, or much else. By contrast, many of his critics could not abide being made fun of in public. That is probably their greatest fear. And inwardly, they must admire the fact that Bush couldn't care less about what they say. He doesn't let cheap criticism bother him, he gets on with the job of setting in motion policies to protect people like Sobran and the rest of us. What a thankless task it has been for this president. But that is his job, and he does it very well. I guess I'm a confirmed Bush groveller. Proud to be one. If you know what and why you believe in something, you don't worry about opinions by the likes of Sobran or anybody else. Concern with the unimportant opinions of other people is one of the primary signs of a weak minded leader. Bush is influenced by public opinion in the form of votes. But he isn't worried by people who take cheap shots at him. History will mark G.W.Bush as a visionary. I guess Sobran's just jealous.

While I admire Joe Sobran as a writer and cultural critic--his writing on abortion is especially incisive--I've been frustrated by his post September 11 commentary on the war on terrorism. Have the terrorists ever been on the "wrong side" of his pen, or is it only Bush and American foreign policy that draw his ire? His post 9/11 writings exhibit the same lack of perspective as the blame-America-first crowd.

W. Bush as visionary?!? Who the heck are you kidding, Michael? Joe Sobran is not jealous; he's just calling a spade a spade. Dubya, when History has her say, will be forgotten like many of the late-19th/early-20th century presidents. Unlike most of them, however, he will deserve to have been forgotten.

"Bush as a visionary". Yes, that does need an explanation. I see him as that because he has the courage and (realistic) idealism to take on the goal of transforming the Middle East by breaking the hold of governments who at minimum seriously restrict, and at worst brutally oppress their people. Any way you want to look at it, and whether the Iraquis appreciate it or not (some do, some don't) Bush's pre-emptive policy has been a raging success. You just can't equate the current violence with the much more severe repression under Hussein. Anybody with half a thinker, has got to admit that there are some (an understatement) Islamic extremists who wish to destroy the Western World and install their own form of rule. Now exactly how long do we have to wait until we react to that? Bush has stirred up a hornets nest, but that is a better thing than letting those people gain much greater support over time (and yes, eventually - nuclear weapons). It is ALWAYS better to confront a growing problem early before it becomes a much greater one. That is why Bush is a Visionary. He isn't cynical. Many people say that he is naive. But I reckon Bush is walking a middle ground. What he is doing takes courage, and it is not "stupid". As usual, most are mis-underestimating him. History WILL be the judge.

Mike, that kind of deep thinking,that it is always better to confront early before it becomes a growing problen, has worked wonders for out goverment in the past. The scores of people who were blowtorched by Janet Reno come to mind. I'm glad that problem was nipped in the bud. So too in Somalia and the Balkens. Nothing has been confronted in Iraq that has anything to do with the Islam-fascist problem facing the free world. If you put out a top ten list of the worlds most evil dictators Hussein would have strugled to make the top ten. Since when is giving ungovernable people a vote worth the cost of a dead American soldier?