quote/unquote: The agony of Somalia, Barack Obama and The Buckleys

(Another in a series from St. Louis, MO)

"Those with guns, whoever they are."
*--Zenab Ali Osman, a Somali grandmother raising her daughter's children, when asked who is to blame for her country's plight, where 3 million now face starvation

"Someone asked me if I would vote for Barack Obama if he were a different color. The answer is no. I wouldn't vote for him if he were white, pink or chartreuse. I will not ever vote for a far leftist socialist. God help us all if he wins."
*- caller to Town Talk, Suburban Journals, Oct. 12, '08

"I have been effectively fatwahed by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it's a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.
While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of "conservative" government has brought us a
doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a
sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case. So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven't left the Republican Party. It left me."
*- Chris Buckley after the National Review accepted his resignation after his endorsement of Barack Obama


"You know, I've spent my entire life time separating the Right from the kooks."
--William F Buckley, Jr, founder of The National Review and father of Chris Buckley