“The first thing for anyone to know is that THERE IS MORE TO CHURCHILL THAN 1940. Martin Gilbert cited the relevance of his thought, the truthfulness of his assertions, the constructiveness of his proposals, and his remarkable foresight.” —RML
N.B.: If Mr. Olbermann had done more research, he would know what Churchill did say about national healthcare, which is more to the point: see Churchill and Healthcare.
MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann is for the proposed American healthcare reform bill, which is neither here nor there.
What is interesting to Churchillians is his use of Winston Churchill’s words to support it—from both 1945 (when Churchill was campaigning against socialism), and 1936 (when Churchill was urging rearmament in the face of Nazi Germany).
In 1945, Olbermann says, Churchill
equated his opponents, the party that sought to introduce “The National Health,” to the Gestapo of the Germans that he and we had just beaten just as those opposing reform now have invoked Nazis as frequently and falsely as if they were invoking Zombies.…
The Great Debate: “Resolved, that Winston Churchill was more a liability than an asset to the free world.” Sponsored by Intelligence Squared, viewable on C-Span.
LONDON, 3 SEPT 1999— It was avidly awaited but fell flat. Tabling a truly ridiculous motion, Intelligence Squared (“the only institution in town aside from Parliament to provide a forum for debate on the crucial issues of the day”) combined with C-Span to bring us this spectacle. It would have been more interesting to debate whether Hitler or Churchill was the better painter.
I will spare you wisecracks about Intelligence Squared.…
In May 2009, we signed up with Vonage in order to escape the greedy clutches of our local telephone provider, Fair Point Communications, which charges outrageous prices for turning our phones on and off while we are away, and a large premium for “wide area” dialing anywhere outside one sliver of Carroll County, New Hampshire. My advice is: the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
It seemed so easy. Vonage quickly signed us up for $9.95 a month for three months and then only $25 a month for free calls to everywhere but Mars, and sent a $25 modem which they wanted us to plug into our system.…
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Professor Andrew J. Bacevich considered the war in Afghanistan against Churchill’s experience in World War I. Churchill, he says, looked for alternatives to “sending our armies to chew barbed wire in Flanders.” Just so. And we should be looking for alternatives to chewing dust in Afghanistan.
Bacevich describes Churchill’s alternative as “an amphibious assault against the Dardanelles.” (That is a physical impossibility.) Churchill championed a naval attack on the Dardanelles, followed by an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula). Bacevich adds that Churchill wished to “support the infantry with tanks.”…
"I am surprised that the head of a great State should set himself to attack British members of Parliament who hold no official position and who are not even the leaders of parties. Such action on his part can only enhance any influence they may have, because their fellow-countrymen have long been able to form their own opinion about them and really do not need foreign guidance." —WSC, 1938
Hank: “Why is your manager pulling Lannan? He’s just struck out Drew....”
RL: “Over 100 pitches. Surprised he brought Lannan back this inning. The skipper worships pitch counts and match-ups, regardless of the situation or individual. Youklis is up and bats right-handed, so he’s calling for a right-hander.”
Hank: “Tavarez was pretty rough when he pitched for us...”
RL: “And still is...”
The publishers did make good efforts to lighten WSC's eyes (which in life were very light blue). Unfortunately, they cropped the top of WSC’s head, incurring the ire of Lady Soames and this writer, and somewhat spoiling the effect. They promised to fix this in the second edition, and they did so, happily for all, not the least Richard Deane Taylor himself.
A website named “IL Conservative” posted in June 2009 eight Churchill “quotations,” six of which he never said. These quotations are all over the Internet, none of them attributed to WSC. They just seem to multiply and get passed on, like the common cold. They are all examples of “Churchillian Drift” (or “Yogi Berra Drift,” if you are a baseball fan): neat little sayings attached to somebody famous to make them sound more interesting.
The purpose of my “Red Herrings” appendix of eighty incorrect quotations in Churchill by Himself is to counteract the raft of misinformation conveyed, largely through the web, but it’s like the Dutch boy sticking his finger in the dyke.…
An erudite new foreword and extensive footnotes instruct the modern reader by describing events, people and places no longer familiar. There is also a thick set of notes, on the origin of each essay, its titular and textual variations. In many cases we learn how it came to be written.Truly this is as eminent an edition of Thoughts and Adventures as we could hope to have—a tribute to the editor and Mr. Courtenay, as to the author. It serves inform future generations of Churchill’s political instinct, judgment, foresight and magnanimity.
Into the Storm, a television drama broadcast by the BBC and HBO. Produced by Ridley Scott, directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan. Brendan Gleeson as Winston Churchill and Janet McTeer as Clementine Churchill. Screenplay by Hugh Whitemore.
Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: “To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods…” —“Horatius,” stanza XXVII in Lays of Ancient Rome, by Thomas Babbington Macaulay. Recited at the beginning and at the end of “Into the Storm.”…
