[KevinTheOmnivore]

Well, I have little need for Newt, but i do agree that he's often willing to say what's on his mind, rather than what's acceptable party jargon.

I don't know about placing these responsibilities in the hands of Newt or Giuliani, but I think he's right that the situation is ripe for doers, rather than gripers. i think congressional investigations and debate and stuff are really great, but damn do we need somebody to just take the bull by the horns on this. And it goes beyond Katrina to me....

You hear alot of talk about how the American identity, or spirit, was in decline during the 70's, and then Reagan came along, etc. Well, I wasn't alive then, so I can't say how accurate that description of history is. But I can say that there seems to be a growing vibe, a feeling that we may have stretched ourselves too thin in too many ways, that maybe we are becoming a house of cards.

I have become supportive of our presence in Iraq, and in a way, have become supportive of President Bush with the war on terrorism. But I'm beginning to feel that we are in the right war with the wrong man in the driver's seat. Between an unclear Iraq strategy, ever-growing debt, and primarily what just seems like an inability by our federal agencies to meet these growing security needs and expectations, it seems like we need some new ideas. We need to decide what direction this country is going in, and more importantly, what is our role in the world. What are the limits on a war on a tactic, and will it have ramifications back home? We've spent a lot of energy talking about the dangers of terorism, and how we're going to fight it, but we don't quite seem to be ready to actually meet those challenges, or even define what they are.