On My Desk: Hard Call

John McCain has a new book hitting the shelves in a couple of weeks, and it isn’t about his presidential bid or his own personal story. He and longtime aide Mark Salter have written a book titled Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them, which appears to be somewhat similar to Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy. According to the book jacket, it recounts momentous decisions in history by “telling the remarkable stories of men and women who have exemplified composure, wisdom, and intellect in the face of life’s toughest dilemmas.” Sounds interesting, and I’ll probably get started on the book after I finish with Stephen Hayes’ new biography of Dick Cheney.
While not overtly political, at least at first glance, its appearance in this presidential cycle has an arguably-subtle message. If McCain can recognize composure, wisdom, and intellect in these instances, then isn’t he the best choice to deploy the same qualities as President? I don’t know if he can make that argument stretch to that degree — but as a person interested in history, I’m looking forward to his review of these critical instances of human decision.
Also, I just wanted to remind CQ readers about Thunder Bay, the novel authored by my friend William Kent Krueger. It jumped over a thousand places in the Amazon rankings this week after my last link. Let’s help Kent get into the top 100 It’s a gripping novel — I read it cover-to-cover as soon as I got my advance copy. I’m certain you’ll enjoy it, too.

4 thoughts on “On My Desk: Hard Call

  1. I have more faith in mystery writer Warren Murphy’s parody of John McCain: “It’sworth your life to get between [him] and a TV camera…”

  2. Quoting conservatives may well be the ticket to landing the top job of the free world. After all, pointing out great ideas isn’t the same as actually adapting them. John McCain – bless his moderate heart – obviously knows a sucker when he sees one. We conservatives are so wishy washy, anyway. We’ll believe anything! So malleable, we are — consider Rush’s army of mind-numbed robots! McCain’s support of the Campaign Finance Reform Act, his membership in the Gang of 14, and promotion of the omnibus, pro-amnesty, immigration bill, are all arrows in his quiver – truly inspired leadership. Surely, all right-thinking conservatives will embrace him. And, reading his book is such a delight. It will rile his critics, and sooth his supporters. He has elevated criticizing our President to a fine art. Democrats love him, Republicans hob-knob with him, and we like him! We can’t wait to thrive under a McCain administration! He looks so good! Yet, so bland! May God bless him in his bid to gain power! Go, McCain! Go, McCain! We, the huddled masses, need you to lead us! Viva, McCain! Viva, McCain!

  3. Personally, I’m pretty well convinced that George Washington would have had Mc Cain executed for Treason. On any of a wide varitey of issues, including McCain Feingold, and Border Security.

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