The choice

Joe Lieberman, the Independent, Democrat-caucusing Senator from Connecticut, delivered a speech at a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition today, where he eloquently laid out "the choice" facing Democrats and Republicans in the months ahead regarding the war in Iraq.

You can read the complete text of the speech here.

If we stand united through the months ahead, if we stand firm against the terrorists who want to drive us to retreat, the war in Iraq can be won and the lives of millions of people can be saved.

But if we surrender to the barbarism of suicide bombers and abandon the heart of the Middle East to fanatics and killers, to Al Qaeda and Iran, then all that our men and women in uniform have fought, and died for, will be lost, and we will be left a much less secure and free nation.

That is the choice we in Washington will make this summer and this fall. It is a choice not just about our foreign policy and our national security and our interests in the Middle East. It is about what our political leaders in both parties are prepared to stand for. It is about our very soul as a nation. It is about who we are, and who we want to be.

Will this be the moment in history when America gives up — when Al Qaeda breaks our will, when our enemies surge forward, when we turn our backs on our friends and begin a long retreat from our principles and promise as a nation?

Or will this be the moment when America steps forward, when we pull together, when we hold fast to the courage of our convictions, when — with a new strategy, and a new commander on the ground — we begin to turn the tide toward victory in this long and difficult war?

I know that we can rise above the anger and smallness of our politics. I know we can rise to the greatness that this moment demands of us.

The question is — will we choose to do so?

Macca attacka

OK, we're going to leave Annette Hanshaw, the 1920s and the George Harrison tribute concert, and move on to the 1970s and Paul McCartney, singing for this YouTube installment an underappreciated gem of what Lennon called Paul's "granny music," the wry, Rudy Vallee-tinged "You Gave Me the Answer."

This song has what I think is one of McCartney's most cleverly wry lyrics:

You'll never be crowned by the aristocracy
To their delight you'd merely invite them in
For a cup of tea
And I love you and you
You seem to like
You seem to like
You seem to like me

Macca has a new album coming out June 5th. If the whole thing's as good as the vibrant bits I've heard, we can look forward to a remarkable successor to his last effort, the baroque and Beatley "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard." Ya gotta admire a guy who, at nearly 65, and with enough success to last several lifetimes, just keeps cranking out great music.

Let the countdown to June 5th begin!

UPDATE: The old embed of McCartney's live version of this song has died. So here's the studio version, with images provided by a youtube Paulie fan: