Delenda Est

Jim Babka on Jan 19th 2008

Carthago Delenda Est, in English, means, “Carthage must be destroyed.”

Have a nice day. Peace be with you. Good luck. Best wishes. Good bye. God bless. Good night. Thank you very much. All might be ways to end a talk. But in the days of the Roman Republic, Cato the Elder is said to have uttered that phrase of curse to Carthage, or one similar to it, at the close of every one of his speeches on the floor of the Senate, regardless of the subject matter.

That phrase became the rallying cry of the Punic Wars (like, “Remember the Alamo”), and Carthage was, utterly destroyed. As Wikipedia reports, Carthage was, “ploughed (sic) over and surviving inhabitants sold into slavery.”

Well, I’m going to strive to follow in Cato’s footsteps.

I’m going to try, as often as I remember, until it’s a habit, to close all my blog posts with the phrase, “Hardball delenda est.”

But my ambitions are more modest than genocide. I merely want to see MSNBC’s Hardball booted off the air, with no hope of anything like it in replacement, and Chris Matthews himself standing behind a counter somewhere, wearing a paper hat, and asking those who still line up to see him, “Would you like fries with that?”

Hardball delenda est.

Filed in The Bureau

24 Responses to “Delenda Est”

  1. # Rad Geek People’s Daily 2008-01-20 – Battle-Cryon 20 Jan 2008 at 11:24 pm

    [...] —Jim Babka @ Positive Liberty (2008-01-19): Delenda Est [...]

  2. # Joeon 21 Jan 2008 at 12:47 am

    Jim, “ploughed” is British spelling … see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough.

  3. # Positive Liberty » Declarations of Waron 31 Jan 2008 at 1:28 pm

    [...] That can’t be what the Founders intended. Hardball Delenda Est [...]

  4. # Positive Liberty » What Ed saidon 06 Feb 2008 at 3:33 pm

    [...] I thank Ed for sending people to DownsizeDC.org and now urge you to do the same. The relevant campaign can be found here. Once you’re logged in (registration required) you can see the phone numbers of your Senators. Hardball delenda est. [...]

  5. # Positive Liberty » Jon Stewart v Chris Matthews Part IIIon 04 Apr 2008 at 7:44 am

    [...] Oh, Hardball delenda est. Hardball delenda est. Sweet Jesus, Hardball delenda est. (Hardball must be destroyed) [...]

  6. # Positive Liberty » The Wisdom of Mobson 06 May 2008 at 12:03 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  7. # Positive Liberty » Blue Like Jazz… Reflectionson 17 May 2008 at 1:19 pm

    [...] Anyway, after trying it a second time, I would now recommend Blue Like Jazz. Hardball delenda est. [...]

  8. # Positive Liberty » Immigration Infuriationon 19 May 2008 at 8:31 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  9. # Positive Liberty » Thoughts on Theodicy & the Libertarian Godon 10 Jun 2008 at 6:02 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  10. # Positive Liberty » A Bit of My Historyon 19 Jun 2008 at 5:19 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  11. # davidinman(.net) » Thimbleful of Thoughtson 20 Jun 2008 at 9:53 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  12. # Positive Liberty » Babka & Brayton on the radioon 22 Jun 2008 at 11:06 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  13. # Positive Liberty » In Electoral Politics, No Good Effort Goes Unpunishedon 25 Jun 2008 at 12:33 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  14. # Positive Liberty » Ye have not, because ye ask noton 26 Jun 2008 at 10:35 am

    [...] Ask. Seek. Knock. Hardball delenda est. [...]

  15. # Positive Liberty » The Insane War on Drugson 12 Jul 2008 at 9:24 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  16. # Positive Liberty » Blue Like Jazz… Quotationson 15 Jul 2008 at 8:55 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  17. # Positive Liberty » Barr Buzzon 16 Jul 2008 at 4:41 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  18. # Positive Liberty » The U.S. Senate in Actionon 28 Jul 2008 at 12:48 pm

    [...] And since Chris Matthews and Co will discuss Vice Presidential picks and poll numbers from the umpteenth thousandth time, instead of reporting this “Porkish Delight,” Hardball delenda est. [...]

  19. # Positive Liberty » Time Enough for Impeachmenton 28 Jul 2008 at 3:54 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  20. # Positive Liberty » Overwhelmingly Sufficient Grounds for Impeachment Will Be Sufficienton 05 Aug 2008 at 5:57 pm

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  21. # Positive Liberty » The Echo Chamber Comments on Clintonon 13 Aug 2008 at 2:27 pm

    [...] I ought to be on television: Maybe even Hardball. [...]

  22. # Positive Liberty » Have you heard the one about Sarah Palin?on 08 Sep 2008 at 10:47 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  23. # Positive Liberty » Minority (Party) Discrimination Part IIon 30 Sep 2008 at 10:43 am

    [...] Hardball delenda est. [...]

  24. # Positive Liberty » If the GOP Would’ve Taken My Adviceon 10 Oct 2008 at 11:02 am

    [...] no one is making that point on Hardball yet (but they will, because I keep saying…) Hardball delenda est. And the bailouts must [...]

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