Quote of the day - William Buckley [China, Nixon]

We have lost - irretrievably - any remaining sense of moral mission in the world . . . When Mr. Nixon, as he regularly did, made reference to the oustanding differences between our two 'systems,' he made it sound as if there are, after all, those who prefer gingham to calico.

William Buckley, writing of President Nixon's joint communique with the Communist Chinese, March 17, 1972 - National Review - as quoted by John Judis in William F. Buckley, Jr., Patron Saint of the Conservatives, p. 337.