Why are Americans infatuated with Churchill?

If you follow national politics, you’ll know that GOP House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is the latest person infected with this incurable disease.

It seems to affect mainly, but not only, Republicans.

At the same time, Josh Marshall, owner of Talking Points Memo, Ph.D. historian that he is, gets a bit wrong himself about Churchill.

Here’s the reality about Sir Winston:

Actually, as I e-mailed Josh, Winnie wasn't even getting Labour allies. On his most pet foreign policy position, for example, keeping India firmly part of the British Raj, he was sui generis.

Had Hitler not arisen and appeasement failed, Churchill would have topped out as a frustrated Chancellor of the Exchequer. (And, not the best of ones; his insistence on trying to keep the UK on the gold standard may have worsened the start of the Depression there.)

As for WWII, after Chamberlain rightly resigned, Churchill was certainly better than the primary alternative: Halifax.

But, playing a bit of hypotheticals, was he better than Anthony Eden would have been? Probably not.

Churchill did stimulate some British generals into improving their generalship. But, his battlefield-level muddling, based on his own WWI experience, was inexcusable. So, too, was his ignorance of the logistic needs of a modern army.

Churchill probably would have done Britain a favor if, at some reasonable time after Dunkirk, he had cited health reasons and resigned in favor of Eden.