NETANYAHU'S DECENT behavior didn't make him a hero.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Israel's premier opportunist

The expansionist impulse continued under Teddy Roosevelt, whose big stick (carry one, while talking softly, he advised) and amendments to the Monroe Doctrine (his corollary proclaimed the United States' right to intervene anywhere in Latin America to prevent the Europeans doing so) have helped to make him a hero in today's Washington.

ECONOMIST: America and empire

But what is turning him into a conservative hero is his determination to make his campaign a national, not just a Californian, one.

ECONOMIST: Ward Connerly��s trumpet blast