Thursday, October 8, 200908 Oct 2009 07:31 am If The Recovery Doesn't ComeDavid Frum is all sunshine and rainbows:
Continue reading "If The Recovery Doesn't Come" » Wednesday, October 7, 200907 Oct 2009 10:28 pm The Daily WrapToday on the Dish we put out an especially varied mix, given the lack of news. The president's poll numbers looked up, both at home and abroad, while anti-gay forces in Maine continued their awful campaign. (And speaking of awful.) In punditry, Andrew owned up to the McCaughey affair, Conor went another round with Breitbart, Reihan defended Rove, Bartlett received a great review (buy his book!), Beck talked to Newsmax, Cohen countered Galston, AL reeled in Greenwald, readers revolted against an anti-atheist post, and Andrew discussed why he prefers Ptown to DC. For such a slow day, it's no wonder that this post was our most popular. -- C.B. 07 Oct 2009 08:51 pm Monty Python Turns 40 This Week
07 Oct 2009 08:35 pm Fighting On Behalf Of Russia, China, And IndiaBob Kaplan's view of the war in Afghanistan:
Kipling understood. At some point, the American people will ask why their kids and their money are being leveraged to help China win the race for the 21st century. 07 Oct 2009 07:58 pm How American-Grown Marijuana Is Hurting the Drug CartelsSteve Fainaru and William Booth report:
Now imagine the blow to the Mexican drug cartels if prohibition were lifted. But we couldn't do that, could we? (Hat tip: Reason) 07 Oct 2009 07:49 pm Face Of The Day 07 Oct 2009 07:34 pm Creepy Ad Watch, CtdA reader writes:
Yes, now you remind me, I do remember it. When you've been blogging a couple hundred posts a week for ten years, total recall of every link or post, especially when you are always absorbing new material, can elude you, Apologies. 07 Oct 2009 07:12 pm Dissents Of The DayThere has been much response to this post, the tone of which I apologized for here. A reader writes:
Another reader: Continue reading "Dissents Of The Day" » 07 Oct 2009 06:55 pm "Safe Schools"The anti-gay forces flooding Maine with ads right now have honed in on the issue they think will work: the age-old fear that gay people will corrupt children. In fact, schoolkids will not be in "safe" schools if they are told about the mere existence of gay married couples. Maine's school curriculum has no content that could be used to indoctrinate kids; but it seems to me that the existence of gay married couples should not somehow be excised from what children are taught. Gay marriage is now part of the world's reality. It has been the law in a nearby state for several years. This is a difficult balance, but just as Catholic kids need to know they live in a country where divorce and contraception exist, even though their own church disavows and opposes both, so simple information about gay couples seems to me to be part of a proper education. I think it should veer on the side of extreme caution so as not to offend parents or tilt into propaganda. One reason I back marriage rights is that the existence of such couples in itself is an educational tool that schools simply need to acknowledge, not proselytize for. I think the details are best conveyed by parents, not schools. But the underlying truth is: this ad is designed to provoke fear of a small minority and its factual basis in Maine does not exist, which is why they have to cite California. Against this kind of fear, reason has a Sisyphean task. But I trust the people of Maine - not an easily intimidated lot - will see through this. Or rather I hope so. 07 Oct 2009 06:36 pm Creepy Ad WatchNo wonder it was banned: 07 Oct 2009 06:19 pm The Bill For The BillThe CBO scores the Baucus bill and concludes that it would shave $81 billion off the deficit over ten years. Marc's parsing:
Further thoughts from Suderman, Cohn, and Klein. 07 Oct 2009 05:46 pm How Much Of Clunker?A reader writes:
Continue reading "How Much Of Clunker?" » 07 Oct 2009 05:17 pm More Central FrontsGoldblog doesn't understand why Afghanistan is considered the central front of the war on terror. He has some other candidates.07 Oct 2009 05:12 pm "McChrystal Is NOT Shinseki"Michael Cohen counters William Galston's claim of liberal hypocrisy surrounding the McChrystal affair: General McChrystal not only had his strategic review leaked to the Washington Post, but he has appeared on 60 Minutes in recent days and even went to London to plead the case for population centric counter-insurgency in Afghanistan. In other words, McChrystal voiced his candid views in public instead of in private up the chain of command. Eric Shinseki did nothing of the sort. In 2003, he was Army Chief of Staff and when he publicly contradicted the Bush Administration's rosy view of the post-war occupation of Iraq he wasn't being interviewed on television - he was testifying under oath to Congress. As Shinseki's spokesperson correctly pointed out at the time, "He was asked a question and he responded with his best military judgment." We should expect nothing less. Cohen adds: Continue reading ""McChrystal Is NOT Shinseki"" » 07 Oct 2009 04:58 pm The Fierce Urgency Of Whenever, CtdJon Stewart won't be sucking up to the president next Saturday night like the HRC crowd. Instead, he's actually standing up for the troops this president continues to persecute:
07 Oct 2009 04:42 pm Early ReturnsTom Schaller checks in on Tim and Mitt:
What I'm looking forward to is the battle between Huckabee and Palin. 07 Oct 2009 04:20 pm Mental Health BreakA stunning look at PRC's parade last week. Creepy, yes, but gob-smacking nonetheless: China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo. 07 Oct 2009 03:59 pm "I Am Trying To Paint Him Into A Corner!"Conor responds to Breitbart's letter at length. The Dish has aired Andrew's defense. It's only fair to air Conor's rebuttal:
Continue reading ""I Am Trying To Paint Him Into A Corner!"" » 07 Oct 2009 03:24 pm Voices From The GOP BasePam Spaulding rounds up reaction to Mary Cheney's pregnancy among readers of the Free Republic. This gem pretty much sums it up:
I also stumbled across these comments in Ann Althouse's blog, regarding my skepticism of Sarah Palin's pregnancy stories. I deserve criticism on this and have aired it on this blog by my readers and by Patrick - not because my doubts have been put to rest, but because I know I'm out on a limb and I know that means you take your fair share of whacks. But look at these comments, which Althouse engages with and certainly doesn't remove. I have a thick skin but really:
Continue reading "Voices From The GOP Base" » 07 Oct 2009 03:16 pm The View From Your RecessionA reader writes:
07 Oct 2009 02:51 pm Quote For The Day“Faith means doubt. Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt, and you overcome doubt by going through it. The man of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a man of faith,” - Thomas Merton. 07 Oct 2009 02:44 pm The Right's Looming Foreign Policy WarDrudge is a leading indicator on the populist right just as George Will is a leading indicator on what now passes for the intellectual right. Before too long, the GOP will, in my view, come back to the conservative idea that we should withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as we responsibly can, even at some risk. You cannot return to limited government without unwinding the empire. The neocons will fight very hard and try to find some pliable hood-ornament to maintain their Christianist base for neo-imperial expansion. Watching these forces fight will be fascinating. Hagel could take on the neocons; maybe Huntsman. Ron Paul's conservatism is not dead. It's one of the few signs of life out there.07 Oct 2009 02:29 pm Reihan Defends RoveReihan has an exchange with Sam Tanenhaus over Sam's new book. It's worth reading in full. No one loves Reihan more than I do but in my view he is far too sanguine about the malign intentions of a cynic like Rove and far too soft on the rank paucity of responsible thinking on the mainstream right in recent times. His last book was flawed in my view in the same way, however imaginative it was trying to be. No viable conservatism will emerge from ignoring the cynics and crooks who got us into this mess or from giving the decomposing corpse of the Dixie rump emergency CPR. And does Reihan truly, really believe that Karl Rove, for Pete's sake, was trying to avoid gay-baiting his way to victory in 2004 - when he strategized a polarizing, brutalizing gay marriage ban in the one state that he needed to win and that alone gave him victory? Here is Reihan:
Rove thought this was a distraction? From his realignment? Does Reihan recall the kind of politics Rove cut his teeth on in the South? Gay-baiting was one critical part of his strategy for realignment. It was designed not just to rally evangelicals but to win over a segment of African-Americans and Hispanics. And distasteful?
Continue reading "Reihan Defends Rove" » 07 Oct 2009 01:54 pm Obama And Bush, Hand In Hand?The Anonymous Liberal counters Greenwald:
I agree wholeheartedly. I've never opposed even wire-tapping as long as it is within the law and accountable to more than one branch of government. I didn't have a cow over the Patriot Act. I know we are at war. I can live with rendition as long as the US never hands anyone over to be tortured. And I'm immensely glad that torture is over and the tyrannical spirit of the unitary executive is ended. But the al-Rabiah prosecution was and is shocking:
Continue reading "Obama And Bush, Hand In Hand?" » 07 Oct 2009 01:17 pm One Of My Heroes: Bruce BartlettDavid Leonhardt offers a fair profile. Bruce did not sacrifice his principles or his intellect during the Rove years and was all but ostracized as a result. He didn't have my independence from the conservative movement and so had to face down much worse than I did in confronting the accelerating catastrophe of the Bush-Cheney years. But he at least has the knowledge that he was right all along. Odd that neither Bruce nor I were featured in the recent WaPo piece about conservative intellectuals who swam against the tide in the Bush years. I know our books were ignored by the right, but that doesn't mean they weren't out there or serious intellectual contributions to the debate. (And if you watch the video above, you can see that I was a tea-partier on spending and debt when Bush was in office and am giving Obama a break in this recession solely because his inheritance was basically impossible. Compare that with these current populists who backed Bush to the hilt as he bankrupted this country and are now up in arms at a president who has been in office for a few months, dealing with the wreckage in a global recession. And I'm regarded as the liberal!) Maybe Hayward simply never heard of "The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How To Get It Back" or "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy", because the Rovian cocoon shut them out of the discourse. But they stand up pretty well in retrospect and revealed that not all conservative thinkers sold their souls to Karl Rove. Bruce, moreover, is still thinking. Tireless and ballsy, he's now a conservative in favor a a sales tax hike once the economy recovers, as I reluctantly am. Leonhardt:
Continue reading "One Of My Heroes: Bruce Bartlett" » 07 Oct 2009 01:00 pm "I Am Not Very Socialized In Washington"Another installment of my chat with TNC. 07 Oct 2009 12:47 pm McCaughey's TransformationEarlier this week Ben Smith moderated a debate between Betsy McCaughey and Anthony Weiner. Smith:
Continue reading "McCaughey's Transformation" » 07 Oct 2009 12:27 pm Beck On The War On TerrorHis view, as expressed to Newsmax:
So he must surely support leaving Afghanistan immediately, right? Or does he believe we should be killing Jihadists "at such a rate that it takes their breath away and they put their guns down and say OK, OK, enough." So he opposes McChrystal and Petraeus? Or is asking these kinds of actual serious question beside the point with him? I picked up a copy of Newsmax in the airport last week.
Continue reading "Beck On The War On Terror" » 07 Oct 2009 11:58 am Those Useless, Spineless, Rudderless DemocratsGlad to see I'm not the only one who looks at that party and shudders. The rest of them tend to be ... Democratic voters.07 Oct 2009 11:46 am The View From Your WindowCarlisle, Pennsylvania, 11.30 am 07 Oct 2009 11:10 am McCaughey And MeI said my piece about this on this blog a while back. I do not think it's professional to air the specifics of internal battles after the fact, and I take full responsibility for being the editor of the magazine that published the piece. I accepted an award for it. I stood behind it. In my view, it had many interesting points and as an intellectual exercize in contemplating the full possible consequences of Hillary Clinton's proposal, it was provocative and well worth running. But its premise that these potential consequences were indisputably in the bill in that kind of detail was simply wrong; and I failed to correct that, although all I can say is that I tried. One key paragraph - critical to framing the piece so it was not a declaration of fact but an assertion of what might happen if worst came to worst - became a battlefield with her for days; and all I can say is, I lost. I guess I could have quit. Maybe I should have. I decided I would run the piece but follow it with as much dissent and criticism as possible. I did discover that she was completely resistant to rational give-and-take. It was her way or the highway. I ensured that TNR ran a long and detailed rebuttal; and I also ensured, as a conservative steward of a liberal magazine, that we editorialized in favor of the Cooper plan for universal healthcare, which we did consistently. During that period, I also commissioned and ran dozens of pieces explaining the healthcare debate from the Clinton point of view. Again, I take responsibility.
Continue reading "McCaughey And Me" » 07 Oct 2009 10:53 am The Re-Branding Of America, CtdFrum takes issue with this survey:
Keep dreaming, David. The main reason for the dramatic swing is simply massive global relief that Bush and Cheney are now gone and some kind of rational discourse and diplomacy have replaced the "axis of evil" and "enhanced interrogation."
Continue reading "The Re-Branding Of America, Ctd" » 07 Oct 2009 10:31 am Reality CheckObama's approval ratings on health insurance reform have been rising for a while now - ever since the Town Hall hysteria: 07 Oct 2009 10:27 am Managing Decline?That's Michael Wolff's take on Rupert Murdoch's online strategy:
Wouldn't that be his son's? 07 Oct 2009 10:15 am Thank God For Shep SmithOnce again, his intellectual honesty redeems his network: 07 Oct 2009 09:56 am How Marijuana Heals, CtdA reader writes: A couple years ago I found that my productivity at work was declining and I was losing interest in doing just about anything in my life. A friend of mine recommended I see a psychiatrist; I was diagnosed as having depression, and prescribed Wellbutrin. Within a month I was starting to feel a little bit better and was a little more productive, but there was a huge tradeoff: the medication was causing my heart to race and skip beats and was making my jaw clench. I was afraid to continue Wellbutrin given its side effects, but I didn't want to give up on trying to treat my depression.
Continue reading "How Marijuana Heals, Ctd" » 07 Oct 2009 09:42 am What Would Change Your Mind About The War?Marc Lynch wants new Afghanistan metrics:
07 Oct 2009 09:07 am "My Favorite Memo Ever"The Dish spotlighted the great blog "Letters Of Note" last month, but this memo written by some guy named "Matt" is worth sharing: 07 Oct 2009 08:28 am The Ghost Of Bipartisanship PastKaren Tumulty rounds up Republicans whto are supporting or semi-supporting health care reform (Arnold is the latest addition). As Karen notes, none of the Republicans she lists are currently in the house or senate. Ezra Klein has seen this move before:
07 Oct 2009 08:00 am The Year Of The Angry White SeniorReihan pulls out some choice quotes from a Ron Brownstein article.07 Oct 2009 07:58 am A Woman And Her BeagleSince we're on the subject ...07 Oct 2009 07:20 am Yglesias Award Nominee"The widespread support for Polanski shows the liberal cultural elite at its preening, fatuous worst. They may make great movies, write great books, and design beautiful things, they may have lots of noble humanitarian ideas and care, in the abstract, about all the right principles: equality under the law, for example. But in this case, they're just the white culture-class counterpart of hip-hop fans who stood by R. Kelly and Chris Brown and of sports fans who automatically support their favorite athletes when they're accused of beating their wives and raping hotel workers. No wonder Middle America hates them," - Katha Pollitt. The Dish regrets missing this gem at the time it was written. Tuesday, October 6, 200906 Oct 2009 10:44 pm The Daily WrapToday on the Dish we saw conservatives in America bemoan equality while conservatives in Britain embraced it. The Christian right ran a disgusting ad against marriage, Hannity made a gross implication, and Cheney's cowardice deepened. Also, a reader pwned HRC. In other news, Andrew knocked Obama for his Olympics ploy, Massie gawked at the administration's blind eye towards Iranians, Radley Balko exposed the police crackdown in Pittsburgh, and Suzy Khimm exposed the coming crackdown in Rio. Friedersdorf critiqued Breitbart for bad journalism, and soon Breitbart returned the favor. Greenwald exposed a WaPo press release, a blogger fact-checked George Will, and Michelle Cottle portrayed McCaughey as Palin. We addressed the healing power of pot here and here. Andrew talked religion and Oakeshotte here and here, and blew up on atheists here. He also chatted with TNC again, and finally walked back on his statements against Kristol. -- C.B. 06 Oct 2009 10:09 pm Was McChrystal Out Of Line?Some sanity and good judgment from Fred Kaplan. What I wonder is whether McChrystal ever questioned the unlawful command to torture prisoners of war in Iraq. He sure presided over some of the worst war crimes under Cheney and was never held accountable - just promoted.06 Oct 2009 09:44 pm Fact-Checking George WillI think Obama's trip to Copenhagen was dumb, but I didn't think it was narcissistic. George Will complained that the president used the word "I" too much and thereby deemed him a narcissist. Here's Will:
When you read the speech, it doesn't seem narcissistic in the way Will implies. But I guess that's a subjective judgment. There is, however, an objective way of judging this - comparing Obama's remarks with those of his predecessors in identical contexts. We don't have Olympic pitches to compare, so try press conferences. Mark Liberman runs the numbers on Obama, Bush and Clinton and tries to measure narcissism by the same metric Will does. You know what's coming:
Continue reading "Fact-Checking George Will" » 06 Oct 2009 09:31 pm Mary Cheney Is Expecting Her Second ChildAt least that's what True/Slant's Kate Klonick is reporting. Congrats to Mary and Heather. What Cheney's party will say about this latest "assault on the family" I cannot know. I do know that in Virginia, the GOP regards Mary as a threat to civilization and will deny her two kids any legal security with their two moms. But, hey, that's the price you pay for being a gay Republican. And you know full well that her father will not do anything to prevent his own party's war on his own family.06 Oct 2009 08:56 pm Why Not Bomb Iran?Goldblog explains:
Continue reading "Why Not Bomb Iran?" » 06 Oct 2009 08:43 pm Dissent Of The DayA reader writes:
06 Oct 2009 08:18 pm Dealing With Gloomy SkiesThe British Psychological Society's Research Digest asked "some of the world's leading psychologists to look inwards and share, in 150 words, one nagging thing they still don't understand about themselves." Here is Norbert Schwarz:
And here is David Buss: Continue reading "Dealing With Gloomy Skies" » 06 Oct 2009 08:11 pm Fighting The Cops With Cow UddersThe NYT runs an incredible photo. |