I’ve been asked why I haven’t blogged much on the current attempt to inflict political damage on president Bush because of the accounting and business scandals of the last few months. I haven’t written anything because I don’t think I have anything interesting to say. (Yeah, I know that’s no excuse for a hack. But hey, I wrote a column about it.) The truth is: I’m really not qualified to make a judgment about what technically-speaking would be the best solution for punishing the guilty and preventing further abuse. The president’s balance seemed fair to my instinctively anti-regulatory impulses. But I’m open to other arguments. But I do think there’s something strained about the attempt to hold Bush personally accountable. The Harken stuff seems trivial to me. Almost all the worst corruption happened on (surprise!) Bill Clinton’s watch. Much of it can be attributed to the ethical temptations of a bubble economy and the root causes aren’t as salient today. I’m repulsed by the greed and dishonesty of some of the characters, but I don’t actually enjoy the thrill of class-warfare. That’s one thing that separates me from, say, Paul Krugman and Howell Raines. So let hem have their story. I’ll take a pass on their agenda.
THIRD-WAY ON POT: The Blair government has come up with a classic Third Way approach to marijuana legalization. They’ve suspended the laws that criminalize marijuana users who smoke pot discreetly in private. But they’ll be stepping up enforcement against dealers. So something will be illegal when sold, but legal when bought. Brilliant, no? It seems to me that marijuana, which is less socially and personally damaging than alcohol, should simply be legalized, its production regulated, and its sale taxed. That way, good laws against hard and addictive drugs can have more legitimacy; and the criminal problems associated with pot prohibition can be alleviated. My fear is that this semi-legalization will discredit the entire idea. It could keep the relationship between drugs and crime intact, while increasing drug-use. That’s about as bad as it gets. Or am I missing something?
AND NOW THEY WANT OUR COFFEE: The puritanical left – having tried to take away our booze, porn, and cigarettes – is now after our lattes. Okay, guys, this is serious.
GO, CAROLYN: The rape of Gary Condit’s private life by the media had some justification. The pillage of his wife’s had no such rationale. Every shred of her intimate life – from the first pregnancy to the difficult marriage – was laid bare, and with many lies thrown in for good measure. I hope she wins her future libel suit against the Enquirer, and that other unfairly trashed spouses follow her example.
THE SAVAGE TRUTH: My buddy Dan Savage tells the West Coast left some awkward truths in his latest column in The Stranger. It starts auspiciously enough:
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, I saw something that made me wanna hurl. I still see this something almost every day because it hangs in a window I pass on my way to work, and the urge to hurl–my lunch, a rock–is as fresh today as it was back when I first laid eyes on it. And just what is this offensive something? The American flag peace symbol that appeared on the cover of Seattle Weekly on September 20. They called it their “Peace and Patriotism” symbol. So what is it about the Weekly’s, uh, “PAP” symbol that bothers me so much? Just this: Pacifism and patriotism, together, is no longer an option after September 11.
Dan is basically a lefty but he’s not a complete fool. His sex column is one of the joys of American journalism and no-one could accuse him of being a right-winger on social matters. (He famously tried to give Gary Bauer the flu.) But Dan is also living proof that an awful lot of cultural and social liberals are fully aware of the terrorist forces we are still up against, and are not wringing their hands in response. Bottom line:
[I]t depresses this Gore voter past the point of despair to write this… but… uh… the recently unveiled Bush Doctrine (rough translation: If we think you’re coming after us next Tuesday, we’ll be bombing your ass flat this Tuesday) is a necessary evil.
Not exactly an epiphany. But writing this piece for Savage’s audience required balls. Dan has them.
FREUDIAN SLIP: If you subscribe to the Democratic Leadership Council’s email newsletter, you’d have had a chortle. The latest issue has a correction:
Due to an error, some subscribers may have received a copy of today’s New Dem Daily email with a mislabled subject line reading “NEW YORK TIMES: The Era of Evading Responsibility.” It should have said, “NEW DEM DAILY: The Era of Evading Responsibility.” We regret any confusion the error may have caused.
No confusion here. Just wondering why the correction was necessary. The New York Times is a DLC newsletter. Just further to the left.
The Dish 