Month: December 2003

A leading Australian politician apparently stole a number of bottles of wine, imbibed their contents, and then assailed a fellow senator, calling her a “f–ing bitch” in parliament. Hand-wringing Aussies have subsequently re-examined their country’s leaders’ fondness for a drink or two. I liked this story:

In a recent book, journalist Mungo MacCallum recounted a trip the then prime minister, [John Gorton] took to Melbourne in a VIP aircraft after a hard day in Parliament. “He chose to unwind with a few drinks on the plane, some pre-dinner cocktails at the Sheraton, some wines, a port or two and the odd palate cleanser before being wheeled back to Tullamarine for the flight back to Canberra.
“He decided on a little nap, but on waking with the engines thrumming in his ears was so queasy he threw up in the aisle. A stewardess arrived to clean up the mess and Gorton turned on the legendary charm: ‘Well, my dear,’ he grinned, ‘I suppose you’re surprised that an old RAAF man like me can still get airsick?’ But for once he was out done; the stewardess replied cheerfully: ‘I am actually, Prime Minister, because the plane hasn’t taken off yet.'”

Even worse than Yeltsin. (Hat tip: Dan Drezner.)

Sid Blumenthal seems to be straying off the Clinton reservation with a thoroughgoing endorsement of Gore-Dean:

Gore’s endorsement of Dean is the most important since grainy film was shown at the 1992 Democratic convention depicting President Kennedy shaking hands with a teenage Bill Clinton. Gore’s endorsement is not the passing of the torch to a new generation, but another conferring of legitimacy. For Democrats, he personifies the infamy of the last election. He is not another politician, but the rightfully elected president, by a popular majority of 539,895 votes.

So a dead president endorsed Clinton? If you say so, Sid. Interesting, though, that Blumenthal is echoing the argument of Dean and others that the popular vote should now be regarded as the legitimate basis for a presidency. Are they proposing doing away with the electoral college? He also repeats the Hillary-line (or was Hillary repeating the Sid line?) that Bush is trying to undermine the New Deal. Huh? How is adding a $2 trillion Medicare benefit and doing nothing to reform social security undermining the welfare state? If president Clinton had proposed the Medicare drug benefit, do you really think Sid would have opposed it?

Smart of me to insult a hefty section of my readership the week I’m begging for money, isn’t it? Well, at least it proves I’m not corrupted by the process. Here’s a typical email of dozens I received today:

Your generalizations about the boomer generation strike me as just plain wrong. This is akin to the position that all blacks or all gays or all Republicans must be a monolithic block that have to think and act alike. Re-read your rant and ask yourself what proof you have of these claims. As one of the early boomers (1946), I was going into the Army at about the same time the late boomers were being born (1964). So, we are to believe that all the boomers born in the early 60’s are “unable think about any cultural or foreign policy matter outside the context of 1968?” And how is it so many boomers all vintages support so many of your viewpoints? I would guess that your readers cluster heavily in the boomer demographic.
To take the position that everyone in this huge demographic thinks the same, or wants the same things, is not only incorrect, it is just completely out of character for you. That you find all of us x1aenraging largely because (we are) so immeasurably selfishx1a just sounds childish (i.e., “don’t trust any over 30” becomes “everyone between 57 and 40 is immeasurably selfish”). How is it then, that such evil people have been among your earliest and most constant supporters?
Do I sound angry? I guess the fact that I am asked to pay for you to lecture us so unfairly is what really drives me nuts. Unlike your situation, however, the solution to my problem is easy.

D’oh! If you still feel like contributing, click here.

SPECIAL FORCES RESPOND: “As a former Special Forces major (separated fewer than 30 days ago) and long-time reader of your blog, I can tell you that what you saw on socnet is by no means a representation of the Special Operations community. It is, nevertheless, an embarrassment.
By and large, the individuals who post to boards like that are the most juvenile examples of our breed, if they are even in the community. Most real special operators are far too busy at the moment to waste time posting hateful nonsense on a bulletin board for all to see (there are, after all, a number of little wars on at the moment). In addition, their commanders would be none to happy to find out that they’d been having anything to do with a public forum, particularly for that sort of speech.
The overwhelming majority of my comrades in Special Operations were, and are, far more tolerant than most people you are likely to meet in middle America. And they are not so uncertain about their sexuality that they need to attack others for theirs. Not exactly the sort of clown who posts homophobic messages to a site like that.”

This article presents a very wide spectrum of views about how Dean-O (as W calls him) could fare against the president. For my part, I’m increasingly unsure. Dean clearly represents something real: blue state upper middle class rage. It’s healthy that this is given expression, however polarizing it might be. And conviction counts for something, if Dean can convey conviction to the broader public. That’s something conservatives learned from Reagan and Thatcher, two figures once placed in the long-odds category that Dean is now in. The media will give Dean major support – not least because most journalists will vote for him but also because everyone wants a competitive race. If the Dems decide early, there will be even more media hunger for a viable challenger in the summer and fall. As 9/11 fades from memory, and as deficits continue to soar, Dean’s anti-war zeal and Yankee frugality could count for something. I’d still say the odds are against him. But they’re not impossible. He certainly seems more formidable in terms of will and energy than anyone else. And those things count.

PLEDGE DRIVE UPDATE: Here’s a penultimate request for help with the site. After tomorrow, I won’t bug you again in the Dish for a year, so please consider a modest donation to the site if you read it regularly and want to see it continue. It takes enormous time, thousands of bucks, and constant attention to keep this blog as content-filled and as current as it is. Please think about providing a financial base to keep it going. Thanks again to all who have already pitched in. I’m really grateful, especially since many of you have upped your donation this year. If you’re a new reader or an old reader who hasn’t contributed yet, please think about it. You’re are only source of income for a blog that now reaches almost half a million people a month. Click here for details on how to keep it on the web.

PALESTINIAN STUDENT POLITICS: It’s a little different at Bir Zeit University:

At a debate, the Hamas candidate asked the Fatah candidate: “Hamas activists in this university killed 135 Zionists. How many did Fatah activists from Bir Zeit kill?”

Not enough, clearly.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Dennis Kucinich may not have Al Gore – but he does have Alice Walker.

Well, that’s my attempt to find a phrase to encapsulate the fundamental fiscal reality of our time. The boomer generation – apart from its inability to think about any cultural or foreign policy matter outside the context of 1968 – is enraging largely because it is so immeasurably selfish. The current mounting debt is a function of boomer selfishness: they want butter now (and even more when they retire) even though the rest of us will have to pay for it later. Steve Chapman points out that

economists Laurence Kotlikoff and Jagadeesh Gokhale say that a typical man reaching age 65 today will get a net windfall of more than $70,000 over his remaining years. A luckless 25-year-old, by contrast, can count on paying $322,000 more in payroll taxes than he will ever get back in benefits.

The latest boomer boondoggle, of course, is the $2 trillion Medicare drug benefit, a measure designed just in time to pamper the boomers through an endless retirement, and to give even more freebies to the wealthiest sector of society – purely because there are disproportionately more of them than the rest of us. I don’t know why the Deaniacs don’t see the injustice of this – except that Dean has to pander to senior greed like the rest of them. Do I sound angry? I guess I am. It’s hard enough listening to many of them preach about the moral purity of the Woodstock generation. But to have to pay for them to lecture us for decades to come really drives me nuts.

FROM THE MILITARY: Here’s a bulletin board where anonymous posters from what’s called the Special Operations community get to vent, chat and exchange views. The posters are responding to the story that several former generals have recently come out and urged a review of the military’s discrimination aainst homosexual servicemembers. Homo-hating is clearly alive and well in the military – which is what the official policy still reflects.

“Opinions flourish only in periods or cultures without a dominant religion. A medieval monk in his Cluniac abbey or a contemporary mullah in his mosque and, indeed, a fine Victorian gentleman, had little use for original opinions. The collective opinions of religion are inflexible dogma, not interesting expressions of private thought. The best opinions are contrarian, not conformist, although that is in itself a matter of opinion.” – Stephen Bayley, Daily Telegraph.

FISKING THE GUARDIAN’S GRAPHICS: A blogger decodes some fishy graphs on global warming. Meanwhile, the whole notion of an unprecedented modern human impact on the atmosphere is given a little more perspective here.

A SPANISH DISSIDENT: Former deputy and avowed leftist, Pilar Rahola, is having the same epiphany that others on this side of the Atlantic have had:

The most absurd thing is to watch leaders of the left today greet and celebrate Arab leaders, even when they are fundamentalists. For example, in the debates that followed the attacks of September 11, we heard an anti-American discourse here, pooh-poohing the victims, something which is in and of itself terrible ! And there were those who tried to downgrade-with that tawdry third-worldism which characterizes some circles of the left-the danger embodied in individuals like Bin Laden, who is, in fact, an authentic fascist. I believe that for the moment the world remains blind to the biggest totalitarianism of the twenty-first century, which is Islamic fundamentalism. Now we must prepare ourselves seriously to face this danger : For me, this totalitarianism is without any shadow of a doubt comparable to Stalinism and Nazism, the biggest scourges of the twentieth century.

Rahola even supports – shock, horror – the existence of the state of Israel. No wonder she has few friends on the European left these days.

This one is against terrorism. Why hasn’t the NYT covered it? Perhaps tomorrow. From this photograph, it looks substantial to me.

The Alexandria Library has removed the copy of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” from its display, after protests. Even UNESCO objected.

Always remember to feed Johnny Apple. He gets grouchy without regular infusions of carbohydrates and a decent Bourdeaux. Or you’ll get write-ups like this:

Once proud of being on time everywhere, Dr. Dean was late at most stops last weekend, only partly because of the snow in Iowa. His entourage went without enough work space and sometimes without food and drink.

You gotta focus on the issues, don’tcha?

CONASON WORRIES: About Dean’s vulnerability and early success. This might be the earliest example of buyer’s remorse I’ve yet read.

David Ignatius has a must-read column. He keeps getting better and better.