“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat.” – Teddy Roosevelt.
IT WAS ZARQAWI: Yes, it probably was Osama’s number two. As dumb as he is evil. I don’t think he understands the Jeffersonian tendency in American life and culture. It’s not like Europe or anywhere else. And what Zarqawi has achieved is the enragement of the American psyche. He will come to regret it. As his best buddy already has.
CORRECTING GALLAGHER: Maggie Gallagher’s latest argument about same-sex marriage is not much more than a splutter. But it does have an error. As part of her attempt to portray equal marriage rights for gays as some kind of path toward an un-American Gomorrah, she says the following: “Europe, which gave us the idea of same-sex marriage, is a dying society, with birthrates 50 percent below replacement.” But the first movement for marriage equality was in America in the 1970s. And the first major breakthrough was in America, in Hawaii. And the intellectual arguments in favor were forged in America, not in Europe. And that is how it should be. It is the American constitution that guarantees not some pragmatic device to help gay couples, but the bedrock principle of civil equality and civil rights. This is a quintessentially American reform, which is why it is so appropriate that Massachusetts, the home of the Pilgrims, should be the pioneer. And so fitting that the day for the breakthrough will be the fiftieth anniversary of Brown vs Board of Education.
ON THE ROAD: I’m in Minnesota, kicking off a week of touring and speaking, featuring my new book, the updated anthology, “Same Sex Marriage, Pro and Con: A Reader.” I’ll soon be posting more details. Meanwhile, there are three new pieces posted opposite: fisking Bob Novak, touting Kerry-McCain, and analyzing Bush’s srengths and weaknesses. Tomorrow night, I’ll be on Aaron Brown’s Newsnight. On Monday evening, I’ll be speaking at 7 pm at the Barnes and Noble in Chelsea. More to come.
The Dish 