Month: May 2006

"In politics, there are no right answers, only a continuing flow of compromises among groups, resulting in a changing, cloudy and ambiguous series of public decisions where appetite and ambition compete openly with knowledge and wisdom," former senator, Alan Simpson, in a recent speech.

"It takes a real man to confess Jesus as lord and savior. I’m not talking about no faggot or no sissy. Wait a minute! Let all the real men come on down here and take a bow. All the real men — I’m talking about the straight men. You ain’t funny, and you ain’t cranky, but you’re straight. Come on down here and walk around and praise God that you are straight. Thank him that you’re straight. All the straight men that’s proud to be a Christian, that’s proud to be a man of God," – Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr., pastor of the 7,000-strong Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, in Washington, D.C.

Marty Lederman connects the dots on the NSA surveillance program. Money quote:

The NYT story appears to have been leaked by those sympathetic to the NSA and General Hayden. The thrust of their account is that we should be grateful that the NSA surveillance is not much, much broader than has been; the only reason the program does not extend to surveilling purely domestic calls (rather than "merely" obtaining records of them) is that the NSA pushed back against Cheney and Addington.

A reader writes:

I read your post fawning over McCain. Haven’t you gone down this road before? I seem to remember in 2000, you fawned over a republican candidate for president who was going to heal the nation. You’re like the abused wife who keeps going back to her husband only to be abused again. Let’s face it, McCain is going to have to make peace with the evangelicals to get the Republican nomination. He is going to have to promise to support their reactionary agenda, which includes opposing gay rights and appointing conservative judges to the bench. So after two years of a McCain presidency, you will only be dismayed again.

Another chimes in:

Do you ever change? You could have written this boot-licking tribute to Dubya.  As a matter of fact, you probably did.

Isikoff’s latest report shows how close Patrick Fitzgerald is getting to the heart of the Plame outing. He seems to have nailed down Cheney’s hand-written notes on Wilson’s op-ed in the NYT – "Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?" – as well as hard evidence that Libby knew full well that Plame’s identity was classified before he leaked it. Who knows what he’s got on Rove? The court notice on Cheney’s hand-written notes as evidence can be read here.

I have a feeling that Fitzgerald isn’t even close to finishing his work. And if I were Karl Rove, I’d be having a rough weekend.

(Photo: Shawn Thew/AFP/Getty.)

"There is a very fine line between national security and personal oppression. The public is prepared to accept a degree of intelligence intervention but this may have crossed the line. I think a majority of Americans will be opposed to this," – Frank Luntz on popular response to the NSA data-gathering operation. (Hat tip: Joe.)

A reader points out the following irony. Jonah Goldberg, harrumphing about yours truly at NRO, writes the following:

The Party of Andrew released a sharply partisan attack today, insuating [sic] that John Derbyshire is a Nazi.

Actually, I think Derbyshire is much more like a nineteenth century Prussian. But I guess when Jonah sees the word "Herr", he immediately thinks of Nazis. In fact, he has such insinuations on the brain. His next book happens to be called "Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton." No word yet on whether Jonah, like Ramesh, will get Ann Coulter to blurb the cover, the design of which can be seen below.

Clive Davis counts the ways.

A reader writes:

It is comforting to find that I can count on certain things remaining consistent, and thereby confirming my convictions. I picked up a complimentary copy of Time recently. I haven’t read it for a long time. There is typically nothing new, or at least nothing intellectually honest in it. You confirmed that for me again. Your article, "My Problem with Christianism" was predictable. A shame. A believer who lives without reference to absolute truth provided by a Sovereign God in His revealed Word is pitiably controlled by a culture-generated moral relativism, and personal deception. He has forgotten, or never understood that the Christian faith is not about the believer, but about the Creator and Redeemer. I might excuse your pedantic understanding of the faith you claim, if you were not so obviously promoting a left wing political agenda – welcome to the very "political polution" you "abhor." The "Christianity" you promote tastes like tepid bath water (Rev. 3:14-16.) What a disingenuous essay! Got anything better?

He asks whether being against Bush makes him a liberal. His answer? No. Take the test!