Category: Old Dish

They’re close to classics in each genre. Email One:

How does it feel to go, in just the few years that I have been reading your blog, from being a patriot and true believer in conservatism as the right path to being simply another mouthpiece for the liberal idiots who are determined to undermine everything that this country was founded upon? To waste so much intelligence is such a disappointment!!

What’s missing from this email is some reference to the fact that the only reason I have issues with intelligence fiascos, bad war management, fiscal insanity, legalized torture, and general incompetence is … gay marriage. But, hey, I’ll get a few dozen of those today as well. Then there are the newer readers:

I never thought that I’d find a conservative website that was anything other than a forum for bashing liberals. I will be bookmarking this so I can return over and over just to see what the sane half of the Republican party is talking about.

Lose some; win some. But thanks to all of you for reading anyway.

BUSTING TIMESSELECT: It was only a matter of time. You can read John Tierney’s column a day later here. Paul Krugman even posts his own a day later. John Tabin has put up a clearing house for everything Pinch wants you to pay for. It’s called “Never Pay Retail.” By the way, MoDo still hasn’t recorded her video-dork spot. Can you blame her?

Two governors; two states affected by Katrina; two very different polling trajectories. Barbour gains 15 percent in approval; Blanco loses 9 points in approval. Her disapproval is now 56 percent. Maybe the voters of those states are telling us something.

TWO KATRINAS REVISITED: I sloppily wrote yesterday that we are paying for two Katrinas a year on interest “on the Bush-Republican deficit.” I should have written on interest “on the national debt inflated by the Bush-Republican deficit.” Bush is not responsible for the entire national debt he inherited, just for about $1.5 trillion that he has added. That $1.5 trillion is, of course, a record amount in a mere five years (not counting the deficits racked up under Reagan). But the interest on that alone isn’t two Katrinas’ worth. My bad. Under Clinton, of course, we were actually paying back the debt. But that was when we had fiscal conservatives running the government.

ROBERTS AND ROE: A social conservative believes the soon-to-be new chief Justice may well vote against Casey and then Roe. For the record, I think Roe was dreadful constitutional law. Abortion should be left to the voters, not the courts. And if that happened, Democrats would gain.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN IRAQ: A sobering discussion.

GAY BLACK COUPLES: In California, more than half of them are raising kids.

“I am from Maine and I just have to say FEMA is so thoughtful to send us some ice. We do love our cocktails up here (G & T with extra lime is my favorite, just in case FEMA people are reading), and what with the high heating oil prices, we are going to need some extra mood enhancement to weather the ballooning fuel bills. Still, it would have been even nicer if they had sent us some extra fuel oil or maybe some wood to burn. But the ice is such an unexpected gift. Does one send a card?”

My friend Jake Tapper gets a blog. He has much more to say than TV news allows, so I doubt it will disappoint.

It begins to make a little more sense. The NYT is in financial trouble. It still seems dumb to me to charge for online content. Isn’t online ad revenue booming for them?

Okay, you sitting down? FEMA is now sending ice to … Maine:

The trucks started arriving this weekend, and they’re expected to keep coming through Sunday.
City officials say they have no idea why the trucks are here, only that the city has been asked to help out with traffic problems. But the truck drivers NEWSCENTER spoke to said they went all the way down to the gulf coast with the ice — stayed for a few days — and then were told by FEMA they needed to drive to Maine to store it.
The truck drivers, who are from all over the country, tell us they were subcontracted by FEMA.

No, this isn’t the Onion. It’s the Bush administration.

The notion that the president’s passive response to Katrina has led to a big drop in support isn’t borne out by the polls, Mark Blumenthal argues. Good news for Bush? Nuh-huh. The worse news is that Bush had slumped before Katrina and his Katrina handling rating is actually better than that for any other policy, including Iraq. The big shift that Katrina has prompted is the response to the question of whether Bush is a “strong and decisive” leader. He has cratered on that question, which was always his strong point. Check this graph out. Ouch.

That’s how much it will soon cost just to pay the annual interest on the Bush-Republican deficit. And still they pile on the debt. Remember: you’re paying for this president’s recklessness. It’s your money he’s giving away. Get mad.

Yep, Kim Jong Il could be feeling sadry arone again soon. Dan Drezner has the details on how NoKo is already breaking its tentative agreement with six other countries.