Category: The Dish

Theocons Attack!

The Weekly Standard hands over its pages to the Family Research Council for an attack on Dick Armey’s critique of Christianism. The writer simply assumes that barring gay couples from any incentives to live together and banning legal protections for their relationships are somehow essential to the stability of heterosexual marriage. Armey and countless others question that strange assumption. The writer also seems to favor federal constitutional amendments banning all abortion and all gay unions. Yep, this is the new "conservatism:" constitutional amendments that remove freedom and impede state experimentation.

America, Seen From Outside

No big surprise: under the Bush administration, foreign tourism to the U.S. has fallen, and one reason is the brusque police measures enforced at immigration control at airports. My family and European friends say that getting through airports to visit America makes them feel like criminals. They often prefer not to bother. I know for many Americans, that’s no big deal. But the p.r. and economic damage is considerable.

A Scene From the Civil War

David Lat reports on verbal warfare between social conservatives and libertarians at the recent Federalist Society meeting. Money quote:

During the part of the discussion when the panelists addressed each other, Anthony Romero got all up in Phyllis Schafly’s grill:

Romero: How would allowing me and my partner to get married jeopardize your marriage, Phyllis? How? How?
Schalfly: You want answers?
Romero: I think I’m entitled to them.
Schalfly: You want answers?
Romero: I want the truth!
Schlafly: You can’t handle the truth!

(Okay, it wasn’t exactly like this; we’re paraphrasing. But not as roughly as you might think.)

The highlight of the event was a woman yelling "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH! THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH! THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH!" into the open microphone. I think Mitt Romney has a new campaign slogan.

How Smart Is Lou Dobbs?

Plenty smart, according to Lou Dobbs:

BOB GARFIELD: Now, network president, Jonathan Klein, has said to The New York Times that, in essence, that the Dobbs approach will only be on the Dobbs show. And presumably he means that it would never fly on Wolf Blitzer’s show or Paula Zahn’s show.

LOU DOBBS: Well, they’re quite different people than I am, as you know.

BOB GARFIELD: I understand. But why should you have a different set of journalistic standards applying to you?

LOU DOBBS: Well, immodestly, let me say one of the reasons would be my experience, my education, my analysis of the issues and the empirical evidence, and a demonstrated record of, frankly, of knowing what I’m talking about.

And Wolf and Paula have no idea what they’re talking about?

Conservative Thought Police, Ctd.

The Heritage Foundation hasn’t just barred Ryan Sager from their events; they have also recently snubbed Bruce Bartlett. He writes:

The Heritage event to which I was uninvited due to my criticism of Bush’s policies was not some ordinary one of the type Heritage hosts every day. It was specifically to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1981 tax cut. As far as I am aware, every major living figure involved in the enactment of this legislation was invited except me. I seriously doubt that any are paying contributors to the Heritage Foundation. 

The organization knows full well about my involvement in the 1981 tax cut because I was a senior fellow at Heritage for three years back in the 1980s before leaving to work for Ronald Reagan in the White House. I was, in fact, the staff person on Jack Kemp’s congressional staff who drafted the original Kemp-Roth tax cut, upon which the Reagan bill was based, back in 1977. Many others also contributed. Some of those invited to the Heritage event did not.  People can draw their own conclusions about these facts.