Category: The Dish

Sacha Baron-Cohen comes out of character to talk about the idea behind Borat. In my view, it was better to have stayed silent.

National Revew Online’s editor recently proclaimed that most conservatives "won’t buy or read" "The Conservative Soul" because of my attacks on the Bush administration. On November 17, the Heritage Foundation had a dinner to commemmorate the 25th anniversary of the 1981 Reagan tax cut. Bruce Bartlett, who helped draft the 1977 Kemp-Roth bill, was informed he was not invited because of his criticism of the Bush administration’s reckless fiscal policies. Wednesday night, libertarian Ryan Sager spoke to a little free-market group on the Hill called the Prosperity Caucus. Heritage often plays host to their events. But when Heritage found out that Sager was the speaker this month, the Prosperity Caucus was asked to take things elsewhere.

I don’t think many Republicans and conservatives have come out of denial yet about what was done to conservatism in Bush-Rove-DeLay years. Or perhaps the first stage of coming out of denial is anger at those who came out of it years ago.

Never seen this before. Wish I hadn’t now. Happy that Howie Mandel no longer has the mullet.

"General [Eric] Shinseki was right that a greater international force contribution, U.S. force contribution and Iraqi force contribution should have been available immediately after major combat operations," – General Abizaid, finally contradicting Rumsfeld, under oath.

Soho, London, 6.15 am, post-party.

"The Americans can’t simply withdraw from Iraq, leaving the mess as it is. Who’s going to look for the safety of the Iraqis there? The Iranians can’t do it. The Turks can’t do it … This is not a question of political rivalry between Iran and the West. It has to do with the fact that the society has to have a government structure in place," – Iranian political scientist Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, on state-run Iranian television.

I’ll give you some testosterone:

In this administration, it’s not an easy mix.

"Alcohol and tobacco cause many more deaths in users than do drugs. Decriminalization would not prevent us from treating drugs as we now treat alcohol and tobacco: prohibiting sales of drugs to minors, outlawing the advertising of drugs and similar measures. Such measures could be enforced, while outright prohibition cannot be. Moreover, if even a small fraction of the money we now spend on trying to enforce drug prohibition were devoted to treatment and rehabilitation, in an atmosphere of compassion not punishment, the reduction in drug usage and in the harm done to the users could be dramatic.

This plea comes from the bottom of my heart. Every friend of freedom, and I know you are one, must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence," – Milton Friedman, in a 1990 open letter to Bill Bennett, big government conservative.

(Hat tip: Stuttaford.)

Well, it’s a little late, but not completely nuts:

Consider these data: Between November 2004 and February 2005, according to the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index, the number of coalition soldiers in Iraq rose by 18,000. In that time, the number of Iraqi civilians killed fell by two-thirds, and the number of American troops wounded fell by three-fourths. The soldiers were soon pulled out; by the summer of 2005, American and Iraqi casualties rose again. Later that year, the same thing happened again. Between September and November of 2005, another 23,000 soldiers were deployed in Iraq; once again, both Iraqi and American casualties fell. In the early months of 2006, the number of soldiers fell again, and casualties spiraled up.

An addition of 20,000 seems insignificant to me – another signal to the enemy that we can be outlasted. A commitment of another 50,000 to 75,000 troops to Iraq is a different matter. I just doubt this president has the political capital to do such a thing.