Category: The Dish

Who Is Bob Gates?

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A must-read and uncannily timely profile in the Texas Monthly. Money quote:

"I am an agent of change," Gates told the [Texas] A&M Board of Regents when he was interviewed for the job of president (for which his competition was none other than former U.S. senator Phil Gramm). "If you don‚Äôt want change, you don’t want me."

Know hope.

(Hat tip: Virginia.)

(Photo: Brooks Kraft/Corbis for Time.)

Pitch-Perfect

Apart from the football toss (groan), George Allen’s concession speech was classy, smart and also gave the appearance of being sincere. His focus on candor, the future, and public service was welcome. If more Republicans adopt that tone – rather than the one they used in the campaign – their future will be brighter than the recent past. Good for Allen. And good for the GOP.

Recount Math

A reader writes:

You wrote:

"The vote is so close that mere statistical errors could create another outcome. You could keep flipping the coin for ever."

With Florida 2000, this statement is accurate (six million vote casts – final difference 500 votes). But it’s not so in VA – two million votes cast with a difference of 7,000. You need to retract this asinine statement, if you do not believe me – ask a mathematician friend of yours.

Math is not my strong point, so I’ll concede this one. I still think it would be smart and gracious of Allen to concede now. And better for his career in the long run.

Anatrella, Haggard, Torquemada

A reader writes:

So the Vatican’s chief hitman on gay issues turns out to be gay and we’re supposed to be Torquemada_1 surprised. I don’t think so. No matter how strong repression and self-denial may be, eventually nature will out. It’s Mark Foley all over again, to the extent Anatrella can’t stop obsessing and condemning that which he can neither change nor control in himself. And it is of course par for the course for the Roman Catholic church.

Tomas de Torcuemada, the notorious grand inquisitor who sent thousands of victims to the stake in 15th century Spain, was himself of some Jewish descent. It seems perfectly clear to me, that the social and internal  pressure he was under to prove himself as a true Catholic explains his relentless zeal in rooting out recent Jewish and Muslim converts, who were less than 100% sincere in their acceptance of Christianity. The mere fact that most of them had converted under the threat of either death or banishment only added to the lack of good faith on both sides. Monsignor Anatrella — like Torquemada before him — feels compelled to condemn and punish his own basic nature and if that requires him to exercise hypocrisy bordering on personality disorder, so be it. It’s all very sad of course and equally predictable.

I should add that Anatrella has merely been accused of sexual abuse of a male client who came to him for psychiatric guidance on how to cure himself of homosexuality. The charge has not been proven.

Do The Right Thing, Senator

George Allen may concede the Virginia race at 3 pm; or he may not. I think he should. The vote is so close that mere statistical errors could create another outcome. You could keep flipping the coin for ever. There’s no question what the will of the American people is with respect to the Senate: a big majority of the popular vote went to the Dems. Allen emerges from this race looking battered and bitter. If he were to concede, it would be a gracious move that would instantly rehabilitate him in the public’s mind. It’s smart politics; and the right thing for the country.