Category: The Dish

We finally have a clinical term to describe the bizarre intransigence of the Bush administration:

Tolstoy Syndrome is a description of a behavior of humans who ignore the truth despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The behavior is named after a quote from Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910):

"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of their life".

A related Tolstoy quote is

"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."

The perils of certainty. The remaining danger of Bush.

They had the Foley page story months ago, and decided not to run with it. Ken Silverstein explains why. He says it has nothing to do with partisan politics, although he got the emails from a "Democratic operative". They didn’t run with the story because they didn’t have enough evidence. No IMs.

Long-time readers will know that I still consider myself a conservative, even one who feels repelled by so much the current administration and Congress have been up to: higher levels of spending than any administration since FDR, a doubling of the debt owed by the next generation, infringing on states’ rights, politicizing the constitution, bungling the most important war of our time, having more time for Terri Schiavo than Hurricane Katrina, pork-barrel corruption, undermining habeas corpus, authorizing torture, cynically using religious faith for political purposes.

None of this, I believe, is authentically conservative. None of it is what I became a conservative to support. I know I am not alone in feeling like a refugee from a political tradition I once felt very much at home in.

My book is an attempt not to make bloggy quick points about all of this but to take a few steps back and ask the harder questions about how we got here, what conservatism can still mean, and to make a solid case for restoring conservative values to their pride of place: limited government, lower spending, individual responsibility, individual freedom, prudent foreign policy, a separation of religious faith from electoral politics, states’ rights, checks and balances, and balanced budgets. I want a return to the "leave-us-alone" coalition of Reagan and Goldwater.

In the next few days, I’ll be YouTubing short segments of my presentation at the Cato Institute last week, along with David Brook’s rebuttal, and our debate.

Here are the first few minutes. More to come:

A party man. His argument? The only one he now has: the Democrats would be worse. How worse? Has any Democratic Congress spent as much and as indiscriminately as this crew? Has any Democratic Congress shoveled out the pork the way these people have? Not since LBJ has a president waged such an incompetent, poorly planned and failing war. The tired, lame excuse that the Democrats would be worse has been used now election after election. It’s time to call these people’s bluff. If the Republicans do not get punished in this climate, they will absorb one lesson alone: keep doing what you’re doing. You can get away with anything. It’s not healthy for the country and it’s not healthy for the Republicans. Throw them out.

Seattle, Washington, 9.15 pm.

Honorable mentions:

"I prefer mine this big. That’s why I’m sticking with Rumsfeld."

"Real inches or AOL inches?"

"Mark, we’re this close to winning the war in Iraq."

"I swear, Ruben Sierra was part zebra!"

No more, please.

A reader writes:

I agree with your advice regarding the beagles.  I don’t know how to make them behave, but I have some advice for disaster mitigation. My partner and I just moved into a new house over the weekend, and our adopted beagles, who have been doing pretty well for the most part recently, both promptly crapped in the only carpeted area of the house as soon as they arrived.

Fortunately, when the carpet cleaner was steaming the carpets (just the day before…), I took the advice of my extra-cautious girlfriend and requested some maintenance tips from him with regard to the little troublemakers. He said to use an enzyme cleaner, and do not follow the directions – use a lot of it – like 6-8 ounces, cover it with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out – and leave it there for 4 days. Apparently the enzyme needs to stay wet in order to keep working. And it won’t turn moldy. We’re just on day 2, so I’m crossing my fingers that the stains will be gone by Wednesday.

Our beagles – George and Elroy – were survivors of hurricane Katrina.  They came to us in January as a pair. We had planned to foster them temporarily, but you know how that goes. I’ve attached a pic of them from the last leg of their journey to Seattle.

Of course, there are also times when they pee in protest. My older beagle, Dusty, responded to my ex-boyfriend’s first night staying over with exquisite directness. When we were making coffee in the morning, she simply got into the bed where he had slept and opened her bladder. When my fiance moved in, and we had a party for him, she took the opportunity to protest by walking nonchalantly into the middle of the crowd and squatting. Not much you can do about that. But soaking with enzyme-cleaner afterwards can help.

The book launches today, and my media whoredom is in full swing. In the acknowledgments, after thanking my agent and editor, I write:

"This book was informed throughout by the readers of my blog, who have written countless emails challenging arguments made here and making others."

Which is true. Without many of you, and countless emails and posts over the years, the book would not have emerged the way it did. So thanks for six years of online argument. I got a book out of it! I also write in the prologue the following words:

"Think of this book as an opening bid in a conversation, rather than the final summation of a doctrine."

For me, it’s been an fascinating experience to see how two media can interact – how ideas and arguments that started on a blog can evolve into something more concrete in a book. So, to take the next obvious step, I’m hoping to continue the debate about the boook … on the blog. I’m resurrecting the Book Club format I experimented with a few years ago – but with my own book this time.

Here’s the idea: you buy the book online or from a store, you get three weeks or so to read it along with everyone else, and then I post the sharpest email criticisms of the book and respond to them. It’s like an online reading club which ends in a grilling of the author. I’ve hired an extra pair of eyes to read every single email and make sure I don’t miss the best counter-arguments. So the book will continue, I hope, in some way on the blog. As will the arguments.

Buy the book here, and join the book club. Emails about the book can be sent by emailing theconservativesoul@gmail.com. Have at it.

A prophetic piece of analysis from 2004.

"I actually feel sorry for [Ann Coulter]. Once your career is based on denigrating 9/11 widows, what’s your second act? Unless you dig up Mother Teresa and stick a dildo in her eye, nothing could be more offensive," – Jon Stewart on the drag-queen who pretends to be a conservative for money.