Category: The Dish

A reader writes:

There’s something I think you, me, and everyone else who has nominally supported this war has to face: slogans are not going to win the war. At the end of the day, if Rove’s goal is for the president to stick the war out until the end of his term, then shove the issue off on someone else, pulling out and losing is exactly what we’ll be doing. Do you honestly believe that after two-and-a-half more years of carnage the American people would support an upping of troop levels, even if McCain wins? And which troops from where would go? If this war is a drain on resources now, how will our resources look after two-and-a-half more years of sloganeering? Add a slowing economy into the mix and then what?

What I’m getting at is that in a strange irony, by the time someone gets in office who is willing to make the tough decisions about upping the troops, renewing the fight, etc., we may have to face the inevitable anyway but even worse – a pullout leaving us with a severally drained and weakened military. In that case, people like me (ambivalent-to-against the war at first, but supportive once we got there) and you will have ultimately held aloft the GOP’s political hold on this country, while allowing self-interested people to damage our military, our international reputation, and national morale. I know it’s tough to face, but it’s true.

"Let me tell you a few words about the question as to whether Al Gore has changed. Actually, to me he is essentially the same young man I met in a Harvard freshman seminar 41 years ago: inquisitive, respectful of learning and scholarship, emotionally connected, committed to his friends and family, incandescently smart, believing in an order of the universe he still genuinely refers to as God. These are not easily carried into the universe of politics, where cynicism leaves little space for authenticity. But he fought against the demons of triangulation that subvert moral clarity. Al also came out whole, very whole. Yes, he was singed by the president’s troubles that the oh, so facile president made for himself. Gore took the advice of some of the usual Democratic four-flusher professionals in his campaign in the year 2000. Right now, I make this assertion with complete confidence: that Gore would not, will not defer his own instincts or convictions to anyone else. Yes, he can be persuaded. But he cannot be pushed," – Marty Peretz, TNR.

(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty.)

West Hollywood, California, 9 am.

Good news, at long last. Al Qaeda is losing popularity in the Muslim world, according to the new Pew poll. A shift against suicide bombing as a tactic has occurred dramatically among Muslims in Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Europe’s Muslims seem to be moderating in their views as well. Osama’s approval ratings in Jordan have gone from 60 percent to 24 percent in one year. Good going, Zarqawi. And most Westerners believe democracy can work in the Muslim world. Interestingly, more Brits and French believe this than Americans. There’s mixed results in the report as well, but, as TPM notes, there’s good reason to look on the bright side as well.

They come in all the time and mainly, I just chuckle, reply or delete. But a couple today are worth passing on:

Mr. Henninger has a very high opinion of his gender. Take a poll of women over the age of 25 in this nation (or perhaps any other nation), and I believe one will find that fully 33 1/3 % of them will be very sure that they have married a snake. And be assured that it is one of the opposite gender!

Several along those lines. Then this:

Eureka! Finally, you have figured it out. Karl Rove beats the Democrats every time not because he is a genius, but because they are utter fools.

Education is an arduous process at times.

A reader writes:

Every Democrat I know, including me, supports the War on Terror. What many of us do not and did not support is the War on Iraq. These are two separate things.
For those of you who chose to believe that we had to wage war against Saddam because of WMDs, or democratizing the region, or "links" to Al Qaida and 9/11, there were an equal number of us who felt that all of those arguments were a sideshow, a distraction, from the REAL war. That war was taking place in Afghanistan and Western Pakistan.
How many Democrats have you heard or read about that are "ambivalent" about THAT war? And how do you think we feel now, watching that one – the real one – slip away? I am heartsick that we did not finish the job. It sickens me that Osama has slept soundly since the Spring of 2003. Guess what, he knows we’re not coming.

Not a single Democrat was in the Senate to hear his Iraq war speech. He was introduced by John Warner and praised by Rick Santorum afterwards. No surprise then to hear this:

"If the unexpected happens, do I want to keep open the option of taking my case as an independent Democrat to all the voters of Connecticut so that they can have the last word in November? That’s a question I haven’t decided."

McCain-Lieberman: Independents for ’08. Just thinking out loud.

No one fights like Democrats fight. The Kos-TNR dust-up is riveting. Here’s my magazine’s latest riposte. I think Jon Chait’s gift for humor-writing is way undervalued. I disagree with him on a very large number of subjects. But he cracks me up.

This reader is right, and my catechetics obviously require refreshing:

What kind of a Catholic are you? The insurance policy was not to insure against ‘immaculate conception,’ but virgin birth. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is that the Virgin Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother free from all stain of original sin, so that she might be a spotless vessel when carrying the Christ. Her own conception, however, was by otherwise normal means between Anna and her husband Joachim.

Forgive me. I have muddled that up before. This, by the way, is how I first discovered the facts of life. I was in a religious instruction class on the "immaculate conception". It made no sense to me at first. What would a "maculate conception" be, I asked my teacher? He sighed, realized it was time for the talk and went into the basics. I was ten. I didn’t believe a word of it. I found it far easier to believe that Mary was born without sin than that my parents had done that to conceive me. But I digress …

I might as well marry a snake, according to the Wall Street Journal. Thanks, Mr Henninger, for comparing my fiance with an animal. We get your point.