Category: The Dish

A reader writes:

"I am a great fan of yours, but have to tell you to please, kindly, shut up already. I can’t believe I‚Äôm about to say this, but O‚ÄôReilly has it right: who does this affect? Yes, the public is entitled to full disclosure, but the reaction to this is nothing more than the pent up frustration of the media looking to finally stick it to a White House that has consistently stuck it to them. That doesn‚Äôt make the media wrong, just childish. There are a thousand more important stories (the Danish Cartoon story has practically disappeared from the television screen) and countless hours are being spent on this tripe. If the media outrage is justified because the lack of disclosure from the VP office represents a ‚Äúpattern‚Äù of behavior … well that‚Äôs a nice footnote about this administration but neither substantive nor hard news. This is not Iraq; this is not 9/11 nor Katrina. This is one hunting buddy shooting another. Re-read your ‘Dear Mr. Cheney’ post. It sounds ridiculous and more appropriately belongs on Huffington Post, along side of O’Donnell‚Äôs incisive ‘Was Cheney Drunk?’ (and 80 percent of your recent posts)."

I was actually beaten to the punch in asking Cheney to speak to the press directly by … National Review. Yes, they wanted the press to be represented by Brit Hume, but the point’s the same. Can you believe all those liberals at NRO?

The intimidation continues in Germany. And he didn’t even draw you-know-who. In Ohio, a local Muslim representative says the following: "Allah curses and condemns [the editors of the Akron Beacon-Journal] and every Muslim in this community should curse and condemn them." Why? A cartoonist made fun of CNN. The effrontery! Eugene Volokh comments:

"So I guess it’s not just that we aren’t supposed to draw pictures of Mohammed as terrorist, or of Mohammed at all; we aren’t even supposed to draw pictures that are obviously not of Mohammed, and that are meant to mock the inability to draw pictures of Mohammed."

Yes, Eugene. The point is this: everyone is supposed to observe the religious constraints of one particular faith, regardless of whether we share it. And if we don’t observe Islamic etiquette … we’re lucky if we only get cursed and condemned. Get that?

Just a word, if I may. You are employed by the American people. You are not a monarch; and you are not a Pope. You have seriously wounded another human being. The news was kept from the public for a day. The man is in intensive care. There are many serious questions about the incident: How did it happen? What happened immediately thereafter? Why the decision to keep it secret for so long? The least the American people deserve is your own account in public in front of the press corps. Who are you hiding from? And who on earth do you think you are?

Now Russian Muslims are threatening to attack anyone who participates in a planned Gay Pride parade in Moscow this spring. Money quote from Chief Russian Mufti Talgat Tajuddin: "The parade should not be allowed, and if they still come out into the streets, then they should be bashed." I am constantly being told that violent Muslims do not represent the real Islam. But this is the chief Muslim spokesman in Russia, issuing what amounts to a threat. Remind me: Why should I respect bigotry, backed by violence?

He’s 78. He got hit in the face and body by a spray of tiny pellets. He’s back in intensive care. It’s not inconceivable that the vice-president may have accidentally killed someone. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t know Texas law; and I’m not a lawyer. But wouldn’t this be a case of something like negligent homicide? Maybe some Texas lawyers are out there; and could clarify.

So great, in fact, that He cannot tolerate a few Danish cartoons. What a vulnerable deity. And so the violence continues.

"Under the unitary executive theory of Article II, the President of the United States, as Commander-in-Chief, has inherent authority to shoot anyone he likes, and he may surely delegate that authority to his second in command, the Vice President of the United States…"

The memo continues here.

A reader points me to an amusing contrast on National Review’s compelling blog, the Corner. Here’s Jonah Goldberg at 8.48 pm on Sunday, ridiculing the idea that anytime someone criticizes Bush, he’s immediately denounced as a "liberal" by other conservatives:

"This quote by Glenn Greenwald is objectively inaccurate and stupid and yet Andrew Sullivan makes it his "quote of the day" and says it "accurately" diagnoses the current situation. Greenwald writes: [snip]

‘In order to be considered a "liberal," only one thing is required ‚Äì a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush. The minute one criticizes him is the minute that one becomes a "liberal," regardless of the ground on which the criticism is based. And the more one criticizes him, by definition, the more "liberal" one is.’

I defy either of them to attempt to demonstrate this assertion factually."

Well, we don’t have to. On the same blog, only a day later, John Podhoretz, complains of exactly the thing Jonah says doesn’t exist:

"[A]ccusing me of being either a liberal or in a liberal bubble or being manipulated by the liberal media for saying that it’s a big deal when the vice president shoots somebody isn’t a rational response to what I’ve said about the Vice President’s hunting accident."

Ahem. If conservatives can impulsively accuse John Podhoretz of being a liberal, then I think the case is closed. Jonah’s assertion was, in his words, "objectively inaccurate."

"Mr. Cheney is a man of high intelligence, character and, as I have found, personal goodness. But even the finest men have their blind spots, and I’m afraid that was the problem here. Birds are not skeet. They are living creatures, "the fowl of the air," and it is unkind and dishonorable to treat them this way. The sportsman shoots in jest, to paraphrase a saying, but the creature dies in earnest," – Matt Scully, former White house speechwriter, whose book, "Dominion," is as morally serious as it is eloquent.

Maybe it’s time we quit the jokes. The poor guy, Harry Whittington, had a heart attack this morning.