Category: The Dish

Ponnuru on Derbyshire:

Look: Derbyshire knows zilch about Catholicism or Vatican II, has not carefully read anything the pope has said about relativism, and is not interested in doing any of the intellectual work required to remedy his ignorance. His posts make these points pretty clear. You can’t have a good-faith conversation with him on these topics, so don’t try.

Reading Derb on these matters, I find it very hard to think he’s writing in bad faith. In fact, he outs the fact that Ponnuru and K-Lo basically want Vatican II undone. As does this papacy, in certain critical respects, especially with respect to the capacity of Catholics to question some non-binding aspects of faith in order to understand it better. Of course, there are points at which reason must cede to faith. But one gets the very powerful sense from Benedict and his acolytes that he simply wants reason to submit to … him.

Poulos tackles The War On Doritos, the scourge of passive drinking, and other such vices. 

Bruce Bartlett:

The reality is that we are not going to see the biggest tax increase in history in 2011 because neither Congress nor the White House will allow it to happen, regardless of which party is in control. The choice is not between full extension of all the Bush tax cuts or a massive tax increase, but between extension of the Bush tax cuts and some other sort of tax cuts that would keep the tax burden from rising on the vast majority of taxpayers.

In what is now a perfect reflection of the GOP establishment’s support for Clinton, K-Lo writes:

I have this weird, intense urge to be a Hillary voter in Pennsylvania today.

Think of the ironies: Scaife And Rove and Buchanan and Novak and Limbaugh now all want the Clintons back. What, you have to ask yourself, are they really afraid of?

Richard Cohen focuses on the real damage:

The Financial Times last week billboarded an opinion column "Bush’s worst legacy" and wondered whether it was Iraq or fiscal policy. The menu of choices in this case is so vast as to induce vertigo, but let me suggest that Bush’s "worst legacy" is what he has done to whatever trust Americans still had in their government. This administration’s incessant lying, its secrecy — its creepy Cheneyism with its petty justifications for torture and violation of privacy — is its worst legacy, one that will endure long after Wal-Mart opens a branch in Sadr City. Only an idiot would trust this government.

Fashion designer Paul Smith poses during a portrait session at his London store before the Gian Paolo Barbieri private view on April 22, 2008 in London, England. Paul Smith will be hosting the first London exhibition of work by photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri at their store on Albemarle Street W1 from April 23rd-3rd May. By Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images.

It’s heavy, apparently, including Western Pennsylvania, which must encourage the Clintons. What will matter of course is the geographical and demographic aspects of the turnout. And that we don’t yet know.

I guess he’s off his game. But he comes off as, well, er, you know, bitter.

A small watershed for Obama at RCP and Pollster. Clinton is now at or below 40.

Saletan reacts to PETA’s announcement of a million-dollar prize for commercially viable lab-grown meat:

If this idea repels you as a carnivore, imagine how it feels to a vegetarian. PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk tells the New York Times that the prize offer caused "a near civil war in our office" and that "we will have members leave us over this." Newkirk observes: "In any social cause community, there are people who strive for purity."

She’s right. I’ve seen civil wars like this one in other communities. In the case of the abortion-rights movement, I wrote a book about it. Pragmatists thought they could broaden the movement’s appeal by changing its language and arguments. Purists worried that these changes would narrow the movement’s agenda. Both sides were right. This is an important lesson in politics: Message, constituency, and agenda are related. The broader your message, the broader your constituency, and the narrower your agenda. You have to choose your tradeoffs.

I’m with PETA on this one.