The Dish

Man, that kid set off an email firestorm. Here’s a few selected goodies:

I am 25, old enough to know your reader is either a cultural idiot, a loser, or both. Large swathes of the 20-30+ generation have 80’s parties regularly, mostly because people really honestly love the music. Yes it is cheesy, yes much of it is over-synthesized, yes the singers had huge hair, and yes, they wore horrible clothing. Also, by cheesy, over-synthesized, huge, and horrible, I meant totally awesome. There is nothing not to love about what has survived of the 80s.

There’s more:

I read the sage counsel of your 23 year old reader. The horrors of 80’s music pale in comparison to the ennui-sodden banjo playing that has been foisted on us for the last 10 years. The moment I hear "Cold Play" I run screaming for the nearest bottle of antidepressants. Your 23 year old reader knows nothing!

I tend to share this guy’s perspective:

I was 23 in 1988.  Let’s see, what was I listening to then? Erasure, Smiths, Prince, Berlin, Pogues, Indigo Girls, Proclaimers, XTC … And we’re talking the WHOLE ALBUM for each of them (and some several times over). What do I listen to now? Erasure, Smiths, Prince, Berlin, Pogues, Indigo Girls, Proclaimers, XTC.  The only CD that I’ve bought in 00s and listened to all through, was John Mayer’s debut. 00 pop is crap. I mean if the Killers could find a singer who was in tune I might go whole hog and buy their album on iTunes, but other than that it’s a dearth out there!

There is indeed no pop on the radio any more. Just hip-hop drivel and godawful indie crap or whiny, lesbian complaint-rock. Look at the top ten in any other advanced Western country and pop is alive and well. But in America? Murdered by payola and hip-hop. But maybe that just shows what an old codger I’m becoming. Speaking of which …

Yes, the 80s, unfortunately, might as well be the 40s. I spent the day with my 15-year old nephew a few weeks ago. We went to a record, I mean "music", store in Berkeley. He steered me over to the rap/hip-hop area and expounded at length about the various artists. As far as I can tell, they seem mostly to have died violent deaths. And none has a proper first name, or last – I can’t really tell. In an effort to bridge the 15-40 gap, I mentioned "Eminen".  My nephew gave me the same patronizing-but-patient look as I did when my grandmother would say something about Elvis.

A final word:

OK, the kid was funny. I have kids that age. Let’s remind them we control the money!

Not according to the advertizers we don’t. Still, my main point is: the PSBs are not ’80s pop. They may have begun in the 1980s, but their output has spanned twenty years of consistently excellent musical craftsmanship. Yes, they use electronic sound. Does that make Stuart Price an ’80s producer? Some things are timeless. Actually.

For the second time in a week, a technical glitch has removed "The Conservative Soul" from availability for purchase from Amazon.com. Try Barnes and Noble instead. I’ll let you know once Amazon is back and functioning. Apologies. But at least the pages are now in the right order.

He believes that the war is going "remarkably well":

"Well, I think there’s some natural level of concern out there because in fact, you know, it wasn‚Äôt over instantaneously. It‚Äôs been a little over three years now since we went into Iraq, so I don’t think it‚Äôs surprising that people are concerned.

On the other hand, this government has only been in office about five months, five or six months now. They’re off to a good start. It is difficult, no question about it, but we’ve now got over 300,000 Iraqis trained and equipped as part of their security forces. They’ve had three national elections with higher turnout than we have here in the United States. If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.

It’s still very, very difficult, very tough. Nobody should underestimate the extent to which we’re engaged there with this sort of, at present, the "major front" of the war on terror. That’s what Osama bin Laden says, and he’s right."

If you were at all concerned that this administration has no grip on reality, then you need to become more concerned.

A reader writes:

I am 23 years of age, and certainly not the only person my age who enjoys your blog. Therefore, I must warn you that the mere mention of 80s pop music has approximately the same effect on us as pouring a bucket of water over the Wicked Witch of the West. It is hard enough for most of us to maintain the tranquil illusion that Madonna, Whitney Houston, Roxette, Richard Marx, and countless others never actually signed recording contracts, and that any music we hear on the radio or television that suggests otherwise has no basis in reality, but is actually a manifestation of a severe psychotic episode. Post photographs taken out of every window in the world if you must, phone each of us personally and repeatedly until we agree to buy your book if you must, but please don’t revisit the horrors of 80s music on us ever again.

What have I? What have I? What have I done to deserve this?

Irwin Stelzer has a must-read piece in the Weekly Standard. It’s about how the Bush administration’s fiscal policy has left the U.S. so indebted to China that we have no leverage over North Korea. Money quote:

It is indeed true that the Bush tax cuts were key to ending the recession the Republicans inherited from the Clinton administration. And it is also true that some of the tax cuts have proved to be revenue generators for the Treasury. That has enabled the administration to gloat over a 22 percent reduction of the budget deficit from last year’s $319 billion. But in a booming economy, a continued deficit of $248 billion is hardly chopped liver, as the analysts in New York’s delis say. And when those deficits result in stacks of IOUs held by China, America’s diplomats are forced to walk softly, lest they antagonize so large a creditor.

It is this fiscal situation, this unwillingness to rein in spending so that the boom in tax receipts can be used to provide support for American diplomacy, that has made it impossible for America to have an effective foreign policy. Indeed, it is arguable that George W. Bush has presided over the largest decline in America’s ability to influence world events since, well, since the 1920s, when we decided it was in the nation’s interests to let the world take care of itself while we partied at that era’s equivalents of today’s discos – the jazz joints and speakeasies that offered solace to the Wall Street crowd after a hard day of share-price manipulation.

This one truly takes the breath away. It makes Michael Savage appear like the model of reasonable discourse.

A reader thinks I’m still naive:

I’m glad to see the Geras quote (and your comments). As a conservative, I’m ashamed of believing in 2003 that the unintended consequences of war would not overwhelm the benefits. Of course I’m surprised by the degree of overwhelming, but not at all by the fact of it. I can‚Äôt honestly say I believed the threat from Iraq was imminent or substantial at the time: I knew it was a war of choice. I so strongly wanted the U.S. to remake Iraq (and was so frustrated with the Saddam regime), that I let hope trump judgment. 

There were better, slower and more careful (more conservative) ways of improving the lives of Iraqis without ripping that society apart. But I fell for the seduction of rapid social change through force, ignoring what may be the most obvious lesson of the 20th Century. I know you believe that if we’d just done things better on the ground it might have worked, but I disagree: this result (or some similar form of it) was inherent in the enterprise.  We should have done things better without going to war. 

If it’s a bellwether, the Dems are in good shape. Check out polling data here and here. Presidential tracking numbers for the state can be found here.

A reader writes:

You know better than that. Neal Boortz is a libertarian, not a religious conservative or a Republican, and he has been all over the president on critical issues, including the war, the deficit, gay marriage, immigration, and Terri Schaivo. He frequently laments the infusion of religion into politics, and you have quoted him approvingly on several occasions, which has never been the case with the others. He was there because because he’s "right" on taxes and for no other reason.

You are accused often enough of painting with too broad a brush. Don’t give your critics easy ammo.

Boortz is indeed a principled libertarian conservative. Hannity is an apparatchik. I still find the fawning invitation to select talk-show hosts a little creepy. Somehow I don’t think they were invited to give the president a piece of their mind.