The Dish

No, I don’t have a crystal ball, but Dick Morris just predicted a Lieberman renaissance. That can’t be good. All we need is a Johnny Apple profile, and Joe’s burnt toast. I do agree with Morris, though, that Gore’s chances of the nomination just increased – because his spineless former veep candidate just lost. The ironies deepen.

It will be tempting to believe that Joe Lieberman’s defeat in the Connecticut primary means something profound about the future of the war or the future of the Democrats. It may indeed mark a turning point in the public’s patience with the president’s war-management, but we’ll have to wait till November to confirm that more generally. The primary defeat wasn’t a rout, after all. And Lieberman, even among Democrats, was a special case. Hawkish Democrats, like Clinton, have managed to maintain support for the war against Islamist terror, while criticizing the president’s staggering ineptness. Lieberman seemed unable to do this. He appeared more interested in becoming Rumsfeld’s successor than in getting re-elected in blue-state Connecticut. And it’s worth recalling: many Republicans have been more critical of the Bush administration’s war decisions than Lieberman. Lieberman is to George Will’s and Bill Buckley’s and Chuck Hagel’s and Bill Kristol’s right on this. His position that any criticism of a president is inappropriate in wartime is also simply Hewittian in its proneness. At least that’s my instant response to his political demise as a Democrat. I’m not crying any tears. Do you know anyone who is?

(Photo: Bob Falcetti/Getty.)

Ann Coulter calls Al Gore "a total fag" on MSNBC. What do you think the impact would be if she called a public figure a "nigger" or a "kike"? So why the double standard?

"Saint Mel. That’s what he is in the eyes of millions of Americans. But for some, he‚Äôs Satan. Leon Wieseltier, the big fan of the Catholic-bashing writer Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, labels the movie a ‘sacred snuff film.’ Ex-Catholics like Maureen Dowd not only mistake the sacred for the profane, they think the film engenders intolerance when, in fact, the intolerance has come almost exclusively from the movie‚Äôs most vociferous critics.
But this is good — the pus has come to the surface. Now we can get on with the real debate: should the culture continue its celebration of self-indulgence or repair to a culture of restraint? If the latter is to be achieved, believing Christians, Jews and Muslims will have to join together to defeat those whose concept of liberty is pure libertinism.
Already, left-wing censors in Hollywood are out to get Mel. They think they can stop him. But it’s too late for the blacklisters to win. Nothing can stop the public from rallying around Saint Mel," Catholic League president, Bill Donahue, February 26, 2004. Saint Mel.

Issaqua, Washington, 6.05 pm.

A reader writes:

Your post reminded me of this:

Perhaps the shortest telegram exchange involved author Oscar Wilde when he was in Paris. He sent this wire to his publisher in England to see how Wilde’s new book was selling:

?

The reply was equally succinct:

!

Update: another source attributes this to Victor Hugo.

I just got wind of Michel Gondry’s next movie, "The Science of Sleep." If you don’t know of Gondry’s work, you really should. His music videos are astonishingly inventive, complex, playful and visually original. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was superb. His single video for the Rolling Stones is one of my all-time faves. He did Kylie proud too. I subject most friends to them at some point or other. The movie’s out September 22.

A reader responds to the Washington post testimonial I linked to yesterday:

I agree Andrew, that letter does speak to many American Catholics and I think that’s unfortunate. It is frustrating. It, the tribalism it reveals, is dangerous. There is only one reason that I remain a Catholic and it ain’t for the lively sermons. I believe what the Church claims to be, that it is THE Church founded by Christ, that the Eucharist really is the body and blood of Christ, that we – Catholics – are united as family because we share this blood.  What the Church claims is radical, but after much research, thought, and discussion I am left with no alternative. I am not a conservative Catholic or a liberal Catholic … just a Catholic.

I understand, on one level anyway, what that letter writer means. I have met many people like her. There are throngs. Catholicism is very sensual. You hear the prayers of consecration, you smell the incense, you feel the holy water, you see the advent wreath, you hold the palms on Passion Sunday. It, the faith, becomes part of you. However, I could not raise my children – and I have five – in any denomination that taught things about which I had grave reservations.

Well, of course, it depends on the nature of the reservations. Humans being humans, we have thoughts and doubts and questions and consciences. many Catholics may conscientiously differ from the Church hierarchy on less fundamental matters and still remain within the Church, as far as I’m concerned. My basic rule is the creed we recite at the Mass. If you can say that with no reservations, and seek a good conscience on all the rest, you’re a Catholic as far as I’m concerned.

A musical interlude – by Joel Guzman (not the baseball player), in an inspired improvization on the accordion.

Mystery Pollster crunches the Lieberman-Lamont numbers. Mid-summer primary polls have been way off in the past.