The Dish

The talented Washington Times writer, Eric Pfeiffer, dissents from Karl Rove’s recent attempt to coopt Teddy Roosevelt as a fore-runner of George W. Bush.

"In such circumstances, unrestrained by the power of the throne, they would, no doubt, have set sail on the stormy sea of democratic politics, swayed by the gusts of popular eloquence and quarrelling for power with the governing class of a city which did not even belong to them, before any real sense of community had had time to grow. That sense – the only true patriotism – comes slowly and springs from the heart: it is founded upon respect for the family and love of the soil. Premature ‘liberty’ of this kind would have been a disaster:  we should have been torn to pieces by petty squabbles before we had ever reached political maturity, which, as things were, was made possible by the long quiet years under monarchical government; for it was that government which, as it were, nursed our strength and enabled us ultimately to produce sound fruit from liberty, as only a politically adult nation can," – Livy, "History of Early Rome."

London, 4.30 am.

Flying through the air – on invisible skateboards. Cooler?

Edinburgh, Scotland, 9.30 pm.

Glenn Reynolds believes I take "talking points" from the "Townhouse crowd." I just had to Google to find out what the "Townhouse crowd" is. It refers to an email list-serv to which I don’t subscribe. Maybe he’s referring to my respect for Glenn Greenwald’s analysis of Reynolds’ views. And, sure, if I had to choose between Glenn Greenwald and Michelle Malkin, I’d choose Greenwald. Instapundit’s a Malkin fan. I guess that’s our difference. But I should say that my view of Glenn’s politics is drawn entirely from his site. I don’t think even my severest critics believe I need other people to spoon-feed me my own opinions, however misguided I may be.

The online fun continues. There’s a Bush version as well.

It turns out a quarter of self-described conservatives have come to the same conclusion about the current Republicans as I have:

The AP-Ipsos survey asked 789 registered voters if the election for the House were held today, would they vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district. Democrats were favored 51 percent to 40 percent.

Not surprisingly, 81 percent of self-described liberals said they would vote for the Democrat. Among moderates, though, 56 percent backed a Democrat in their district and almost a quarter of conservatives – 24 percent – said they will vote Democratic.

Those conservatives, like me, may not be comfortable with many Democratic policies. But they are less comfortable with the Republican abandonment of limited government, and have decided they need an ass-whupping. Amen.

Reports suggest a tipping point toward complete anarchy. This dispatch in the Times of London is grueling.

"As long as we allow this to be dangled in front of us because of our unwillingness to say publicly what so many of us are saying privately, it will haunt the Democratic party. This is really one of the great final civil rights struggles. And again I say to my colleagues in the Democratic party: Why are you a Democrat if you can’t stand on a fundamental construct that has always distinguished our party. That we didn’t sit around. We advanced the issues of equality. We engaged the American people head on," – San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsom, challenging the gutless Democrats on marriage equality.