The Dish

It was only a matter of time, but now a Muslim cleric is offering a large sum of money to kill a Western cartoonist. And why would he not? The Western media has shown that one of its criteria for not publishing material is the security of its own professionals. Threatening the media works. And so it will grow.

Glenn Reynolds has an interesting post, citing Marshall Wittman, about how both the religious right and the religious (i.e. intolerant, doctrinaire) left have polarized discourse in this country, and policed dissidence from the party line. Marshall thinks the left is worse. Like Marshall, I’ve experienced vitriol from both sides in my time. I will say this: the hate and viciousness directed toward me from the left in the 1990s for daring to be a gay man who was not a liberal does indeed exceed the hate and viciousness of the right for a small-c conservative who has become alarmed by the excesses and errors of the Bush administration. No right-wing group has picketed a book-signing with posters depicting my face behind the cross-hairs of a gun, as the gay left did. No one on the right has gone nuclear on my private life, as the gay left did. No one on the right has threatened to find me in Ptown and split my skull open, or called me the anti-Christ, as some on the gay left have. Yes, I get homophobic hate mail from the right all the time; and many conservative blogs have blackballed or slimed or smeared me in various ways. But that’s, sadly, what you get for being provocative and opinionated on the web. Bottom line: Hugh Hewitt is not as hateful as Eric Alterman, as any reader can see for themselves.

So why my recent concentration on the far right? It’s pretty simple: they’re in power. They control all branches of government and a hefty chunk of the media. They deserve to. They did all this legitimately and democratically. But, in my book, that means an independent writer should concentrate more on that extreme right now, while not ignoring the other, because they’re the ones running the country. I guess I’m also more angered by the right these days because I care more about conservatism than about liberalism. It’s my philosophy, damnit, which means I get more upset when I see it desecrated or abandoned. And that also helps explain my being more touchy about being called a leftist than some. That may be a failing of mine. I’m an Irishman, bred in no-holds British debating rules, who has a bit of an inner drama queen. Glenn is a low-key law-professor with a dry sense of humor. Styles vary. But circumstances matter. As a thinker, I try and stick to principles. As a writer, I try and joust against those in power, whoever they are, to keep them honest and expose their flaws. Ideologues stick to their side, regardless of context, principle, or the balance of power. And that, I think, is something Marshall, Glenn and I can all agree on.

Dale Carpenter crunches numbers.

More analysis of Dick Cheney’s recently acquired powers here.

A reader writes:

"For the last few years I’ve been in a bit of a political identity crisis. I used to consider myself a leftist, but over time I’ve come to believe in many conservative principles, such as limited government, balanced budgets, reduced spending, a cautious foreign policy, etc. For a while, your own blog even had me thinking that maybe I was a conservative myself. But now I realize that these were leftist principles all along. Thanks so much to all those Bush supporters out there for clarifying the matter. And welcome to the Left, Andrew. We’re not all crazy liberals over here after all."

"We must believe in the fact that Islam is not confined to geographical borders, ethnic groups and nations. It’s a universal ideology that leads the world to justice. We don’t shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world. We must prepare ourselves to rule the world and the only way to do that is to put forth views on the basis of the Expectation of the Return. If we work on the basis of the Expectation of the Return [of the Mahdi], all the affairs of our nation will be streamlined and the administration of the country will become easier. Some politicians think we had a revolution so that some could hit others in the head and have one party ruling for some time and another party in opposition for some time. But we had a revolution to achieve a lofty goal, on the basis on the Expectation of the Return," – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clearly explaining the role that faith in a looming Apocalypse and global Muslim domination plays in the ruling faction in Iran.

One thing I’ve learned from history. It’s good to listen to what our enemy says. And it’s good to believe him.

Purged from the CIA after a long career, Paul Pillar gives a riveting account of what went wrong in the biggest intelligence failure in the U.S. since, er, 9/11.

Jon Rauch has a fascinating new piece up, analyzing the fate of Independent voters over the past few decades. There are fewer genuine independents than you might think – most are weak partisans of either side. Republicans have become the more ideological party, with the clearer brand and higher loyalty, even though their numbers are not, in fact, that impressive. Independents have only themselves to blame for declining influence, because they are staying home on voting day more and more (hence the Rove strategy). But a real centrist candidate emerged, who could galvanize the center from a Democratic label, then the gains might be huge (think what Perot did). Independents have become far more hostile to the Republicans in their Bush-theocon incarnation, making a centrist campaign more plausible. If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, she could kill off this Democratic opportunity. If McCain ran as an independent, all bets are off.

"America’s idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations," – British High Court Judge, Justice Collins, yesterday. The British High Court is not al Jazeera. It’s the highest legal authority in America’s closest ally. By endorsing and practising torture, as defined by U.S. law and international treaties, the Bush administration is turning this country into a rogue nation.

A group of Israelis launch a contest: for Jewish cartoonists to produce the most anti-Semitic cartoons imaginable. Nothing could better distinguish the difference between the West and the Arab-Muslim world.