The Dish

Mark Blumenthal looks forward, so to speak, to the negative ads that may air in December against Senator Clinton in Iowa. As in the last debate, Edwards’ willingness to take the gloves off may well redound to Obama’s benefit, as Clinton is weakened and some Iowans dislike the negativity of Edwards. But will Edwards really go there? We’ll see.

I’ve written about this documentary before, but I watched it again last week. It’s now out on DVD. I’ve never seen a movie that so effortlessly conveys the essence of ascetic Christianity. There are almost no words for three hours: just stunning, painterly cinematography that patiently, poignantly reveals the depths of devotion that some human beings are capable of in their relationship with God. I remain in awe of these men, sequestered for life, devoted solely to the divine, caring gently for one another, and leaving words behind to worship a God that eludes all human expression. In a world where Christianity is so often represented by those who have almost no understanding of the Gospel message, by the worldly and the power-hungry, the judgmental and the afraid, it is such a relief to see faith that isn’t fear, faith that is never far from joy.

A reader writes:

Someone wrote:

Well, you don’t live in San Francisco. I do business and socialize with lesbians, gay guys and trans people of both persuasions on a regular basis, and we do, indeed have a community.

Oh please… lesbians hanging out socially with male to female transexuals? When it comes to misrepresenting reality in service of an ideology, the left gives the neocons one helluva run for the money.

Another attempt to plant a questioner:

In a telephone interview with Fox, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, says he was approached by an operative for the Clinton campaign to ask a planted question about standing up to President Bush on Iraq war funding. The encounter happened before an event on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa. The Clinton event was hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Fraise.

Mitchell tells Fox that Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler approached him and asked him to ask Sen. Clinton a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question of funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline.

Sounds like the person she’s running to replace, doesn’t it? Won’t happen again, tho.

They looked "promiscuous." Put a leaf on!

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) smiles at US President George W. Bush (R) during a joint press conference outside Bush’s office on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, 10 November 2007. By Jim Watson/AFP/Getty.

It was a really crammed week on the Dish. Here are some of the more substantive posts you might have missed: on the strange notion of an "LGBT community"; the dysfunctional Clinton and Clinton team; the Republican war on Ron Paul; the torture link between Pat Robertson and Rudy Giuliani; and whether the decline in violence in Iraq these past two months means that the Bush administration is vindicated. I’m delighted by the first pieces of good news out of Iraq in a long time, but not at all convinced we have turned a corner, or that the surge somehow erases the fatal errors before it. Oh, and Ron Jeremy’s Britney Spears impression.

"The policeman isn’t frightened by dissidents. Why should he be? Policemen love dissidents, like the Inquisition loved heretics. Heretics give meaning to the defenders of the faith. Nobody cares more than a heretic. … It means they’re playing on the same board. So [Gustav] Husak [the Communist Czech president] can relax; he’s made the rules, it’s his game. The population plays the other way, by agreeing to be bribed by places at university or an easy ride at work. They care enough to keep their thoughts to themselves; their haircuts give nothing away. But the Plastics don’t care at all. They’re unbribable. They’re coming from somewhere else, from where the Muses come from. They’re not heretics. They’re pagans," – "Jan" in Tom Stoppard’s "Rock ‘N Roll", as cited by Fred Kaplan in an engaging piece in Slate.

The relationship between freedom and the unbribability of pagans is not so well understood by today’s Christianists.

A reader writes:

You write that your

"primary feeling with respect to the Democratic party remains contempt."

Me too.

What single word would you use to denote your primary feeling with respect to the Republican party? On the general principle that evil itself is worse than the failure to resist evil, it seems to me that this word should be stronger than "contempt." But what is it? Loathing? Detestation? Revulsion? None of these seem quite right to me.

Something that combines enormous frustration, disappointment, and shock. Rage?

Yes, she plants questions in the audience. But no, she can’t actually admit it, can she? Here’s the classic Clinton response to a classic Clinton gambit:

But the Clinton campaign also denied the practice of planting. "It’s not a practice of our campaign to ask people to ask specific questions," said Mark Daley, Clinton’s Iowa Communications Director. Daley said that when an event is focusing on a specific topic, such as health care or Iraq, "people are encouraged to ask questions in these regards," but denied that they are given specific questions.

But when directly asked if his statements meant that planting does not occur in the Hillary campaign, Daley could only say, "to the best of my knowledge."

"[Planting] is not something that is encouraged in our campaign," he said.

They don’t do it, but they didn’t do it "to the best of my knowledge." Get used to it.