The Dish

Kathryn-Jean Lopez is an interesting specimen – young and a creature of the "conservative" cocoon and "conservative" welfare state. So I guess one has to forgive an astonishing statement like this:

Every once in a while —  say, if there’s a Supreme Court opening this summer, as has been rumored, and he nominates a judge like Alito or Roberts – President George W. Bush may just remind us why we fell for him in the first place. It might not be the best marriage, but we share a love — a love of country, a love of democracy, a love of the Constitution.

The Constitution? After rescinding habeas corpus, authorizing warrantless wiretapping, setting up Gitmo, legalizing torture, threatening to amend the constitution for purposes of social policy, and politicizing the Justice Department to historically toxic levels? Only at NRO, I guess. And I thought even they were beginning to glimpse reality…

A reader writes:

Everytime I see your Beagles they’re lying around doing nothing without a care in the world. What kind of role model are you?

One they look down on.

I can see the rationale, and it’s hard to second-guess ground-operations. In general, giving local commanders the flexibility to exploit rifts between our enemies is a good thing. I wish we’d done more of it in the past, as Glenn Reynolds has consistently recommended. I’m also encouraged, like so many others, that Sunni tribes in Anbar are turning on al Qaeda. But directly arming them is a high-risk strategy, it seems to me. It’s high risk because they could turn around and use those weapons against U.S. troops in a heartbeat (we’re already training Shiite militias to do the same thing). And it’s high risk because any sign that the U.S. is decisively siding with any faction or militia in Iraq’s civil war carries the risk of alienating the other sides and factions and multiplying our enemies and intensifying their hostility. Right now, we are hated because we’re occupying. But deeper enmeshment in the civil war could add two more reasons to despise us: because we’re backing Sunnis or, from the alternative view, Shiites. It also strikes me that the Anbar tribes turned on al Qaeda for their own reasons and purposes. That’s a very good thing – and many Sunnis, as happened in Jordan, will turn on al Qaeda eventually. I think the best approach is to let them decide this on their own and with their own armaments. Then we have a pressing obligation: to get out of their way.

(Photo: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty.)

George Will casts a keen eye on Fred Thompson:

"Tulip mania gripped Holland in the 1630s. Prices soared, speculation raged, bulbs promising especially exotic or intense colors became the objects of such frenzied bidding that some changed hands 10 times in a day. Then, suddenly, the spell was broken, the market crashed—prices plummeted in some cases to one one-hundredth of what they had been just days before. And when Reason was restored to her throne, no one could explain what the excitement had been about. Speaking of Fred Thompson …"

Then this:

In a recent speech, Thompson expressed a truly distinctive idea about immigration. Referring to the 1986 amnesty measure that Reagan signed into law, he said: "Twelve million illegal immigrants later, we are now living in a nation that is beset by people who are suicidal maniacs and want to kill countless innocent men, women and children around the world."

Kids, do not try to deconstruct that thought at home; this is a task for professionals.

I have yet to see an iota of evidence that Thompson’s candidacy is any more than a manifestation of complete Republican panic and bankruptcy.

Mitt Romney is now spinning and even denying the religious doctrines he is obliged to support as a pillar of the Mormon church:

Another case arose when George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Mr. Romney about a Mormon teaching that Jesus will come to the United States when he returns to reign on earth. Mr. Romney responded that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, "the same as the other Christian tradition."

Mr. Grover said some of his radio listeners were astounded.

"They were just in disbelief, saying that’s not true, Jesus is coming back to Missouri," Mr. Grover said. "It’s the L.D.S. Church’s 10th article of faith that Zion will be built upon the American continent."

He’s also bucking the church on how he speaks of its history of polygamy, once a central doctrine of Mormonism. He’ll say anything, remember, and pretend to believe anything to gain power.

If you were out enjoying the summer this weekend, and missed the Dish’s car-blogging, here’s a quick wrap up of the highlights: Fred Thompson’s pro-choice past, caught on tape; how a beagle got me to propose marriage; a Playboy Book inscription from the past; Tagg Rommey’s TOTALLY AWESOME MySpace page; and Ron Paul’s astonishingly successful money drive on the web. Has he equaled McCain?

Weekend Round-Up

The president was his usual, well-briefed, diligent self on his trip to Borat-land:

On Saturday in Rome, the president agreed that there should be a deadline to end the United Nations talks, saying: "In terms of a deadline, there needs to be one. It needs to happen."

But on Sunday, Mr. Bush tried to backtrack when asked when that deadline might be. "First of all, I don’t think I called for a deadline," Mr. Bush said, during a press appearance with Mr. Berisha in the courtyard of a government ministry building. He was reminded that he had.

"I did?" he asked, sounding surprised. "What exactly did I say? I said deadline? O.K., yes, then I meant what I said." The reporters laughed.

What else are they going to do?

Novak advises Bush on how to rescue his water-treading, kiddie-staffed administration.

Amazing he’s still doing voice-overs for radio ads. Especially for a sketchy guy like this. Marc Ambinder has more campaign crack here.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.