As a lapsed Episcopalian,* I haven’t resisted having a chuckle at the expense of all the Catholics scurrying about trying to make sense of Benedict XVI’s decision to abdicate. Ross Douthat does a pretty good job, agreeing that it makes sense to have a vigorous and active leader seated in St. Peter’s chair, but then…
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Republicans whine, Vanneman laughs
It’s true: politics is a spectator sport, but a spectator sport with a difference. Even when the home team is screwing up, you can still laugh at the opposition. Never was that old adage, which I just made up, more true than today. I am emphatically not a fan of President Obama, and his second…
NYT finds new supply of terrorists in North Africa, thank God
Were you as worried as I was that the U.S. would run out of terrorists to kill? If so, Michael R. Gordon and the New York Times have some good news for you: The bloody resolution of the hostage crisis in Algeria has brought into focus the broader challenges the United States and its allies…
The plaint of Chait
Over at New York magazine, plaintive Jonathan Chait raises once more his plaintive plaint: “Why is Obama caving on taxes?” Yes, why, oh, why, after campaigning pretty much forever on his determination to raise taxes on those earning $250,000 a year and up, has Obama caved, for the umpteenth time in his negotiations with the…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “‘Cause baby don’t screw in a chair, that’s why.” “‘Cause the rent is too damn high, and your ass is too damn fat.” “No, Roy, you aren’t being replaced. But you are being co-opted.” “You’re a brilliant analyst, Dr. Thompson. But your ‘standing cure’ is for shit.” “This is how it works:…
The Israeli assault on Gaza: A cry for help?
There were a lot of unhappy people around the globe on Wednesday, Nov. 7, but Benjamin Netanyahu must have been one of the unhappiest. In the three presidential debates, his man Mitt proved to be no George Bush, and then in the election itself he was totally whipped. Not only that, the Democrats picked up…
Outreach to Blacks, A Republican’s User’s Guide
In the last election, Republicans have noticed that no black people voted for them, and, since they lost, they have started to worry about it. I am not black myself, but I am a sport, and so I have decided to provide a few pointers. Stop trying to prevent black people from voting. They hate…
Suck on it, Hillbillies
Am I a bad winner? Suck on it. Suck on it, Peggy Noonan. Suck on it, George Will, for predicting a Romney landslide. Suck on it, political “expert” Michael Barone, for doing the same. Suck on it, Charles Krauthammer. Suck on it, William Kristol. Suck on it, Weekly Standard. Suck on it, Bibi Netanyahu. We…
Annals of Republican Hypocrisy No. 47,313: Hands across the aisle
Here is Peggy Noonan: “He [Obama] misread his Republican opponents from day one. If he had been large-spirited and conciliatory he would have effectively undercut them, and kept them from uniting. (If he’d been large-spirited with Mr. Romney, he would have undercut him, too.) Instead he was toughly partisan, he shut them out, and positions…
William Rehnquist, still elusive
Neither John Jenkins nor his new book, The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist, have gotten much respect on the web. Both University of Chicago Law Professor Eric A. Posner at the sometimes liberal New Republic and Kevin R.C. Gutzman, professor of history at Western Connecticut State University, writing for the unconventionally conservative American Conservative,…