Roger L. Simon

Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror

BUY HERE IN HARDCOVER- BUY HERE ON KINDLE! New radio: Fred Thompson Show, Hugh Hewitt on PJTV (first of five-parter). YouTube version of Roger on BookTV (After Words) with Armstrong Williams - here. Video: Roger on Greg Gutfeld's Red Eye. Reviews so far: Lloyd Billingsley @ FrontPage, Ron Radosh in the National Review, Sonny Bunch in the Washington Times, Andrew Klavan in City Journal, Marty Dodge in Blogcritics, Tod Goldberg in LV City Life, John Hinderaker in Powerline. Lone Star Times, Mark Coffey at Informed Speculation, John Ruberry at Marathon Pundit, Dan Blatt at Gay Patriot. First syndication Commentary. Advance comments from Michael Barone, John Podhoretz and Ron Silver. Podcasts: Milt Rosenberg Show, John J. Miller - National Review, Ed Driscoll - Sirius Radio. Video review by Bernard Chapin. FrontPage Interview w/ Jamie Glazov. Join the Facebook group. BUY HARDCOVER! - BUY KINDLE!

September 3rd, 2004 6:50 am

Nervous Time at the Kerry Corral

I remember when I was a kid the Village Voice used to have a regular political column… or was it just a generic headline… called “Runnin’ Scared.” Kerry sounds a bit that way already, jumping on Bush and calling him ‘unfit to lead this nation’ minutes after the balloons had barely fallen on Madison Square Garden. It’s clear we’re going to see a new “Fighting Kerry,” at least for the next few days. Who knows what next?

Bush is the opposite, the original WYSIWYG candidate – for good or nil. He knows that too and that’s the best part of him. He said as much at the end of his speech last night, acknowledging many of us don’t agree with him on everything, but still soliciting our votes. I appreciated that candor because I certainly don’t. Of course it’s hard for me to imagine a candidate I would agree with on everything, but I admit I wince particularly when he addresses the social issues. Still, that was hardly a surprise and that is the pill I will have to swallow when I vote for him.

Of course that is also why I enjoyed the stomping War on Terror speeches… Giuliani, Miller, McCain… more than I did the others. I didn’t want to be reminded of the parts of Bush’s program with which I disagree. Such is life in the Big Tent. At least they had balloons.

But I am pleased to say I am feeling better this morning now that it is all over. Even New York is looking better to me as I stare out the kitchen window of my sister and brother-in-laws apartment at the north end of Central Park, a view I grew up with. People have said I seemed uncomfortable at the Republican Convention. I’m sure I would have been more uncomfortable at the Democratic Convention, getting into screaming fights with old friends. I’d like to think I’m good at compromise, but maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m too idealistic for that… or too bullheaded. I don’t think I could be a good party guy for any party, not that I ever was. You remember Groucho’s famous line: “I’d never join a club that would have me as a member.” That’s me.

Does this mean I am grudgingly voting for Bush? Not at all. The man said ‘I will never relent in defending America’ and I believe him. That’s more than enough for me in these times of suicide bombers in school houses. No wonder he’s way ahead in the polling in households with children. He damn well should be.

Meanwhile, though, some very good personal news. In part due to this blog, I will be writing my first non-fcition book, a kind of political memoir of the Hollywood left. I will announce more of the publishing details on here next week as they are finalized. See you tomorrow… from LA>

Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:

1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.

2. Stay on topic.

3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.

4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.

5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.

The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.

These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.

163 Comments

1. jedrury:

Roger:

Moses Wine does the Hollywood left ?

Why non-fiction, do a fictional account.

Your fans believe Mo is out there somewhere in LA and we’d believe him anyway.

O, the tales he could tell the world !!!

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:58 am 2. Connecticut Yankee:

Roger–

Congratulations on the good news about the book and a safe journey home. And thanks again for being such a gracious blog host.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:06 am 3. thibaud:

Best of luck with the book, Roger. In many ways, the long strange trip of the 1968er left is the story of our era. Much that can be done with it by a sensitive and wise writer. Looking forward to reading it.

Enjoy as always your blogging and send you my

Best regards,

thibaud

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:17 am 4. syn:

LIBERTY FROM TYRANNY, I stand with President George W. Bush.

Dear Roger, from one who lives in the Big Apple thank you for coming to the city where:

“here buildings fell, here a Nation rose”

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:19 am 5. Charlie (Colorado):

Can we pre-order the book yet?

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:21 am 6. Mark in Mexico:

Political memoir?

Please don’t mention my name.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:31 am 7. Solomon:

oooh! I’ve been to Hollywood. Mention me!

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:40 am 8. Birkel:

I thought you did a great job in the convention.

Sorry about the ill health of your loved one.

Great to hear you’re writing a book.

I hadn’t read your work until I stumbled upon this blog and I will buy what you write.

There’s no party to fit me either.

I’m not religious so the religiosity bothers me.

I’m not opposed (but am relatively indifferent) to gay marriage.

But the social stuff will come as the older, more prejudiced set shuffles off this…

You get the idea.

However, without the economic and military leadership of the Republican party, we won’t be here to enjoy the changes.

Travel well.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:43 am 9. Catherine:

Sorry—just checking to see if I can post small font printó

small font?

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:44 am 10. Bostonian:

Fabulous! I look forward to the book.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:47 am 11. Catherine:

OK, no.

I can’t.

Hey Rick?

Or Syl?

Or John Moore?

Want to send me an email telling me how to post a reduced-size print comment?

Thanks!

trying again

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:47 am 12. D Anghelone:

…I will be writing my first non-fcition book, a kind of political memoir of the Hollywood left.

Is that possible? So many realities from which to choose.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:49 am 13. Catherine:

Congratulations on the book sale!!!!

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:50 am 14. richard mcenroe:

Oh, man, does that mean I’m gonna get sneered at in Bookstar Studio City again? They copped such a tude when I ordered Unfit for Command…

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:53 am 15. richard mcenroe:

Chapter Title ó You Can’t Be a Real Progressive, Your Swimming Pool Is Too Small…

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:59 am 16. Rick Ballard:

Moses Finds Bush

A journey of forty years

That’s my entry for working title.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:02 am 17. holdfast:

Sorry – this is OT this thread – but has anyone lese noticed that the butchers in Russia are being refered to as “Chechan Seperatists”, even on a fairly balanced news network? Caught it this morning – on Foxs, and it made me blanch. If these guys attack Russian soldiers in or near Chechnya then they are “rebels” or eve “freedom fighters”, but to kill 100 people in a scool? Terrorist is too nice a word.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:40 am 18. Fresh Air:

Catherine–

The syntax is left arrow BLOCKQUOTE right arrow. To close, left arrow /BLOCKQUOTE right arrow.

Also, you may be having a problem with Roger’s hosting software. Each individual paragraph must be coded with open & close tags for it to work properly–goes for bold, italics, etc.

One other thing, if you want to see how someone else coded their post, go to VIEW in your browser and select PAGE SOURCE in Netscape or SOURCE in Explorer.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:59 am 19. Catherine:

12:01

I just logged onto the TIMES, and found this headline:

Soldiers Storm Russian School; Fate of Many Hostages Is Unclear

and now I see this:

100 Die in Russian School Siege Shootout

I hope we can all say a prayer, or send our thoughts, to Beslan.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:06 am 20. J_Crater:

When I hear anyone talk about the President, any President, and “social issues”, I always wince. Mostly because these two things never really have much to do with each other.

For all of Ronald Reagan’s talk about “social issues”, virtually nothing ever really happened. These “social issues” are always hashed out first in state legislatures, then the state courts, and then, maybe, the federal courts (this is the ways it is supposed to work). So, the Presidents appointments matter, but that’s about it.

There has never been a vote, up or down, on the topic of abortion in the US Senate, never. Not when the Democrats ran the show or now when the Republicans barely run the show. There have been a few bills on limitations, but never an up or down for the whole thing. Why ? Because they don’t really want one, and the Supreme Court cut all that off, taking a state “social issue” into a federal issue before the normal course of discourse had been completed. I hope this doesn’t happen with “gay marriage” as the giving it the same status as abortion will make it even slower to assimilate.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:11 am 21. Catherine:

This morning I read this passage:

The children crossed Oktyabrskaya Street, joined others who were carrying balloons to celebrate the day and entered the schoolyard for an outdoor assembly. Minutes later the hostage-takers appeared, wearing camouflage and black masks.

Yelena Arkova, the girls’ mother, was in the family’s fourth-floor apartment when she heard the opening shots. At first she thought they were firecrackers. Then there were more.

A battle had started between outmatched police officers on routine schoolhouse duty and what Russian officials describe as a seasoned band of Chechen and Ingush fighters, with at least one Ossetian militant.

Now strange details cling to memory. Ms. Arkova said she ran to the balcony as the shooting intensified and saw dozens of multicolored balloons rising through the schoolyard’s trees. Their release, she said, must have marked the moment when the children panicked, all as one.

Go and see the photo here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/international/europe/03school.html

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:11 am 22. Catherine:

Fresh Air

Thank you!

I actually managed to figure this out by remembering that it is possible to “View Code” and then Viewing the Code of someone else’s fine-print post.

If you don’t mind answering a question, is it less costly in terms of “bandwidth” to post fine print?

Or not.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:14 am 23. Catherine:

Richard M

Oh, man, does that mean I’m gonna get sneered at in Bookstar Studio City again?

Oh my god.

Bookstar!

In Studio City!

I spent hours in Bookstar-in-Studio-City, so now I’m maximally homesick thanks to you!

My now-10-year-old earned his first set of stitches at the checkout counter there.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:16 am 24. Charlie (Colorado):

Catharine –

I posted you an example at this article.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:16 am 25. Fresh Air:

Catherine–

No. The download would be based upon bytes, and the bytes in small pixels are the same as large pixels since the underlying characters are the same. All blockquote does is tell the browser to shrink the font size. It’s more of a space issue.

Also, re the Chechens: There is a rumor that one of the terrorists was caught and skinned alive by the townspeople.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:18 am 26. RogerA:

Holdfast: More interesting to me is that the MSM astutely avoids identifying the terrorists as Muslims.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:25 am 27. Catherine:

everyone

Since I will know nothing about bandwidth until Fresh Air informs me, here’s the link to John Tierney’s POLITICAL POINTS column in the TIMES today.

If you don’t know Tierney, he’s perhaps the only libertarian writing for the NYTIMES.

This column is his list of Awards for “Greatest Gift to Republicans,” “Best Bush Twins Line,” “Worst Bush Twins Line,” etc.

sample:

Greatest gift to Republicans: John Kerry windsurfing off Nantucket. No one looks presidential in a bathing suit, especially when the rest of the news features Republican guys in suits talking tough about defending the country. Jay Leno delivered the coup de grÔøΩce: “I mean, even his hobby depends on which way the wind blows.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/politics/campaign/03points.html?pagewanted=print&position=

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:25 am 28. RogerA:

Holdfast: More interesting to me is that the MSM astutely avoids identifying the terrorists as Muslims.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:25 am 29. Catherine:

Fresh Air

One other thing, if you want to see how someone else coded their post, go to VIEW in your browser and select PAGE SOURCE in Netscape or SOURCE in Explorer.

Sorry–just read the end of your first quote—

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:26 am 30. RogerA:

Apologies for the double post–It was the staff’s fault.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:27 am 31. Charlie (Colorado):

If you don’t mind answering a question, is it less costly in terms of “bandwidth” to post fine print?

Catharine — not really. In fact, it’s very slightly more “expensive”, because the “blockquote” and “end-blockquote” tags have to be sent.

Strictly, “bandwidth” is the capacity in bits per second, but since we (for practical purposes) have constant bandwidth, we commonly abuse the terminology and talk about the number of bits per billing period as the “bandwidth”. So, for example, I just figured out the other day that Glenn Reynolds sends (and pays for) about 65 gigabytes a day on one of his 260k pageview days.

Every character typed requires one byte of data, no matter what font it’s in. It’s your browser’s job to “render” those characters so the look right. Figuring this basic idea out is what got Tim Berners-Lee knighted a few weeks ago.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:30 am 32. Charlie (Colorado):

Catherine –

Not “Catharine”.

Doh.

Sorry.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:32 am 33. Catherine:

Fresh Air

(Sorry everybody, I know you didn’t come here to wade through HTML posts—)

No. The download would be based upon bytes, and the bytes in small pixels are the same as large pixels since the underlying characters are the same.

Thank you, again.

I’m glad I asked; I was assuming there was a Big Difference.

Finally figuring out the web, and getting some kind of web page up myself (NOT A BLOG!) is on my infinite to-do list.

Are there any beginner’s books on these subjects that you recommend?

There is a rumor that one of the terrorists was caught and skinned alive by the townspeople.

I hope it really happened.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:32 am 34. TmjUtah:

Breaking News:

Via Reuters and Fox: Bill Clinton in hospital for arterial blockage/heart attack. Initial reports are that angioplasty has been rejected in favor of quadruple bypass.

ITAR/TASS: Twenty of the terroists killed so far in Russian school slaughter identified as Arab. One escaping terrorist tried to slip through crowd of locals and got beaten to death.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:33 am 35. Catherine:

Charlie

Thank you!

Perfect!

(I had been putting a “P” before my “blockquote,” not realizing the “p” in Syl’s blockquote stood for paragraph. That’s assuming is does stand for paragraph, of course.)

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:36 am 36. Catherine:

TmjUtah

I am certain I have gotten your name right for the first time in my entire blogging life, but if I haven’t, pls fill me in.

Bill Clinton in hospital for arterial blockage/heart attack.

Oh my god.

A close friend of ours, 44 years old, had a heart attack on Monday.

OK, I have to get out of here and go do my galleys (gallies?).

Any more Breaking News and I’m going to be spending the rest of the day just trying to remain calm.

Fresh Air & Charlie

This will sound goofy, but I love every single aspect of graphic design, so thank you for showing me how to do blockquotes. You’ve made my day, and I’m not kidding.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:40 am 37. Catherine:

RogerA

Apologies for the double post–It was the staff’s fault.

LOL.

Hugh Hewitt, or somebody, was did an interview with Karl Rove where Rove was expressing astonishment that Kerry blamed a member of his staff for a campaign screw-up in a speech.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:43 am 38. Fresh Air:

Catherine–

I highly recommend everything by Peachpit Press. Its authors use a very consistent house style that allows you to delve in wherever you want. Their books are also heavily and thoughtfully indexed. You can find their books by their distinctive, big bold covers.

I put my own web page up (not a blog) using their books and stealing, er, borrowing some programming routines from other websites. That’s the great thing about HTML; it’s completely open-source code.

I would get a basic book on HTML and perhaps one on Javascript. The two work hand-in-hand. If you want to do anything the least bit complicated you’ll need to know a little Javascript.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:44 am 39. TmjUtah:

Correction to my last:

Nine of the twenty killed I.D.’d as Arab.

What a world we live in.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:46 am 40. Charlie (Colorado):

Catherine:

My favorite: HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide By Elizabeth Castro (who as a side benefit is both a Cat person and a Catalonian nationalist of sorts.)

She’s got another good-looking one that I just ordered: Creating a Web Page with HTML : Visual QuickProject Guide

This guy’s listmania page has some other good stuff — the O’Reilly Pocket Guide is quite handy.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:52 am 41. Knucklehead:

Good Golly, Miss Molly Holdfast!

I think you just pegged the proper theme for Swifties Ad #5…

O’Neill sitting there with a background of a circa 1971 NYT article acusing US servicemen of being Baby Killers and one from 2004 referring to “Chechan Separtists” or “Palestinian Freedom Fighters” and asking, “Why did they call us Baby Killers back then and why do they call these murdering scum insurgents today? And why does John Kerry want to be more ’sensitive’ with these children slaughtering scumbags?”

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:57 am 42. Fresh Air:

Charlie–

Continuing to waver off-topic: As a dog person, the most annoying thing about that book by Elizabeth Castro is all those stupid cat references. Like fingers on a blackboard to me.

BTW, have you found a text code to produce little smilies and frownies? Also, can we override Roger’s hosting software to change the text to funky colors? I’m sure Roger wouldn’t mind……much.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:00 am 43. Knucklehead:

Catherine,

There is a rumor that one of the terrorists was caught and skinned alive by the townspeople.

I hope it really happened.

I hope it really happened very slowly.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:00 am 44. DennisThePeasant:

Ballard-

I read your book title and laughed so hard I sprayed a mouthful of Froot Loops all over the monitor.

You’re on my hit list now, buddy.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:09 am 45. ambisinistral:

Catherine,

Elizebeth Castro’s book is the same as the Peachpit Press book somebody else recommended. I’ll add my recommendation also. What is partucularily nice about that series of books is that, unlike many technical books that assume you have a technical background of some sort, they assume you have very little knowledge of the subject. Thus they get into the nuts and bolts, such as FTP, Telnet, remote hosting, tools, etc., that are rarely covered in other books which can be very frustrating to people new to the topic.

For those of you with an HTML/Javascript background… continue on with the CGI/Perl book (or PHP for you girly men). Server side scripting unleashes a lot of power (like this blog for example).

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:18 am 46. Tom Grey:

A Book?

GREAT! (Didn’t I ask you to do one first???)

How can I be happy about a book when terrorists, er, PC “insurgents” just murdered a hundred children?

I’m happy about the book, each of the murders is a tragedy. If the book is about the left, the comments about Kerry’s Winter Soldier lies, er, testimony are right on.

US soldiers — Baby killers (99% false; Lt. Calley and other crimes means it’s not totally false)

Terrorist murderers — not; merely rebels (quite false; willing to murder, terrorist NOT in uniform, NOT fighting the US army)

The Moral Superiority Lie — leaving Vietnam after 1971 is the moral choice. Peace (and genocide) is better than (more) War fighting for freedom for S. Vietnamese. This is Kerry’s Lie, the Leftist Lie.

http://tomgrey.motime.com/1093629194#330293

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:26 am 47. lisa huang fleischman:

Roger — The thread is getting pretty multi-topic, but I did want to say that I’m so glad you came to our fair city. I’ve been a daily reader of your blog for a while, although I’ve never commented before, and I’m glad you were around. (I even had the chance to meet you — on Monday, at the National Review party at Turtle Bay. I was the young woman with waist-length dark hair who said Dennis the Peasant should have his own blog, and I gave you a copy of my book.)

Sometimes your more antagonistic commentators talk about how your blog is an “echo chamber.” Well, I don’t live in a conservative echo chamber, I live in Manhattan. Even here no one really likes Kerry. The “Lawyers for Kerry” at my law firm (huge, Democratic, rich) seem merely utilitarian in their support, because Kerry is merely a vehicle to them, as opposed to a man they like and respect. A vehicle to beat Bush, a vehicle to thrust left-wing policies upon the unwilling country, and a vehicle to magnify their own leftish bona fides and superior morality. A vehicle, in short, to turn back time. If he becomes president they’ll turn on him and treat him like a puppet. For some reason I think of that late Roman Emperor, the might of the legions long gone, forced to live out his life as a footstool for Goth warlords.

Your proposed book on the Hollywood left seems timely, because the general verdict on the boomers and their activism in the ’60’s and ’70’s is in the process of changing, and finally settling into historical form, and that form will be an increasingly negative one for the Most Self-Absorbed Generation. That may account for their nastiness and vituperation now — they sense they are losing their grasp on the dominant narrative.

I thought about that as I watched the Republican convention. I usually avoid all convention coverage, but this one was genuinely interesting. The depth of the Republican bench (does that sound right? I don’t follow sports, and my sports analogies are usually off kilter in some subtle and horrible way) is really impressive – they have a lot of talent to turn to in the years ahead. All the Democrats have is Hillary (and I guess Obama now), and I’m beginning to think her time may have passed, in spite of the worship of her base. It’s not her age that’s the problem — she’s not that old, chronologically speaking. It’s just that her whole era — that particular boomer brand of feminism and politics — is in the process of being re-evaluated by history, and not to her advantage. So all the jealousy of, and competitiveness with, her husband which has heretofore ruled her life (what a life! what a marriage! years of thwartedness and vengefulness and weird dependency, and your big reward at the end, with two thirds of your precious life over, is…to get elected to office) will never have an outlet. I suspect Bill knows it too, because he’s a smart man, and he loves her in his fashion, even if she doesn’t love him.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:33 am 48. Syl:

Roger

Congrats on the book and I hope you have a great trip home!

Catherine

I see you got your answer. The font doesn’t get smaller in my browser, the lines just get closer together. (I use IE on a PC.)

All

I was up all night (usual for me) and caught the live video and reporting during the shootout starting about 5am my time. It was terribly confusing and frightening and as far as we know we still don’t have all the facts/figures straight. The Russians aren’t terribly concerned about giving out information, and when they do you can’t depend on it being accurate. (The concept is still too new for them, we’ll just have to give them time to adjust to their new world).

My basic understanding is that the soldiers did not initiate whatever happened but tried to take advantage of a situation that had begun to deteriorate badly. It’s too tragic to even put into words.

We love life and even more than life we love our children. The Islamist terrorists care for neither.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:40 am 49. Catherine:

Fresh Air

I highly recommend everything by Peachpit Press. Its authors use a very consistent house style that allows you to delve in wherever you want. Their books are also heavily and thoughtfully indexed. You can find their books by their distinctive, big bold covers.

I’m thrilled to get this recommendation, because I’ve always loved Peachpit book graphics (assuming I’m remembering the right publisher.)

I’m a sucker for graphics, especially fonts & type design. I will buy a book for its cover.

horribly OT: One of the best books I’ve ever read (seriously) is The Non-DesignerÔøΩs Design Book, Second Edition by Robin Williams.

It’s maybe 100 pages long, with lots of white space, and in one reading it will take you from Generic PTSA Flier to Quasi-Professional Graphic Design. (Quasi-Professional meaning you can fake it.)

I kid you not.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:09 am 50. Barry Dauphin:

Congratualtions on the book proposal.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:11 am 51. Orvis:

Roger,

Good job at the convention. I sure was tired of reading the “extreme” opinions. New to the blog but you’ve gained a fan. Looking forward to the book as the subject matter is sure a mystery. Hollywood has some very peculiar views on the the world they entertain. Glad your visit was a good one in Ol’ NY and a glad for a positive outcome of your loved one.

Orv – from the Heartland

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:13 am 52. Catherine:

Charlie

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

For me, book recs are the Ultimate Goody.

Also Listmanias.

I actually keep a “Note” filled with Listmanias I have known & loved under Entourage.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:13 am 53. Catherine:

Knucklehead & all

Good Golly, Miss Molly Holdfast!

OK, stop right there.

Tim J Utah is not Tim J Utah, he is TmjUtah.

Charlie is not Charly.

Now you’re telling me Holdfast isn’t a guy?

Please tell me Syl is who I think she is.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:18 am 54. flenser:

Roger

I’m glad you are feeling more upbeat, and hope all is well with your family. Thanks for the time and effort you expended on the convention, and also for what you are doing with this blog here. In your own way you are helping to change the tone and the thrust of political and social discourse in this country, and I think you deserve the appreciation of your countrymen for your efforts. Bucking the opinions of your (former?) friends and colleagues is never easy, especially I think for Democrats.

As you may have gathered by now, in the Republican party there is a rather more robust level of dialog and disagreement than you may be used to. I doubt that very many people in the GOP are in complete support of everything Bush and the party stand for. I know I’m not. But politics is ultimately about coming to some acceptable level of compromise with your fellow citizens, and it would be churlish of any of us to put our own favorite cause before the good of the country as a whole.

I suspect many of the Democrats problems stem from their inability to take any criticism, whether from without or within. WIth any luck, the Republicans will never degenerate to that level.

I look forward to reading your “second thoughts” book. I found “Radical Son” fascinating, if in need of editing. Perhaps you can share your thoughts on it with us sometime.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:18 am 55. Catherine:

Syl

The font doesn’t get smaller in my browser, the lines just get closer together

Oh—interesting.

The print is tiny for me (is Safari a browser?? this is how ignorant I am), the lines are closer, and both margins are set in.

This is the kind of post a person WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING HER GALLEYS (GALLIES) WRITES. Apparently.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:21 am 56. Catherine:

Knucklehead

“Why did they call us Baby Killers back then and why do they call these murdering scum insurgents today? And why does John Kerry want to be more ’sensitive’ with these children slaughtering scumbags?”

I’m sorry, that is NOT a good idea for the next Swift Boat campaign ad.

Not.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:24 am 57. flenser:

“Please tell me Syl is who I think she is.”

Catherine, here in the Matrix, nothing is what it seems.

[cue theme to Twilight Zone]

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:24 am 58. Catherine:

Lisa B F

Well, I don’t live in a conservative echo chamber, I live in Manhattan. Even here no one really likes Kerry

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re past that point around here.

This is probably also a sign of how fast Kerry’s campaign has unraveled.

My husband had the absolute expected reaction to the first TIMES piece on the Swifties: Republican smear machine, Karl Rove in charge, etc.

Worse than that: he was appalled. He found the questioning-of-the-medals repellent. (Which is good, when you think about it. People almost universally reacted that way–see Chris Matthews–and I think it points to a core faith & belief in our soldiers and their valor & sacrifice no matter what your politics or your position on any given conflict.)

OK, so when was that?

Two weeks ago?

Today he thinks the medals are largely bogus or at least exagerrated, and Kerry is the weakest Democratic candidate since Dukakis.

The funny thing is, he’s now telling me, “I was always worried he couldn’t be a war hero and an anti-war candidate at the same time.”

He said a funny thing yesterday.

He said, “Well at least I console myself that I never vote in the primary for the guy who’s going to lose the election.”

It’s true, too.

We both voted for Edwards this time, and I think we both voted for Bradley last time around. (I refused to vote for Gore in the general election. I did vote, but I left the president category blank.)

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:44 am 59. Catherine:

flenser

Take that back.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:45 am 60. Yehudit:

Yasher koach, Roger. I just finished David Horowitz’ memoir Radical Son, which has a bit of mid-70s Hollywood Leftism in it, related to the support for the Panthers. I look forward to more radical chic dirt.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:49 am 61. Catherine:

Syl

My basic understanding is that the soldiers did not initiate whatever happened but tried to take advantage of a situation that had begun to deteriorate badly

Thank you for posting this.

I gather there’s been debate on one of the threads about what the soldiers should do, about negotiations, etc.

I don’t want to have an argument about that, but I was extremely upset to think that the soldiers had made a decision to go in against the parents’ will.

My husband came in from his run, learned that the soldiers had stormed the school, and said, “That’s the hideous legacy of Communism.”

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:50 am 62. Yehudit:

PS Roger, do you know Horowitz personally? I know he lives in LA and you guys are about the same age, and were in the same political community back then.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:50 am 63. Catherine:

everyone—-

DennisthePeasant should write a book, but given what we know of him it’s entirely possible that he already has & we’ve already read it.

Everything’s possible here in the Matrix!

Seriously, though, there are a lot of threads here that would hold up in book form, and I bet you could impose a narrative arc on them . . . which would be incredibly cool.

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:52 am 64. Catherine:

Lisa B F

What is your book?

Sep 3, 2004 - 11:53 am 65. Knucklehead:

I’m sorry, that is NOT a good idea for the next Swift Boat campaign ad.

Not even if they go a little more “sensitive” than I would on the language? Why not?

Personally I think its high time we stopped cooking up euphamisms for these murdering scum. It really is time to start calling them what they are – well, OK, I guess we could stop with “Children murdering scum” rather than the epitaths I’d prefer, but at least something closer to reality than “insurgents” and “seperatists” and whatever ridiculous tag their giving the Hezbolla and Hamas murderers these days. They are murderers, plain and simple.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:03 pm 66. Catherine:

everyone

I’ve felt for maybe a couple of years now that if Bush were to win decisively, meaning by 4 to 5 points, the culture wars would settle down quite a bit.

In the past 3 weeks it’s become reasonably clear to me that Kerry’s weakness as a candidate is “healing” in and of itself.

I can now say to my husband, without feeling incredibly threatened myself, “A small majority of the country wants to vote Bush out of office.”

And he can say to me, without feeling completely defeated, “The Democrats are going to let a guy people want to vote out of office win decisively.”

It’s a strange ase of win-win.

Even though somebody’s candidate has to lose (and I realize it could still be my candidate) if Bush does win I think most folks are going to accept this election as completely legitimate.

The Bush voters will be relieved & happy, of course, but the anti-Bush voters will not feel robbed, routed, or scorned.

They’ll feel, correctly, that they could have won if their guy had been a decent candidate.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:04 pm 67. Rick Ballard:

Catherine,

Actually, “How to Field Dress an IRS Auditor” enjoys reknown in the CPA community.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:04 pm 68. Knucklehead:

Catherine,

VDH apparently doesn’t share your optimism.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:07 pm 69. jedrury:

Images post-convention:

Kerry, after doing Nantucket R&R in fancy swimming togs, aka, the wind surfer, goes to Ohio and attacks Cheney for his deferments at the same time as his new advisor, Joe Lockhart,

tells Katie Couric the “War Hero” will deal with the issues, not engage in negative ads and the American people will sense his positive message.

Naked children are grasped in soldiers’ arms and carried from the school at Beslam, some laid limp on stretchers, a young woman in a red dress is laid face down on a stretcher, the death toll, carefully guarded as the Russians often do, slowly leaches out to the world.

After all the frivolity/meaningless contained in the first image, Yeats’ words about “the center not holding and anarchy being loosed upon the world” comes to mind in the second.

I am almost too embarassed to ask how this plays out except to say that the time for serious leaders can not be denied.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:08 pm 70. Catherine:

Knucklehead

Not even if they go a little more “sensitive” than I would on the language?

Uh . . . you’d have to go A LOT more sensitive on the language.

And you’d have to drop the “they-call-us-baby-killers-and-they-call-them-insurgents” business.

And then you’d have to just not do it.

The Swifties have a point to make, and the point is John Kerry.

Not the MSM.

If anyone should know he importance of STAYING ON TASK AND ON TOPIC it’s me.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:08 pm 71. Peter G.:

Adam Bellow was the editor for Horowitz’s Radical Son. Given that Bellow is based in New York and is an occasional reader of this blog, I wouldn’t be surprised if he played a part in Roger’s book deal.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:08 pm 72. RandMan:

Moses Finds Bush

A journey of forty years

Now that’s a title….

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:12 pm 73. Knucklehead:

Catherine,

What a spoil sport you are. I’m in such a good mood today that I think the target should be expanded to include his enablers.

…harumph…

Not even if I say pretty-please? I bet you never give your kids ice-cream, you meano!

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:15 pm 74. Syl:

Catherine

Dunna worry. I’m Sylvia not Sylvan

And I love Peachpit too! There’s a couple of pages about me in a book they put out on Bryce (software, not the canyon).

Oh, and yes, Safari is a browser.

You’re on a Mac right?

That reminds me of something. Being here at Roger’s place (I’m so grateful, Roger, you have no idea what a wonderful experience your place has been) reminds of a parallel experience I had 8 or 9 years ago.

Bryce (3D graphics software package) first came out for the Mac only. I had a PC and was so excited when Version 2 came out also for the PC. I grabbed it the day it came into the store. Installed, ran it, and it crashed immediately. So I dialed up thru my trusty wee modem and found the company’s site where I was directed to a mailing list for tech support.

The list was full of happy Mac users, and in came a bunch of angry PC users blasting the software ’cause all it did was crash. The Mac people were defending their turf and didn’t want to share Bryce with the PC users. It worked fine on the Mac but the PC port was a disaster.

Angry feelings back and forth but it all worked out after a few weeks and we all became friends (I still maintain contact with some of them).

I’ve thought about that time long ago several times while posting here. Though that initial anger towards the ‘outsider’ never happened here (because of where Roger is), there is still the back and forth of two separate groups (Dems and Reps) getting to know and come to terms with each other, sharing a common bond, while basically approaching life from two separate directions.

This mind meld is a wondrous thing.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:18 pm 75. Terrye:

Roger:

Good luck on your new book and I am sure that you will be glad to get back home.

As for big tents, people will always disgaree on social issues, it is a given. Even in the Democratic party there is rarely common ground when it comes to gay marriage and other such issues. These things tend to be decided as J said, over the course of time and by legislators. Or at least that is how it should be.

I hope and pray that the people who did this awful think in Russia are caught and punished so that they can never harm anybody’s child again. The bastards.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:25 pm 76. wxjames:

Kerry says that Bush is unfit to lead.

But, Bush IS our president.

What planet is Kerry on ? Bush has been our leader for over 3.5 years during, I might add, 911 and the war on terror.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:27 pm 77. PeterUK:

Only one title for a book by DennisthePeasant “Make My Day”

BTW there is a picture on Drudge of Kerry with an Alien stuck to his forehead.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:30 pm 78. Springtime Jones:

Great blog. There are a lot more people out there like you than you think. Despite what the mindless drones in the media will say in the upcoming weeks, this was a once in a generation convention that will reverberate far beyond November.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:38 pm 79. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Catherine

The “Idiot’s Guide to…” books tend to be very good.

There is this magic language, HTML (Hyper-Text Marku p Language) that the web runs on. If you look at source on this page, you will see it. If you know HTML, you can do all sorts of stuff. If you know a little bit of it, you can publish stuff that isn’t as fancy. There are also tools (Microsoft FrontPage) that can let you do all sorts of stuff without knowing HTML. I detest those toos, because I have to get into the mess they make and decipher it. I spent two hours of that late last night at kerrylied.com – not my favorite thing.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:42 pm 80. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Roger

No history of Hollywood Leftist would be complete without Georgiana Craig Rice and her last husband, Larry Lipton (early 70s LA columnist). Craig Rice was in your business, with dozens of mysteries published before she got into some Hollywood writing. She was before your time, but Lipton was around in the ’70s – a truly disgusting creature.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:44 pm 81. Knucklehead:

OT, but for those who haven’t seen it, this WSJ article about Nobel Prize winners optimism about the economic future is interesting. I will guess, however, that none of these guys has actually had to pay for their own hotel room or meals in Norway. I’m pretty sure one could live more inexpensively on the moon than one can in Norway.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:44 pm 82. Rhod:

Is it just me, or is Kerry beginning to sound like a creation of P.G. Wodehouse, maybe a member of the Drone’s Club, or a rejected or jilted Gussy Finknottle with a testosterone injection.

The Midnight Whine of John Kerry (9/02/04) was not so much a refutation of things said at the Republican Convention…in fact, Kerry accused certain RNC pols of saying things they actually didn’t say..but a sustained wail about a direct hit to his pretensions. Direct hit?

That reminds of of Vietnam (why not?). Kerry said he served two tours. I served one whole tour and a couple more months, and still served four months longer than Kerry did. But I WILL NOT HAVE my patriotism questioned, by anybody, especially those mountebanks with deferments who “refused to serve”.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:50 pm 83. Rick Ballard:

WHOA!!

New TIME poll.

BUSH 52%

KERRY 41%

This is an Adult/RV poll which means that it skews Dem by at least 3%.

Congratulations, Swiftvets.

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:51 pm 84. leni:

Hi All,

New here. Lurking for some time. I am awed, and impressed by some of your posts. Most of time I am not sure what i could add to your comments.

Just read this:

Campaign 2004: Bush Opens Double-Digit Lead

TIME Poll: Among likely voters, 52% would vote for President George Bush, while 41%

Can we start singing Happy Days!?!

Sep 3, 2004 - 12:56 pm 85. Rick Ballard:

TIME poll issues results:

“Providing strong leadership: 56% said they trust Bush to provide strong leadership in difficult times, while 37% said they trust Kerry to provide leadership in difficult times.”

“Tax policy: 49% trust Bush to handle tax policy, while 40% trust Kerry.”

“Commanding the Armed Forces: 54% said they trust Bush to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while 39% said they trust Kerry.”

When the issues numbers go under 40%, it’s time to put the candidate on a suicide watch.

Sep 3, 2004 - 1:05 pm 86. devildog:

Here’s a link to the nastiest thing I’ve ever heard out the formerly sane Susan Estrich. It should be titled “Why I Became a Tinfoil-Wearing Moonbat.”

Sep 3, 2004 - 1:15 pm 87. Knucklehead:

Hmmm… The strange case of the Mysterious, Disappearing Boos.

Sep 3, 2004 - 1:22 pm 88. TmjUtah:

Allow me to wander in to the wandering thread.

Everybody here knows I’m about as far rightward as you’ll find on this blog. I saw the breaking story on Clinton’s health problems over on that cesspit of wingnut hate Lucianne.com, then trotted over here to pass the word, then went back to post my wishes for the former president’s favorable outcome. Bill Clinton did as much damage to the fabric of our country as Vietnam did, and nobody is going to change my mind about that. He was our elected president, twice, and no man facing what he does needs kicking.

I was proud that the vast majority of the Lucianne posts were positive. I wonder what a DU thread on a Dick Cheney coranary would look like…

I tend to agree with VDH on the possible flavor the future may have, re culture wars. I do not understand what drives the Dean/Kucinich/Pelosi fringe of the Left in this country. I read all the signs, listened to the rants, and scanned the indyblogs over the last week. In my simple world, a guy who hadn’t demonstrated executive capability or an ability to compromise over twenty years of public service should never even have gotten past New Hamshire in a presidential primary.

Saying “no” is not a sustainable policy position in a vibrant democracy, no matter how offensive or crudely you manage to grunt it out.

The twenty year contraction of the Left from the arena of ideas can either climax in amputation…or they can begin acting like adults and attempt to reengage in the debate after November. The Kerry meltdown I see happening right now is going to have legs and coattails. This is going to mean senate and house seats.

Sep 3, 2004 - 1:57 pm 89. holdfast:

There are lies, damn lies, statistics – and then there are polls.

- In the last Canadian election, the polls had the Conservatives forming a minority gov’t right up until 3 days before the election – the Liberals got a minority government. It was a combination of bad polling and a last-minute gaffe by a back-bencher.

- To add a fudge factor, I always aggregate the admitted moonbats (Nader voters) with moonbats in denial (Kerry voters).

- Bush is on a big bounce right now; he had a very positive (Arnold) and energetic (Zell)convention. Kerry will come back and re-energize some of his Sullivan-like voters (want to win the WoT, but don’t really like all those nasty Republicans and the price of vicotory; Kerry will (re-)snow at least some of these folks).

All that said, this is great news, so long as the Bush team doesn’t get complacent, though I don’t think Rove knows how to be complacent, though he can fake it.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:06 pm 90. Knucklehead:

Tmj,

I don’t think any of us hardcore Bubba Loathers wish him to have anything but a uneventful surgery and rapid recovery.

If you haven’t already, now that you’ve read VDH’s article go look at the unhinged Estrich stuff Devildog linked to. Are the Dems lunatic and desperate enough to go down that path? It wouldn’t surprise me but I sure hope not. They are bad enough as it is and we really don’t need one half of our 2 party system to come completely unglued.

If they do, the MSM will either have to stand up and behave like adults or We The People will need to expose them. The bloggers might have their work cut out for them over the next two months.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:09 pm 91. devildog:

…and of course it’s worth noting how the new Time magazine poll has caught up to the Iowa Markets numbers.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:17 pm 92. DennisThePeasant:

Catherine-

Well, I hate to brag (except when comes to the Benz), but I have actually been published.

The title is “On The Necessity Of Compassion”.

It’s a half page pamphlet.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:20 pm 93. Charlie (Colorado):

BTW, have you found a text code to produce little smilies and frownies?

No, you’ve got to do it the old-fashioned way (why, when I was a kid in grad school, all we had was …). The graphic version would have to be put in with an img tag.

Similarly, I don’t think we can easily hack Roger’s colors; I can’t even get a strikeout or a superscript through.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:20 pm 94. Stephen_M:

Murdering Scum argument needs updating. Murdering Backshooting Scum.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:23 pm 95. Terrye:

holdfast:

Check out the dates on the poll, it had to be a lot more than the Republican Convention. It was taken before Bush even gave his speech. This means Kerry lost as much as it means Bush gained. If you catch my drift.

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:26 pm 96. Knucklehead:

I think Powerline does a good job but it seems a bit early to pin this on the Dems. Nevertheless, see his entry titled Dems Turn Violent.

I sure hope this is just an isolated case of a drunken idjit or whatever. The Kerry Kamp ought to be nervous about the election, but is there anyone over there with enough sense to be nervous about the potential behavior of the crazies they seem so desperate to rile up?

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:27 pm 97. devildog:

It’s interesting to compare Susan Estrich’s rant (here if you missed the link above) to Dick Morris’ NY Post editorial.

It certainly shows that you can tell where someone stands by the look in their eyes…

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:30 pm 98. lindenen:

Maybe Estrich’s rant is what provoked Clinton’s heart attack? Or similar news? If his heart is so precarious, why aren’t they sending him into surgery immediately? Are they just waiting for him to stabilize more? When my dad had his heart attack, they got him in surgery pretty quickly. Best of luck, Bill!

Sep 3, 2004 - 2:37 pm 99. devildog:

Dr. Sanity has John “No-Sh*t-There-I-Was…” Kerry pegged.

Sep 3, 2004 - 3:14 pm 100. Catherine:

Rick Ballard, Superstar

I usually take Rick’s & Samuel’s word for it on polling, but I balked at his prediction, last night I think, of a 6-point bounce for Bush coming out of the convention (I think it was 6 points–I didn’t look it up).

And now I see the TIME poll.

Rick says,

Congratulations, Swiftvets

I say:

Congratulations, Rick!

Sep 3, 2004 - 3:37 pm 101. Catherine:

Knucklehead

Not even if I say pretty-please? I bet you never give your kids ice-cream, you meano!

Listen, I’m tough.

Last summer I put my then-8-year-old on an exercise & diet program (he lost 10 pounds); this summer I hauled him through 1/3 of the 5th grade math curriculum in, uh, maybe 6 weeks’ time after he got a 39 on his Unit 6 test last spring. He’s getting straight As with me.

I have 3 boys, so that explains it. Back in Studio City a neighbor was having her 3rd boy, and I told her: Once you have 3 boys you have to be Barbara Stanwyck.

Either Barbara Stanwyck or Margaret Thatcher.

So the answer is: No. Not on your life, buster.

Sep 3, 2004 - 3:43 pm 102. Catherine:

Rick B

I have a question.

I don’t know if you read Kaus, but in case you don’t, I’d like to get your thoughts on this:

He’s a good closer! In Massachusetts! For Kerry, the race is at worst very close, and there’s plenty of time. I’d be more confident of his ability to pull himself out of his rut, though, if I could think of any instance when he’s aggressively campaigned over a sustained period before an electorate that wasn’t overwhelmingly Democratic and actually moved the needle significantly in his direction. I can’t. If anyone out there can, please let me know. … 2:07 P.M.

This is obviously another idiosyncracy (sp?) of Kerry’s; he seems not to get “activated” until it’s almost too late.

Given that this is Kerry’s M.O., what do you think?

Obviously the guy likes near-death experiences, and is energized by them.

Barring unknown unknowns, can he come back from this?

Sep 3, 2004 - 3:50 pm 103. Catherine:

Knucklehead

I have begun to tire of VDH—–and I actually do want to use the snotty, stuck-up term “tire” for some reason. (Which I’m sure has to do with VDH himself.)

Plus there’s the fact that many months ago I read an interview with Laurie Mylroie in which she said she found the writings of VDH “appalling.”

I think that was it.

Anyway, I’ll skim.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:06 pm 104. Catherine:

Freudian slip?

Deborah Orin in the POST:

Everybody is just depressed ÔøΩ Kerry has no message and even worse, they don’t appear to have a tragedy,” said a veteran Democratic strategist

Orin is a conservative.

http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/28036.htm

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:15 pm 105. penwil:

Catherine,

Just my own little humble opinion here, but no I don’t think he can come back. If he really is textbook narcissistic–and Dr. Sanity has me more than half convinced that he is–than his pathology isn’t going to let him do the things he would have to do to come back–such as apologize to the vets for his Winter Soldier testimony, and then re-focus his campaign on September 2004 and a world where Arab terrorists are slaughtering school children and give up talking about his Vietnam heroics–that are starting to stink like three-day old fish anyway–and whether Cheney got a draft deferment 35 years ago. He won’t do it though, because he narcissism won’t let him. Instead, he’ll just go on repeating (as he did last night) the same old behavior that got him into his current mess in the first place.

Btw, last night my husband out of the blue–because I hadn’t told him of our blog discussions on this subject–said that he thought Kerry was a narcissist. Now, he’s a systems/processes guy, not a psychologist or a psychoanalyst and he came up with that simply as a layman’s observation. Well, he’s been a manager his whole life and he’s had a lot of employees of all stripes, so he does have experience reading people. Still, I thought his off the cuff observation was interesting.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:17 pm 106. Rick Ballard:

Catherine,

Thanks for your kind comment above. In re Kerry the Kloser – I understood Mickey to be making a facetious comment underscoring the very junior senators political ineptitude. I believe that Kerry lacks the stamina to conduct the type of intensive campaign required in presidential politics. If you study him a little you’ll notice that he has actually lost a fair amount of weight since January. He looks weary today, his delivery last night and especially today seems flacid at best. His reputation as a “closer” comes from being undergirded by the Kennedy machine in MA. That machine simply does not translate to being a national political powerhouse.

I think that your husband’s take on Kerry is probably the best barometer of Dem reaction that you could ask for. I think that for other than the hardcore 15% of the electorate that are ABBer’s, voting for Kerry is actually going to require more effort than they are willing to exert. Ask your Dem friends what they consider to be Kerry’s strongest asset. Then ask them what they admire most about him. You might hum Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” while you wait for an answer.

In short, barring unknown unknowns I believe that the Kerry candidacy has achieved its apogee without reaching escape velocity or orbital stability.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:21 pm 107. Catherine:

Knucklehead

I skimmed VDH, but didn’t pick up on the part you’re referring to—-

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:21 pm 108. Catherine:

Leni

Hi!

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:26 pm 109. Catherine:

DennisthePeasant

The title is “On The Necessity Of Compassion”.

It’s a half page pamphlet.

So I gather you’ll be voting for George Bush because of the community health centers in rural counties.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:29 pm 110. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

For those trying for effects in these comments…

This is using Movable Type. It has a list of what HTML tags are allowed to be entered. The list is modifiable, but I doubt it has much.

Bill Clinton did not have a heart attack, so there’s no dying heart tissue and no immediate need for surgery. The wicked witch of the north is on my TV saying he will have surgery early next week.

——-

Regarding Vietnam, etc…

Kerry is a special case, hence the unusual amount of Vietnam noise. First, he gamed the system when he was there to get out. Then he came back and did a credible job of playing traitor. In the process he slandered millions of people, danaged the war effort and generally did things to leave a whole lot of people with a very deep anger.

Hence the Swifties. And in the future – who knows what else they and other veteran groups will do.

But here’s another way to look at the issue:

Checking out Kerry’s behavior during and after the war is necessary to understand his character.

It is not necessary to check out any service to check out Bush – we know who he is and he has held the highest post in the military for the last 3.5 years. And yet, the democrats (and the MSM) were all over Bush’s National Guard service, when it didn’t mean anything at all. He could have skipped out (with hints from Kerry) and it wouldn’t make any difference – we already know who this guy is. Same with Cheney.

The Democrats are getting so nasty, and their attacks are so far from reality, that I wonder what is happening. Do they think the sort of trash that Estrich put out will actually gain votes? Maybe it will. Have the flipped? Are we now hearing how they actually think – the bizarre conspiracies, the evil motives of Republicans?

I don’t remember hearing the word “fascist” since the Nixon election, but I’m hearing it again. I think the left have slipped their leashes and muzzles.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:34 pm 111. Catherine:

Rick B

If you study him a little you’ll notice that he has actually lost a fair amount of weight since January. He looks weary today, his delivery last night and especially today seems flacid at best

You’re amazing.

You’re right, too.

This is one of those things I’d been registering subliminally (thoughts like, “Gee, he looks bad.”)

Yes, indeed, Kaus is saying exactly what you think he’s saying—the question was mine.

Kaus has said from Day One that Kerry is a disaster; he lobbied hard against him, as hard as a prominent Democratic Party-associated political writer can lobby.

He was right.

I think that your husband’s take on Kerry is probably the best barometer of Dem reaction that you could ask for

I agree, and thank you for saying so. I try to make personal posts only when my own reactions or my husband’s seem like “evidence” and thus are remotely germane to the discussion.

My husband’s 180-degree reversal (in every respect but his willingness to vote for Kerry, which isn’t what matters here) is, frankly, shocking even to me and I live with the guy.

He’s not even blaming Karl Rove at this point. Two weeks ago it was a given that Rove was “behind” the Swifties.

Ask your Dem friends what they consider to be Kerry’s strongest asset

Well in the case of my husband that’s not necessary; he’s never liked the guy, and as I mentioned he voted for Edwards in the primary.

That’s another funny thing. We’ve been so stressed by our political disagreements since 9/11 (and before, during Clinton’s 2nd term) . . . and naturally I had told him eons ago that Kerry was a creep & that was causing strife, too, just because I was attacking one of the few conceivably electable Democrats running in the primaries.

When the intern story came out I said, “That’s just what I want in my life, another womanizing Democrat who thinks he’s John F. Kennedy.”

My husband got this look on his face when I said that, even though ostensibly he was reserving judgment on the whole thing.

It was that, Uh-oh, she’s right look I see every 6 months or so.

After that he never considered voting for Kerry, even though he thought Edwards didn’t have a prayer.

So there’s no point asking what he admires about Kerry.

The answer is nothing, and was pretty close to nothing even when Kerry was ahead.

He’s a partisan Democrat, and is voting against Bush & for his own party. I don’t have a problem with that if I don’t have to be the target of Right-Wing-Smear-Machine-type comments. I believe in the two-party system, and I even believe in partisan politics.

He’s Bush, and he’s for Brookings. He’s voting for a Democratic administration.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:51 pm 112. Catherine:

Rick B

More data, possibly.

My husband’s big worry now (this is without even having seen the TIME poll) is that if Kerry loses the left will say it was because the Democrats ran a moderate.

That will sound crazy to everyone here, but he’s right: to Democrats, Kerry is a moderate.

What do you think?

I mean, obviously the left will draw that conclusion, since they always draw that conclusion.

But will the left wing of the Democratic Party be able to “win” the narrative?

Getting way ahead of myself here, obviously.

Rove says (in Political Diary) the Dems haven’t been able to run as themselves since ‘64 (I think that was it) and Amity Shlaes, one of my favorite FT columnists, says something similar in today’s paper.

Sep 3, 2004 - 4:56 pm 113. Jamie Irons:

Catherine:

I have 3 boys, so that explains it. Back in Studio City a neighbor was having her 3rd boy, and I told her: Once you have 3 boys you have to be Barbara Stanwyck.

My wife Nina and I have four boys.

Nina is tougher (and a helluva lot lovlier) than Maggie Thatcher, and could even give Barbara Stanwyck a run for her money!

Jamie Irons

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:03 pm 114. DennisThePeasant:

Catherine-

Health centers? Musta missed that while calculating the tax breaks I’ll get…

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:04 pm 115. DennisThePeasant:

More brainfarts from the Democrats-

Susan Estrich invoking the name of Michael Dukakis to stir up the troops for John Kerry…now there’s a rallying cry:

“Win One For Mikey!”

What next, Estrich trying to get Kerry and Dukakis to take a tank ride together?

You just can’t make this kind of stupid up.

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:14 pm 116. Catherine:

John Moore

The Democrats are getting so nasty, and their attacks are so far from reality, that I wonder what is happening. Do they think the sort of trash that Estrich put out will actually gain votes?

Well, one more personal datum.

This morning I told my husband what Susan Estrich wrote in her column, and he looked utterly disgusted.

He obviously saw her column as a sign of desperation & defeat.

I keep telling you: the Swifties are doing us all a big favor, and “all” includes the Democrats.

Many, many Democrats–not all, but many–simply do not “own” their own aggression and hardball behavior. Over and over and over and over and over again (I could write that phrase on into infinity, I think) I read & hear Democrats saying, “We’re too nice.”

“The Republicans are vicious campaigners, Democrats lose because we’re too nice to fight back.”

Etc.

That’s where Susan Estrich’s column is coming from. Dukakis lost because he was too nice, and now he’s a professor at Northeastern University.

She is turning her boat into the attack.

I didn’t give a lot of detail about the “Breakthrough Conversation” with my husband after the Swift Boat article, but the specific moment that seemed to change things was the moment when I insisted on the truth of my observation.

Apart from saying that Democrats “have to own their bad behavior,” I said that the Democratic Party will never get anywhere until it does. (Can’t remember my line of argument, but anyone here could fill it in. I also said there was no hope for the Democrats as long as they defined themselves as victims.)

It’s possible my husband hadn’t thought about the Party this way.

He’s not remotely a “victim” sort of person in his own life; quite the opposite as a matter of fact.

And, of course, once you see your Party through that lens it becomes glaringly apparent that the one Democrat who’s been phenomenally successful, Bill Clinton, did not spend a lot of time begging the Republicans to stop being so mean to him. Ditto for James Carville.

I don’t know. This is a new phase around here, so we’ll see if it holds.

But I do believe what I said: the Democratic Party won’t go anywhere until it stops being the party of “moral preening” (Sullivan’s phrase) and self-righteous victimhood (”I won’t have my service questioned by people who got five deferments” etc.)

So far, around here, at least, the Swifties have provoked conversations that helped.

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:17 pm 117. Catherine:

hi penwil

if he really is textbook narcissistic

To me it feels as if there’s something “more” than narcissism, or something “beyond” narcissism. (I write about psychiatry, and am not a psychologist myself.)

We had this discussion once before . . . there’s some Core Something that’s wrong with the guy.

He could certainly be narcissistic in the clinical sense; I’m not saying he’s not.

But probably a lot of politicians are, and they’re not like Kerry.

OTOH, I do think you’re right that there’s something inside him that can’t do what he needs to do. At least, it’s looking that way.

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:21 pm 118. Catherine:

Syl

Dunna worry. I’m Sylvia not Sylvan

Thank you for that.

And thanks, everyone (again) for all the great HTML stuff & book recs. I’ve got them all saved in a file—

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:22 pm 119. Terrye:

Catherine:

I understand the whole yellow dog Democrat thing, but Huey Long was a Democrat. When the guy stinks, he stinks.

I also noticed that Kerry is not looking so good and to tell you the truth I thought Edwards looked a little odd last night. I only watched about thirty seconds so maybe I am over reacting.

I read most of Estrich’s piece and decided it was too stupid to finish. I read so much political commentary that I do not feel duty boud to read stuff I think is a waste. And that was a waste.

Do they think calling Cheney a drunk and the president a coward who knocked up some woman and then had her get an abortion will help them? Probably not but they have decided that if they are going to lose they are going to leave as little as possible in their wake.

Kind of like that nasty kid that steals the ball if he can’t play. It is mean spirited and underhanded.

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:38 pm 120. devildog:

Boy, I tell ya, the things Bill Clinton will do to avoid campaigning for Kerry!

Sep 3, 2004 - 5:39 pm 121. devildog:

I would bet there are a lot of things wrong with Kerry, like Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and I bet most of them are a lot harder to pronounce…

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:01 pm 122. Rick Ballard:

Catherine,

Wrt Kerry being considered a “moderate” by the party I believe that “party” needs to be defined a bit. The Dems have been a coalition of diverse interests for quite some time. If you divde it into union, ethnicity, and leftist/liberal then obviously the leftist/liberals will consider him to be moderate. The unionists and the ethnics would probably split on that. I believe that the etnics are propbably going to split from the Dem party over the next ten years. The benefits of coming over to the Rep side are too great and they can see that the set aside preferences are dead while reparations have 0 chance of being enacted. I suppose that the leftists/liberals will retain control but the reality is that 90% of their agenda from 30 years ago has been enacted and they have not had a new idea in many years. They may make noise but they are going nowhere. If they make too much noise (as they are doing at the moment) another 5% shift will occur and all power will be lost for the forseeable future.

That’s why Estrich and Matthews are melting before our eyes. They are not stupid people and they see the darkness that awaits them. Same for the lefties at the MSM – the world just isn’t going to be what they once dreamed. Utopianism is just going to have to be its own reward.

Btw, the degree of panic exhibited by Estrich and Matthews suggest that they are forseeing a downticket catastrophe due to Kerry’s ineptitude. I think he may have taken operational control of the campaign. If so we’re looking at McGovern, Mondale redux. Dukakis will seem a comparative genius.

Just cross your fingers against the unknowable unknowns.

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:08 pm 123. Knucklehead:

Catherine,

Re: the Estrich and Dems are too nice stuff…

She is turning her boat into the attack.

That may have worked one day, once upon a time, for John Kerry and his three boat team in a river in Vietnam because the enemy was aware of SOP and wasn’t prepared.

There’s no way George Bush and Karl Rove and the RNC get defeated by this tactic. The crossfire will be ready and waiting and we’ll see exactly why Naval Commanders normally get court martialed for beaching the boat.

That’s all fine, but what will happen then will be a slaughter and, I fear, those who’ve fallen for the “Dems are too nice” meme will not understand that

1- the Dems have never been “nice”, they’ve always fought as nasty as necessary (which is part of the game) and then some

2- being stupid means you get killed and since this is Winner Takes All Hardball, the Dems will lose due to their own stupidity for beaching the boat.

But they will blame that on “Republican nastiness and smear tactics”. The Dems are picking their poison, drinking deeply of it, and expect everyone to feel sorry for them while they writhe, screaming in pain.

I’ve been pondering a somewhat related thing the past few days. It seems to me that the nation has, indeed, been rather evenly divided the past dozen or so years. Many people seem to be waiting for the nice-nice to happen that convinces some small portion of people to switch from one side to the other or, maybe, a concensus to arise.

I beginning to believe we can’t resolve this split down the middle issue that way. I suspect we’re gonna have to have a knock-down, drag ‘em out, triage the worst, send the walking wounded back into the fray, no screwing around bare-knuckled brawl until there’s a winner and a loser. Then we’ll be able to move forward.

And at this point, I’m mildly happy to say, it looks like an increasingly good bet that the Pubbies are going to win and the Dems are gonna wake up knowing what it feels like to really get their asses kicked.

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:33 pm 124. Knucklehead:

Rick Ballard,

I suppose that the leftists/liberals will retain control but the reality is that 90% of their agenda from 30 years ago has been enacted and they have not had a new idea in many years.

Yowza! I’ve been trying to figure some way to say that for Idunno how long. It’s been like I’m watching somebody who has cleaned their plate, yet again, after a seven course feast and is pissed off and shrieking ’cause the waiter took the plate away before they could lick it. And now they’re screaming that the Viennese Table doesn’t have enough choices for their dessert.

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:46 pm 125. Rick Ballard:

Knucklehead,

I’ve been working on trying to remember when the Dems usually start the minority push. It seems to me that they usually have a good apparent effort going by mid-July. Certainly Donna Brazile was strongly active by that time in ‘00. Have you read or heard of anything on the thematic level that the Dems are doing this time?

Sep 3, 2004 - 6:47 pm 126. Terrye:

Micheal Moore is not a nice man.

Calling Guardsman cowards when there are 33,000 of them in Iraq is not smart.

Reminding people that your candidate was a war protestor when most people associate war protestor with flag burning is dense.

Treating medal of honor winners with respect only if they go with the program is arrogant.

So the Dems are looking not nice, dumb, dense, and arrogant.

And they have no one but themselves to blame and that makes them look incompetent, the worst of all.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:03 pm 127. Catherine:

Rick B

Btw, the degree of panic exhibited by Estrich and Matthews suggest that they are forseeing a downticket catastrophe due to Kerry’s ineptitude

Oh—of course. Hadn’t thought of that.

As I mentioned, I knew Susan Estrich a little bit at college (she was in the “sister” dorm to mine, if I’m remembering rightly) and she was a great gal, from afar at least.

Her column today just seems and feels radically out of bounds.

AND: I should add that I only “knew” her as a person passing through the lobby, and subsequently as a person on TV, but still: to me this column reads as panic, meltdown, major loss of control.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:37 pm 128. Catherine:

Knucklehead

But they will blame that on “Republican nastiness and smear tactics”

Actually, no.

Dems all, universally, blame the 2000 loss on Gore.

They think Bush “stole” the election, sure.

But they think Gore ran an astoundingly poor campaign and handed Bush the chance to steal it.

The Republican-Smear-Machine meme is starting to be more interesting to me . . . and one interesting thing is that it doesn’t mean you blame your losses on niceness (except, I guess, in the case of Dukakis).

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:41 pm 129. Catherine:

Knucklehead

Just look at the way Democratic leaders & professionals are reacting now.

None of the people actually in the loop are standing around calling upon Bush to stop.

They’re frantically trying to get Kerry to fire his staff.

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:42 pm 130. Samuel:

Catherine

Susan is falling apart. In the next thread i talk a little more about my experience in NYC at the RNC Convention, I was down on the floor as close to the President that could be, and he did not disappoint and exceeded my best wishes.

Also I had no computer access and was with two distant Russian relatives of my wife, so with the Chechnya episode my week was interesting to say the least.

I appreciate you saying you usually believe my take on the polls and I’m sure that I will be proven right. In all honesty I had a character perspective of Kerry to add to other more natural reading of the tea leaves.

Getting back to Susan and the mean GOP. She is a disappointment quite frankly. I will tell you the Republicans could do a hell of a lot more to hurt Kerry then they are. If the Democrats had the potential angles Republicans have then they would be way more merciless whether they admit it or not. If they don’t know or realize this then they are bitter and hopeless.

I am past the simple Neo-con support territory and entering into the realm of the South Park Republican, DennisThePeasant will be elated I’m sure. (Explained in the next thread)

Sep 3, 2004 - 7:59 pm 131. TmjUtah:

I posted the following at Michael J. Totten’s blog (he’s called the election for Bush, by the way) but I think it is appropriate for this thread, too:

Hey, all is not lost.

Four more years of Bush and Syria, Iran, and possibly even North Korea will have joined the nascent democracy club.

In the interim, I’m sure there will be principled and resolute Democrats willing to reach across the aisle in vocal and sincere support of freeing millions of people and securing the safety and freedom of the civilized world. Right?

*crickets*

Yah. Sure. If Kerry truly implodes, the vacuum will translate into house and senate seats – ESPECIALLY if the advice of sages like Susan Estrich (”You aren’t MEAN enough!!!”) is followed. I’ve maintained that Kerry was a safe loser since he supplanted Dean; now with Clinton off the brake there’s nobody to manage the terminal stages of this election to prevent the base from shattering itself in a self-indulgent orgy of frustration.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Have a fine weekend.

***************

Catherine -

READ Victor Davis Hanson. I suggest you start with Carnage and Culture. I can understand a scholarly contemporary liberal being off-put by his conclusions. That has nothing to do with their accuracy or relevance.

If America was a bunch of city states and California was attacked by Mexico, V.D. Hanson would leave his farm (after planting, before harvest, since that’s how civilized agricultural societies do these things) and report to his phalanx with helm, spear, and shield, along with his neighbors. I’d leave Utah to go fight at his side if given half a chance.

People take for granted why Western civilization succeeds. It has little to do with widgets and everything to do with the investment and benefits directly affecting the people that live inside the system.

Oh, and Hanson is a self-identified liberal Democrat. Read him. You won’t be sorry.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:04 pm 132. devildog:

This unhinged behavior from the Dems and MSM shouldn’t surprise anyone — the path to irrelevance must be painful.

Kerry, Susan Estrich, Frank Rich, and Chris Matthews, among others, are the poster children for the journey.

With apologies to Dylan Thomas…

Oh do go gentle into that good night,

Rage should burn and rave at close of day;

Rant, rant against the dying of the light.

And you, the candidate, there on the sad height,

Curse, cuss, me now with your fierce whines I pray.

Oh do go gentle into that good night,

Rant, rant against the dying of the light.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:13 pm 133. Knucklehead:

Catherine,

You’re gonna have to help me look at what Dem leadership is doing. The only thing I have to judge is what I see of guys like McCauliff (sp?), Kerry-Edwards, and the MSM (which, I fully admit, I see as the PR arm of the Dem Party).

I’m not seeing anything but a recycle to earlier memes and whining that the Pubbies are soooo meeean! And saying flat out stooopid shit. McCauliff, last night or the night before (their starting to run together) within an amazingly short period of time, told one questioner that he knew nothing about any claims by Kerry that he was in Cambodia and told another questioner that Kerry was in Cambodia twice, once for a CIA dropoff mission and, IIRC, once for an arms delivery run.

And Kerry (you’ll have to ’splain to me how he doesn’t qualify as Dem Leadership and Professionals given, yaknow, the nomination and all) was not exactly behaving sensibly last night.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:21 pm 134. Rick Ballard:

Catherine,

Democrat leaders want to fire the candidate not his staff. I believe that Kerry himself has “taken the reins” in this campaign. That’s what is scaring the hell out of Estrich and Matthews. When McGovern and Mondale got their butts kicked they didn’t actually do a lot of damage downticket. This time could be very different.

Sep 3, 2004 - 8:33 pm 135. RogerA:

Catherine: you really must stop posting for a while–I am starting to fantacize. First, DennisthePeasant; now you! Enough already.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:04 pm 136. DennisThePeasant:

RogerA-

I find it very distrubing to find you invoking my name within a one sentence proximity of writing “I am starting to fantacize[sic].”

Dennis and fantasy are not two concepts to be mixed, irrespective of circumstance.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:23 pm 137. Rick Ballard:

Mr. Peasant,

Your Buddy Hackett with an Ethel Merman boa and 12 inch heels description may have caused many hearts to flutter.

Or stomachs.

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:30 pm 138. richard mcenroe:

Dennis the Peasant ó On The Necessity of Compassion ó I can get it down below half a page:

“Because someday I might need some.”

Sep 3, 2004 - 9:47 pm 139. DennisThePeasant:

Ballard-

And covered with half eaten Froot Loops, thanks to you.

Richard-

That was about it. I extended it to half a page because I was getting paid by the word.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:04 pm 140. RogerA:

Dennis–what Rick Ballard said–that image, along with your description of what you had for dinner one day, were enough to….well….whatever.

Sep 3, 2004 - 10:06 pm 141. kellymo:

Mark in Mexico had the following link on his blog to a great Telegraph piece (title: Why Bush is America’s Natural Leader, Stupid):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/09/04/do0403.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/04/ixworld.html

The author comes close but never states one thing, though – that Bush really gets the difference between the right thing to do and the popular thing to do (I would think this stems from his deep faith). This is what the Kerry and his campaign doesn’t understand; their poll-driven positions look like just that.

Sep 4, 2004 - 4:44 am 142. Catherine:

Rick B

Democrat leaders want to fire the candidate not his staff. I believe that Kerry himself has “taken the reins” in this campaign. That’s what is scaring the hell out of Estrich and Matthews

Sorry, I don’t follow the second part precisely.

First of all, how are you gleaning that Kerry has taken the reins of his campaign? I don’t remotely dispute your perception (it’s my perception, too) but I’m interested in how you’ve put it together. I’m just picking it up subliminally; I have no idea why I’m perceiving what I’m perceiving.

Second, I don’t get, exactly, why Estrich & Matthews are panicked more than they’d be if Kerry hadn’t taken the reins but was sinking (or dropping) in the polls because of staff incompetence: are you saying they’re panicked that things are going to get much, much worse?

In other words, they’re not just worried about the polls, they’re foreseeing worse trouble to come?

important

OK. I want to get your read on this.

This morning’s FT reports that Rove believes Bush lost 4 million evangelical votes when revelations of drunk driving came out on the eve of the election. Those 4 million people stayed home instead of voting.

Susan Estrich has now put the abortion story out there, previewing Kitty Kelly’s book.

What does that do to the evangelical vote?

I can tell you what the story is, because . . . I know what the story is (probably).

It’s an abortion Bush paid for, for a girlfriend I gather, while married to Laura.

I don’t know whether the abortion pre-dates his religious awakening.

Assuming the abortion (real or not) happened before he turned 40, I’m thinking evangelicals give him a second chance the same way many could forgive Clinton his years of womanizing, because they believe that God grants forgiveness to sinners who repent (I’m not sure how they put it, but you probably know what I mean).

Is that your perception?

If the abortion is said to have happened after he turned 40, i.e. after he stopped drinking and was born again—-then what?

What do you think?

And what about the timing?

We’re 60 days out from the election.

And: if anything like the 11-point lead holds up, can he survive a significant loss in evangelical support?

Last, what about the hypocrisy issue? I learned about the abortion (from secondhand sources, and I don’t know if it happened or not, but I don’t rule it out) during the 2000 election as I recall. Maybe before the election, maybe just after.

I didn’t like Bush at the time, and I didn’t like Gore (and didn’t vote for any candidate at all).

Although I had, and have, mixed feelings about the legality of abortion, I was bothered by the pro-life stance of a man who had the wherewithal to pay for a private abortion in his own life while campaigning against abortion for everyone else.

Now, as I say, that didn’t affect my vote.

But I’m not the model here.

Does Bush have any significant degree of “soft” support amongst moderates that he could lose over a pro-life stance and a pro-life convention?

What do you think?

Sep 4, 2004 - 6:55 am 143. Catherine:

Rick B

I’ve been working on trying to remember when the Dems usually start the minority push

Are you suggesting that this is evidence Kerry has taken the reins in his hands?

Sep 4, 2004 - 6:57 am 144. Catherine:

RogerA

Catherine: you really must stop posting for a while–I am starting to fantacize

What?

I don’t get it!

“Do you ever get the feeling there’s something going on that we don’t know about?”

Mickey Rourke, DINER

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:06 am 145. Catherine:

Rick B

When McGovern and Mondale got their butts kicked they didn’t actually do a lot of damage downticket. This time could be very different

Oh!

Sorry—I missed that post.

OK, I get it.

Still mystified re:

RogerA

Kerry’s pitch at the Red Sox game

Various Assorted Other

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:08 am 146. Catherine:

Terrye

Voice of reason.

I can’t even describe what it is you do so brilliantly; that’s how hard it is to do what you do.

I recently met a woman who coaches public figures on media.

I was describing to her the way in which Temple (Grandin) always can sum up a whole school of thought, or a book, or a body of research, in one succinct line, which is what you can do, and she said, “No one can do that.”

It’s true.

There are about five people on the planet who can do what you do routinely here, and you’re one of them.

And btw I hope you’re not offended that I’ve compared you to an autistic person.

When the autistic person is Temple, it’s a compliment.

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:11 am 147. Catherine:

Jamie Irons

My wife Nina and I have four boys.

Nina is tougher (and a helluva lot lovlier) than Maggie Thatcher

Thank you.

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:15 am 148. Catherine:

Jamie Irons

Our toughest kid right now is Andrew, one of the two with autism, who has just turned 10 and has figured out how to hit.

That gives us a window of about two years to get him under control if he’s going to live with us instead of being “placed” outside the home because he’s too big and too dangerous for me to handle.

I tell my friends: It’s between him and me, and I’m going to win.

One year from now, hitting is going to be gone.

It better be.

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:20 am 149. Catherine:

TmjUtah

a scholarly contemporary liberal

Laurie Mylroie is not a scholarly contemporary liberal!

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:22 am 150. Catherine:

Oh, and Hanson is a self-identified liberal Democrat. Read him. You won’t be sorry

My problem with VDH is that I’ve read a huge amount of him, and I pretty much need to move on now.

He was terrifically helpful to me in thinking about the WOT (at first, though not so much now).

But he hasn’t been as helpful in thinking about culture.

VDH tends toward apocalyptic predictions.

That’s fine; his predictions could come true; even if they don’t come true they can be useful insights into fault lines in our culture now; they could serve as important warnings.

But I’ve absorbed most of his “narrative” (and I don’t use the word as a term of dismissal) and it fails me often enough that it can’t become my own narrative.

Here’s an example.

VDH consistently warns Europe that Americans, offended by European anti-Americanism, will one day turn their backs on the world, refuse to defend Europe or anyone else, retreat to our shores.

That’s plausible, and I was moved by his vision when I first read it.

But in fact, exactly the opposite is happening.

Polls show American desire to “work together with” Europe increasing, not decreasing (there’s a new poll out today)—while showing exactly the opposite with Europe. Europe is getting more isolationist. Not America.

As well, and I’ve been wanting to post about this (no time today) I am seeing fascinating cases of individual Europeans and Americans actively reaching out to each other (I’ll post when I have time).

I can’t think of other examples, but consistently, with VDH’s cultural predictions, I’ve found his take on things to be darker than it should be–or than I can be myself.

I spent my whole childhood having my mom tell me “Don’t be negative.” As an adult I’ve discovered she was right.

I am a self-made optimist. (Well, mother-made.) To the extent that I have a foreign policy/cultural analysis “guru” it is Walter Russell Mead.

There’s something in the human spirit, or in God, or in the universe, that keeps us going, keeps the grass springing up between the cracks in the concrete, and the people getting up each day and starting fresh. I don’t believe the apocalypse is near.

And I believe the American people are the golden retrievers of the world. As a people, we’re just naturally happy even when we probably ought to be worried sick.

I guess that’s my problem with VDH ultimately: if he were a dog, he wouldn’t be a Golden. Heíd be one of the shepherds, highly intelligent, smarter than a Golden, but nervous and easily spooked. (I hope thatís not insulting in any way; I donít mean it to be.)

I donít think thatís America.

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:49 am 151. Jamie Irons:

Catherine (in re post of 7:20 AM):

My heart goes out to you; this is such a difficult problem you’re dealing with.

***

I was thinking about what you said (IIRC) about VDH, how you were getting tired of him or words to that effect. I was wondering if it was his prose style more than what he has to say. I find his analyses fairly persuasive, but his style inelegant and even clunky at times, hence to my highly refined ear (ha ha) fond of metaphysical poets, early Wordsworth, Wallace Stevens and Robert Lowell (see how refined I am!), VDH can at times be almost irritating. Not the content; the form.

You impress me as a stylist even in your quick postings here, and an astute thinker.

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:51 am 152. Jamie Irons:

Whoops! While I was composing my 7:51 post you were posting yours of 7:49. So much for my “hypothesis” about your take on VDH!

Jamie Irons

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:54 am 153. Jamie Irons:

Catherine:

Golden retriever! I love that!

Jamie Irons

Sep 4, 2004 - 7:57 am 154. Rick Ballard:

Catherine,

I’m going to have to start getting up earlier in order to keep up. In re 6:55, I’ve followed politics the way some kids follow their favorite baseball teams for over thirty years. I have no training in political science and have only worked as an unpaid volonteer on a couple of campaigns. The first one was in ‘66 for a fellow named Bob Finch for Lt. Gov. in California. So what I write here has only the weight of my observational experience behind it.

The reason that I believe that Kerry has taken the reins is that the midnight speech was one of the dumbest political moves I’ve ever seen. That coupled with the ineptitude shown in responding to the Swiftvets tells me that Kerry is at minimum unable to choose correctly between differing advice given by contentious advisors. I have no idea whether Kerry meets enough of the criteria established by the DSM-IV for NPD but he certainly makes choices in a manner that supports that conclusion. If he is a true narcissist then we can expect ever increasing fury in his attempts at rebuttal. His “you can’t challenge me on this” response is going to get worse.

Wrt Bush and the evangelicals, reaction by evangelicals to a revelation of misconduct is determined by the severity and frequency of the misconduct and the contrition shown by the penitent. If what is suggested did in fact occur then Bush better get it out now and explain it as an isolated incidence of weakness. It won’t have a tremendous impact unless it was an affair of some duration. If it was of some duration he’ll lose a significant portion of the evangelical support. The evangelical extention of grace tends to cover singular rather than serial events (although there is no theological basis for the limitation. He can win without them, he just can’t beat Reagan’s ‘84 margin without them.

My reference to initiation of a minority support drive is indeed another indicator that Kerry is in control. Minority support has a monetary cost to it that I do not believe is covered in Kerry’s campaign budget. Brazile did a masterful job for Gore but she isn’t even giving a half effort for Kerry. As I said before, the minority voter sees nothing for himself in voting for Kerry. Kerry has absolutely zero minority presence.

Gotta run.

Sep 4, 2004 - 8:44 am 155. DennisThePeasant:

RogerA and Rick Ballard-

Are you guys trying out for the New York Times or what?

If I remember correctly (and I always do), I was once asked what I looked like. I responded that one need only imagine the offspring of a Buddy Hackett-Ethel Merman coupling. There was no mention of feather boas and thigh-high black leather boots with 13 inch stilleto heels. That was in another post regarding what I do in my spare time.

Let’s get the facts straight.

Sep 4, 2004 - 8:46 am 156. Jamie Irons:

DtP:

LOL!

Very, very funny!

Jamie Irons

Sep 4, 2004 - 8:50 am 157. richard mcenroe:

Catherine ó I have two nephews with autism. You have a tough fight. But you can win it and you will.

My prayers are with you.

Sep 4, 2004 - 9:01 am 158. Sandy P:

–Susan Estrich has now put the abortion story out there, previewing Kitty Kelly’s book.–

If this is the same “abortion,” Flynt sent out his goons and his $1 million, found the woman she said Flynt wrong, and it was in the early – mid 70s, IIRC.

Remember that?

I thought it was before Laura. And I thought there was no there there.

Flynt couldn’t prove it in 2000.

Did Kelly find out anything on the coke meme?

Sep 4, 2004 - 9:08 am 159. richard mcenroe:

Another example of the Kerry camp’s tin ear.

The drunk driving conviction hurt Bush because Rupert Murdoch dumped it on the air just days before the election. Susan Estrich has now dumped weeks before the polling day, giving plenty of time for the story to be debunked, defused and neutralized.

This was not a political move. This was a response of anger, a tit-for-tat retaliation. This was the reaction of a candidate and a campaign easily goaded off its strategy and its message. This was a response by a candidate who does not have the self-control for the Presidency.

Sep 4, 2004 - 9:13 am 160. richard mcenroe:

The Kerry campaign reminds me of the cop in The Two Jakes who tries to blackmail Jack Nicholson by claiming he solicited him for homosexual acts, who becomes a laughing stock in the courtroom when he tries to actually make the claim.

Maybe we shouldn’t let Kerry watch anymore movies…

Sep 4, 2004 - 9:15 am 161. Charlie (Colorado):

But [VDH] hasn’t been as helpful in thinking about culture.

Yeah, exactly. There are a number of … I have to say “cultural reactionaries” … like Hanson, Tom Tancredo, a bunch of others — who are utterly horrified that there are people coming to the US and happily speaking Spanish. Little brown people.

I hate to ascribe racialist motives to anyone, but the notion of cultural reaction seems to fit anyway.

They’re equally appalled by the rise of Buddhism in the US, Islam anywhere, and — right now — a lot of them are appalled that the “natural order of the universe” is being disturbed by Bush taking the direction that liberty is more important to security than unity.

I need to think more on this, but “cultural reaction” seems like a really interesting notion….

Sep 4, 2004 - 9:46 am 162. TmjUtah:

Catherine -

Ma’am, I was referring to you as a contemporary scholastic liberal.

If VDH has paled, maybe it’s not all style. If you follow the macrocycles of cultures, especially western cultures, you see that stability evolves from the inception of citizen control of power. Expansion follows as a result of the inherent ability of said culture to outcompete its neighbors, with expansion comes complexity, and with that complexity, coupled with excess spare time on the part of leaders and theorists, comes conscious efforts to ‘fix’ the societies with utopia as the ideal objective.

That’s where the democrats come in, by the way…

…and if you think that VDH is apocalyptic, please consider the almost unconsciously accepted paradigm of empire: rise, peak, decline, fall. What VDH has done is to propose that western empires fail once the citizens no longer perceive themselves to have a personal, vested interest in the success or failure of the system.

I don’t think he’s reactionary, and for that matter I don’t think calling Tom Tancredo that brings any value to the argument. There is no profit in allowing an underclass to be incubated in a free society – which is exactly the result, if not the intent, of unrestricted immigration.

The uniqueness of the American experiment transcends the cycles. It is the most vibrant, successful, and self-correcting society to ever exist on the planet. The key strength is not rooted in a state religion nor anything close to a monolithic ethnic identity, but rather in the concept of individual freedom and potential of individuals to pursue their own hopes and dreams. VDH and Tancredo don’t want immigration stopped, nor do they want any particular group excluded (well, not entirely – and I agree with VDH about muslims right now) but what they are against is the ongoing agenda of some political factions to use multiculturalism and the resulting balkanization of ethnic/national subgroups for their own use, contrary to encouraging assimilation into this unique and successful American culture.

People die to get here. It’s not fair to pen them in the same corrals they are trying to escape from…and the longterm costs could be measured as failure of our own system.

As an aside, I’ve seen “They blame the candidate” around a lot over the last few days. Yes, the party blamed Gore, and the supreme court, and Rove, and for all I know they blamed FOX news for 2000. The long knives are coming out earlier for Kerry. Of course they must blame the candidate – if it’s not his fault, they might be forced to look at the party, right? Can’t be having that!

Just got back from an airshow. The goddesses and I spent a few minutes out on the flightline with Specialist Elliot of the Utah ANG Combat Engineers. He was in his desert cammies. He says media is full of sh*t, the shooters they face run about 80/20 foreigners (Pal/Syrian/Saudi/Iranian, in that order) to locals, and almost without exception the dead ones they retrieve are carrying between two to four hundred dollars in cash – crisp bills – and the unit leaders even more. Contract employees of terror – holy outsourcing! Somebody better call John Kerry… He has a high regard for the local Iraqis his unit has been involved with in rebuilding infrastructure and roads.

He goes back to the sandbox in 10 days. Praying folks, please remember Spec. Elliot.

Sep 4, 2004 - 2:32 pm 163. richard mcenroe:

Charlie (Colorado) Victor Davis Hanson is a farmer (vineyard, actually), in California. He has employed and known immigrant laborers all his adult life. I think his observations have a weight of actual experience behind them that merit them some serious attention. Certainly he has raised some valid points and useful observations about how thoroughly Latino immigrants and their children assimilate into our culture in such “conservative” states as Texas and such “liberal” states as California (hint: California does not win).

Sep 6, 2004 - 5:26 pm

Roger L Simon

The blog of the mystery writer, screenwriter and CEO of Pajamas Media

Just Published

With gratitude to the readers of this blog without whom my new -- and first non-fiction -- book would likely never have been written.

Simon's first non-fiction book - Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror - Pub. date: February 5, 2009

Name:	(required, displayed)
Email:	(required, not publicized)
URL:	(optional, displayed)
Comments:

Pajamas Media

Roger L. Simon

Nervous Time at the Kerry Corral

163 Comments

Write a Comment

Roger L Simon

Just Published

Pages

Archives

Books

PajamasXpress Blogs

PJM Political

DAILY DIGEST

THE EDITORS @ PJM