Archive
March 16, 2008 - March 22, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 200822 Mar 2008 10:36 pm Pray For Magdi AllamOr at least hope in a non-religious way. For his freedom of conscience, he is now a marked man. 22 Mar 2008 09:06 pm Faces Of The Day
A Tibetan Buddhist monk in-exile looks at photographs of alleged victims of a crackdown by Chinese authorities in Tibet, outside his Holiness the Dalai Lama's Palace Temple in Dharamsala on March 22, 2008. Tibetan exiles broke into the Chinese embassy complex in New Delhi on MArch 21, 2008 after making repeated failed bids since launching their pro-independence protests 12 days ago, police said. By Manan Vatsayana/AFP/Getty. 22 Mar 2008 06:43 pm The Wright Post 9/11 SermonThe full text. The video is here. This is what the Internet can be for. I still do not find it appropriate, and still do not agree with it. But it is not what Hannity and Ingraham and the other talk show thugs of the far right have been saying. They won't air the whole thing. I can. Read it and make your own mind up:
Continue reading "The Wright Post 9/11 Sermon" » 22 Mar 2008 05:51 pm The Aftermath Of Wright WeekIf Kerry had taken on his swift-boating as forthrightly and as quickly and as honorably as Obama, he'd be president today:
Can someone tell me why the Clintons have not released their tax returns? 22 Mar 2008 05:37 pm The Clintonites and Richardson"An act of betrayal," said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton. "Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic." After the last few weeks, I'd say it's an act of simple judgment. But it's good to see the mindset of an unreconstructed Clintonite partisan like Carville: the Clintons are Jesus and all disagreement is treason. Sound like the Bush administration to me. Which is why a third Clnton term, while marginally different in policy, would be very similar on issues of transparency, paranoia, entitlement, secrecy and vindictiveness. 22 Mar 2008 04:30 pm Clinton's Balkans BS UpdateRunning to cars, ducking under sniper fire at the airport? Roll the tape: 22 Mar 2008 03:25 pm Dissent Of The DayA reader writes:
22 Mar 2008 02:09 pm Clinton's Balkan BSThe usual. 22 Mar 2008 01:32 pm The View From Your Window
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 10.30 am. 22 Mar 2008 12:28 pm Closet BelieverMikhail Gorbachev comes out as Christian:
What a lovely final rebuke to Karl Marx. 22 Mar 2008 12:02 pm The Making Of Barack Obama-sistible22 Mar 2008 11:57 am Chess BoxingI kid you not:
22 Mar 2008 11:43 am It's Raining McCainThis is almost as painful as a Clinton supporter made video:
22 Mar 2008 11:13 am An Obama-Richardson Ticket?Hewitt gets excited:
But maybe the power-shift has already begun. Obama has just survived, with some aplomb, his first swift-boating from Fox News et al. He has more delegates. He has more of the popular vote; with Michigan and Florida unlikely to give Clinton much of a boost, smart Democratic operatives will begin to side with the rising star rather than the setting sun. Karen Tumulty:
Doesn't this also have to be somewhat tinged with Richardson's hope for a veep pick? Obama is weak with Hispanics; Richardson has sterling foreign policy and executive experience, another perceived (but in my view phony) weakness; Richardson could also help with the West where McCain will be strong. A black-brown ticket? Hmmm. 22 Mar 2008 10:31 am Laughing At EvilRoss reacts to Osama's latest video:
22 Mar 2008 09:29 am Yglesias Award Nominee22 Mar 2008 06:26 am Defending Bill Clinton
You may want to sit down, but I read the following Bill Clinton remarks yesterday and didn't see anything untoward about them:
I don't think he's implying that Obama doesn't love his country or is not devoted to the interest of this country (although you could, with some strain, parse it that way). He's actually hoping for a substantive, non-swift-boating, non-Coulter, non-Hannity campaign. It's pretty close to my own hope for an Obama-McCain race. Now why Clinton didn't include Obama, who is the current front-runner, and who has shown an ability to speak and talk constructively and civilly for the entire campaign, is an interesting question, isn't it? He's certainly less divisive than he or his wife. And he has just shown an ability to respond to swift-boating not by the usual Clinton defensive crouch but by tackling it head-on and winning the argument. I think the statement just speaks to Clinton's staggering sense of ownership of the Democratic party and the unconcious assumption that his wife deserves to be the nominee. I still think the Clintons cannot believe the gall of anyone daring to challenge their power or their specious self-regard. I've said it before, but imagine if Clinton had won over a dozen primaries in a row, was ahead in the delegate count, ahead in the popular vote, and way ahead in the number of states won. Don't you think the pressure on Obama to pull out would be enormous? And wouldn't Clinton regard his persistence as treachery? And yet Clinton in the exact same situation carries on, with a minimal chance of victory,and actually had the gall to offer Obama a veep slot. Who on earth does she think she is? At best it's pure Clinton entitlement. At worst it's white entitlement. Oh, well, I tried to defend the Clintons and look where I ended up. Better luck next time. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty.) Friday, March 21, 200821 Mar 2008 10:57 pm What Obama Could Not SaySam Harris pens an inimitable essay. Money quote:
I don't disagree with many of my friend Sam's smaller points; but I do disagree with his largest argument. If you want to know why or how, our long dialogue about faith and reason is here. 21 Mar 2008 06:41 pm Obama Pulls It Off?The latest CBS News poll on the Wright speech suggests that Obama scored well. 71 percent thought he did a good job explaining his relationship with Wright, with 24 percent saying a poor job. 63 percent mostly agreed with his views on race. The poll shows no real shift from the speech in voters' intent to vote for him or not vote for him. 21 Mar 2008 06:08 pm The Nightmare Scenario
21 Mar 2008 05:37 pm Yglesias Award Nominee"I understand how naive it is to read a presidential candidate's speech as if it were anything except political positioning, but that leads me to my final point: Itâs about time that people who disagree with Obamaâs politics recognize that he is genuinely different. When he talks, he sounds like a real human being, not a politician. I'm not referring to the speechifying, but to the way he comes across all the time. Weâve had lots of charming politicians. I cannot think of another politician in my lifetime who conveys so much sense of talking to individuals, and talking to them in ways that he sees as one side of a dialogue. Conservatives who insist that heâs nothing but an even slicker Bill Clinton are missing a reality about him, and at their peril," - Charles Murray. Charles cannot vote for Obama on substantive policy grounds. I completely respect that. I have always noted that Obama is much more liberal than I am. But, frankly, after what Bush has done to limited government conservatism and fiscal responsibility, I find it hard to give much lee-way to Republicans (I do not include Murray) who are now suddenly shocked - shocked - that a Democrat supports government as a solution to certain problems. Where have they been these last eight years as Republicans legitimized such liberal nostrums, and even declared that they were the only moral positions to take on many issues? At least Obama proposes taxing rather than borrowing to fund big government. And, McCain, as I need not remind many conservatives, also has a great fondness for government action. As for Ramesh Ponnuru's absurd notion that Charles has not exhibited charity to his critics, I see no evidence for it whatever. 21 Mar 2008 05:27 pm Problem SolvedDave Barry finds a solution for Florida:
21 Mar 2008 04:54 pm BrokeThe Clinton campaign is almost out of cash. Josh:
21 Mar 2008 04:47 pm Beards And DoctorsScience's rocky relationship with beards:
Count me unconvinced. One of my doctors - I am extremely lucky to say - is Jerry Groopman. He's a research scientist and, as book readers know everywhere, an amazing primary physician. His beard is one of the most magnificent I know. (Hat tip: Bookforum) 21 Mar 2008 04:01 pm The View From Your Window
Vientian, Laos, 10 am. 21 Mar 2008 03:30 pm Clinton's LobbyistFrom CQ:
(Hat tip: Ken Silverstein) 21 Mar 2008 02:48 pm Suicide By RobotIf you're enough of a techie, you don't need Dr Kevorkian. 21 Mar 2008 02:39 pm What Didn't WorkPeggy Noonan has been on a roll lately. She represents to me the kind of Reagan Democrat who is able and willing to hear a black Democratic candidate out - even if on some policies he isn't as conservative as she (or I) would like - and who understands that most Americans, whatever the consultants say, are still interested in intelligent, educated, thoughtful discourse. Her take on Obama's historic speech this week is excellent, and its critique is sharp:
That's why I think Pennsylvania is an opportunity for him. The most tired element, and the least refreshing aspect, of his message so far is a resort to left bromides about the grim facts of American life in the last twenty years or so. There are problems, real problems. Inequality, fostered by globalization, has left many Americans treading water at best. But the vitality of the economy, the astonishing creativity of American industry, especially in tech and pharmaceuticals, the miracle of the Internet, the relative cheapness of items like food and clothing that once consumed far more of the average American's expenses - these are also integral to the picture. Obama hasn't conveyed this complicated picture - perhaps because of the primary season. But he should. America needs hope. But it is not currently hopeless. And its recent past, despite the disasters of the past eight years, has had as many highs as lows. 21 Mar 2008 02:18 pm Strategizing Against al QaedaIncreasingly I hear that even if it were in the West's interests to leave Iraq, al Qaeda would consider it a victory, be emboldened and grow stronger. This is a core part of McCain's message, as if a complicated war against a Wahhabist terror franchise, a Shiite regional power and a myriad other, constantly shifting cross-currents can be reduced in this fashion with any great enlightenment. Obviously, the morale of the enemy matters; and bin Laden himself has cited Iraq as a key battle ground. But it is important not to have our strategy actually dictated by bin Laden. Matt makes a similar point today:
I'm not as sanguine as Matt about the consequences of withdrawal. But I do think there is one force Sunni al Qaeda may hate as much as the West: Shiite Iran. And vice-versa. One classic way to advance our interests in a situation like this is to let them fight each other and get out of the way. Al Qaeda has tended to lose support when it targets other Muslim Arabs. And the Iraq-Iran war kept two monstrous regimes busy with their own battle for quite a long time. Why not fly-trap themselves? 21 Mar 2008 01:40 pm Clinton's February FundraisingShe claimed $35 million. Here's how Ben Smith reported it:
The Field has doubts. [I amended this post because although there does appear to be some discrepancies, I don't think it's completely clear that the Clinton campaign did lie about this - but it's a complicated matter. I apologize for jumping to that conclusion.] 21 Mar 2008 01:34 pm The American ForestsAn Atlantic classic:
21 Mar 2008 12:24 pm What I Got Wrong About Iraq
Slate asked me to reflect on my own failings of judgment on the fifth year of the war. Maybe the day we Christans are called to atonement is a good day for publishing it. It's cross-posted here. I think I committed four cardinal sins. Historical Narcissism. I was distracted by the internal American debate to the occlusion of the reality of Iraq. For most of my adult lifetime, I had heard those on the left decry American military power, constantly warn of quagmires, excuse what I regarded as inexcusable tyrannies and fail to grasp that the nature of certain regimes makes their removal a moral objective. As a child of the Cold War, and a proud Reaganite and Thatcherite, I regarded 1989 as almost eternal proof of the notion that the walls of tyranny could fall if we had the will to bring them down and the gumption to use military power when we could. I had also been marinated in neoconservative thought for much of the 1990s, and seen the moral power of Western intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo. All of this primed me for an ideological battle which was, in retrospect, largely irrelevant to the much more complex post-Cold War realities we were about to confront. When I heard the usual complaints from the left about how we had no right to intervene, how Bush was the real terrorist, how war was always wrong, my trained ears heard the same cries that I had heard in the 1980s. So I saw the opposition to the war as another example of a faulty Vietnam Syndrome, associated it with the far left, or boomer nostalgia, and was revolted by the anti-war marches I saw in Washington. I became much too concerned with fighting that old internal ideological battle, and failed to think freshly or realistically about what the consequences of intervention could be. I allowed myself to be distracted by an ideological battle when what was required was clear-eyed prudence. Narrow Moralism I recall very clearly one night before the war began. I made myself write down the reasons for and against the war and realized that if there were question marks on both sides, the deciding factor for me in the end was that I could never be ashamed of removing someone as evil as Saddam from power. I became enamored of my own morality and this single moral act. And he was a monster, as we discovered. But what I failed to grasp is that war is also a monster, and that unless one weighs all the possibly evil consequences of an abstractly moral act, one hasn't really engaged in anything much but self-righteousness. I saw war's unknowable consequences far too glibly. Unconservatism. I heard and read about ancient Sunni and Shiite divisions, knew of the awful time the British had in running Iraq but had never properly absorbed the lesson. I bought the argument by many neoconservatives that Iraq was one of the more secular and modern of Arab societies, that these divisions were not so deep, that all those pictures of men in suits and mustaches and women in Western clothing were the deeper truth about this rare, modern Arab society; and believed that it could, if we worked at it, be a model for the rest of the Arab Muslim world. I should add I don't believe that these ancient divides were necessarily as deep as they subsequently became in the chaos that the invasion unleashed. But I greatly under-estimated them - and as someone who liked to think of myself as a conservative, I pathetically failed to appreciate how those divides never truly go away and certainly cannot be abolished by a Western magic wand. In that sense I was not conservative enough. I let my hope - the hope that had been vindicated by the fall of the Soviet Union - get the better of my skepticism. There are times when that is a good thing. The Iraq war wasn't one of them. Misreading Bush Yes, the incompetence and arrogance were beyond anything I imagined. In 2000, my support for Bush was not deep. I thought he was an okay, unifying, moderate Republican who would be fine for a time of peace and prosperity. I was concerned - ha! - that Gore would spend too much. I was reassured by the experience and intelligence and pedigree of Cheney and Rumsfeld and Powell. Two of them had already fought and won a war in the Gulf. The bitter election battle hardened my loyalty. And once 9/11 happened, my support intensified as I hoped for the best. His early speeches were magnificent. The Afghanistan invasion was defter than I expected. I got lulled. I wanted him to succeed - too much, in retrospect. But my biggest misreading was not about competence. Wars are often marked by incompetence. It was a fatal misjudgment of Bush's sense of morality. Continue reading "What I Got Wrong About Iraq" » 21 Mar 2008 12:08 pm Permanent VacationWhite-collar conceptual art. 21 Mar 2008 11:07 am For Good Friday
"Any authenticity that we are going to have as persons of faith and any authority that we are going to have as witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ will come because of our exposure to bruises and scars. There is no other way to authenticity. There is a certain counterfeit pose that one may maintain, but as to an entrance into the full, the true authority, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that comes by exposure and by wounds. There is no other way. If one looks back at those who have deeply affected their generation, the discovery will be made that almost without exception they did it against some minus, some ache, some pain in their own lives ... At some time, who can say when, there will be a crown of thorns pressed down upon your head. It may be some private anguish. It may be some profoundly disturbing condition in your own family. One cannot detail the direction whence the affliction will come, but when it does, you will have every right to rail against it and to cry out against that kind of providence, even to argue with God, to withstand him to the face ... But do one other thing. Take it. Accept. For was it not our Lord's word that the cup he looked into, the awful agony which waited for him, did not come from unfriendly hands: "The cup which my Father hath given, shall I not drink of it?" I promise you this, if you can take whatever deep hurt that occurs in your life and hold it up before God and say to him, even in bitterness, of this which you despise and this which you hate, "If there is anything you can do with it, take, and use it." I promise you, you will be utterly amazed at what will occur," - Gardner C. Taylor, sermon delivered February 1, 1978. A Charlie Rose interview can be seen with him here. 21 Mar 2008 10:25 am Wright In ContextThis strikes me as worth a look. Here is Jeremiah Wright's sermon from which one Hannity clip has been culled. After 9/11, Wright is making a classic pacifist case against what he calls "the insanity of the cycle of hatred." I don't agree with it, and he clearly equates the death of innocents in American warfare with the deaths of innocents in 9/11. But it does fall within the boundaries of a certain kind of Christianity. It does not seem to me to be Chomsky so much as a left-wing Biblical pacifist message. He is also self-critical, which you don't get from the edited version. He is calling Christians to examine "my own and your own relationship with God," in the wake of a moment when we all sought to fight back against the evil of al Qaeda. I don't agree with his moral equivalence. But I do see the roots of this message in a version of liberation theology and Christianity, rather than hatred of America as such. He includes himself as someone who needs to examine his own conscience and consider what he regards as a cycle of violence. I think the cable news clips are a little distortive and make more sense in fuller context. Let me add that I do not believe that patriotism means never criticizing one's own country, especially if one criticizes one's own complicity in its failings. That's especially true for Christians who are sometimes called to make their fellows very uncomfortable in their loyalties. In the days after 9/11, I would have been furious about that sermon. But from a distance, I do not see it as political so much as a form of radical Christianity. Anyway, see for yourself and make your own mind up: Here's another piece of fuller context. It's too long for cable news. But that's what the web is for, right? 21 Mar 2008 10:08 am Wright And GaysThis doesn't excuse some of his remarks, but it does give another view of the man:
One thing I will always respect about Jeremiah Wright is that, alone among many black ministers, he saw and embraced the God-given dignity of gay men and women. He is a flawed man. He has said some angry things. But I do not believe he is an evil man, as some have claimed. And I also believe he has been a pioneer in one the great current civil rights movements, and done it in a place where it has been hardest. (Hat tip: Chris Crain). 21 Mar 2008 09:31 am Which Evil Anti-American Racist Demagogue Said This?"God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place...[God will say:] And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." It was Martin Luther King Jr, someone whom the Sean Hannitys and Bill O'Reillys of the time called a communist, and an associate of moral degenerates (a gay man, Bayard Rustin, with a criminal record for public sex and one of the great heroes of twentieth century American history). E.J.'s column today is one of the best he has ever written. 21 Mar 2008 09:26 am The Obama Passport FlapThere's no solid evidence of foul play from any rival campaign in this Bill Gertz scoop; but count me skeptical about this being totally innocent. From the absurd rumors of his religion, the lies about the pledge of allegiance, the uproar over Wright, it's quite clear that Obama's historic candidacy has some people in a panic. Good. Some people should be. 21 Mar 2008 09:10 am Clinton And WrightClinton supporter Joseph Wilson:
Joe Klein's response:
21 Mar 2008 09:03 am The Polling On WrightIt appears that only a majority of Republicans buy the notion that Obama shares Wright's views as expressed in a tiny proportion of his sermons on YouTube. Eric Kleefeld has more:
The independents seem to me to be the critical block. Obama has clearly been wounded by the onslaught. But it is not fatal. 21 Mar 2008 08:53 am Obama-sistibleLive by YouTube; die by YouTube. A very white backlash: Thursday, March 20, 200820 Mar 2008 08:48 pm Jeremiah Wright At The White HouseThe Clinton White House, that is. 20 Mar 2008 07:19 pm Change, Anyone?20 Mar 2008 07:16 pm He's Having A BabyA transgender man experiences pregnancy:
20 Mar 2008 05:54 pm Iraq And The Gulf WarHilzoy marks the Iraq anniversary:
Continue reading "Iraq And The Gulf War" » 20 Mar 2008 04:20 pm Comparing CrisesA reader writes:
I take the point. No one argues that the ugliest views of Lew Rockwell or Jeremiah Wright are the views of Ron Paul or Barack Obama. Equally, the ugliness of some of Wright's and Rockwell's views does not exhaust the full views of either of them. Both Paul and Obama tolerated or over-looked some of the ugliness. The obvious difference is that Paul financially profited from those ugly newsletters; Obama attended a church that included some of those sentiments, but many, many others of greater breadth and depth. Should we give greater lee-way to black racism than to white racism? I don't think so; but I do think it's important to understand the cultural context of the black church and the preaching tradition which does occasionally veer into improvised popping off that might be viewed a little less seriously than a pre-meditated, printed pamphlet. But while I do believe these are legitimate questions, I also believe that what the candidate says and believes and his own public record are far more important than the views of those with whom he associates. When you have a man like Obama who has a long, impassioned, searingly honest record on race and his long attempt to overcome it, it seems to me that that should be our primary focus. Ditto with Paul, whose courageous attempt to express classical conservatism in fiscal and foreign policy added a vital dimension to the debate in the GOP primary. My reader continues: Continue reading "Comparing Crises" » 20 Mar 2008 04:05 pm Malkin Award Nominee"I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society," - Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council. 20 Mar 2008 03:32 pm All You Can Eat MusicThe FT reports that Apple is considering charging a premium for unlimited music downloads:
Tyler Cowen considers the implications:
Continue reading "All You Can Eat Music " » 20 Mar 2008 03:03 pm And Not In An English PuddingVirginia Postrel and Reason make the case for or allowing markets in kidneys. 20 Mar 2008 02:46 pm How Wright Could BackfireBob Beckel on the Wright controversy:
March 16, 2008 - March 22, 2008
|
Obama, TrimmerThe Morning AfterLeaving The RightBitter And AfraidHow's That Iraqi Surge Faring Now, General?
Andrew SullivanAndrew's Bio | E-Mail AndrewDish PrepPatrick AppelChris Bodenner The View From Your Window Book A Speaking Engagement Add this RSS Feed 
Site Meter 
Intimations Pursued: The Voice of Practice in the Conversation of Michael Oakeshott 
|
Copyright © Andrew Sullivan. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. TheAtlantic.com