Comments on: They haven’t changed.

By: Terry WAlter

Terry WAlter — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:56:13 +0000

So Mary, wouldn’t you say he was an asstute observer, and a great judge of character?

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:19:09 +0000

Mary rocks!

(and in so doing, proves once again that women have ALL the power, and too much refinement to utilize it)

By: nancy

nancy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:08:45 +0000

And Mary wins the thread in 33! Wooooo!

By: LA Mary

LA Mary — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:04:58 +0000

Um, I went out to dinner with Fouad Ajami once. When I managed a gourmet shop on the Upper West Side he used to stop in, buy stuff, and flirt with me. He got famous when Iran got crazy and the all the news shows needed someone to explain what Shiites are. I think he was a professor of poli sci at Columbia before that.
We didn’t talk politics at dinner. He mostly was coming on to me.

By: RoryonLanGuyland

RoryonLanGuyland — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:27:09 +0000

Know what I also hear alot of? “Asterick.” No, you morons, it’s “AsteriSk!” Please, get it RIGHT! God, even heard a girl on a local radio spot say “asterick” the other day. Ack!

Rory the former Copy Chief

By: moe99

moe99 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:05:34 +0000

Alex, there’s a few bloggers that I think got it right about Khalidi:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/10/if-you-have-a-r.html

http://icga.blogspot.com/2008/10/rubin-my-friend-neo-nazi.html

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003779

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/28/mccain-funded-work-of-pal_n_138606.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015449.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241253.php

The problem with the McCain campaign is that it has devolved into zero policy and 100% personal attacks. There is no redeeming value in McCain or Palin at the present time.

By: The Subtle Rudder

The Subtle Rudder — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:05:28 +0000

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but here’s an analysis of whether bad times lead to more zombies: http://tinyurl.com/6mjh3q

Check out that chart!

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:04:26 +0000

Alex – great article; thanks for the link.

As some pundit said – the McCain campaign doesn’t have any high cards left – but they’re playing all that remains in their hand.

It IS somewhat surprising that McCain is going down in such a dishonorable way. His presidential run presumeably marks the curtain-call of his career on the national stage, and to end on such a Nixonian note is more than a little odd. (his campaign looks more and more like the farewell-balloon ride of Professor Marvel in the Wizard of OZ “I can’t come back! I don’t know how to fly it! So long, folks!!”)

By: alex

alex — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:14:29 +0000

Regarding Khalidi, the WaPo put it best:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103003244.html

By: Jeff (the mild-mannered one)

Jeff (the mild-mannered one) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:45:15 +0000

Terry, i read that piece yesterday, and was baffled by it myself. Ajami is trying to raise the ambiguity point about Obama’s politics, which is fair enough and needs doing (still will after Jan. 20, for that matter), but does so in the most unhelpful way imaginable.

It doesn’t help that he bookends the piece with quotes from the wrongly honored Elias Canetti; as a big Iris Murdoch fan, let me just add that any reader of Murdoch can tell you that Canetti was a monstrous egocentric misanthrope, Nobel or no. Drawing a crowd should not be seen as ominous for Obama . . . or Palin, and that claim has been made both directions across the aisle.

Enough of anti-populism. We don’t necessarily need a resurgent populism per se (pace Wm Jennings Bryan, Ignatius Donnelly, et alia), but this idea that something large numbers of people like is therefore highly suspect and uncreditable (Norman Rockwell, John Rutter, Coldplay, John Grisham, Charles Dickens, Georgia O’Keefe) is pseudo-elitist bullpuckey.