I must take my hat off to Tom Piatak and F.J. Sarto for the Christopher (social climber) Hitchens piece on my web site. Also the numerous readers who wrote in praising Tom for exposing probably the phoniest and most dishonest propagandist—which is very debatable in view of his catcher nights in Oxford—-around. Hitchens and I go back a long way. He … [Read More]

                                Loose Ends The avalanche of criticism encountered by my blog concerning Ann, Rush, and the GOP’s unsuitability for combating the Left, has generated this rejoinder. One of my less than friendly critics scolds me for suggesting that I don’t see any way to create an … [Read More]

On Board S/Y Bushido — Sailing away from St Tropez I felt a bit like Lot, asked the wife to take one last look, but Alexandra, alas,  remained unsalty and very much in command. Porto Fino was the next stop, probably the most beautiful of tiny ports anywhere in the Med, green and very much up and down rather than sideways. … [Read More]

Via Nick Gillespie, in Reason‘s “Hit and Run” blog, we have this wonderfully subversive video brought to you by a gay New Yorker with a distinct aversion to hypocrisy: In his confrontation with Ron Paul at the North Carolina debate, Rudy claimed not to understand the concept of “blowback”—in fact, he said he’d never heard of such a thing. Well, then, … [Read More]

If Taki were a singer, he would be George Melly. Alas, if Taki were George Melly, he would be dead. George Melly was a “fat and fairly famous” (his second wife’s words) British entertainer. He died in London on July 5, a month before his 81st birthday. The Melly resume defied a one-line apophthegm—blues singer, jazz singer, journalist, screenwriter, historian of … [Read More]

This has got to be one of the most inspiring fundraising appeals of recent times: Help cover Frum’s face! [Read More]

Stephanopulous asks “What will you restore to the office of the President of the United States?” None of the candidates, except for Ron Paul, really addresses the question: Tancredo: Islamic. Terrorism. Jihadism. No more political correctness. (Hey, that’s pretty bold!) Thompson: Islamic. Terrorism. Jihadism. No more political correctness. America is great. (Even bolder!) Brownback: All those children born out of wedlock—oh, … [Read More]

On the “fair tax”: Huckabee: Yes, it will end the underground economy. No more dope dealers, prostitutes, and Bad People in general. You’ve heard about the Great Society: this is the Vanilla Society…. Romney: No. Blither. Blather. Don’t I have a great hairdo? Giuliani: Intriguing, but he’s against it. We couldn’t make the transition. No IRS? Who will administer it? McCain: … [Read More]

Video question on the role of the Vice President. Should there be a constitutional amendment on the role of the VP? McCain: Jokes about the role of the VP being to ask, daily, about the health of the Prez. “There is only one President.” Tommy Thompson: Defends Cheney. Giuliani: Bush can use Cheney however he likes. Truman didn’t know about the … [Read More]

More on the Iowa follies: On Barack Obama’s plan to bomb and/or invade Pakistan: Giuliani is in favor, of course. Is there any crazed foreign policy “option” he wouldn’t take? Romney doesn’t want to talk to “our enemies”—but he would “keep our options quiet” in Pakistan. So, he agrees with Obama, but wouldn’t say so. George Stephanopoulos—debate host—puts up the “export … [Read More]