
##4084350 THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN , called Operation Enduring Freedom , has proved to be enduring indeed . Now in its 10th year , it could drag on a lot longer . In November 's congressional elections it was hardly an issue . But if we are still mired in this futile conflict a year from now , it could become a big headache for President Obama . He must be kicking himself because if he had pulled out soon after becoming president , claiming that this war was not benefiting the United States , his argument would surely have prevailed ( over the furious objections of Max Boot and John Bolton ) . Obama could reasonably have said that he was elected to end these costly and unwinnable wars . But as early as 2007 he was persuaded that Afghanistan was " the war we need to win . " In 2009 he sent in 30,000 additional troops . More recently , he postponed scheduled U.S. troop withdrawals . As Al Regnery wrote here last fall , Afghanistan is now Obama 's Achilles ' heel . He has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be seen as the commander in chief who first aimed for victory then settled for retreat . Withdrawal , said Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph , will be viewed as " the first defeat of the most powerful military alliance in history at the hands of a small band of fanatics armed with little more than rifles and IEDs . " More on Moore in a minute . But if he digs in- as in fact he has done- Obama 's liberal supporters may turn on him . It is literally a " no win " situation , because military victory in Afghanistan would require an enormous army of occupation and that is not going to happen . Our NATO allies are already heading for the exits . Why are we there ? " We 're there because of 9/11 , " said the late and much admired Richard Holbrooke . " And that 's a simple matter of fact . " Holbrooke 's title was also his mission impossible : special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan . He died in December of a torn aorta , but it might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few months earlier he said that a " pure military victory in Afghanistan is not possible . " Killing more tribesmen will avail us nothing , and may do more harm than good . They become automatic martyrs , and Afghanistan ( population approaching 30 million ) has lots more tribesmen in reserve . Some no doubt are ready to become " terrorists . " An increasing number of Afghans do n't know what we are doing there and the same uncertainty could be attributed to more and more Americans . Initially , we invaded Afghanistan because , in about 1996 , al Qaeda set up a mountain encampment there and used it to plan the 9/11 attack . How many Afghan tribesmen ever knew about al Qaeda , or ever heard of Osama bin Laden ? As we have been told many times , Afghanistan basically had no government , and it still does n't . After 9/11 George Bush said we wanted bin Laden " dead or alive . " My guess is that he is dead , but the intelligence agencies may not want to go on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bin Laden alive . If he 's dead , we could claim " mission accomplished . " Anyway , al Qaeda or what 's left of it is said to have decamped to Pakistan , whose government is not really cooperating with us . The Vietnam comparison still works in Obama 's favor . In 1968 , about 320 U.S. soldiers were killed there every week . In Afghanistan , in 2010 , we suffered about 10 deaths a week . That 's a big disparity , and Obama will want it to stay that way . His best option may be to keep U.S. forces in a defensive posture , the ( unstated ) goal being to minimize casualties . That way the war just might stay out of the headlines long enough for him to be reelected . But if the casualties keep mounting , as they have in the past two years , he could be in trouble . One almost feels sorry for Obama because his instinct was to extricate the U.S. from these unwinnable wars . It was the one area where he at least wanted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy areas , as we know , he actively encouraged the natural bureaucratic instinct to expand , resulting in a budget deficit that is approaching $1.5 trillion for the current year . Since World War II , the most effective pressure in Washington has come from senior officials of government agencies , all pushing to expand their own missions and budgets . The military very much included . Take a look at Bob Woodward 's book Obama 's Wars . He reports in detail Obama 's conversations with Vice President Biden ( who favors U.S. withdrawal ) and with senior military officials in Washington . The Pentagon won almost every one of these " battles " with Obama . A good case can be made , incidentally , that Obama prevailed over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries because he was more committed to pulling the U.S. out of these nowin wars . But he has been unable to do so . Here 's a further comment from Charles Moore , who was once the editor of the ( conservative ) Daily Telegraph and since then has been writing Margaret Thatcher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ " have any conception of what a defeat would mean for the world order and for civil peace in every European city . " Do n't they see that this fight " will be seen not as a battle for control of some jagged mountains , but between values , and that if our values do not win , they will lose ? " His article ended there , and he did n't say what these values are . But the Afghan values are fairly clear . They want to get foreigners out of their country , even if they ( we ) are passing money around in an attempt to buy friends . Anyway , it 's a good bet that we would feel the same way if strange tribesmen with a lot of hi-tech gadgets landed in the Rockies and tried to control our government . Afghans also believe in God . I 'm not sure that we do anymore . BUT HERE IS ONE VALUE we are certainly fighting for : women 's rights . Mrs. Bush , Mrs. Obama , and Mrs. Clinton have all signed on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ August 9 , showing a woman with part of her nose cut off . The headline read , " What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan . " No question mark . The victim 's story " raises important questions for those working to establish this young democracy , " Laura Bush wrote . " Will Afghanistan embrace and protect the rights of all people ? " The New York Times agrees : " The basic civil rights of Afghans- particularly women and girls- can not be up for negotiation . " Actually , they do n't really have rights in most of the Muslim world . Theirs is a system based on power and force , and in such a world men indeed can easily dominate women , and do . Maybe instead we should try converting them to Christianity ? ( Just kidding . Even to suggest such a thing shows how far we have traveled down the road of relativism . ) It 's true that America 's position in the world has declined , compared to other countries . But the great mistake has been to think that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be treated as military targets . Launching armed crusades against selected foreign countries is a military response to a cultural problem . A lot of people in America would like to see a revival of the West , myself very much included . But that will require a revival of religion . What caused its decline ? It is poorly understood , but I believe that rising prosperity brings moral laxity in its wake . That may be the key . American elites , with their persistent negativism about the human race ( trees good , people bad ) , have also played a role in demoralizing the middle class . The rise of Islam over the past generation is mainly a response to the decline of faith- Christianity in particular . Islam is moving into the vacuum , and dropping bombs on them wo n't do any good . 
##4084351 FRIDAY HERE I AM AT THE ATLANTA AIRPORT . I flew in from LAX this morning . I was so groggy when I awakened in L.A. I literally could not remember where I was even though I was in my own bedroom . Things are sad at our home . Our beloved Brigid , German Shorthaired Pointer of my dreams , heiress to the love I had for Mary Margaret of Santa Cruz , Trixie , Puppy Wuppy , Ginger , is in extremis . She can still get around our house in Rancho Mirage because it 's all on one floor , but we have to carry her up and down the stairs in Beverly Hills . Even though she is considerably diminished in size and weight , that 's still a chore . Plus , she falls down frequently . Her back legs just go out from under her . It is ( as my wife would say ) " heart rendering . " Brigid is also extremely incontinent . My wife , a literal saint ( I mean , a real saint ) lets Brigid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ total aplomb . I am too weak to do it . Anyway , Brigid , who slept next to me for 11 years , will soon be sleeping with Old Shep . That 's what makes things sad at our home . I slept almost the entire way from LAX to ATL . It was a super flight , a Delta 777 with comfy seats and a great staff . Then , when we got to Hartsfield , the whole place was filled with soldiers . I greeted them to the extent they did not overwhelm me , then went in search of one of my favorite foods , Popeyes chicken . All around me were kind , friendly people wanting to talk about the issues of the day . Mostly , they were TV watchers who had seen me on Fox or CNN or , even more often , CBS Sunday Morning . They were uniformly upbeat , happy , outgoing . No sneering . None of that garbage about " I usually agree with you but sometimes you 're really off base " that I get from people in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as I ate my chicken wing . The men and women had friendly faces . I know I use that term too much . But it means everything to me to have friendly faces nearby . In my main home , in Bev Hills , too many people look suspicious and cunning . Well , I am going to get in trouble if I go much further with this . Let 's just say that when wifey and I are walking around in Beverly Hills , I feel as if my pocket is being picked emotionally . Out there in AMERICA , I feel as if I am refilled . I ate my chicken , also some string beans , went to my gate , posed for a lot of photos with soldiers ( who are apparently all flying to Fort Sill for training ) , then got on a surprisingly large plane to one of my favorite places , Charleston . Omar , my Charleston driver , picked me up and took me to The Charleston Place , a fine hotel , where they put me in my room . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have a heavy coat , so I walked in my skimpy , pitiful threadbare blazer to a nearby barbecue place . Closed . I met a trio of men who had just eaten at FIG , a famous bistro in Charleston . One of them invited me to join them for a drink at the hotel lounge . I do n't drink , but I went with them . One of them gave me his takeout container of steak from FIG . It was heavenly . I ordered a cheeseburger . Fabulous . It was literally the best cheeseburger I have ever had . All of us at the bar had a long conversation about current events , especially the recession . Then I went to my room , watched some nutty movie about zombies for 30 seconds , and then to bed . I have to tell you that except for north Idaho , the Deep South is my favorite place in this world . Polite , intelligent people . Great food . No bad attitude . Love them . SATURDAY UP AND DOWN TO A CAF at The Charleston @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am speaking in Charleston , a hospital and health care environment called " Roper St. Francis . " The guests were all happy and charming . Charleston has a lot of good-looking people , men and women . I found myself sitting next to a super successful property magnate named Jim . By an amazing stroke , he also loves German Shorthaired Pointers . He has a huge farm in North Carolina and many , many , many other homes , but his main love seems to be his dogs , which is as it should be . I am not sure I have ever hit it off so quickly and happily with anyone else in my life as I did with Jim . It turned out we had met before at a bank conference . He is my new hero . I spoke a little bit about how life has changed . We used to think the Chinese were hopelessly stupid and incompetent- hence the phrase " Chinese Fire Drill . " Now they are the behemoths of the world economy . We used to think all they could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are a major power . India was a basket case . Thanks to capitalism , they are now obviously destined to be the world 's number-two industrial power . And what about South Korea ? We thought they were pitiful . Now they are among the world 's top six manufacturing nations . My dear pal Bethany is in Beijing because her daughter is doing a fashion show for Prada . Beijing ! The world center of Marxist power . Now a major fashion destination . And I can reach Bethany by text or voice on a cell phone smaller than a deck of cards . The world has changed . This gives me hope about all of the other problems we face . I wonder how long until we can hope that free markets and free men and women will allow us to have good relations even with the Islamist militants ? Free markets . That 's the key . That allows people to make friends with other people to make money . It is amazing what people can do when motivated by a desire to feed their families ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ God and grow rich , " said John D. Rockefeller . ) After lunch , back to my room for a long nap . Wow , do I love naps . God 's gifts . A nice long nap while listening to Mozart on my headphones . Perfection . Then downstairs for a very pleasant reception with donors to Roper , and then to speak to a crowd of maybe 800 . It was a black-tie affair and the guests were great-looking men and women . Not a mean face in the room . Maybe the closest I have seen to a room of Alex Denmans . No one else could be Alex , but these women are in the same league . The audience was friendly ( that word again ) and vivacious . Great people . To speak to men and women like the Roper St. Francis donors is a genuine honor . Afterward , I talked with my new best friend Jim for a while , then went off to have another great cheeseburger . A young hippie chick came to the table to flirt with me . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and did n't I agree they were the coolest . Uh , no . So , back to my room , and watching another movie about zombies , and thence to sleep . I LOVE CHARLESTON . MONDAY HERE I AM IN D.C. I spent the afternoon visiting wounded soldiers at WRAMC . Now , much of modern life is just plain pornography . Plain and simple porn . That 's what it is . Just wicked and dirty . But real clean beauty is at Walter Reed . The brave man with his beautiful girlfriend who lay calmly in bed discussing where he should go to business school . He had just had his leg amputated a few HOURS before ! The man who had fallen from a disabled truck 50 feet into a creek bed and broken six spinal vertebrae and severed his spinal cord , and just kept saying , " I feel so lucky to be alive . " The mothers and fathers . The wives . The girlfriends and fiances . The astounding man from Arkansas , David , an amputee , cruising about in his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fresh water and soap that wipe this nation clean . By the way , I have a theory about why there are so many suicides of men coming back from the wars . This was suggested to me by my genius pal , Russ Ferguson . The military doses some unhappy soldiers with anti-depressants . Sounds great , right ? But those drugs wreak havoc with the emotions of users . They can cause " paradoxical ideation , " which means the user feels overwhelmingly depressed instead of happy . This can and does lead to suicide . I wonder if the military would study how many suicide victims have been given anti-depressants . These are dangerous drugs and their use should be monitored VERY closely . I left WRAMC with a huge headache . I just feel sick that these men are not surrounded by throngs of well-wishers praising them and praying for them night and day . ( Frankly , I feel sick that we 're in Afghanistan at all . ) A bad day for us is bouncing a check . A bad day for them is severing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do to thank them enough ? What ? When these men wake up in the middle of the night , drugged , confused about where they are , then suddenly remember they are lying there with no legs , where are we ? If it 's me , worrying about my son 's education or about whether I should sell an asset or have a colonoscopy . What do these men think about ? And how can we do better by them ? How can we tell them we worship them and love them ? We had better fall to our knees right now and figure it out . TUESDAY IAM ON MY WAY OVER TO DINNER With my pal RUSS and my speaking agent , Suzanne . I am zooming through Georgetown like a banshee on my fastest walking- which is still pretty slow- and I notice almost no one smiles when I smile at him or her . Why not ? People in Washington were never friendly , but now they are really , really unfriendly unless they recognize me , which many of them do . Is it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House ? Why ? My recently departed teacher , friend , and mentor , Lowell Harriss , talked often about how a smile cost nothing but conferred immense value . He was totally right , of course . If you ca n't smile , you should just not leave the house at all . I wonder why people do not smile more . How does it hurt them ? What are they afraid of ? It will not stop me from smiling . At least not for a while . 
##4084352 IN RECENT YEARS , the Republican Party has conferred its presidential nomination the way companies used to hand out gold watches at retirement parties . Candidates are rewarded for long years of service , finishing second the last time around , and politely waiting their turn . Perhaps it is a reflection of the conservative temperament : while Democrats frequently nominate fresh faces , Republicans tend to prefer the tried and true . Patience is a virtue , respect your elders , good things come to those who wait . Ronald Reagan , George H. W. Bush , Bob Dole , and John McCain won the GOP nomination after finishing second in the party 's last round of competitive primaries . After the crushing disappointment of the close 1960 presidential election , Richard Nixon rallied loyally behind Barry Goldwater at a time when many other Republican leaders effectively sat out the race . For this , Nixon was given his second chance in 1968 . Even the one recent exception proves the rule . When George W. Bush , then the governor of Texas , began exploring a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters thought he was his father , the former president . He entered the race with a nearly insurmountable advantage in name recognition . The second-place finisher from the last time around , Patrick Buchanan , bolted the GOP for the Reform Party in October 1999 . Bush the son became the natural front-runner . In return for their gold watches , Nixon and Reagan led the Republican Party to the White House . They were both reelected in 49-state landslides . Reagan missed out on making it 50 by less than one vote per precinct in Minnesota , his 1984 challenger 's home state . But the Dole and McCain campaigns had the feel of futility about them almost from the beginning . Both men openly asked the voters to send them on " one more mission , " as if they were embarking on a farewell tour rather than a presidential campaign . Their final bids for the presidency ended about as well as Brett Favre 's last football season . Unlike Dole or McCain , the Bushes were able to win the November election and the presidency . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elections were arguably much closer than they needed to be . But both men clearly left the Republican Party weaker than they found it . In both cases , the Democrats wound up with unified control of the federal government 's elected branches . If this is the most successful a hereditary monarchical strategy for awarding the GOP nomination can be , perhaps the strategy should be revisited . IF THIS HISTORY IS any reliable guide , Mitt Romney will likely be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee . Romney finished second in the 2008 Republican delegate count . Had he continued his campaign longer , he almost certainly would have been second in the popular vote . Instead Romney suspended his presidential campaign once it became clear he could not win , dutifully supporting McCain while Mike Huckabee collected the remaining antiMcCain vote . Based on the polls , Romney is not an overwhelming early front-runner in the tradition of Dole . Most reputable surveys find Romney bunched together with Huckabee , Sarah Palin , and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at the head of the pack . But the early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ front-runner throughout 2007 but seldom finished ahead of Ron Paul once the actual voting commenced . Moreover , of the top Republican candidates only Romney is a virtual certainty to run . He is much further along in building his campaign organization . Romney has already hired a pollster , political director , and other key staffers . Pitted against a Mitch Daniels or Tim Pawlenty rather than a Palin or Huckabee , Romney begins to look like a colossus . But it is really the Republican tradition of rewarding the second-place finisher that makes Romney look like the front-runner . To use Romney 's preferred Olympics analogy , last time the former Massachusetts governor got the silver ; this time he 's the favorite for the gold . Conservatives rightly value tradition , but this GOP custom is one they need to rethink . Romney is a spectacular mismatch with the Republican base of 2012 . There are also good reasons to think he would struggle mightily in a general election against Barack Obama , or at least hopelessly muddle key parts of the Republican message . Republicans have gone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John McCain . McCain was a sponsor and co-author of the immigration legislation Republicans almost unanimously rejected , especially in the House . In 2001 and 2003 , he voted against the tax cuts that his party almost unanimously supported . Only liberal Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee , who ultimately endorsed Obama and left the party , joined McCain in voting against the second round of tax cuts . Chafee was only one of four Republican senators to have consistently lower American Conservative Union ratings than McCain in the decade prior to his winning the Republican presidential nomination . Whether it was out of personal pique or just a bad coincidence , McCain 's voting record veered to the left for a few years after the bruising primary loss to George W. Bush . But Republican voters nevertheless rewarded McCain for waiting his turn , however unhappily , and delivered him the nomination . McCain ended up repudiating most of his more liberal positions during the course of the campaign , but the damage was already done . McCain had little value as a spokesman for either the Bush tax cuts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign-finance reform law that threatened to silence many conservative groups . There was little conservative enthusiasm for George H. W. Bush and even less for Dole , but McCain was actively loathed by many grassroots conservatives . The fact that he was able to win the nomination anyway revealed some inconvenient truths about the modern Republican Party : the weakness of the conservative bench , divisions in the conservative GOP primary vote , a possible disconnect between some movement leaders and ordinary Republican voters . It was also a reminder that the GOP 's tradition of anointing the heir apparent is very strong . REPUBUCANS WERE POORLY SERVED by this tradition last time around , but at least that was an election where the GOP 's chances were remote to begin with . Given the economy , Bush 's unpopularity , the length of the two wars , and the media 's sustained love affair with Obama , it would have taken a flawless Republican campaign to win in 2008 . Republicans do stand a chance in 2012- if they take care to nominate the right candidate . It would help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ credibly exploit Obama 's vulnerabilities . Aside from the tax cuts , most of the issues on which McCain deviated from the party line were not central to the 2008 campaign . Since being bitten by the presidential bug around 2006 , Romney has tried to put himself on the right side of most conservative litmus tests . But the Troubled Asset Relief Program ( TARP ) bailout of Wall Street will be a defining question of the 2012 elections- it was a foundational issue in the genesis of the Tea Party- and Romney supported it . Romney had plenty of company in this . Not only did the Bush administration and most of the Republican congressional leadership back TARP , but so did conservative standouts like Sen. Tom Coburn ( R-OK ) and Rep. Paul Ryan ( R-WI ) . But in nearly every Republican primary where TARP was an issue in 2010 , the anti-bailout candidate prevailed . Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah- whom Romney endorsedcould n't overcome his TARP vote even with an 83.6 American Conservative Union rating . Having a pro-bailout Republican as titular head of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up his last chance to make the presidential contest competitive by signing on to TARP . It will serve the GOP no better next year , when Republicans will be dependent on the grassroots enthusiasm of Tea Party activists who deem the $700 billion bailout an unconstitutional betrayal of principle . Romney has tried to square this circle by saying he supported the Bush version of TARP , in which the federal government was supposed to buy up troubled assets , rather than the Obama version . " Secretary Paulson 's TARP prevented a systemic collapse of the national financial system , " he writes in his precampaign book No Apologies . " Secretary Geithner 's TARP became an opaque , heavy-handed , expensive slush fund . It should be shut down . " This is a politically untenable position . First , it was always likely that TARP would become an expensive slush fund . The measure lacked both accountability and any clarity as to how it was going to achieve its stated purpose from the very beginning . But more importantly , Romney ignores the real arguments against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the establishment insistence that TARP averted a systemic financial collapse . Reduced to haggling over details , this essentially concedes a crucial debate to Obama . And not for the last time . There will be no bigger issue in the 2012 presidential election than the national health care law signed by Obama . If Republicans wind up with unified control of the government , repealing that law will be their top priority . The window for doing so may be small- by 2014 , new subsidies and benefits will kick in , building a constituency for the law based on self-interest rather than just ideology- and failure could well doom the entire conservative project of preventing the United States from becoming a full-blown European-style welfare state . THERE 'S JUST ONE PROBLEM : the Massachusetts health care bill Romney signed into law- and for which he continues to take credit- is virtually indistinguishable from ObamaCare . Both plans mandate that individuals purchase health insurance . Both provide government subsidies for people to buy government-approved insurance policies from government-run exchanges . Both expand existing government health care programs . Jonathan Gruber @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advised both Romney and Obama , told the Wall Street Journal , " If any one person in the world deserves credit for where we are now , it 's Mitt Romney .... He designed the structure of the federal bill . " The Obama team is well aware of the similarities . Before the bill passed , White House political adviser David Axelrod argued : " We 're just trying to give the rest of America the same opportunities that the people of Massachusetts have . " Obama has made this argument himself . " You know , you 've got a former governor of Massachusetts who 's running around saying ' What 's this health reform bill ? ' " the president joked at a Boston fundraiser before the bill became law . " And I keep on scratching my head and I say , boy , this Massachusetts thing , who designed that ? " Obama so looks forward to campaigning against Romney on this issue that he told CBS News that ObamaCare is " the sort of plan proposed by current Republican nominee Mitt Romney . " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is little question that if he were , it would set back the movement to repeal ObamaCare . By simultaneously criticizing the new federal law and taking credit for the similar Massachusetts law , Romney is walking a difficult tightrope- one some of his own public comments suggest may be impossible . Consider this bit from New Hampshire , as quoted by the New York Times : " Obama is saying that I was the guy that came up with the idea for what he did , " Romney said . " If ever again somewhere down the road I would be debating him , I would be happy to take credit for his accomplishment . " Romney is on record supporting repeal , though his political action committee- committed to supporting " candidates who will repeal the worst aspects of ObamaCare " - was a little more ambiguous . His efforts to reconcile these two positions are reminiscent of his TARP tergiversations . First he blames the Democrats in the state legislature for " the worst aspects " of RomneyCare . But Romney still signed the bill , with Ted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . In this , Romney sounds like the Democrats who voted for the Iraq war resolution and then professed shock that it resulted in a war . Two of these Democrats , John Kerry and John Edwards , proved pretty inept at running against the Iraq war during the 2004 presidential campaign . There 's also an appeal to federalism : Romney-Care was a state experiment while ObamaCare is a one-size-fits-all federal policy . This argument worked for Scott Brown in last year 's special election for U.S. Senate . But it will be harder to advance in a presidential contest , especially since the individual mandate- a core component of both plans- has become central to the constitutional challenges against ObamaCare . You could argue that Romney-Care 's individual mandate is toothless compared to ObamaCare 's , but then you would have to acknowledge the extent to which Massachusetts increased enrollment in Medicaid , a federal program . To most voters ' ears , the blogger Daniel Larison is probably right that these arguments will sound like the following : " we will never yield in our opposition to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defend the outrageously irresponsible and unaffordable Massachusetts bill to the death ! " The bigger problem is that Romney was hardly alone in embracing ideas he would now like to repeal . David Frum correctly observed that ObamaCare " builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to ClintonCare in 1993-1994 . " That 's a lot harder to justify on the basis of federalism , unless conservatives and Republicans make a clean break from their past record of advocating ObamaCare Lite . On Hugh Hewitt 's radio program , Karl Rove recently advised Romney to recognize that the fact " what they did in Massachusetts looks so much like what Obama tried to do to the country " is a political problem . But the solution is n't obvious . Disavowing the Massachusetts law would deprive Romney of a major policy accomplishment . It would also add to the growing list of flip-flops that prevented him from consolidating the anti-McCain vote in 2008 . The clips of him confidently supporting RomneyCare- even proclaiming " I like mandates , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his emphatic promises to Bay State voters that he was pro-choice on abortion . PERHAPS ROMNEY will be able to change the subject to jobs and the economy . The official unemployment rate will probably be at least 8 percent by the time Obama faces the voters , and might well be higher ( it 's currently hovering around 10 percent ) . Unlike Obama , Romney has a real record of creating private-sector jobs and understanding business . But as Ted Kennedy demonstrated in his 1994 reelection campaign , Romney 's private-sector background is a double-edged sword . Romney 's venture capital firm , Bain , saved companies and jobs , but its leveraged buyouts frequently led to layoffs . Facing a strong challenge from Romney , Kennedy flooded Massachusetts ' airwaves with these workers ' tales . " I 'd like him to show me where these 10,000 jobs that he created are , " said one former American Pad &; Paper employee . Another looked into the camera and warned voters : " I 'd like to say to the people of Massachusetts : ' If you think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We thought it would n't happen here , either . ' " These attacks were unfair . Romney had already taken leave from Bain Capital by the time the American Pad &; Paper layoffs took place . But given the nature of Romney 's business , there will be more stories where these came from . The point is that Romney wo n't have a clear path to running as an economy-saver and jobcreator . Big business is as unpopular with voters as big government . There is , of course , a case to be made for Romney as well . He is smart and accomplished , with a more varied practical background than Obama . From Bain to the Winter Olympics , he has turned around troubled financial entities before . To those who argue his business record is n't applicable to politics , Romney could point to his success at balancing Massachusetts ' budget and getting unpopular cuts to local aid passed . The strongest argument may be that the other Republican front-runners- Huckabee , Palin , Gingrich- have obvious flaws as well . Yet that may be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican standards : abandon the hierarchal nomination habits and look far beyond the top tier . A major party presidential nomination during troubled times is n't a retirement gift . 
##4084354 IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME THAT , in a nation whose cornerstone is the free market , the political process does n't respond to market forces . But that might be changing . One of the beautiful things about free enterprise is that it makes life better for the consumer by providing better choices in response to his demands and needs . If a business does n't provide better products for less cost , then a competitor will , and the business will ultimately fail . The challenge the American voter faces is to prevail on political parties , elected officials , and government to operate as if they were businesses . That 's why we need the political process to look more like Netflix 's business model . Washington and the grass roots can learn a lot from Netflix , the online provider of movies via mail and streaming video , and also from its competitor Blockbuster Video . For those of you who have n't used it ( or possibly have no clue what I 'm talking about ) , here 's a brief history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began providing unlimited DVDs through the mail for a flat monthly rate in 2001-2002 . For roughly $20 a month , you could watch one or 100 movies- quantity did n't matter . The other part of its offering and , frankly , the best part , was that Netflix did n't charge late fees . In contrast to Blockbuster , which was charging three or four dollars per rental and imposed late fees , Netflix made significant gains in the market by making video rental easier and more cost effective for the consumer . But Netflix did n't stop there . As high-speed Internet became more prevalent , bandwidth improved , and on-demand digital media began to replace the need for physical DVDs , the company has gone on to provide unlimited access to its online library of 10,000 movies for just $7.99 a month . So instead of renting one movie at Blockbuster for $4.99 , you now do n't even have to leave the comfort of your home to get a movie , or 10 for that matter . While some might question whether this is progress for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this is a bold step for mankind . The upshot : In 2010 , Blockbuster declared bankruptcy while Netflix had a market capitalization of $4 billion . Forced to respond to Netflix 's competition . Blockbuster is now offering similar programs and access to movies at an earlier date than Netflix . The point here is that the established brand , Blockbuster , was not on the cutting edge and did not respond to consumers ' changing needs or the march of technology . In the face of fresh new thinking , the company was defensive and reactive rather than proactive . This allowed Netflix to grab huge market share . The DVD and movie rental market has become more responsive and efficient for the consumer . So take this analogy into the world of politics , with Blockbuster standing for the traditional parties and Netflix serving as the Tea Partiers and the progressives ( in their respective ways ) . For years , the major political parties have been the only game in town . They 've often been unresponsive to voters , abusive of donors ( yes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including incumbents who do n't adhere to their own party 's platform . Then along came the progressives in Colorado , who decided that they did n't have to put up with the old party structure anymore . When the party was unresponsive , progressive donors like Tim Gill , Patricia Stryker , Rutt Bridges , and Jared Polis decided to go around the tired , sluggish dinosaur to create mobile and responsive privatized political infrastructure . In roughly five years , the Four Horsemen of Colorado ran roughshod over the state , flipping the state house and state senate , the makeup of the congressional delegation , both House and Senate , and turned the state from red to blue in the presidential elections . They did it by creating a network of tax-privileged 501(c) ( 3 ) , 501(c) ( 4 ) s , and 527 organizations that did anything from opposition research to identifying and training candidates to policy papers , and the entire network was responsive to them and their priorities . Gill et al . created a model that was effective in Colorado- and replicable in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but instead of starting in one state , theirs has been a much more spontaneous act , rising up in thousands of communities across the nation . The Tea Partiers saw unresponsive parties and elected officials , and realized that the status quo was destroying America . They are now acting as " policy consumers " who have had enough of the current product . They want something new , and it boils down to this : direct access , greater accountability and transparency , and more responsive , appropriately sized government that respects the free market and individual liberty . Like Blockbuster , the traditional parties are currently slow and top-down- more interested in protecting the ruling class than responding to voters and donors . BUT THE TIMES , they are a-changin ' . The parties are n't what they used to be , and Tea Partiers are simply not content with doing things the way they 've always been done . There is too much at stake ; in the end , the health and the survival of the American Republic . Are they going to start a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not . But if the parties ca n't offer them what they want , which is greater accountability for officials and fiscal responsibility , the Tea Partiers are more than content to do it themselves . They are seeking to change the political process by creating a privatized political infrastructure that will bankrupt the old party system and make it obsolete . By creating 501(c) ( 4 ) s , ( c ) ( 3 ) s , PACs , even LLCs , with initiatives like King Street Patriots ' True the Vote ; or " heat mapping " and macro- and microtargeting databases for their local communities , identifying and running candidates at all levels of office ; they are laying down the foundations for something that could lead to long-term , systemic change and that will have a lasting impact on our country . They have , so far , made amazing inroads in a short amount of time . Between April 2009 and November 2010 , the Tea Partiers , many of whom are new to the political process , were able to dramatically alter the political process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party , choose to adapt and become more responsive to the demands of their consumersthe voters- the end result of this consumer politics will be that the real political energy will go into privatized political infrastructure . That infrastructure will take the vehicle of the Republican Party and make it do the right things . Republicans are already losing market share to these more independent forces , but what is important is that , as the Netflix of Americanpolitics , the Tea Party will ultimately produce something better for all of us. 
##4084355 A COURT IN bbitain has just awarded damages to a gay couple against the owners of a family hotel who had refused to allow them to share a bedroom . Until recently it was normal for hotels in Britain to demand proof of marriage , before allowing a man and a woman to lodge together . Even now it is permissible for a hotel to refuse a room to a couple if one is a prostitute and the other her client . But it seems that it is not possible , even for Christians running a family hotel , to withhold a room from a couple of homosexuals . How did we get to this point , and what should we make of it ? Various statutes make it an offense for one who offers services or employment to " discriminate " on grounds judged to be irrelevant . Discrimination on grounds of race and religion has been ruled out for some time , on the understanding that our societies have to become blind to racial and religious differences if conflicts are to be avoided . The reason @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Enlightenment . Our public doctrine holds that morality is founded on humanity alone , and is therefore independent of race and religion . People believe this , even if they can not prove that it is true . And maybe they are right to believe it . But how do we translate that belief into law ? The answer is that we do so by making racial or religious discrimination into an offense- a civil offense , and maybe a criminal offense also . Maybe that is the only way to proceed , but it involves curtailing freedom in ways that can easily be resented . People do n't always trust each other , and immigrant communities in particular , who are unsure of the surrounding world , are apt to rely on ethnic and religious ties in order to gain a foothold . They will trust people from their own racial or religious background more readily than others , and , when it comes to business , will prefer their own kind as employees or partners . Whether or not that is wrong , it certainly leads to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law . Nevertheless , we have learned to live with this restriction of our freedom , since we recognize the value of a society in which racial and religious distinctions play no public role . And when , in due course , the feminist claim that women have suffered injustice in a male-dominated world became part of the public culture , it seemed natural to extend the idea of illegal discrimination to cover the distinction between the sexes too . Again , there has been a substantial loss of freedom . But , for many people , this loss of individual freedom has been more than compensated by the gain in equality . Whether you agree will depend on your situation . As things stand , much of the cost of a woman 's pregnancy is borne by her employer , and he may wish to protect himself against incurring this cost by employing only men . In doing so he will breach the law against non-discrimination . Hence the law restricts his freedom . But the supporter of the law will say that such a freedom must be surrendered for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their height , their age , their strength , their virtue , their looks . Just when is this an injustice ? And if it is not an injustice , when would it be justifiable , in the interests of public policy , to prevent it ? It seems to me that the anti-discrimination legislation with which our Western jurisdictions abound has gathered momentum without any real attempt to answer those questions . All European legislation is now subject to openended anti-discrimination provisions which have simply assumed that " sexual orientation " belongs with race , sex , and religion in the list of things that are to be disregarded . But disregarded when , and why ? Sometimes a reference is made to " human rights , " implying that to discriminate is to violate the " human rights " of the one who loses on the deal . But what about the one who gains ? When an employer asserts his freedom to employ whom he chooses , is he asserting his " human rights " ? And if so , is he also denying the " human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because race , ethnicity , or faith are not to his liking ? Clearly the concept of a " human right " is doing no work here , but merely underlining the conflict . OF course , we have a commonsensical idea of relevant discrimination . It is surely right to discriminate on grounds of religion when appointing someone to be pastor of a church or imam of a mosque . There would be a grave breach of duty in those who made an appointment to a religious office without taking the religion of the candidates into account . It is reasonable to think that the sex of candidates for the position of midwife is similarly relevant , given the reluctance of most women to give birth in the presence of an unknown man , and the need at such times for womanly reassurance . It is reasonable to take age into account in candidates for a position that requires extensive training , since to train an older person for a job from which he will very soon retire is unaffordable . And so on . In all such cases common @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the job . But should the law compel people to offer employment or services against their will , when their reluctance stems from moral or religious scruples ? In a recent Californian case a husband and wife team refused to offer their services as professional photographers when asked to take pictures at the " marriage " of a lesbian couple , holding it to be against their Christian principles to attend such a ceremony . They were held to be in breach of anti-discrimination laws . The case of the British hotel keepers is similar , and shows that the law is prepared to compel people to violate religious scruples , if this is the only way to ensure equal treatment for heterosexuals and homosexuals . In the British case the respondents argued that the hotel was their home , and that they could not allow unmarried couples to share one of their beds , whether or not they were gay . But this argument was dismissed by the judge as irrelevant . All that matters in the eyes of the law is discrimination , not how it arose . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ non-discrimination " clauses of modern legal systems is to overcome " prejudice , " to normalize homosexuality , and to make clear to the ordinary citizen that , as far as the law is concerned , it does n't matter whether you are straight or gay . Many people think of this as a natural extension of the Enlightenment morality . Just as the moral sense , they believe , disregards differences of race , religion , and sex , so does it disregard sexual orientation . It is not simply " none of your business " that someone else is straight or gay ; the matter is outside the reach of moral judgment altogether . Only " prejudice " could lead someone to behave like those British hotel keepers , and when prejudice loses , justice gains . It is , however , much more of a prejudice to think that matters of sexual conduct can , in this way , be simply placed beyond moral judgment- as though they were not , for ordinary people , the very essence of the moral life . Maybe the British hotel keepers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ " prejudice " is not some blind , dark passion like the visceral fear of albinos . It is one part of a considered religious morality that has stood the test of time . You may question this morality , and it could be that it has lost some of its former credibility . But to marginalize it in this surreptitious way is to do a great injustice to the many who have lived by it and the many who strive still to adhere to it . This , it seems t ? me , shows what is really at stake in these disputes . They are not about human rights , or about the perennial conflict between liberty and equality . " Non-discrimination " clauses are ways of smuggling in vast moral changes without real discussion . Their open-ended nature , and the vagueness of their application , renders them almost immune to reasoned rebuttal . There is no knowing , from one year to the next , which of our ways of discriminating between people will be ruled out in the next extension of the law . Sex , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hotel keeper will no longer be able to discriminate against the person who happens to live as a prostitute . By penalizing old-fashioned morality in this way you do not make toleration of the new morality more likely . On the contrary , you sow the seeds of resentment , by removing from ordinary people the freedom to follow their conscience in a matter that deeply troubles them . Liberals do not usually notice this , for the reason that the new society , shaped by the ideology of nondiscrimination , seems to be going their way . But it could easily start to go against them , as the Islamists use the non-discrimination clauses in order to protect the segregation of women , polygamy , incitements to violence , and all the other things that Islamists claim to be demanded by their faith , and which it would be " discrimination " to forbid . It will be clear , then , if it is not clear now , that vast changes in the moral standpoint of the law can not be smuggled in by open-ended clauses , without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your foes as by your friends . 
##4084356 THEN-MINNESOTA GOVERNOR Tim Pawlenty stumbled into a moment of unintentional comedy on Jon Stewart 's The Daily Show last June . The liberal Stewart had asked the inevitable question about the 2012 presidential race : " Will you run ? " " I really do n't know , " Pawlenty deadpanned , and explained that he lacked some of the typical qualifications : " I do n't have a billion dollars . I do n't have novelty , " he said , and then , just as he realized the innuendo involved , he let slip , " I do n't have a big ... schtick . " The audience and Stewart erupted at the suggestive remark , and only after a few minutes of uproarious laughter from all involved could Pawlenty clarify that no ribaldry was intended : " That 's ' S-C-H-I ... " Pawlenty might not have a schtick , but he does have a rsum that none of his possible competitors for the Republican presidential nomination could boast . As governor , he developed a reputation as an efficient chief executive by battling a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and implement a number of conservative reforms . Unlike his likely GOP nomination rival Mitt Romney , he has no bluestate baggage on abortion or health care . Unlike Mitch Daniels , the pro-life evangelical has never called for a " truce " on social issues . And Pawlentys national stature has been rising ever since his name appeared below Sarah Palin 's on John McCain 's vice-presidential shortlist in 2008- Palin prevailed , says a Pawlenty aide , because McCain " wanted a woman . " Yet Pawlenty sometimes sounds as if he wishes he 'd run for a third term , instead of seeking a national role . A seasoned veteran of partisan budget battles , he expressed regret that he would n't be in office to see Republicans take control of the state legislature . Pawlenty vowed not to raise taxes upon his election in 2002 , and kept that pledge over two terms despite having to square off against Democratic legislatures . ( Smokers paying the tobacco " fee " he imposed in 2008 may not quite agree . ) That 's no mean feat , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Minnesota , like many states , uses biennial budgeting ) , beginning with the record $4.2 billion shortfall that greeted him when he took office and continuing through the Great Recession . Pawlenty 's last budget standoff may have been the toughest . Unable to resolve his conflicts with Democrats in the legislature , Pawlenty resorted to " unallotment , " an obscure law that enabled him to make unilateral spending cuts to balance the budget . The Wall Street Journal praised the move as " deft and amusing , " but the Minnesota Supreme Court was n't amused . In May , it ruled that Pawlenty had overstepped his constitutional bounds . The decision created a $3 billion deficit with only days of the legislative session to spare . The legislature passed measures to balance the budget by raising taxes , but Pawlenty held firm and vetoed them . He forced the legislature into a special session and in the early morning hours , it finally agreed to a balanced budget without tax increases . PAWLENTY 'S STAND ON TAXES , not surprisingly , is his proudest achievement . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reminded TAS . " Ronald Reagan won Massachusetts twice . He never won Minnesota . In terms of taxes , I 've bent the curve here . We made it out of the top 10 in taxes . " In the pantheon of Minnesota politicians- which includes such liberal heroes as Hubert Humphrey , Eugene McCarthy , Walter Mondale , and Paul WellstonePawlenty is a conservative outlier . Balanced budgets are n't his only legacy . He enacted a property tax cap and eliminated the marriage penalty . He consistently advocated tort reform and the reduction of government bureaucracy . In February of last year , at the height of the health care debate , Pawlenty took to the Washington Post 's op-ed page to advertise Minnesota 's health care reforms , which demand performance pay for health care providers and " measure and set performance metrics for providers and make the results public . " Ostensibly the column was intended for President Obama and Congress , but it also served to contrast Pawlenty 's reforms with those of former governor Romney in Massachusetts . Contrasted with Romneycare and Obamacare , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents using health savings accounts . Pawlenty 's cost-cutting and conservatism in hostile territory have come at a steep political price . A Survey USA poll last spring put his approval rating at 42 percent , down several points from the same time a year earlier and the lowest he 's ever experienced ( a contemporaneous Rasmussen poll pegged him at 49 percent approval ) . Pawlenty chalks that up to timing- his numbers fell every year while he battled the Democratic majority during the legislative session- and the environment : " This is a state that elected Al Franken , " he notes . None of which is to say that Pawlenty is n't without conservative critics . On the national level , one comment that has come up frequently was his admonishment to Minnesota Republicans that the GOP " needs to be the party of Sam 's Club , not just the country club . " After a decade of Obama 's biggovernment liberalism and George W. Bush 's " compassionate conservatism , " conservative voters might not have an appetite for such class warfare-inflected catchphrases . The image @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially , is now associated with Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam 's 2008 book Grand New Party , an explication of an agenda that many on the right consider big-government conservatism . Similarly , Pawlenty 's " Q Comp " program of merit pay for teachers has been derided by some conservatives as a cash handout . Minneapolis radio commentator Jason Lewis , an occasional substitute host for Rush Limbaugh , is a frequent Pawlenty critic . In a 2008 Wall Street Journal op-ed , he urged McCain to pick anybody but Pawlenty as his running mate . Lewis concedes that the last two years of Pawlenty 's governorship have been " somewhat of an improvement " ( Pawlenty 's " been acting responsibly " ) , but still thinks the Minnesotan might be a RINO : Republican In Name Only . Lewis argues that conservatives will scrutinize Pawlenty 's approach to environmental issues , and maintains that the governor 's 2010 energy billwhich requires Minnesota to obtain 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2025 , a measure popular with environmental advocateswill be his " albatross @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his supporters hope the American people will identify with his personal story . The youngest of five children , he was born into a working-class family . His parents , he recalls , liked to hold family discussions about politics at the dinner table . " We debated , pretty intensely , policy issues in my house , " the governor says . " It was n't at a high level but everyone had a gut reaction to the news of the day . " Those discussions " seemed meaningful " to him , and his mother noticed his interest and abilities even in his high school days . Pawlenty 's father was a truck driver and his mother a homemaker , who died when he was 16 years old . Before dying , she made his four siblings promise that " Timmy " would continue his education . He 's the only member of his family to attend college . Pawlenty volunteered for the College Republicans as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota , and then went to the University of Minnesota Law School . He worked a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local issues propelled him to run for the Eagan , Minnesota , city council . He won the seat at age 28 . Three years later , Pawlenty was elected to the lower house of the state legislature , and won five rlections before ascending to the Governor 's Residence in 2002 . Pawlenty 's wife , Mary , a petite , pretty , no-nonsense woman , is as homegrown as her husband . The Edina native initially preferred her husband 's involvement in politics to remain on a smaller scale . " The local level was wonderful , " she recalls of his time on city council . " Then he decided to run for the legislature . That was fine too . Then he decided he wanted to run for governor . I thought , ' Really ? ' There 's just no way he 's going to win . " Mary refrained from bursting her husband 's bubble and instead gave the aspiring governor the encouragement he needed , thinking a statewide campaign would " get it out of his system . " **26;6733;TOOLONG planned , and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Law . Landing in his section of tort class , Mary fell in love with the sound of Tim 's voice while sitting in front of him . Mary was appointed to a judgeship she maintained for 13 years before going on to become general counsel with a local arbitration firm . Though pundits love to argue about Pawlenty 's future , his wife is mum on the subject . " Life is so unpredictable in so many ways , particularly in politics . I do n't try and see around the corner , " she says . Mary , who began attending the non-denominational Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie in high school , has shaped Tim 's faith more than anyone else . Tim was raised Catholic but migrated toward his wife 's evangelical Protestantism after the two " talked a lot about faith " in law school . That time was " a turning point for Tim , " Mary recalls , in his views on faith and his choice of church . The couple were married at Wooddale by senior pastor Leith Anderson , and have attended the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When the collapse of the 1-35 bridge in August 2008 made national headlines , Anderson prayed with Tim over the phone , asking God to give him wisdom in the midst of tragedy . He says that Tim 's " Christian faith has always been clear and strong for me to observe . " One such observation : on the day of the last gubernatorial election debate of 2006 , Tim chose to attend church instead of using the time for cramming . Although Anderson says he 's never known Tim to leverage his faith for political purposes , his politics and religion do intersect at times . In his two terms , he appointed five judges to the Minnesota Supreme Court . They all share his pro-life convictions . Pawlenty opposes same-sex marriage and public funding of embryonic stem-cell research . Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ) last year , he said , " God 's in charge . There are some people who say , ' Pawlenty , do n't bring that up . It 's politically incorrect . ' Hogwash , I say ! @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a populist like Mike Huckabee . PAWLENTY HAS BEEN METHODICALLY doing everything that would be expected of someone planning a presidential campaign . Over the last two years , he has steadily increased his appearances on cable and radio talk shows , from Dennis Miller to CNN . Since last year he 's been traversing the country promoting his new political action committee , Freedom First . Despite his efforts , his attendance at such events as last year 's early presidential CPAC cattle call left attendees mostly unimpressed . It did n't help when he urged the CPAC crowd to emulate Tiger Woods 's estranged wife and " take a nineiron to big government . " On being asked about that episode , Pawlenty merely shrugs it off . " It was just a joke , " he says . " Some people have to lighten up . " ( One assumes that his higher profile will win him a more admiring reception at this year 's CPAC , which will gather right after this issue goes to press . ) Those who know Pawlenty say his sense of humor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the current commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry and one of Pawlenty 's closest friends , appreciated the levity Pawlenty brought when they served together in the state legislature , remembering that " rim would start a speech on the House floor with a Peter , Paul and Mary song . " It was there in the Minnesota House , between rounds of playing cards , basketball , and foosball " He 's a dynamite foosball player , " Sviggum saysPawlenty began pruning Minnesota 's liberal branches , hoping to uncover conservative undergrowth . The friends spent " hundreds of negotiation and strategy sessions " with their Democratic peers . " When I first came to the House we were fighting a lot of history , bias in favor of liberal perspective , the establishment in Minnesota , " Sviggum recalls . " We were fighting an uphill battle and making progress . " The melee failed to tire Pawlenty ; if anything , he found hope in those five terms in the House . " I could see what the state needed , at least in my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says . " Even though the hours were long and the work was difficult , I was energized by that . " Can Pawlenty find success in taking his show on the road ? Freedom First raised $1.9 million in its first six months and came to the aid of competitive Republican candidates in the 2010 cycle . Under Freedom First 's auspices , Pawlenty began to assemble the nucleus for a top-notch presidential campaign team . Alex Conant , Freedom First 's communications director , was the spokesman for the Republican National Committee in 2009 . Freedom First employs conservative Internet operations powerhouses , including online strategists Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn . Before he started his own political media firm , Engage , Ruffini was the Republican National Committee 's go-to guy for anything online- the Sergey Brin of the GOP . He says Freedom First 's online strategy and website are leading the way when it comes to conservative politics and the Internet . " We have n't seen anything else , at least in this particular way , of allowing people to give feedback of what races @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . " Liz Mair , along with Patrick Hynes of Hynes Communications , handles online communications for Pawlenty 's outfit , particularly online media outreach and blogger engagement . She appreciates Pawlenty 's persona ; his attractive qualities make her job easier . He mingles among groups with ease , and converses with approachable , yet reassuring , authority . Mair chuckles when she remembers the blogger happy hour they organized at CPAC . " After Pawlenty walked in the room I could n't get a word in edgewise . He was talking about all manner of things with the bloggers . Politics . Football . He 's comfortable . " Indeed , the staff of Freedom First is primed for a 2012 run : Sara Taylor is the former White House political director ; Phil Musser is the former executive director of the Republican Governors Association ; and Terry Nelson is the former Republican National Committee political director . As one longtime Minnesota political observer told me : " Pawlenty has left the building , so to speak . He 's all but shed his Minnesota operatives for a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ " Or perhaps something higher . " Pawlenty is doing the things that would be necessary to put him in the position to run for president if he wants to , " says Vin Weber , a former Minnesota congressman and longtime conservative activist who co-chairs Freedom First . Weber calls Pawlenty " one of the most genuine people you 'll come across in politics . " Which is why Pawlenty can pull off lines like : " My parents did n't have PhDs from an academic institution but they had PhDs in the stuff of life " - a typically homespun quip . " They lived life with good , basic common sense . The country needs this too . When I talk about this issue , it helps people to say I 've walked in your shoes . " Whether that 's enough to make Pawlenty presidential material is anyone 's guess . Being the downto-earth nice guy who 's eager to balance budgets truly is n't much of a schtick , especially in the charisma-oriented Age of Obama . But the country does n't need a schtick- it @ @ @ @ @ 
##4084357 ANTHONY TOMMASTNi , music critic of the New York Times , greeted the New Year by ranking , in order , the top 10 dead classical music composers since J. S. Bach , who not quite unpredictably landed in his top slot . The piece had something of the journalistic gimmick about it and was perhaps a way of attempting to ameliorate what Mr. Tommasini 's own paper had called a few weeks earlier " the Classical Music Recession . " It may not be coincidental either that music critics- as Michael Johnson pointed out in The American Spectator online- were also feeling the effects ofthat recession in many parts of the country as their jobs have been eliminated with alarming frequency . But the gimmick was irresistible nonetheless . Bach was Mr. Tommasini 's terminus a ( juobecause , in setting out the ground rules for his little contest , he had seemed to feel that he needed an excuse for excluding more antiquated composers like Monteverdi and Josquin des Prez . " The traditions and styles were so different back then as to have been almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . Likewise , the designation of " Western classical music , " so inadequate in so many other ways , was useful for excluding George Gershwin or Duke Ellington without offending their many admirers . Furthermore , his requiring the inhabitants of his pantheon to have assumed room temperature precluded any offense to living composers with a self-conceit of ranking , once they are given their due , alongside Bach and Beethoven- who , naturally , came second . " We are too close to living composers to assess their place and their impact , " writes Mr. Tommasini- which may or may not be true but which I suspect has little to do with the exclusion . Of course he gets it wrong , if not all wrong . So , equally of course , did Charles Murray in Human Accomplishment ( 2003 ) . There , in a time frame that extended as far back as to Monteverdi , if not to Josquin , Mr. Murray gave the top slots to Beethoven , Mozart , and Bach rather than Bach , Beethoven , and Mozart . Yet he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seven of Mr. Tommasini 's top 10 are also in Mr. Murray's- the other four , since you ask , are Schubert , Debussy , Stravinsky , and Wagnerand that probably as many would be in yours or mine ( though they might well be a different seven ) , if we were so ill advised as to draw up such a list ourselves . This indeed , namely the fact that the list was not his own but represented a consensus and that , therefore , the idea of " greatness " is not merely subjective but corresponds to something real and permanent and even ( dare we say it ? ) objective in a properly cultivated taste for music as for the other arts , was the very raison d ' tre for Mr. Murray 's list . Mr. Tommasini , by contrast , treats his as being frankly and unabashedly subjective , apart from an incidental mention of his disagreement with " a reader ( ' Scott ' ) who questioned the whole notion of greatness in music . " Neither he nor the New York Times can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some mononymic e-mailer with time on his hands but a spokesman for the whole cultural tendency of our time , which depends on a firm if usually non-explicit denial of the very idea of greatness in art . That is the salient feature of the transition from modernism to postmodernism . Just as modernism is inconceivable without the worship of the artist-hero that it inherited from romanticism , so postmodernism is inconceivable with it . " Greatness , " like everything else ( see " Taking ' Offense ' " in The American Spectator of February 2011 ) , can only exist within quotation marks . Shakespeare and Jersey Shore and Batman comics are alike reduced to being social and political signifiers , so there can be little point to distinguishing between them further . The only intellectual stardom remaining belongs to the clever critic , who has found the way to persuade you of the massively counter-intuitive truth that these otherwise various artifacts are equivalents , at least in the only system of value- inevitably a political one- that is allowed to mean anything anymore . In other words , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cling to outdated modernist assumptions about musical greatness , yet he seems oddly unashamed about it , as do others who would doubtless recoil in horror at the idea that they were lending credence to conservative tastes and their highly reactionary canons . Leon Wieseltier of the New Republic , for example , fulminates against the bumptious self-comparisons of Bono ( now at work bringing Spider-Man to the New York stage ) with Rilke or Blake and the rapper Jay-Z ( whose latest star turn is in " Monster , " Kanye West 's music video celebrating necrophilia ) with Dickens or Shakespeare . These and similar imbecilities which are the product of our " habit of analogical exaggeration " must have something to do , thinks Mr. Wieseltier , with the " culture of references in which we live . The common analysis of poems and novels and paintings and songs is now in terms of other poems and novels and paintings and songs , so that the experience of a work of art is preempted by names for it , by an associative shorthand for perceptions that we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allusions that assure us of our in-the-knowness and arm us against any disruption of it . It is a way of playing a game . " It is also a way of highlighting the essentially parasitic quality of postmodern culture . ANOTHER WAY TO PUT IT would be to say that Rilke and Blake and Dickens and Shakespeare are now brand names much more than they are writers to be read and understood . New writers and artists and the critics who are their camp followers engage in what , in other contexts , is called " associative marketing " by trying to identify themselves or their products with these established brand names . But although that tactic depends on the popular attachment to a sort of fossilized version of the " greatness " game recently re-popularized by Anthony Tommasini , it also arises naturally out of the leveling spirit of postmodernism which implicitly denies that there is any such thing as greatness in the arts- and does so precisely through such comparisons as these . The charge of intellectual snobbery is so terrifying to us , it appears , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pound and Eliot , but we will sacrifice Pound and Eliot themselves to the comparison by reducing our critical engagement with them to a catalogue of their hypertextual linkages . Leon Wieseltier feels the necessity of deprecating that same charge against himself by readily agreeing , by way of clearing his throat , that " it is not at all blasphemous ... to suggest that an heir of Rilke or Dickens may arise among us " before going on to the inevitable " But " - But nothing will stunt our reach more than the corruption of our ideas of quality . Lowering a standard is certainly one way of meeting it , but the glory is lost with the strain . The teaching of Rilke , Blake , Eliot , Pound , Shakespeare , Dickens , and Franklin is not : relax , or be yourself . It is : brave the distinctions . The offense in those inflated comparisons is , quite simply , that they are false , and their falsity creates a climate that degrades the very ambition that they pretend to honor . This crap damages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rough childhood to make a book Dickensian , and the acceptances and transfigurations of Rilke- which have nothing to do with " the costs of feeling " - are larger and harder than Peter Parker 's struggles with young adulthood , even if the poet never walked up the side of the castle . " Brave the distinctions " is a good way of putting it , and distinction is near of kin to greatness . Taste itself is a matter of making distinctions- or " discriminating , " to use another politically loaded word . And until we learn to discriminate again , the Classical Music Recession , which must owe something to a vague sense on the part of audiences that Bach and Beethoven are just more primitive versions of Lady Gaga , will never be over . Nor will we be quite free of the scourge of multiculturalism whose death Roger Scruton announced , perhaps prematurely , in our December-January issue ( see " Multiculturalism , R.I.P . " ) and which proceeds from the same politically correct refusal to make necessary discriminations among cultural phenomena . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be connected , I feel sure , with the liberal sneering that went on over the new Republican majority 's decision to kick off the 112th Congress with a reading of the Constitution . " Originalism " is their great bugbear partly because they depend upon a legal equivalent of the " habit of analogical exaggeration " to render our founding document irrelevant to what they want to do . It does n't do to look too closely at what the Constitution actually says if you want to make an easy identification of its carefully written strictures with progressive good intentions . It 's time for us all to join the House majority by defying the spirit of the age and braving the distinctions . 
##4084358 IT IS RECEIVED Washington wisdom that nothing great was ever created by a committee . But the rule has one stunning exception- the King James Bible , which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year , with no end to its spiritual longevity or literary influence in sight . The King James Version ( KJV ) was born out of political compromise and royal patronage . Church life in 16th-century England was characterized by high and often violent tensions over vernacular translations of the ancient Latin version of the Bible known as the vulgate . Early translators such as William Tyndale and John Rogers were burned at the stake . When the Reformation gathered momentum after Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 , the Puritans popularized the Geneva Bible , which went through 70 editions selling more than half a million copies . But when James succeeded Elizabeth , the new and scholarly king ( called " the wisest fool in Christendom " ) identified footnotes in the Geneva Bible that he deemed to be subversive of royal authority . At Hampton Court Palace in 1604 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conference of established church bishops and moderate political Puritans . Keeping the latter on his side was one of James 's priorities , although he was theologically opposed to their low church governance , as he showed by his comment , " No bishops , no King . " Nevertheless James commissioned six committees drawn from both Puritan and Episcopalian scholars to translate a new English language version of the Bible dedicated to himself as " the principal mover and author " of the translation . So the KJV was conceived as a unifying production , endorsing the idea of a monarchical national church . Although the scholars appointed to the translation committees were men of extraordinary erudition , some of the early printers of the King James Bible proved more fallible . Among their more amusing misprints was the omission of nor from the Seventh Commandment , so making God 's instruction : " Thou shalt commit adultery ! " Aside from such typographical mistakes , a curious but calculated error was to leave much of the language of the KJV in forms that were dated , if not archaic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that time " you " had replaced " ye " in common parlance . " Thee " and " thou " were also falling into disuse . The translators left such anachronisms in place because they were conservative in their scholarship . They preferred to keep alive the sonorous language that had been fundamental to the historic work of earlier translators like Tyndale and Coverdale . Such scholars had an ear for the rhythms and cadences of poetic utterance . An early clue to this resonance is to be found in the third chapter of Genesis when Adam says to God , " she gave me of the tree and I did eat " ( Genesis 3:12 ) . These KJV words are written in the classical form of iambic pentameter , the five-meter beat of Shakespeare 's plays . The linguistic conservatism of the King James Version flourished in the new American colonies . It is not known whether the first Puritan settlers brought Geneva Bibles with them ( the famous Mayflower Geneva Bible of 1588 displayed in the University of Texas is a fake ) , but they soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bible available in America for most of the 17th century . To this day the King James Version is far more popular in the United States than it is in the wider English-speaking world . It crosses all denominational borders , is loved by black churches , and has considerable political as well as spiritual resonance . OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS , the KJV 's original and current publisher , has marked the 400th anniversary in part by releasing the entertaining new book Bible : The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011 , by Gordon Campbell . It opens with this paragraph about U.S. presidents and the KJV : On 20 January 2009 Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office on a copy of the King James Version of the Bible published by Oxford University Press in 1853 ; it was the same Bible that had been used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861 . Similarly a series of twentieth century presidents ( Warren Harding , Dwight Eisenhower , Jimmy Carter and George Bush Senior ) chose to take their oath on the copy of the KJV published in London in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points in American history . History and the King James Version have been closely connected in American political oratory . The opening words of the Gettysburg Address , " Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth , " are based on a combination of the KJV rendering of Psalm 90:10 , " The days of our years are three score years and ten , " and its description of Christ 's birth , " Mary brought forth a son . " When Lincoln later in this address observed the tragic fact that in the Civil War both sides " read the same Bible , " he was referring to the KJV . A century later when Martin Luther King , Jr . delivered his " I Have a Dream " speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial , he based one of his most purple passages almost verbatim on Isaiah 40:45 as translated by the KJV : I have a dream today . I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted , every mountain and hill made low . The rough places will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed , and all flesh shall see it together . This is our hope . This is the faith with which I return to the South . More important than politicians plagiarizing the KJV for their speeches is the popular usage of innumerable phrases from the 1611 text in everyday speech . The most original book published to celebrate the 400th anniversary is David Crystal 's Begat : The King James Bible and the English Language . Also published by Oxford University Press , it traces hundreds of common expressions back to the KJV . They include : Fly in the ointment ; my brother 's keeper ; fight the good fight ; finding the scapegoat ; how are the mighty fallen ; bricks without straw ; new wine in old bottles ; baptism of fire ; blind leading the blind ; root and branch ; turning the other cheek ; scales falling from eyes ; holier than thou ; going the second mile ; reaping the whirlwind ; fall by the wayside ; sour grapes ; two edged sword ; old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Crystal , the KJV has contributed more to the English language than any other source , creating double the number of familiar expressions that derive from Shakespeare . The greatness of the KJV lies in a mysterious mixture of its historicity , familiarity , and spirituality . More than 2.6 billion copies of it have been published in the last four centuries , and sales continue strong as the Oxford University Press expects to sell around 250,000 this year . This is a most felicitous combination , to use yet another phrase coined by the 17th-century translators , of God and Mammon . The King James Bible deserves its label as " the most celebrated book in the English speaking world . " 