Today was a travel day as I finally made my way back to sunny Florida. I had to leave Boston – I was getting the sense that Governor “Coupe Deval” Patrick was going to make me donate an ottoman to his plush gubernatorial office.
A few random thoughts while I try to catch up on all the exciting events of the day:
1) I flew back on JetBlue. I love JetBlue. Still. And not just because their satellite TV system makes it possible for me to watch the dreamy Bill Hemmer at 40,000 feet. JetBlue represents everything that is right with our free market economy. The airline particularly stands out because it is an industry populated by companies that represent virtually all of our economy’s pathologies. Perhaps later in the week I will elaborate on this point at greater length. (Personal note to any internet savvy person in JetBlue’s hierarchy – A prominent blogger (me!) wants to do a puff-piece on you. Get in touch.)
2) The guy sitting next to me (actually the middle seat between us was empty) was trying to sleep. About 8 times during the flight, the four year old sitting in front of him stood up on her seat, leaned over the back and yelled at him, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY NAME IS?” It was like being stuck in an Ace Ventura movie. Fortunately, I like that kind of humor and found the gag increasingly riotous each time. At one point the mother looked back and said to me, “Isn’t she adorable?” In spite of how much I was enjoying the recurring gag, I told the mother that she really should do whatever’s necessary to let the guy next to me sleep. (Oh, the sacrifices I sometimes make.) She responded to my gesture by turning away in disgust.
I weep for the future.
3) John Edwards is now saying that he didn’t label Israel the greatest threat to world peace while speaking to an audience full of Jews. I’m willing to split the difference and agree that he misspoke. Even if he did in fact think that Israel is the world’s greatest threat to world peace, he never would say so out loud, especially since he pretty much has to run the table on the Jews after his choice in bloggers terminally alienated America’s Christians.
Jonah Goldberg thinks Edwards may have actually said that thing about Israel because “Edwards isn't very thoughtful about foreign policy.” I’ve gone to great lengths to make the John Edwards campaign my personal dominion in the right half of the blogosphere, so I must confess that I’m outraged by Jonah’s simplistic summation of Edwards’ thoughtfulness or lack thereof.
Edwards is a man who in his own mind and rhetoric has boiled a 21st century economy down to starving chimney sweeps and shivering street urchins. Not thoughtful on foreign policy? Compared to his positions on domestic policy, Edwards’ foreign policy thoughtfulness qualifies him as a latter day Kissinger!
I hope we’ve cleared that up.
4) When I got into the pundit game, a wise old sage who is a veritable titan in the publishing industry shared with me the maxim that you should only aim up. He was saying that if you’re going to get into a pissing contest with someone, make sure it’s someone who’s in a league above you.
Following this logic, if I were of a mind to pick a fight with a blogger, it would make sense to do so with Glenn Reynolds if I could somehow get him to notice me. It would be good for business. If I picked on a blogger who gets 12 readers a month, I would look small and pathetic, or even smaller and patheticer than usual.
The good news about this formulation for Andrew Sullivan is he can pick a fight with just about anyone and still be in the maxim’s good graces. The bad news for Andrew is that by this stage of the game, virtually everyone has decided to ignore his hysterical and overwrought rantings.
Still, one must admire Andrew’s perverse audacity as he has been attempting to pick a fight with Mark Steyn by calling Mark a genocidal bigot. Not just a garden variety bigot, mind you, but a genocidal one. Andrew’s aim may not be true or even intellectually honest, but at least he’s aiming high.
I wonder if at the end of the day he’ll find the sacrifice of his last remaining shreds of respectability to generate a little extra traffic for his new bosses at the Atlantic to have been worth it. And I also wonder how long the Atlantic will tolerate its in-house blogger making such intellectually bankrupt and border-line libelous charges at one of its most respected staffers.
5) Speaking of things that Andrew Sullivan finds abusive, cruel and pornographic, it’s American Idol week! Three glorious nights of this magnificent show – I am in my glory. And if you think I’m kidding, I’m not. While it’s too early to distinguish the players from each other at this point, I’m going to predict that at least one of the two Justin Timberlake look-alikes will be there at the end.
Compliments? Complaints? Contact me at Soxblog@aol.com