DaveTown

caritas operit multitudinem peccatorum

– St. Peter

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.

– George Orwell

There’s a serious movement to draft Fred Dalton Thompson to run for president on the GOP ticket in 2008.

I like the irony here. The party that most often attacks “Hollywood” runs an actor for the White House. Sweet.

It also reeks of déjà vu, doesn’t it? The Republicans turn to an actor to save the world from liberalism? Wait, I’ve seen this one before . . .

Of course, unlike Ronald Reagan, Fred Thompson was a politician before he was an actor, and actually has some serious credentials. Did you know he was instrumental in the downfall of Richard Nixon, as counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee? Did you know he’s never won an election by less than 2-1 margin? Did you know he was in “Days of Thunder” with Tom Cruise?

Okay, so nobody’s perfect. But still, this is the only potential candidate so far, from any party, that I could conceivably support. He doesn’t need, nor particularly want, the gig; this alone makes him electable. He has a common sense approach to public policy, as opposed to the ugly pragmatism that seems to drive everyone else in politics these days.

And, maybe he could get Sam Waterston to be Attorney General.

From Cacciaguida’s review of “Breach“:

The world is not in fact divided between the pure and the impure (or take any other matched set of a virtue and its corresponding vice): it’s made up of impure people who acknowledge the obligations of purity and try to meet them, and impure people who don’t.

A federal appeals court issues a ruling that supports the most historically alienable of those supposedly inalienable rights mentioned in the Constitution.

I’m shocked and amazed, and highly gratified.

Lots of odd headlines on Drudge today.

First, the ones that fall under the heading “Is it really news if it’s obvious?”:

FBI Misused Patriot Act – Really? In other news: “Water Wet”

Candidate Clinton Embracing The Trite and True – I’ll buy that, except for the true part.

Pope says Much of TV and Internet Content Destructive – What did you expect him to say, “Dang, that Southpark really cracks me up”?

Guantanamo Hearings Start Under Cloud of Secrecy – No live remote from “Entertainment Tonight”?

Then there’s the stories that won’t get much play, because they might reflect favorably on a Republican administration.

Unemployment Down to 4.5% – If we had a Democrat in the White House, they’d interrupt soap operas to announce this. But Bush is so uniformly hated by now, you’ll be lucky to see it mentioned at all.

Trade Deficit Shrinks – Samey samey.

Then there’s the hugely ironic:

TV Execs Puzzled by Dismal Ratings for “Save the Planet” Climate Special - clearly people were too busy shoveling all that global warming off their sidewalks to watch television.

Finally, the linguistic revisionism headlines:

Coulter-Bashing Websites Use The ‘F’ Word Too, Without Inciting Outrage – Wait . . . there’s a new ‘F’ word? What the . . .?

The inestimable Fr. Neuhaus points out what Dave at Oklahoma Lefty was lamenting the other day: There is no such thing as civil discourse on important issues anymore. Just anti-intellectuals yelling obscenities at each other, then, after they can’t think of anything else to yell, merely trying to shut each other up.

Dave encountered this in discussions about different religions, Fr. Neuhaus observes it in politics. It seems we’re actually regressing as a society. There was a day when people could disagree respectfully, and actually be friends at the same time. I’ve been reading Heretics by GK Chesterton this week, and one of the things that jumps out at me is the high esteem he holds for many of the people he so vehemently disagrees with. He and Bernard Shaw carried on for years, simultaneously disagreeing and engaging in mutual admiration. Throughout his writings it is evident Chesterton has genuine affection for Shaw, and vice-versa. Where do we see that happening today? Nowhere outside the Carville/Matalin residence, it seems; we can’t even be sure about that (one never knows, it could all be an act. As the great Philosopher BB King once said, “Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin’ me too”).

It was said of Thomas Aquinas (by Chesterton, oddly enough) that he engaged in controversy with two goals: Clarity and Courtesy. Not only for the sake of moral rectitude, but because it made for more persuasive argument. What we have today is not intellectual give-and-take designed to persuade and inform. What we have today is the intellectual equivalent of trench warfare: firmly entrenched sides who lack the imagination to anything apart from make the occasional suicidal charge.

It would be easy to blame it on the media (CNN, Fox – I’m looking in your direction), but it also has to do with a general lack of common courtesy in society as a whole (whatever ’society’ means). Politeness and courtesy are hugely underrated virtues. They are the oil which keeps the engine of a culture from overheating and blowing up. Want to be a hero? Teach a child basic manners. You’ll be doing more for the world than you can possibly imagine.

The lack of civil discourse also has to do with the fact that politics (and to some degree, religion) has been overtaken by that most loathsome of all human creatures: the power-hungry demagogue. Those with no desire to serve, but rather to be served. This type of “leader” doesn’t want truth to win out, and will go to any lengths to squelch it. Unless, by some fluke, the truth temporarily suits them. Either way, dissenting voices are snuffed out by any means necessary: obfuscation, slander, prosecution, murder – whatever it takes. Thank God we only seem to be interested in the first three in this country. For now.

And so, since (to quote Gandhi) “We must be the change we want to see in the world”, I’m going to try to do my part to raise the level of discourse around here. Just in case somebody listens to me some day.

Welcome to “Who’s More Pathetic?” The quiz sensation that’s sweepin’ the nation.

The rules: We quote two sniping politicians, and you decide, without regard to partisan bias, Who’s More Pathetic?

Today’s Contestants:

Conservative vixen/villainess/potty-mouth Ann Coulter

vs

Democratic pretender and soulless gazillionaire trial lawyer John Edwards.

The Facts:

Coulter was quoted as referring indirectly to Edwards as a “faggot” at the CPAC conference*.

Edwards responded by saying that people who say things that hurt his feelings should be denied the right to free speech*.

YOU DECIDE: Who’s More Pathetic?

The Quotes:

* “I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I … can’t really talk about Edwards.” Friday March 2nd 2007

* “we can’t stand silently by and allow this kind of language to be used.” Sunday March 5th 2007

My Take: (not to be used for official scoring purposes or assistance in wagering):

Not even close. Ann Coulter is an insignificant name-caller. Oooooh, she used a word we’re not allowed to use anymore . . .

John Edwards wants to be President of the United States, and he’s already willing to jettison the 1st Amendment. Add in the factor that Edwards, in his anger and pain, managed to use this incident as a fundraising tool.

The Verdict:

Edwards – definitely more pathetic.

1. Oedipus Rex – Tom Lehrer

2. Mama Said Knock You Out – LL Cool J

3. Joe Bean – Johnny Cash

4. Vietnamese Baby – New York Dolls

5. Pax Aeterna – Monks of the Abbey of Notre Dame

6. Livin’ in the USA – Steve Miller Band

7. I am the Owl – Dead Kennedys

8. I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash

9. Mao Reminisces About His Days in Southern China – Camper Van Beethoven

10. Werewolves of London – Adam Sandler

The evil of militarism is not that it shows certain men to be fierce and haughty and excessively warlike. The evil of militarism is that is shows most men to be tame and timid and excessively peaceable. The professional soldier gains more and more power as the general courage of a community declines . . . Their never was a time when nations were more militarist. There never was a time when men were less brave.

– G.K. Chesteron, Heretics 

The human race, according to religion, fell once, and in falling gained the knowledge of good and of evil. Now we have fallen a second time, and only the knowledge of evil remains to us.

– G.K. Chesterton, Heretics