Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2804

Why Does Trig Matter, Ctd?

The story is getting slightly more legs here and here. I like this reader comment:

Why every mother
in America didn't burst into spontaneous, incredulous laughter when she
first trotted out her BS tale is beyond me.

And this:

I have given birth 3 times, all home deliveries with no anesthesia and only a midwife for the 3rd since I figured my good luck might run out.  When you are within hours of giving birth, you do not -- you CANNOT -- sit with legs crossed in an airport reading a book, or...

Mental Health Break

TDW is a fan of Conan the Barbarian: The Musical:

Between this, the Total Recall musical, and last year's Lego Silence of the Lambs musical, the Kaplan brothers are long overdue for their own TV show TV network.

Conan the Barbarian - Television program - The Silence of the Lambs - Total Recall - Kaplan

The Out Of Touch MSM, Ctd

Alex Pareene outs an LA Times political blogger as a former member of the Bush communications team - a fact not disclosed by the paper:

nearly everything Malcolm and Orr write is critical of the Obama
administration, disdainful of Democrats, and supportive of Republicans.
They a, but not ones that look
like good news for Democrats.

There's nothing wrong with the Times hiring conservatives to blog for them. If the Times wants a conservative...

Think Of The Children, Ctd

Free Exchange compares gay and straight parenting:

Currently, most gay or lesbian parents had their child in a
heterosexual relationship. As society becomes more tolerant and
marriage more popular, children born to or adopted by gay couples
become more common. This suggests the typical gay and lesbian
might be better parents then the average hetero couple. The
hetero couple may or may not have planned for a child, while a
couple probably did.

What makes a good...

The Electron Trail

A reader writes:

You asked, "Are any emails safe?"

No. Is this even still a question? Seriously?

My mama taught me when I was very young not to put anything in writing that I wouldn't want the whole world to see, and I think it holds me in good stead, *especially* with email.  Even if you're sending something to someone you trust, email is insecure.  It's too easy to accidentally send something to someone that you don't intend, to type a shortcut into the "to" field and not notice that it...

Quote For The Day III

'Americans are not addicted to oil, Americans are addicted to freedom - the freedom to move freely and independently where and when we want," - former Virginia governor, George Allen.

At some point, we'll get a more honest GOP: they'll declare that national default is a good thing and that carbon-based energy needs to be even more central to the US economy.  After all, anything else is "librul" isn't it?

George Allen - Virginia - United States - Republican - Energy

Why Does Trig Matter? Ctd

Friedersdorf wants the issue left alone:

I assume Trig Palin is Sarah Palin's son, and that I don't think weshould go down the road of demanding hard evidence on these sorts ofquestions (even if it meant never finding out the truth in anindividual case) — it sets a precedent that would mire future electionsin ever more absurd accusations and counter-accusations, all of themfocusing attention on the personal history of candidates rather thantheir professional qualifications and policy...

"One's humanity is inescapable when one commits to blogging all day for a living."

CJR's Greg Marx actually adds something to the post-Weigel debate. What he notes is that Ezra Klein, Dave Weigel and Dan Froomkin were and are all bloggers, whose work inevitably involves more of their raw humanity, warts and all, than that of traditional reporters. They develop an intimacy with readers and an increasing degree of candor and personal transparency in their writing. And once a writer has set those parameters, his private life will soon follow - and he or she will become...

Quote For The Day II

"So the dirty little secret is yeah, we sort of informally agree not to
report a lot of things that we see and hear, some of it for legitimate
security reasons, and some of it because it could just be embarrassing.
And the tradeoff is we get a continued relationship with these people
and we can get information," - Jamie McIntyre, explaining the process by which he reports on the war for CNN.
















CNN - Jamie McIntyre - Warfare and Conflict - United States - Weapons

A Decade Later

"The security situation in Afghanistan remains tenuous, with instability
fueled by a resilient and still confident insurgency, tribal tensions,
political challenges, and competition for influence in the future,"- David Petraeus, laying the groundwork for permanent occupation. Henry Kissinger says two things:

Mr Kissinger added that fighting the Taliban until it was reduced to
impotence "would take more time than the American political system would
permit".

But:

"On the other hand, if we...