Wrapup: I've now a new "Think Again" column called "Official Evidence vs. 'Gut Hatred'" here.

It's about the derision those people who were right about Bush and Iraq continue to experience from those who were wrong, inspired by Tom Ridge and Marc Ambinder. (And P.S., we recall that Ted Kennedy, we are reminded by our friends at Thinkprogress.org, called his vote against authorizing the invasion "the best vote I've made in my 44 years in the US Senate." We could not agree more.)

My Nation column, here, is called "Novak Without Tears." You can guess what that's about.

Regarding yesterday's A (Very) Short Story About a Photograph , if you missed the one with the actual photo, it's up now, here.

Here's Pierce.

Charles Pierce
Newton, MA

Hey Doc:

"Times right now ain't nothin' like they used to be/Well times right now ain't nothin' like they used to be/ You know I'll tell you all the truth, won't you take my word from me."

Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: "Color Me True" (Sly And The Family Stone) --The work goes on, the cause endures, the dream shall never die, and I still love New Orleans.

Short Takes:

Part The First: 'FI were king of the forest, I would read Oklahoma out of the Union until the people there elect themselves one senator who isn't a complete dickhead.

Part The Second: It goes without saying--"So don't say it!" Sorry. --but there are people asking for spare change on the steam grates outside the Boston Public Library who have far more essential dignity, and who are far more worthy of my respect and my financial report, than this suppurating mound of blubber.

Part The Third:--Oh, look! A Facebook page.

Part The Fourth: Oh, Lord, Joe, Was this ever not a piece for you to write. Even if we declare the whole Anonymous things out of bounds--which nobody ever should, but no matter--you are still the guy that got this fiasco into print, and I say this as one who had a rare old time laughing at it. Why do editors print rubbish? Because famous writers write rubbish.

Part The Fifth: The lads 'n lassies at Da Cornah had a time with the passing of The Senior Senator. There was Pantloadian flummery--Yeah, Reagan's name hasn't been used for a single political purpose since he died--and Pantloadian keyboard-flexing. Don't make him get tough on you. Ohhhhh, no. And of course, from a woman who'd earlier posted that Edward Kennedy had done things contrary to the Catholic faith, there was this out-and-out lie. Ego te absolvo, you silly hack. And, for pity's sake, Ye Olde House Of Mulch For Brains, try not be be such tools.

I swear, modern conservatism is the only political movement in history made up entirely of people with little birdies flying out of their ears.

Part The Penultimate: Unless he is talking about a Massachusetts of which I am unaware, Peter Roff pretty much has eaten a bug here.

Part The Last: Anyone who's covered golf at any point is familiar with the post-round press conference, in which PGA star Billy Ray Amanahat takes us through the round, shot by shot. ("Par-4. Driver. Three-iron. Two putts.") Those of us lucky enough to be on the e-mail list for the White House Pool Report were treated this week to a shot-by-shot description of President Obama's time at the links on the Vineyard. Which brought nothing back more clearly than the response of the great Dan Jenkins to someone who was boring him with golf talk: "Stud, if I'm going the whole 18 here, I'm gonna need caddy fees." And, not for nothing, but great cheers to Ryan Moore, who won at Greensboro last week, and was the first golfer in recent memory to win a Tour event without carrying a single corporate logo anywhere on his person. This, of course, will not last.

It is almost beside the point now to mention that The Senior Senator leaves behind a pair of shoes that most of his Senate contemporaries could use for swimming pools. (Harry Reid, come on down!) His maiden speech was about the poll tax and one of the last issues he took up was that of genetic privacy, which pretty much covers the waterfront as regards the second half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. Start clicking them off--Webster-Clay-Calhoun, bing-bang, all at the same time, and then LaFollette, Lodge, Vandenberg, Taft, Lyndon. Maybe Robert Wagner and/or Hubert Humphrey. And the Senior Senator. That's the ballgame right there, and there's nobody still in the Senate who comes close.

I pretty much emptied the bucket on what I had to say about him six years ago.

But, if Martin was right, and the arc of history really does bend toward justice, the Senior Senator didn't miss many chances to give it a little push along the way. For example, if it weren't for the Senior Senator, an authoritarian extremist named Robert Bork would now be in his 22nd year on the United States Supreme Court. Conservatives are still weeping about this. Tough. A country with a Robert Bork deciding on the issues of its liberties would be a smaller, more vicious place. The Senior Senator stopped that from happening. What'd your senator do today?

P.S. My wife and I waited about three and a half hours at the JFK library last night to pay our respects. The line snaked out through the parking lots for about a mile and a half. There were older women who looked like they'd been mad for Jack back in '46. There were dozens of extraordinarily well-behaved children. There were two guys with guitars. It was an altogether remarkable gathering. I am glad that I did it. There was a lot of low talking, but there also were not a few good old Dorchester wisecracks. Two of the Kennedy daughters came out and worked the line, doing the double-handed handshake thing and thanking people for coming. The TV stands were long gone quiet by the time we made it in through the doors. That long, extended, respectful peace beside the dark harbor is going to be a good bulwark of memory to have when the smugness and the vicious ignorance and the nearly bottomless banality that usually encrusts our politics reasserts itself, probably by Sunday. Amen.

The Mail:

Name: Michael Green
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

One of the ironies of Ted Kennedy's ironic life is the current healthcare debate.

Kennedy once said that the perfect should not be allowed to become the enemy of the good. That is worth remembering right now as my brothers and sisters of the left assault some Democrats for not ordering others to vote a certain way.

But then some Republicans--and, to be fair, Democrats--have lamented that his presence would have ameliorated the partisan rancor. Those Republicans include John McCain, whose presidential campaign did a great deal to fan the flames that are now billowing upward from right- wingers at town hall meetings, like the meeting he had the other night. Can a party in thrall to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, for whom Wanda Sykes's words are hardly good enough, actually claim with any seriousness that Kennedy could have reduced the partisanship?

So, we are left to ponder what Kennedy might have been able to accomplish on this bill, and to cherish what he did accomplish for his country. And we are left to ponder what might have been after an event that Murray Kempton described so aptly--and so much better than I will--when he said that Kennedy would always be excoriated for doing something that many other men might have done and handled just as badly.

Name: Daphne Chyprious
Hometown: Springfield, Ill.

Terry from Cheyenne's story reminds me of my own experience. Years ago, I came upon a pickup truck in a parking lot with a huge printed sign in its back window: " Burn my flag, I'll burn your ass." Scrounging up a sheet of scratch paper from my glove compartment, I scribbled: "If I burn my own flag, will you burn your own ass?" and stuck it into his dashboard. No word yet on the truck owner's reaction, but my local paper did oblige me by printing my letter about the incident.

Contact Eric Alterman

Use this form to contact Eric Alterman.

Full Name (required)

E-mail address (required)

Hometown (required)

Message

 Subscribe me to EmailNation, a free e-mail newsletter

 You can send me information about subscriptions and special offers to my e-mail address.

 You can send me information about subscriptions and special offers to my postal address.