For years, the Left in Britain had a taunt: “There are more pandas in Scotland than there are Tory MPs.” Ha ha ha!
Yes, there were two pandas in the Edinburgh Zoo and only one Conservative representing a Scottish constituency in parliament. Activists used to dress as pandas to remind David Cameron and the Conservatives of this fact.
Well, guess what? There are now more pandas in Scotland than there are Labour MPs. Yup: After its wipeout at the hands of the Scottish National Party, Labour has a single MP representing a Scottish constituency. Just as the Tories (still) have a single MP.
Look: The fact that people won’t vote for a party does not necessarily reflect badly on the party. It could reflect badly on the voters.
All of my life, I’ve been taunted with, “Black people won’t vote for your party, the Republican party.” Ha ha ha!
Yeah? Well, I think black America, and all of America, would be better off with more Republican victories.
Anyway, I’m kind of pleased with this panda business.
‐Another way of saying what I’m saying, above, is: What’s right is not necessarily popular. And what’s popular is not necessarily right.
Agreed?
‐The other week, President Obama was speaking of his “bucket list.” Actually, he made the following joke: “After the midterm elections, my advisers asked me, ‘Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?’ And I said, ‘Well, I have something that rhymes with ‘bucket list.’”
I wonder what’s on it. A unilateral amnesty for illegal aliens, he has checked off. Embrace of the Castro dictatorship — ditto. What’s next? What will he do before he checks out on January 20, 2017?
The way I put it, after the 2014 midterm elections, was, “The left-wing candy shop is open.” I hope the country and world don’t get too sick before this particular candy shop is at last closed.
‐Obama said something that I was kind of amazed at. He was speaking before a left-wing audience, his core constituency. He said,
“I want to talk about some stuff that creates some controversy, because it’s important. And one of those policies right now that I’m focused on is new trade agreements with other countries. And if you were watching MSNBC and all this stuff, and — you’re thinking, ‘Oh, man, I love Obama, but what’s going on here?’”
I sort of marvel at that line. At the fact that Obama said, “You’re thinking, ‘Oh, man, I love Obama, but . . .’”
Do you know what I mean?
‐You have probably seen this story: “Asian-American groups accuse Harvard of racial bias in admissions.” (Here.) I have a zillion things to say about this, and have said most of them in the past. I would like to confine my remarks to one comment now.
Thirty years ago — in 1985 or ’86 — I heard a Harvard professor say, “If we did admissions honestly, without racial or ethnic discrimination, next year’s freshman class would be 80 percent Asian.”
I remember that clear as day. I imagine it’s worse now — I mean, the discrimination.
‐Let me recommend an article. It’s a column by Mary Anastasia O’Grady in the Wall Street Journal: “Behind the Pope’s Embrace of Castro.” It may be behind a paywall, and, if so, I’m sorry about that. It is a superb column — saving me and others the trouble of writing a similar column or post.
‐Let me recommend another article — a humdinger, just a little masterpiece. It’s by a professor at the University of Chicago, Charles Lipson, and it’s called “For Folks Who Just Love Suppressing Free Speech.”
I will quote the opening paragraphs:
The Canadian government of Stephen Harper has a fascinating idea. Use hate-crime laws against groups that advocate boycotting Israel.
It’s a terrible idea. I love it.
Heh. I remember something that Senator Warren Rudman said about Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, a budget-balancing measure: “a bad idea whose time has come.”
By the way, I have a romantic view of the University of Chicago — probably a misguidedly romantic one — and I think only the brilliant should teach there. Obviously Professor Lipson qualifies.
‐A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of visiting Washington & Lee University, in Lexington, Va. What a beautiful place. A storybook college. Out of a movie. Very warm, polite, and bright students, too.
They have a “speaking tradition” there: When you pass someone, you speak to him. I thought, “I ain’t on the Upper West Side no mo’.” Indeed, I felt I should be doffing my cap. Sometimes my arm half-moved to do so.
‐It is a southern place, with lots of traditions and lots of lore. I’ll tell you what most tickled me (as we’d say in the Midwest).
A long time ago, Robert E. Lee was president — of the institution, I mean — and lived in the mansion on campus. It had a porch on which Mrs. Lee sat in her wheelchair. Students would occasionally stop to chat with Mrs. Lee.
That was their only excuse for being late to class — that they had stopped to chat with Mrs. Lee.
So, to this day, as I understand it, “I stopped to talk with Mrs. Lee” is what you say when you’re late. Can’t cut much mustard, though.
‐Not only Lee but his horse, Traveller, is buried at W&L. I want merely to make a language note about this.
You see that the horse’s name is spelled in the British fashion: with two els. (No, I’m not talking about trains in Chicago.) That used to be the American fashion. But then we went “Traveler” (etc.).
‐Next door to W&L is VMI, the Virginia Military Institute. As I passed by campus, I saw one apparatus or set-up after another, on which the cadets must do a variety of exercises, or play a variety of games. I thought of the statement attributed to Wellington: “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” Well, these looked like our playing fields . . .
‐Last week, I met two leaders of the Bush Institute in Dallas — I mean, 43’s institute. Specifically, these leaders are with the Human Freedom department of the institute.
This group does marvelous work, especially on the toughest situations, e.g., North Korea. W. is seldom given credit for being a human-rights president. He was, though. And a great many dissidents know it. He is continuing his human-rights work post-presidency.
There are worse ways to spend a life — to spend one’s life, fame, and influence. Much worse.
To check out a website, go here.
‐Um, speaking of Texas politicians — I’m not going to say much about Jim Wright, the onetime speaker of the House, who just died. I will quote Dick Cheney, who, as a congressman, said, “He’s a heavy-handed son-of-a-bitch, and he doesn’t know any other way of operating, and he will do anything he can to win at any price.”
Yes.
Wright did say one thing that charmed me. As you may recall, he arranged for certain parties to buy his autobiography in bulk, as a way of getting around limits on gifts and speaking fees. At least this was the charge, and it seemed plainly true. Also, Wright got a 55 percent royalty on the book — which is whopping.
Asked about this, he said, “Royalty proceeds are going to my favorite charity: Mrs. Wright and me.”
Heh, good one — I’ll give you that, Jim. R.I.P.
‐Would you like another story about a politician? I have it on good authority. A foreign head of state was visiting Silvio Berlusconi, who was then prime minister of Italy. And a goat of the first magnitude.
Silvio said, “Do you take polls?” Why, yes, sometimes, said the other head of state. Silvio said, “I took a poll of women. The question was, ‘Would you sleep with Silvio?’ Fifteen percent said no. Sixty percent said yes. Twenty-five percent said, ‘Ancora?’” (i.e., “Again?”).
‐I had occasion to think about an interesting fact: that Turkey belongs to NATO, which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. North Atlantic, huh?
And, I swear, this thought came quickly to mind: Well, the Big Ten Conference now has 14 members.
‐In a recent blogpost, I recalled something that George Shultz said. It has to do with preemption — and what a thankless task it can be.
Say you have a rattlesnake in your backyard. Do you kill it before it wraps its jaws around your child? If you do, there will always be people who say, “Oh, it would have slinked off into the brush.” “Oh, it meant no harm.” “You should have called PETA!”
I’d like to leave you with a letter from a friend of mine, a wily and greatly experienced man of the American West:
As one who has dealt with LOTS of rattlesnakes and copperheads (many with two legs) while avoiding the green “drop dead” vipers in Uganda, I can tell you that this example is writ large in SO many situations dealing with the “known unknowns and unknown unknowns” of national security, two to a thousand miles down the road.
I also know from my time as Head Bouncer at the Little Bear Saloon back home in Evergreen, Colorado.