Mark:

Our Boris is the best-natured dog in the world. He’s seen two kids born and

raised in this house, and endured far more teasing and abuse than any dog

deserves. He takes most of it patiently and calmly. There is a point,

though, at which he registers a mild objection. (The point was reached, for

example, by my then-infant son’s habit of sticking his little fingers up

Boris’s nose.) When he reaches that point, Boris emits a low, throaty

growl. Never anything worse, just that growl. Everyone — even the infant

Daniel Derbyshire — gets the message.

The Republican faithful is a bit like that. They have a high threshold of

tolerance for abuse, but there comes a point where they growl.

I witnessed this in person at a panel debate last year on an NR cruise. I

was up on the stage with, among others, Dick Morris, at that time an Open

Borders guy (he has since turned his coat, I think). The audience were all

NR fans. The immigration issue came up, and Dick launched into some Open

Borders boilerplate. Up from the audience, for the first and only time in

that session, came a low growl… I thought Boris had got on board somehow.