At the bottom of this post — on the president’s bizarre charge that Republicans somehow oppose AIDS prevention — I said, “Do conservatives ever heckle Obama at speeches? Or does only the Left heckle?” Lots of readers have written to say, “Rep. Joe Wilson, during the State of the Union address.” I was thinking of these rallies Obama has been holding, but true.
Everywhere he goes, these AIDS hecklers are after him (as the president himself complained). Do the conservatives ever disrupt in the same way? Are the audiences so handpicked that the conservatives don’t get in? No presidential operation is that tight . . .
Also, I had a little post on Ann Arbor, my dear lefty hometown. Mention of this town always brings mail, a lot of it — from Ann Arbor and those with experience of Ann Arbor. Just one quick e-mail:
Mr. Nordlinger,
I do opposition research for a well-funded libertarian non-profit. [“Oppo” is everywhere!] We were doing state-level opposition research recently, and I was given a Michigan project. Imagine my surprise when, digging through 990 tax forms, I found that every other liberal group was located in Ann Arbor. I thought of you.
It may warm your heart, though, that the silliest of the bunch was actually in Kalamazoo: the Arcus Foundation. Their mission statement? “The mission of the Arcus Foundation is to achieve social justice that is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and race, and to ensure conservation and respect of the great apes.”
So, there’s a bit of competition. Keeps you Ann Arbor guys on your toes.
Ah, Kazoo! Another one of my hometowns, sort of. (Do you know the song, about the “gal” from Kalamazoo?)