John Podhoretz certainly started something this morning (see the posting “Pretty in Pink,” below), and I report, gloatingly, that every one of the emails I’ve received today sticks up for John Derbyshire, Rick Brookhiser, and yours truly.

From one reader, this lovely little ad-hominem riposte:

I think Mr. Podhoretz should be careful. I distinctly remember a piece
he wrote about his youthful excitement over the annual Academy Awards
broadcast, and his memorization of all Oscar nominees and winners. In my neighborhood, this might not exactly qualify as a totally macho hobby.

From another:

“But Hark! The cry is ‘Astur!’
And Lo! the ranks divide
And the great lord of Luna
Comes on with stately stride.”

By the very manly MacCaulay, the Lays of Ancient Rome.

The clincher? This, from NR’s own Mike Potemra:

I wasn’t aware that there was a stereotype that conservatives were effete and womanish. The stereotype I have always heard is the exact opposite, i.e., that conservatives are crude, brutish, loutish, bullying yahoos. I think the stuff you, John Derbyshire, and Rick Brookhiser have been posting recently is a welcome and intelligent rebuke to that stereotype.

So there.