Last week, I did some Cornering about Paul McCartney, Barack Obama, and that party-concert they had at the White House. The Beatle had been honored with a Library of Congress songwriting award. And he ended the evening with, “After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.” The audience just loved it, laughing like hyenas. You are so cool, Paul. And that Bush is so dum, you are so write!!! Anyway, tons of mail, as you can imagine, and I will jot just a few notes: 1) A lot of people said, “Shouldn’t that be ‘good to have a president who knows what a library is’?” That, of course, has shifted throughout the history of English. (Consult the King James Bible, for example.) 2) A man began his letter, “As a librarian and conservative (there are a few of us out there), McCartney’s comments really made me angry. I’m a huge fan, but I really wanted to toss all of my Beatles and Wings music last night. George W. Bush is married to a librarian, for heaven’s sake. And not just any librarian, but one who has a foundation that gives millions of dollars to libraries.”

A librarian and a conservative! How exotic.

3) I thought this was funny: A reader wrote, “Jay, you called McCartney a horse’s butt. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot more horses’ butts than there are horses?”

4) Many readers said something like the following: “John Lennon was always considered the political and smart Beatle. Paul kind of resented that — felt inferior, dopey, square. So he sometimes tries to be smart, political, and cool.” Lot of people like that — a whole lot.

5) Got a good many letters from the left, saying, “You’re a hypocritical jerk, you take shots at liberals all the time, and now you’re whining about one Bush joke from Paul McCartney?” Some of the readers sent me Biblical quotations, in admonishment: about casting the first stone, etc.

My reply: Get lost, preacher men. I write for an opinion journal and its website. Of course I take shots at liberals, and conservatives, and others. I have never been honored at the White House. (A grotesque oversight, I know.) And if I were — would I make insulting remarks about Obama, Clinton, Carter, or some other president I disliked? Are you crazy?

The White House is an American house — the American house — belonging to all of us. Did you hear George W. Bush when the Clinton portrait was unveiled? (A reader wrote to say he wondered how Obama would perform, if presiding over the unveiling of a GWB portrait.)

6) One lefty reader — or correspondent — wrote, “Nordlinger, you’re really an ignorant tool. Let me guess, some NASCAR this weekend?” How’d he guess! Must be a longtime reader. (I think he was sent over from a left-wing site, attacking me.) By the way, is his implication that he considers Paul McCartney highbrow? Interesting.

7) Another reader wrote — without specifying what post or article he was referring to — “You are really scum writing this sh**.” I will take that as kind of all-purpose, all-applying.

8) One final note, or remark: Behind Paul McCartney, as he was standing in the East Room, making his little quip about the forty-third president and libraries, was Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist. Like the others, he laughed his head off. I found myself hoping, “Maybe he didn’t understand? Maybe he was just playing along?” That’s what he does at official PRC functions: play along. Of course, there, if you don’t, they put you in laogai.