Over in the Nordlingistani province of the National Review ummah, Jay has responded to The New Republic’s somewhat sluggish hit piece on the NR cruise. I’d mention only one aspect of the article:

At one of the seminars, a panelist says anti-Americanism comes from both directions in a grasping pincer movement–”The Muslims condemn us for being decadent; the Europeans condemn us for not being decadent enough.” Midge Decter, Norman Podhoretz’s wife, yells, “The Muslims are right, the Europeans are wrong!” And, instantly, Jay Nordlinger, National Review’s managing editor and the panel’s chair, says, “I’m afraid a lot of the Europeans are Muslim, Midge.” The audience cheers. Somebody shouts, “You tell ‘em, Jay!”

Anyone who’s ever heard Midge knows she’s not a yeller. She has an assured drawl, and that’s how she delivered that line, droll and confident (in response to Dinesh D’Souza, by the way). And Jay’s response was delivered in his usual rueful chuckle. Again, as anyone who’s heard Jay knows, he always has a smile in his voice. He can’t help it: he would have a smile in his voice if it fell to him to announce that you’ve got three minutes to get to the nuke shelter. He’s National Review’s answer to Alma Cogan, the British songstress of the Fifties (“the girl with the giggle in her voice”). Maybe this New Republic guy just skipped the creative-writing course session on the writer’s eye for detail.

On the other hand, his characterization of me as an extremist Islamophobic wingnut war-drunk loon is uncannily accurate. I think he has the hots for me. Next time don’t be so shy, man. I’d be happy to sing you a couple of choruses of “These Foolish Things” in the piano bar.