Just reached my hotel in Washington, popped open my laptop…and read the Corner, natch. Only have time just now to scribble a note before dashing off to shoot Kudlow & Cramer–have I mentioned at least ten times today that I’m on a book tour for my new book, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life?–but I want to tip my hat to two of my fellow correspondents.
One tip of the hat to Michael Novak, whose piece on the Pryor nomination is comprehensive–after you read it, you have the feeling that there is really nothing more to be said–wise, and unanswerable.
And a second tip of the hat to John Derbyshire. Tom Bethell once wondered whether there was any aspect of the liberal agenda–any at all–that the Church of England would ever prove able to resist, so vulnerable did it seem to the slightest wafting of the breezes of elite opinion. John Derbyshire’s commentary on the Episcopal Church here in the United States (which, let it be noted, is distinct from the C of E proper) represents just the opposite: the ability to tell the truth utterly untainted by the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times, or whatever you want to call the cloud of correctness that intimidates so many. I’m not an Episcopalian, so strictly speaking the confirmation of Bishop Robinson (no relation, thank God) is none of my affair. But I can’t help admiring Derb’s entries today, and admiring them profoundly. It ain’t easy to lead a furious charge when you’re the only one in the platoon.