I know this guy is a necessary antidote to complacency and all that, but...what fauxscot said at the beginning of the letters thread. This guy is no better than a bad joke. I hardly need to be reminded that this is what we're up against.

And, while it's tempting to believe this guy is Frum, and while Frum is a drooling idiot in many ways, he is simply not this stupid...nor quite this contemptuous of his readers. I'll give Frum that much. If it is Frum, I'd be surprised.

Joan, can't you just get rid of this guy? Give Digby a column instead.

Perino proves yet again that not all GOP airheads are men.

That said, there may well be a grain of truth in what she's saying, but I suspect that much of this is simply evidence of the sad fact that profoundly damaged human beings are often clever enough to get themselves elected to high office. And they don't always do things like fuck someone other than their spouse...no, sometimes they start wars for no good reason other than a political advantage, and have direct responsibility for murdering untold thousands of civilians just because they knew it might give them an edge in domestic politics.

Of the two, I'd take fucking someone other than your spouse any day. But we spawn 'em all, here in the U. S. of A.

You're telling me that this guy has the hots for someone in ARGENTINA and he can't do a better job of hiding things than this? He had ambitions to be POTUS and he can't manage an illicit affair any better than this?

Christ. The GOP is full of total incompetents.

Not un-related, that must be one fine piece for Sanford to blow up his career for it/them.

I am just baffled by these guys. How do they get so far in life? It really is a mystery.

you wonder if Nehring has ever cracked a basic text on human psychology. If she did, she'd never have embarrassed herself by writing a book like this.

It really is dreary, how many humans haven't the faintest idea how their own brain chemistry works. The "search" for "romantic love" is the search for adolescent merging with the Other. It's a bunch of brain chemicals doing their evolutionary thing to perpetuate the species. It *can't* last, almost by definition.

People who flit from relationahip to relationship searching for constantly renewed romantic love have a neurotic problem.

Human beings and their relationships can be far more than this, but most of us just want that pleasurable rush of brain chemicals, no different than a heroin high in most ways. I'm hardly immune--most aren't--but constantly searching for it is like constantly seeking a way to be 16-years-old again.

Sure, romantic fantasy born of a brain stewed in its own endorphins is lots of fun. But it shouldn't be confused with reality.

The trick is to renew the flame of passion within a more aware relationship, but that generally requires a level of self-knowlege that most do not possess, and probably never will. The work of the relationship is not so much between people, although that sure doesn't hurt, but rather, on our own selves..

I'm still working on that, and it's a lot more interesting than a brain-chemical high. I expect it's a life-long project, understanding one's own emotional innards.

I dunno if you read all your comments, but I have to chime in on this terrific post of yours.

I can tell you with certainty, and with many years of experience, that NPR is, as an organization and as individuals, deeply afraid of the US government. They are cowards. They have been cowards almost from the beginning. With management that makes it very clear what's acceptable and what's not.

This post from their ombudsman is completely typical of their public relations, such as it is.

This taint at NPR filters down to their member stations with a vengeance, let me tell you. It's a rare NPR affiliate that's willing to anger wealthy or powerful constituents with their news coverage.

NPR knows which side its bread is buttered on, and after many years of GOP governments, NPR has trimmed its sails to the prevailing winds. I'd be tempted to say they're all deeply traumatized by having a target painted on them by one GOP administration after another. You could almost feel sorry for them, except that NPR claims to be a journalists' organization.

It has not been that for many, many years. It's a mouthpiece of the political status-quo, and will always be such a mouthpiece unless or until it acquires management that has the courage to make it into something more.

Don't hold your breath though. I know these people. The people who hold the power at NPR. And they have no interest whatever in upsetting the tender sensitivities of the Village. Hell, they're an integral part of the Village.