esrosedotblog

ANDY

I know this is like a bad romance; but I have restored Andrew Sullivan Daily Dish to the links at the right. He got wiped in a fit of pique a couple of months ago. He can drive me nuts.

But, redemption is achievable at esrosedotblog; and the 'drew is not supporting junior for president. It is not just over the FMA. He thinks, rightly, that bush is not up to it in general. Right as rain.

I have always enjoyed reading Sullivan and regard him as my token conservative. He is so compelling, in fact, that we have these occasional disruptions; he cuts deeply and emphatically. Though he has strong opinions, I have to admire that he is willing to change them. I like that a lot.

OK. I am sure that he has not even noticed our separation despite my angry emails and such. So, for now, Mr. Sullivan (how we refer to him here in the office) is back on the happy list. I put him right next to Drudge so the two can keep each other conservacompany. Not fair, as Andrew is really really good at thinking and 'splainin' as the drudger is not; but if he keeps on keepin' on, I will elevate Sully to a position cheek by jowel with a deep and meaningful leftie.

Here is the other thing about Sullivan. He is gay, as you know, but not professionally so. He lives in Provincetown, MA and talks about the place which revives happy memories for me. Saturdays paean to the Cape is another reason I decided to re-link him. This is so good.

I just want to write some kind of note of gratitude to the Cape this summer. This past week reached new levels of beauty. Sometimes at the end of August or, more likely, in September, the air here gets drier and the sun clearer, and the light - ever changing - permeates everything. Colors become more themselves; the sunsets and sunrises dance with absurdly extreme tones of red and yellow and blue; the tides under the waxing moon become all the more alive with freckled, reflected light. There's a place toward the end of the coil of sand that sends Cape Cod back in on itself that never gets old. The marshland is so shallow and the tides are so dramatic, they fill a mile-wide basin and empty it twice a day. When the ocean first starts pouring into the inlet, it looks as if the sky has suddenly leaked into the earth. And then the earth slowly becomes the sky, except for vistas of green - now reddening - dune grass, separating earth from above. To see this in the late afternoon as the sun begins to decline, to allow yourself to drift with the tide toward more sudden lagoons of sea-water, is about as close to heaven as I'll ever get. Only the occasional horse fly reminds you that you are still on earth."

He also has a sense of irony and humor which do not always come together in the conservative package. So. He is back in favor and I might even give his site money again if he plays nice.

ED

It was very nice to see a piece by Ed Brooke in The New York Times this morning. He was my Senator for a number of years; Massachusetts.

In this piece, he reflects on the changes that have taken place in the Republican Party and what aspects of the old Party he would like to see restored. Me too. See the detail in A PartyFor All Of Us.

I always thought that Brooke was a straight shooter and a credit to his party; notice I didn't say race. That too, even if it is a dreadful racist cliché. There were such people and still are. He never postured as a black man. He lived out his political life and was a power of example. Quite a different approach than seeking power over past grievances. He moved forward and did not look backward. Go ahead send me letters.