• The Supreme Court Breakfast Table
  Should there be a shooting range next to the Supreme Court gift shop?
  Walter Dellinger
  posted June 27, 2008
• The Supreme Court Breakfast Table
  Was it ever Miller time?
  Dahlia Lithwick
  posted June 26, 2008
• What's the Big Secret?
  Continuing the conversation.
  Patrick Radden Keefe
  posted Aug. 30, 2007
• A Supreme Court Conversation
  Everything convservatives should abhor.
  Walter Dellinger
  posted June 29, 2007
• The Midterm Elections
  The blame game, George Allen, and more.
  Mark Halperin
  posted Nov. 3, 2006
• Search for more the breakfast table articles
• Subscribe to the the breakfast table RSS feed
• View our complete the breakfast table archive

Katha Pollitt and Andrew Sullivan

Katha,
I'm duly impressed by the veritable Peoria that tippy-taps on the word processors at The Nation. And thanks for giving me Lower Manhattan. Of all the places in the United States I'd be happy to inherit, I could hardly do better. Which brings me to the nice irony about family values. It's amazing how many advocates of the traditional kind (married for life, totally faithful, lotso kids) personally eschew them in real life. Newt and Marianne have no kids; neither does Pat Buchanan; Bob Barr, married thrice and veteran of whipped cream on waitresses; Bob Dole, ditched his first; John Podhoretz, scourge of gay monogamy, quitting his first marriage after a matter of weeks, John McLaughlin... well... I'm not saying these people are hypocrites; or even in the slightest bit immoral. We're all human. But perhaps their devotion to the cause of orthodoxy is related to their awareness of their own frailty. I know, to some extent, my own support for (and admiration of) gay couples, fidelity, marriage etc. is probably, at some deep level of my subconscious, related to the fact that I have never been able to keep a steady boyfriend. I need help!

Couldn't it also be true that all the tweedy monogamists of the old left are so naturally virtuous that they can't conceive how others might need social incentives to maintain similar virtues? How many of us, after all, can aspire to the lofty moral heights of Victor Navasky without some social incentives to help us get there?

As to Paula, when I wrote the editorials at TNR, we were early supporters of her right to a say in court and leery of those who dismissed her veracity. I'm glad (and not surprised) you have taken the position you have, and, like you, am unsure about her legal position. Nevertheless, NOW is still an absolute scandal, no? Have you taken them on, yet? Or does no-enemies-to-the-left still apply?

And re: Paul McCartney, yes, I am a bit of a softy. And yes, it is possible, I think, to be a billionaire and still be thoroughly middle class. Look at the British Royal family.

my love to lower Manhattan
Andrew

PRINTDISCUSSE-MAIL

• Sports
  Stop Picking on Beijing's Olympics Mascots
• Arts & Life
  Why Are Critics Slobbering Over Mad Men?
• Health & Science
  How Hospitals Are Killing E.R. Patients
• Arts & Life
  Help! My Girlfriend Is Too Close to Her Male Students.

• Today's Headlines
• Only Remaining Rhyme Rapper Can Think Of Is 'Cliff Clavin'
  Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:00:00 -0400
• Braylon Edwards Claims He Kissed A Bunch Of Girls At Voluntary Camp
  Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:00:45 -0400
• C.C. Sabathia, Prince Fielder Keep Imagining Each Other As Giant Talking Hot Dog, Hamburger
  Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:00:24 -0400
• » More from the Onion

• Today's Headlines
• Democrats Ignore Mukasey Plea for New Gitmo Law
  Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:17:16 GMT
• John Mellencamp Tackles Race, Politics in New Album
  Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:44:03 GMT
• Readers Fired Up By Teen-Pregnancy Issue
  Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:30:57 GMT
• » More from Newsweek

• Today's Headlines
• Burden of Proof
  Tue, 22 July 2008 16:06:08 GMT
• Obama in Berlin
  Tue, 22 July 2008 15:20:11 GMT
• When Thugs Cry
  Wed, 16 July 2008 18:25:58 GMT
• » More from The Root