Pundits A'Poppin!

Dredging the muddy delta of American political writing:

• Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal - Noonan writes that the Republicans will take a political hit if Terry Schiavo is allowed to die. I agree that they deserve a political hit, but for a completely different reason. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves for the grandstanding and hitching up the bandwagon. Their talk about working together and consensus building can be safely put by the wayside. We know (and always kinda did) where they stand. This gross misuse of the powers of the Congress just shows that the Republican lip service paid to less intrusive government is quite a quaint notion.
• John Podhoretz in the New York Post - An interesting take on Hillary Clinton and her assumed run for the Presidency in 2008. Podhoretz sees Clinton as doing great harm to the party if she were to run, and the Republicans are not going to make it easy for her, peppering the calendar with difficult votes. Hillary is doubltess a force to be reckoned with, but they are playing with fire with the Republican leadership in the Senate. Also, he interestingly suggests a Pataki run for Senate against Clinton and a gubernatorial run for Rudy Guiliani (with a nod for vice president in 2008). I like his thinking on that score.
• Thomas Sowell at townhall.com - In an earlier post, I wondered what the basis of our culture is if it is at all. Sowell has a possible suggestion, at least for our political culture. We live in a culture of cynicism that is built on a veil of lies and exaggeration for political gain. Maybe so...
• Mort Zuckerman in U.S. News and World Report - Zuckerman really points out the actual issue in play with the Harvard/Larry Summers controversy. He suggests that Harvard needs to get its house in order before crucifying Summers. Summers points out a serious issue (in a very clumsy and off-putting way). Harvard has other problems and these need to be fixed. The academy is a world unto itself that hates change while promoting it and guards its position of privilege from the outside. From inflated grades to preferential admissions, Harvard has it all. Read Zuckerman's article; it really cuts to the core.