Over at the Weekly Standard , Matthew Continetti is running a blog that has become must-reading for election junkies, campaign activists, and political journalists. The rest of America, too. And this, despite the fact that I sometimes contribute small notes on items that seem off-topic for the First Things blog . Here, for instance, is a note I gave Matt today:
There’s hardly a dime’s worth of difference among the Republican candidates when it comes to the judiciary. Or, at least, when it comes to what they say they’ll do about the judiciary. Originalism, plain meaning of the Constitution, textualism—even the non-pro-life Giuliani uses these words.
Still, it’s interesting to see the small addition Mike Huckabee makes to the standard line: Not just originalists but judges “who also have established themselves within the conservative legal community as faithful adherents of originalism and textualism.” That’s the longhand version. In shorthand, it runs: No More Harriet Miers.
The other items on the Weekly Standard ‘s campaign blog are better—particularly the ones from Jonathan Last, Matt Continetti, and the mysterious Richelieu. Give it a visit.
The Classroom Heals the Wounds of Generations
“Hope,” wrote the German-American polymath Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, “is the deity of youth.” Wholly dependent on adults, children…
Still Life, Still Sacred
Renaissance painters would use life-sized wooden dolls called manichini to study how drapery folds on the human…
Letters
I am writing not to address any particular article, but rather to register my concern about the…