April 5, 2006
Re: On Branding Posted by John Steele Gordon at 11:00 AM EST Mr. Zeitz writes that as my “only response to my observation about John McCain’s embrace of Jerry Falwell is to say that it is justified by Stalin’s embrace of Hitler (or vice versa?), I now have to consider our exchange successfully concluded.” I said no such thing, of course. What I said was that “Politics is a sleazy business that notoriously makes strange bedfellows. Why? Because Paris is worth a mass. Power trumps sincere belief every time. If Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler could climb into bed together, as they did between August 1939 and June 1941, then John McCain can certainly make nice with Jerry Falwell.” That is an observation that if two murderous dictators who were polar opposites in philosophy could make common cause for their mutual political benefit, then we should not be surprised that two American politicians with some overlap in philosophy can do so. It is not a justification of anything. I suppose I should have added that John Kerry, in pursuit of the presidency, pandered every bit as much to Al Sharpton—who has blood on his hands—as John McCain, in pursuit of the presidency, has pandered to Jerry Falwell, who merely has a philosophy most people of good will do not share. Politicians, of whatever stripe, pander to repulsive people in order to attract the votes of their followers. I, too, consider this exchange successfully concluded. I have argued my side, and Mr. Zeitz has argued his, amply demonstrating in the process one of my points: that liberals, in their years of decline, have all too often become nasty, humorless, morally self-congratulatory, and intellectually dishonest. As for my personal brand-name madeleine—although it has evoked no masterpieces from my subconscious that I’m aware of—it is butterscotch pudding, the kind that must be cooked, not the instant. Royal and Jell-O brands are indistinguishable as far as I’m concerned. Happily they are still available in most supermarkets, and I have every confidence that I will be calling for a last helping on my deathbed.
| 
