I'm Driven to Drink

Winter sunrise near Pyrites, New York in St. Lawrence County, NY. Brighter and more interesting than Moveon.org.

I just got back from the Heidelberg Restaurant on 2nd Avenue between 86 and 85th. Thirty years ago there were still a number of the old Yorkville restaurants left, such as the Cafe Geiger and Kleine Konditerei. The Heidelberg is the last of its breed. An excellent place.

Returning from my schnitzel a la Holstein and chocolate fondue, Larwyn sent me some blog posts that make me glad I'm fortified by a few martinis and my customary after-dinner B&B. So much for my diet, but what, me worry?

On the bright side, Don Surber reports that "a Rasmussen Poll showed only 23% of Americans approve of the Betray Us ad while 58% disapprove" and that Moveon.org has helped the Republicans:

"The [MoveOn ad] issue is very hot with our base right now," said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher. 'We are using the controversy to reinforce our message that the Democrats in the Senate are beholden to the liberal wing of the party — and this is a perfect example of [their] pandering to the extreme wing.'"

On the not-so-bright side, James Taranto of Opinion Journal reports that Thomas L. Friedman has written yet another tiresome column for the New York Times. Friedman "will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11." Ho-hum. Rather than read the Times or Thomas L. Friedman, when I want something slow-paced I drive up to St. Lawrence County and visit Pyrites, which, according to abstusa.com is 400 miles from the nation's capital. The temp sometimes goes down to 47 below. I remember one night when the moisture in the air froze into a mist of microscopic icicles, several times larger than Thomas L. Friedman's cognitive complexity.

Even more depressing, Merv of PrairiePundit reports that:

"Alarmed at the possibility that the Republican Party might pick Rudolph W. Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate...Almost everyone present at the smaller group’s meeting expressed support for a written resolution stating that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third-party candidate,” participants said."

I'm having trouble grasping this. The Republicans have managed to alienate the economic conservatives, with George Bush's Rockefeller Republicanism (delivered in a ten gallon hat). But they've also managed to alienate social conservatives? I'm confused as to who the Republicans think is going to vote for them.