A round up of recent commentary by assorted voices who either attempt to strike a balanced note on heated debates and controversial issues, or improve our ability to find our own sense of balance by exposing us to new information and different points-of-view.
The ed board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, my hometown daily and one of the leftest of left-leaning papers in the country, questions AG-to-be Mukasey’s stance on civil liberties, then goes on to recommend he be confirmed anyway. (I’m not sure I agree. Like others, I was wowed with Mukasey on day one of his testimony last week, but less-than-thrilled with his parsing on day two.)
Dick Polman reminds us that no candidate is immune to attack, not even the squeaky-clean, value-voters’ favorite, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Kevin Sullivan comments on Fareed Zakaria’s recent assessment of Iran and its president.
Given a Republican’s win for Governor of Louisiana, Dave Schuler wonders if the electorate is truly anti-Republican/Bush, or perhaps just anti-incumbent?
Andrew Sullivan finds “conservative sanity” in Ron Paul’s take on questions about gay marriage.
Michael Totten is headed back to Iraq in a few weeks, this time to Fallujah. He explains why:
Fallujah all but demands more time and attention. On the surface it resembles Ramadi. But Fallujah is meaner and murkier. This is the notorious city from which the Sunni insurgency was launched in full force. Open kinetic warfare raged there longer than it did anywhere else in Iraq. If any city could be described as the heartland of the insurgency, this is it.
The relatively straightforward story of Al Qaeda and the Americans battling it out for the hearts and minds of Iraqis in Ramadi doesn’t really apply in Fallujah. The insurgents there were always more popular, and they fought under many flags. Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden were hardly the only figures inspiring insurgents to violence. When Saddam Hussein was captured, Baghdad cheered. Fallujah rioted.
Totten also invites readers to submit questions they’d like answered about “this as-ever notorious city.”