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L, E V V HA2011DWELLN VÁCL1A936-PHER CMAOLYNIHA RISTOHAEL H C C MI E LBCAEEONRCSDHGTTE NR(cid:129)AIESM ORHOPc AN(cid:129)NCWPY O (cid:129)ECA YRSOYR MBR(cid:129)NEAEA TRKNACINNRKREIESST!TTOI L HOW BABY BOOMERS DESTROYED POPULAR CULTURE P.J. O’ROURKE JANUARY 2 / JANUARY 9, 2012 (cid:129) $4.95 WEEKLYSTANDARD.COM Now available in paperback from “ In a bare-knuckled and brilliant account, Moe shows how the teachers unions use their unmatched political power to control virtually every aspect of educational policy and practice.” — Joel Klein, CEO, News Corp Education Division, and former chancellor of New York City Public Schools “ Anyone who wants to understand education reform and its challenges should read this extraordinary book. 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That’s a cliché that a lot of people use but Union is really doing it right across disciplinary lines, showing how Christian truth is at “ the root of all knowledge and all learning. Union University has chosen the path I’m impressed as well with what Union is of cultural engagement, confidently and doing in promoting the biblical worldview, joyfully proposing the Christian worldview an understanding of all of life under the as an intellectually and morally superior Lordship of Christ. I am deeply impressed alternative to the tired dogmas ” ” with what God is doing at Union. of secularism. Charles Colson Robert P. George Founder, Prison Fellowship McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, and Wilberforce Forum Princeton University Jackson, Tennessee www.uu.edu | 800.33.UNION Founded in 1823 EXCELLENCE-DRIVEN | CHRIST-CENTERED | PEOPLE-FOCUSED | FUTURE-DIRECTED THIS IS A COMBINED ISSUE. THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE WEEKLY STANDARD WILL APPEAR IN TWO WEEKS. Contents January 2 / January 9, 2012 (cid:129) Volume 17, Number 16 2 The Scrapbook Occupied Trinity, Who’s Afraid of the Arab League? & more 5 Casual Victorino Matus, sybarite 7 Editorials A Time for Choosing (cid:129) The Real Main Street Agenda (cid:129) & more Articles 11 Inconsequential Iowa BY FRED BARNES Ignore the caucus results. They won’t matter. 5 12 Is Iraq Lost? BY KIMBERLY KAGAN & FREDERICK W. KAGAN Things fall apart . . . 14 Still Romney’s Race to Lose BY JAY COST A candidate custom-made for the nominating process 16 What If Ron Paul Wins Iowa? BY STEPHEN F. HAYES He’s crazy, they’re not 17 Hoping for Another Surprise BY JOHN MCCORMACK Rick Santorum’s last stand 19 Fortress New Hampshire BY MICHAEL WARREN Romney’s redoubt 20 Russian Thaw BY CATHY YOUNG Putin loses his grip 22 A Worthy Heart BY CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL Václav Havel, 1936-2011 23 A Tale of Two Dissidents BY MICHAEL MOYNIHAN There’s a difference between resisting dictators and accommodating them 24 Rules for Republicans BY LISA SPILLER & JEFF BERGNER Use Obama’s playbook against him Features 26 Popular Culture and the Baby Boomers BY P. J. O’ROURKE One more thing we’ve ruined 26 31 A Ph.D. in Torture BY EMANUELE OTTOLENGHI Why is Rafsanjani’s son studying at Oxford? Books & Arts 34 Unfree to Be . . . BY CHARLOTTE ALLEN Religious liberty and human rights 37 Downhill from Here BY ANDREW STUTTAFORD The unedifying spectacle of an unruly ruling class 39 Working Man Blues BY FRED SIEGEL Eric Hoffer: longshoreman, writer, prophet 41 Square’s Roots BY JOSEPH BOTTUM As the Cold War ended, the compass went haywire 43 This Way Out BY JOHN PODHORETZ An elaborate meditation on the strikingly obvious 37 44 Parody Is this man too employable to be president? COVER BY MARK FREDRICKSON THE SCRAPBOOK Damned Lies and ‘Fact Checking’ (cont.) It was just two issues ago that THE Sure, saying Ryan’s reform “ends made its 2009 “Lie of the Year.” The WEEKLY STANDARD published Mark Medicare” is arguably inaccurate and same liberal pundits angry at Politi- Hemingway’s devastating brief against certainly misleading. But to what ex- Fact now clucked in approval then. media “fact checkers” and their sys- tent is it a “lie”? The Medicare pro- And until last week, they had good tematic bias against the right (“Lies, gram is $30 trillion in debt. We simply reason to be pleased with Politi Fact. Damned Lies, and ‘Fact Checking,’ ” can’t begin to address that fi scal black If, as Krugman’s column suggests, December 19, 2011). But Fortuna is a hole without ablating Medicare as it PolitiFact is terrifi ed of being con- capricious sprite, and THE SCRAPBOOK currently exists. Accordingly, Ryan sidered partisan, that’s because they awoke last week to fi nd the left spitting has been fairly explicit about the need are partisan. A University of Minne- nails about PolitiFact, the infl uential for fundamental change in the pro- sota survey found the organization column produced by the St. Peters- gram. Anyone who’s honest about our has accused Republicans of telling burg Times. For its “Lie of the Year,” fi scal predicament knows that “ending more falsehoods than Democrats by PolitiFact selected Democrats’ claim Medicare” in favor of a program struc- a rate of two to one. that Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget — passed tured differently is the point. Thanks to PolitiFact’s latest ef- by the House GOP earlier this year — However, as a political matter, the fort, our friends on the left, such as would “end Medicare.” timing of PolitiFact’s dubious honor is the New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn, Practically the entire liberal wonk- not helpful to Democrats. Senator Ron are belatedly noticing that “fact ery cried foul, including writers at Wyden just signed on to a version of checkers” have “a tendency to con- the New Republic, Slate, Mother Jones, Ryan’s plan, and other congressional fuse statements of opinion, or in- and Washington Monthly. Paul Krug- Democrats want to end the Medicare terpretation, for statements of fact.” man, the New York Times’s attack- cost control plan in Obamacare, aka Indeed. pundit, conjectured that PolitiFact the Independent Payment Advisory It’s high time liberal pundits fi g- was “terrified of being considered Board. IPAB is Obama’s scheme to ured out that there’s more going on partisan . . . so they’ve bent over empower federal bureaucrats to set in this fact-checking bordello than backwards to appear ‘balanced’ — and the Medicare budget without congres- raucous piano music. If they’d been in the process made themselves use- sional approval. Sarah Palin famously paying attention, they would have less and irrelevant.” called it a “death panel,” an obviously long ago stopped patronizing these On the merits, they have a point. hyperbolic opinion that PolitiFact journalistic houses of ill repute. ♦ Occupied Trinity the photographs and accompanying invaded the church precincts, held essays. (Our favorite: “Occupy Every- loud demonstrations, and even en- To THE SCRAPBOOK’s knowledge, thing!” by the Rev. Daniel Simons.) listed the rhetorical aid of friendlier there is no evidence Jesus ever But of course, the character of clerics (“Trinity blew it,” says the Rev. said “no good deed goes unpunished.” OWS swiftly turned from peace and Milind Sojwal of All Angels Church But if He had, the clergy at Trin- love and equality to vandalism and on the Upper West Side). SCRAPBOOK ity Wall Street in Lower Manhattan violence and intimidation, prompting readers will not be surprised to learn would know precisely what He meant. Mayor Michael Bloomberg (belatedly) that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has When the Occupy Wall Street mob to eject the trespassers and scour the weighed in, very publicly, on both fi rst assembled in neighboring Zuc- park. This left the diminished ranks sides of the issue: demanding that cotti Park, the Trinity clergy did what of Occupy hangers-on with no place Trinity “fi nd a way to help” the pro- Episcopal clergymen have been reli- to squat until they settled on a parking testers while admonishing the pro- ably doing for the past half-century: lot adjacent to another open space testers to behave themselves. embrace the latest left-wing fad. Ac- called Duarte Park — both owned, as it Good luck with that. In the mean- cording to the New York Times, Trinity happens, by Trinity Wall Street. time, however, and to THE SCRAPBOOK’s offered the enclave of superannuated This time, however, the rector of surprise and gratifi cation, Cooper has hippies, assorted thugs, anarchists, Trinity, the Rev. James Cooper, de- not budged: “Trinity has probably student radicals, and anti-Semites not cided that enough had been done done as much or more for the protest- just “expressions of sympathy, but also on behalf of OWS, and he refused to ers than any other institution in the meeting spaces, resting areas, pastoral allow the squatters to occupy church area,” he writes on the church website. services, electricity, bathrooms, even property. Which produced the in- Calling this an issue of “political sanc- blankets and hot chocolate.” Go to the evitable reaction: Occupiers have tuary” is manipulative and blind to Trinity Wall Street website and savor threatened clergy and parishioners, reality. Equating the desire to seize 2 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 2 / JANUARY 9, 2012 this property with uprisings against tyranny is misguided, at best. Hyper- bolic distortion drives up petitions sig- natures, but doesn’t make it right. To which THE SCRAPBOOK can only say, Amen. ♦ Who’s Afraid of the Arab League? Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., is apparently surprised that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad won’t stop killing just because he’s been asked to cut it out. Reports of mass slaughter from Syria, Rice wrote last week on her Twitter feed, came “just 2 days after #Syria committed to the #ArabLeague initiative.” It is unclear what Rice expected. If a ruler is leading a bloody campaign against the people to whom he is sup- posed to be accountable, it is foolish to expect him to respect the diplomatic entreaties of foreign institutions. Rice merits some credit for her outspoken support of the Syrian opposition, and even more for her impassioned speech in October attacking Russia and China for blocking a Security Coun- cil resolution condemning Assad. But again, did she expect two notori- tive, and a dark closet where interlop- timidate the opposition is incapable of ous human rights abusers would pave ers could be sent to spin their wheels. being shamed by witnesses — but the the way for Western democracies to It’s true that the Arab League’s con- game’s players are plain evil. quash an authoritarian regime? And demnation of Muammar Qaddafi was The head of the Arab League’s mis- why does the Obama administration something of a prerequisite for the sion to Syria is General Mohammed expect anything useful of the Arab NATO campaign in Libya, lending Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, a close col- League? This is the triumph of that cover as it did to a White House that league of Omar al-Bashir, the Suda- hopey-changey stuff over experience. seeks legitimacy in the strangest quar- nese president who has been charged Founded in 1945 in Cairo, the Arab ters. But with the Syrian crisis escalat- by the International Criminal Court League showed its colors when it relo- ing toward civil war, the White House for crimes of genocide in Darfur. Dabi cated to Tunisia from 1979-1989 to pro- has essentially farmed out its policy to became chief of military intelligence test Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s an institution that many in the Middle the day that Bashir came to offi ce in peace treaty with Israel. The last gen- East understand is a joke. 1989, and in 1996-1999 was head of eral secretary of this august body was Nonetheless, as Frederic Hof, the military operations against the insur- Amr Moussa, now a candidate for the administration’s pointman on Syria, gency in what became South Sudan. presidency of Egypt. In 2000, an Egyp- crowed last week, the Arab League In other words, the Arab League has tian musician named Shaaban Abdel initiative is “the main game in town” sent Assad a man who can explain to Rahim recorded “I Hate Israel, but I — suggesting that the White House the Syrian dictator how best to get Love Amr Moussa.” The wildly popu- doesn’t have its own playbook. The away with murder. After all, the ICC lar response to the song so alarmed initiative calls for monitors who will may want to get its hands on Dabi’s Mubarak that he removed Moussa, bear witness to the violence and there- friend and boss, but Omar al-Bashir then his foreign minister, from his by, as administration spokesmen have still rules Sudan. Wouldn’t Assad like cabinet and emplaced him at the Arab explained, shame Assad from com- a similar outcome? League. This reshuffl e indicated that mitting more violence. The game is “It is past time for the killing & suf- Mubarak, like other Arab rulers, con- silly enough — a regime that posts You- fering in #Syria to come to an end,” sidered the institution weak, ineffec- Tube videos of its own atrocities to in- Ambassador Rice tweeted last week. JANUARY 2 / JANUARY 9, 2012 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 3 That’s correct — but there’s no use in hack-partisan, and considerably less the White House looking to the Arab scholarly, than AEI; but that’s beside League to stop it. ♦ the point. The left-wingers at the Cen- ter for American Progress are entitled Insidious Bias to their opinions; Nocera, however, is www.weeklystandard.com being underhanded when he pins an William Kristol, Editor THE SCRAPBOOK has always main- ideological label on AEI but fails to do Fred Barnes, Executive Editor tained that the media deny the the same for CAP. Richard Starr, Deputy Editor existence of left-wing bias for a very Indeed, THE SCRAPBOOK is more dis- Claudia Anderson, Managing Editor good reason: It is invisible to them. appointed than annoyed about this, Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson, Most journalists are so successfully since Joe Nocera is usually better than Victorino Matus, Lee Smith, Senior Editors indoctrinated, so refl exively liberal, so the standard Times ideologue. Which Philip Terzian, Literary Editor Stephen F. Hayes, Matt Labash, submerged in the culture of the left, goes to show how pervasive, and in- Jonathan V. Last, Senior Writers that they simply don’t see what is ob- sidious, that ideological bias can be. ♦ Matthew Continetti, Opinion Editor vious to everyone else. It’s a little like Jay Cost, John McCormack, Staff Writers expecting fi sh to notice the ocean. Indefensible Mark Hemingway, Online Editor We were reminded of this when Daniel Halper, Emily Schultheis, Deputy Online Editors we read Joe Nocera’s op-ed column in You might think it hard to fi nd a Kelly Jane Torrance, Assistant Editor the New York Times about the fi nan- way to praise a totalitarian re- Michael Warren, Reporter cial meltdown. For the past couple of gime that urges its starving subjects Theresa Civantos, Julianne Dudley, Zack Munson, years, Nocera and economists Peter to do their patriotic duty and eat less, Editorial Assistants Wallison and Edward Pinto of the but think again. Writing in the Lon- Philip Chalk, Design Director American Enterprise Institute have don Times about the death of Kim Barbara Kyttle, Design Assistant been dueling over the extent of Fan- Jong Il, bestselling author Simon Carolyn Wimmer, Executive Assistant nie Mae and Freddie Mac’s culpabil- Winchester, who has written some Max Boot, Joseph Bottum, Tucker Carlson, Noemie Emery, Joseph Epstein, David Frum, ity in the crisis: Wallison and Pinto fi ne books, managed to put a blot on David Gelernter, Reuel Marc Gerecht, assign a fair amount of blame to the his literary escutcheon: Michael Goldfarb, Mary Katharine Ham, Brit Hume, Frederick W. Kagan, Robert Kagan, hybrid agencies; Nocera thinks their Charles Krauthammer, Yuval Levin, The State’s founder, Kim Il Sung, guilt is exaggerated. Tod Lindberg, Robert Messenger, P. J. O’Rourke, THE SCRAPBOOK will spare readers cKlaoirmeae dw tahsa tt aol l bhee wsoacnitaeldis tf,o ra Nndo rttho John PodChoontrreibtuzt,i nIgrw Eidni toMrs. Stelzer, details of the column — needless to say, be left alone. . . . Perhaps inevita- Terry Eastland, Publisher Nocera sticks to his guns and, in Times bly, North Korea’s attempt appears Nicholas H.B. Swezey, Advertising Director op-ed fashion, persists in characteriz- to be tottering. But seeing how Catherine Lowe, Digital Business Director ing Wallison/Pinto as “loony.” What South Korea has turned out — its Richard Trocchia, Fulfi llment Manager caught our attention, though, was his Koreanness utterly submerged in T. Barry Davis, Todd A. Miller, rhetorical sleight of hand. Early in the neon, hip-hop and every imagin- Senior Advertising Managers able American infl uence, a romantic Kathy Schaffhauser, Finance Director piece, Nocera refers to Wallison and can allow himself a small measure Taybor Morris, Offi ce Manager Pinto as resident scholars “at the con- of melancholy: North Korea, for all Andrew Kaumeier, Advertising Operations Manager servative American Enterprise Insti- its faults, is undeniably still Korea, Advertising inquiries: tute.” But when he searches for outside a place uniquely representative of an 202-293-4900 validation of his views, he calls upon ancient and rather remarkable Asian “David Min, a leading Wallison critic culture. And that, in a world other- The Weekly Standard (ISSN 1083-3013), a division of Clarity Media wise rendered so bland, is perhaps Group, is published weekly (except the fi rst week in January, third week at the Center for American Progress.” in April, second week in July, and fourth week in August) at 1150 17th no bad thing. St., NW, Suite 505, Washington D.C. 20036. Periodicals postage paid at Anybody notice the difference? Washington, DC, and additional mailing offi ces. Postmaster: Send address That’s right: While Peter Wallison and A country memorably described changes to The Weekly Standard, P.O. Box 421203, Palm Coast, FL 32142- 1203. For subscription customer service in the United States, call 1-800- Edward Pinto are employed by “the by the late Christopher Hitchens as a 274-7293. For new subscription orders, please call 1-800-283-2014. 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Send letters to the editor to The Weekly Standard, 1150 17th Except, of course, that it isn’t. CAP being free of outside infl uences is such Street, N.W., Suite 505, Washington, DC 20036-4617. For a copy of The Weekly Standard Privacy Policy, visit www.weeklystandard.com or write to was founded by ex-Clinton White a good thing, why did North Korea’s Customer Service, The Weekly Standard, 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505, House chief of staff John Podesta late dictator kidnap people from other Washington, D.C. 20036. Copyright 2009, Clarity Media Group. All rights reserved. No material in The Weekly and proudly proclaims its left-wing countries for his own amusement? We Standard may be reprinted without character. THE SCRAPBOOK happens trust Winchester will come to regret pTheerm Wiseseioknly oSft atnhdea rdc oipsy raig rhetg iostwenreedr. to believe that CAP is infi nitely more defending such a grotesque regime. ♦ trademark of Clarity Media Group. 4 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 2 / JANUARY 9, 2012 CASUAL Render Unto Caesars the corner, I realized why: All of the men enjoying the inviting waters were naked. It was a mostly older crowd, to be sure—the kind who no longer care who’s around and are Las Vegas legitimate because he’s not reviewing more than happy to, in the words of ‘T his is, like, your third restaurants—he’s just writing about Eric Clapton, let it all hang down. I, eye,” my massage ther- them. Sounds good to me. on the other hand, stood out in my apist told me as she Now about that spa: Despite the fl ower-patterned Gap swim trunks. dripped a mango-based economic downturn, according to the Afterwards I briefl y checked out oil onto my forehead, letting it trick- International Spa Association, Ameri- the herbal sauna and then the Arctic le back through my hair, before she cans spent $12.8 billion in spas last Ice Room, where I sat on a warmed worked her fingers firmly over my year, up 4.3 percent from 2009. My bench as snowflakes drifted down scalp. The lights were dimmed and massage therapist told me I was the from a ceiling vent. A burly man clad a sensual native beat was emanating seventh customer of her day, which in a towel explained his routine of softly from the speakers. My hands began at 8 in the morning and ended alternating between the ice room and and feet, meanwhile, were lathered in around 5 at night. the sauna at 20-minute intervals. “It’s warm coconut milk and wrapped sort of like detox,” he said, fol- in towels bearing hot stones. lowing a night of debauchery. It was a relaxing feeling, don’t That is certainly one way to get me wrong. But it seemed relax, although there is another a bit unmanly. After all, I was option—the Caesars Palace barber a man with mango oil in my shop, tucked inside the spa. The hair (not to mention those hot master barber is Sal Jeppi, a native stones). Of course, it was entirely of Baltimore who’s been at the my doing—I had casually men- casino for almost 20 years and has tioned to Caesars Palace public been cutting hair since he was 15. relations I was interested in writ- Following the precision ing about spa culture and, thanks haircut, Sal wrapped a steam- to their generosity, received ing towel around my face while a complimentary pass to the Sinatra at the Sands was play- hotel’s acclaimed Qua Baths and ing in the background. He then Spa plus the above “Tops and applied the hot lather and gave Tails” treatment. me the smoothest shave I’ve ever Vegas is legendary for its had. “All with a straight edge,” “comps,” especially for the big he proudly proclaimed. There is spenders, or whales, as they are called. Aside from the massage, I was also no other barber at Caesars—there is Terrance Watanabe, the largest whale interested in the “Roman Rituals.” no other Sal. He said one of the most ever, fl ew on private jets, resided in a As a pamphlet explains, “These ritu- important aspects of his job is gaug- three-bedroom suite, and went fi shing als are based on fundamental tradi- ing the customer, knowing if he is in in Alaska, all of it gratis. Of course, he tions of Roman culture, specifi cally a chatty mood or just wants a quiet did gamble away ap prox imately $127 communal activities, where people cut. “And you never want to say the million. But even if to a far lesser gathered to relax, tell stories, and free wrong thing,” he added. We talked extent, an ordinary guest can still get themselves from the common day.” about the old Vegas and the new, the comped (anyone can drink for free Communal activities? I envisioned unbearable traffic, and how Cae- while gambling—just be sure to tip). scenes from Caligula. sars has been mobbed ever since The For journalists, being comped is a In fact, these gatherings center Hangover movie came out. “Everyone bit trickier. I, for instance, am in the largely around the baths: the Tepi- wants the Hangover suite—then they awkward position of writing about a darium (filled with warm mineral- fi nd out it’s $4,000 a night,” said Sal, spa to which I had free access—over enriched water), the Caldarium (a whose shave and a haircut will cost and above my free massage. What smaller and hotter pool), and the you $150. It didn’t cost me $150—I am I going to say? That I hated it? Frigidarium (chilled to shrink your, was comped—but that’s really beside K R(I didn’t.) Esquire food writer John shall we say, pores). The spa is also the point, isn’t it? A D CLMariani famously receives free meals divided by gender—men to the right, DAVIwherever he goes but explains it’s all ladies to the left. And when I turned VICTORINO MATUS JANUARY 2 / JANUARY 9, 2012 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 5 The Great Tours: Greece and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul MIT E D TIME OF Taught by Professor John R. Hale F university of louisville LI 70%E R lecture titles 1. Touring the Cradle of Western Civilization off 2. Athens—Around the Acropolis 2 1 and Parthenon O Y R R 3. In the Footsteps of Socrates— DER BY JAN U A Historic Athens 4. Around Attica—Temples and Mysteries 5. Seeking the Good Life—Corinth to Epidauros 6. Mycenae—Where Kings Planned the Trojan War 7. Around Nafplio—Greek History at a Glance 8. Ancient Olympia—Gods, Games, and Temples 9. Quest for Wisdom at Apollo’s Oracle—Delphi 10. Byzantine Outposts— Monemvasia and Mistra 11. Cruising the Islands—Mykonos and Delos 12. Aegean Ring of Fire—Milos and Santorini 13. Exploring Crete—Realm of Ancient Minoans 14. Lure of the Labyrinth—Palace at Knossos 15. The Dodecanese—Kos, Patmos, and Rhodes 16. Welcome to Turkey—The Turquoise Coast 17. Central Turkey—Ankara, Konya, Cappadocia 18. Up the Meander River—Priene to Pamukkale 19. A Wonder of the World—Ephesus 20. Royal Cities of Asia—Pergamon and Sardis 21. Troy—Beyond Homer and the Trojan Horse 22. Istanbul—Capital of the Byzantine Emperors 23. The Pearl of Constantinople—Hagia Sophia 24. Ottoman Istanbul—Mosques, A New Way to Visit Palaces, Bazaars Greece and Turkey Mycenae. Delphi. Ephesus. Sardis. To know the cities and sites of Greece The Great Tours: Greece and Turkey, and Turkey is to know your beginnings. In The Great Tours: Greece from Athens to Istanbul Course no. 3231 | 24 lectures (30 minutes/lecture) and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul, experience these countries through the eyes of archaeologist and Professor John R. 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