71 Comments

Thank god you read him for me, if I had to do it I’d put my head in the oven.

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Agreed. Douthat is so full of himself

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Scene from Bye Bye Birdie!!!

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Oh, I like to read Ross “Don’t” Douthat’s hapless search for coherence often enough. One note, Lucian: He’s hardly a “Vatican princeling.” I’m afraid the current pope is a little too left wing for Ross, who was dismayed by the “who am I to judge” sentiment that signaled Francis’s pontifical...kindness towards gay people. This was too tolerant for Ross’s taste; he’s more of a Benedict kinda guy.

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I thought Vatican priceline was funny. I am incapable and uninterested in splitting Vatican hairs to make a finer point. Funny works, funny it is.

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No objection from this corner. I just think it’s wild that the pope is often not quite Catholic enough for Ross, adding a twist to his tortured logic

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I agree. A pope who turns out to be a kind man is such a singular departure—certainly none since John XXIII—I think deserves appreciation.

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We do that so you don’t have to

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Lolololololol

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Pope Pious?

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excellent!!

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hey Wayne.

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Thank you. I posted a similar comment before I read yours

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Yes, in every conversation I’ve had with so called pro-life “abolitionists” they are unable to clearly define whether the life of the fetus or the life of the mother is more important. The answer is always some variation of “that’s tragic and complicated” without being able to provide any criteria on how to make that decision. --- so, I say, that’s why the decision should be between the woman, her doctor, her family (if she wants their input), and her god (if she has one).

Fog of logic indeed.

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It's all about control with these freaks.

Don't like assisted suicide? Don't off yourself

Don't like abortion? Don't have one

And leave the rest of us the fuck alone.

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Typical prolife numbskull throwing a fit when they realize, clutching pearls, that women are actually facing death because of their simplistic and deadly abortion stance. Too late, people. elections a-coming before you figure this one out!!

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I seem to recall that Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz wanted to think great thought, but he KNEW he didn't have a brain. Scarecrow wanted to believe that the Great and Powerful Oz would help him with that one. Maybe Mr. Douthout should get in touch with Oz in Pennsylvania? Just sayin' . . . .

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Yes he should.

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Well bless his confused, idiotic, intellectually challenged, content free, minuscule heart. Wonder if his Mama had any children who lived?

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Thanks for taking one for the team.

Ross Douthat is the worst columnist (even worse than Thomas Friedman, or even that twit Bret Stephens) they have at the NY Times and I'm always confused just by what he's talking about anyway, because it seems that he's always making angels dance on heads of pins for his arguments.

His theology is confused, his conscience is nil and his morality is on par with Torquemada.

Oh, I hope you had a drink when you finished this column and took an aspirin. You deserve it.

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Have no regrets letting my NYT subscription lapse a year ago..

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Jesus the NYT is insufferable. So full of bs it’s amazing it can still exist as “the paper of record”. When the history of the demise of newspapers is written, and it’s coming, NYT will be exhibit one.

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Karl Rove once answered a question about what is read every morning in DC by all:

Why, the NYT and WaPo, of course!

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Ross (“Don’t “) Douthat has a remarkable instinct for the capillaries: nobody else has his ability to reduce a simple issue to infinite incomprehensible components that don’t make any sense or have any thematic relationship visible to mere mortals. His tireless quest for universal misunderstanding is an inspiration to us all, and this piece brings him one step closer to reaching his goal!

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Only overcome by daily blather from TFG!

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I’m sorry you have to read it, even in my interest. I won’t read this guy no matter the subject because he always winds himself into a logical knot and doesn’t seem to know how to undo it. He’s been over-catholizied, doesn’t know it, and doesn’t want to confront his doubts. That’s way too scary for him, to have a heretical thought. Why the Times has him is a mystery, but they are the newspaper of ‘balance’, which means they have no convictions of any strength. He, Stephens, and Brooks should start their own publication, and spend their time confusing each other rather than boring the rest of us.

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Safire had friends at the Times before he got on the op ed page. He was a long-time source for Times Washington Bureau reporters when he was a Nixon speechwriter. He was good to go when he got to the Times. They never intended for him to be a Kristol-style object lesson, and I don't think that kind of thing even occurred to people like Abe Rosenthal, under whom Safire got his job.

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Interesting! Safire simply reeked of being a Rosenthal choice.

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That's telling it like it is: But this is what happens when arrogant men with misguided self-righteous religious beliefs think that they have to be the voice of morality for the entire nation and so they decide to pass laws essentially denying medical care to half the population if complications arise out of a pregnancy. And being driven by mostly emotion, and the possibility of political advantage; certainly not logic, the mostly red state governors become little dictators, self-appointed authoritarian dictators in essence and cause all kinds of havoc, confusion and certainly financial and emotional damage to women who are just trying to deal with the harsh realities of life and really need caring people around them, not idiotic politicians meddling in their lives. I hope there is a special place on hell for these self-appointed guardians of other people's lives.

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Nice deconstruction of Douthat’s illogical assessment of the (to him and his ilk) unanticipated consequences of Dobbs. His screed is really nothing more than an effort to rationalize the decision while minimizing the many ramifications from it that were readily foreseeable but completely ignored by the radical religious right in their fevered efforts to ban all abortion. Now they will reap the consequences at the ballot box in November.

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Give Ross some thinking and writing lessons in your spare time, o.k.?

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I've called him Ross Douchehat since the Times hired his sorry ass.

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