Joe, I can’t get the link to work. Anyway this "Bush is a Schmittian" trope is a favorite in some left-wing quarters. More accurately, it’s "whatever we don’t like is Schmittian," and the enthusiasm of it all suggests children who have just discovered a new toy in Carl Schmitt.

Matt

The link is fixed. I somehow garbled it the first time.

You’re of course right about the Schmitt trope, of which this is a fairly hackneyed example.

The first time I really noticed the trope was from the venomous pen of the shame of Boston College, Alan Wolfe. It appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, if I remember correctly. His equation was nasty Republicans = Schmitt[ians]. He kindof forgot a lot of Democrat[ic Party] malevolence and skullduggery, including George Mitchell, Howard Metzenbaum, Ted Kennedy, and others. Oh well, facts - inconvenient or other - aren’t his long suit.

At this point, as soon as I read or hear the name of Schmitt, I stop reading or listening. The boring point is nothing more or less that "Schmittian" means being simultaneously a closet Nazi and a closet Straussian (because only the Straussian think that Schmitt is a big deal)...and say what you will about, say, W...

Glad to catch you, Peter; did you see APOCALYPTO yet?

Paul, Not yet...I’m at some dude ranch in Arizona or something at a LF on Luther...Harvey Mansfield is here and is in very fine spirits...I pledge to see A. next week. Happy New Year!

Given your location, are you checking out illegal immigration facts on the ground and local popular sentiment? After all, you are a social scientist. Say hello to Harvey. And Happy New Year to you!