A frequent and favorite reader of mine has recently criticized me for being too hard on Jay Nordlinger merely because he doesn't adhere to the "John Rabe Ideal of How All Men Should Act Regardless of Whether There are Real Issues at stake."

To which I can only say that if smug superiority is taken from me as a viable option, I won't have any blog left. It's like saying to Don Rickles, "I enjoy your act, but I think it would be better if you didn't do the insults." Snarkiness is what I do. It is the sine qua non of my oeuvre (to put it in Nordlingerian terms).

I will now admit my dark secret, the one that drives not only the Nordlinger post, but really everything I put here: I am (and have always been) of the firm belief that everyone ought to be just like me. The extent to which they are not is the extent to which I believe they are flawed.

If I thought there were a better way to be, I'd be that way. And if that ain't what blogging's all about, then I don't know blogging. Which, come to think of it, I'm not sure I really do.

P.S. Thomas Sowell did a column on Bing Crosby yesterday. And here I thought that he was straight!