Monday, May 08, 2006

"RAMESH COULTER"   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

That's the kind of high-minded rhetoric to which Andrew Sullivan thinks we should all aspire. Over the weekend he attacked the marketing of my book again. Thanks, Jonah, for responding by talking about the book’s actual contents. Sullivan has his facts wrong. I had no veto over the book jacket, didn’t see it until it had gone out, and didn’t much like it. The title and subtitle, on the other hand, I’m perfectly happy with. They’re intentionally provocative, but defensible, and I think the book's contents—yes, them again; I have the crazy idea that they matter—defend them just fine.

As I’ve said many times now, what I call “the party of death” has influence in both parties but more influence among the Democrats. I have now done a score of talk-radio interviews, and  80 percent of the hosts have grasped this immediately and it has taken about 30 seconds to convey it to the others. It helps that many of the hosts have either read the book or read a lot of it (I’ve been pleasantly surprised in this regard). They have higher standards than some bloggers.

05/08 04:07 PMShare