Daily Dish devotees apparently already know Walter, but since this is my first time subbing for Andrew, I’ll quickly add a bit of personal info to his kind introduction so you all will have a sense of the background and blinding prejudices informing my posts.
Unlike the dishy Mr. Sullivan, I am not British, conservative, Catholic, or gay; I don’t own a dog; I never supported the Iraq war; and I’m not all that crazy about men with loads of body hair.I am, in fact, a transplanted red-stater who nonetheless tends toward blue-state politics-- especially when it comes to all the self-serving moral-values blather we’ve had to endure from Tom “Anointed-by-God” Delay and Co. these past few years. (Sorry, but just because Big Tom gets the willies thinking about “Brokeback Mountain” and fought to keep poor Terri Schiavo tubed for another decade doesn’t make him a good person.) But lest anyone accuse me of being unfamiliar with the will of the Lord, please note that I was raised a devout Southern Baptist (is there any other kind?), although I long ago abandoned the belief in biblical inerrancy--along with pretty much every other aspect of the religion. Still, a childhood full of fire and brimstone leaves its mark, putting me in the theologically unsettling position of not being sure that I believe in God but being utterly convinced in the existence of Hell.
I'm an out and proud breeder with two wee tots committed to ensuring that I never get more than four hours of sleep a night or accomplish more than four hours of work a day. I have two ancient cats that, for a variety of reasons, have been exiled to our basement, where they spend their days trying to drive my journalist husband insane with their meowing, shedding, and strategic defecating. I never bought the Bushies’ rationale for the Iraq war, and I always kinda figured they’d botch the execution. As for the body hair thing, although I do have my preferences, at heart I believe it’s a personal matter between each man and his god. --Michelle