Babs v. Jonah

Intellectual giant Barbra Streisand was so upset over Jonah Goldberg nominally replacing Robert Scheer at the LA Times that she cancelled her subscription. Mr. Goldberg takes the chance to respond to her outrage. It is not a fair fight.

As Streisand surely surmises, we in the warmonger and puppy-kicker community take it as a great badge of honor to be singled out for obloquy by the likes of her. Short of convincing Alec Baldwin to actually make good on his promise to flee the country, vexing the Dashboard Saint of Hollywood Liberalism is about as good as it gets. That my name is such wolf's bane (or Yentl's bane) to her that she must cancel her subscription to the Los Angeles Times is just gravy. Feel free to post pictures of me around your homes if you fear she may be coming through your town.

Streisand's real complaint is that the Times will no longer carry Robert Scheer's column. She's simply wrong on the facts that my column replaced his. I'm part of a bundle which results, I believe, in a net gain of liberal voices. But that Scheer is out and I'm in is a great injustice in her eyes.

Now, Streisand is notorious for her desire, indeed her yearning, to be taken seriously. During the early days of the Clinton administration, when she was basking in the glow of Bubba's gaze, she ostentatiously drenched herself in substance, watching C-SPAN and reading up on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, no doubt finding The Federalist Papers — A.K.A. the Founding's liner notes — particularly helpful. But there were still some things she didn't get. When Bill Clinton invited Sharon Stone to the White House for a consultation, instead of her, Streisand reportedly declared, "Why Sharon Stone? She doesn't know anything about policy."

But we shouldn't mock her interest in substance. That's a healthy sign of citizenship. So let us try to take Streisand seriously.