Margaret Drabble's drivel about hating America has been all over the blogosphere. It really is a screed, no metaphor. She sounds truly fevered, like Sherlock Holmes talking about Dr. Moriarty.

But Peter Beinart doesn't sound much more rational that Drabble, as he argues that Bush relied on lies to justify going to war in Iraq. Apparently the fuss over Bennett's betting supposed to prove that everyone who expects moral standards in leaders is a hypocrite.

It didn't work. Bennett's points about virtue are still as valid as they ever were. I never considered him to be holding himself out as a model for everyone else. He was making a political argument, that standards of behavior are important, especially in a democracy, and that we should be passing them on to our children. We see daily the disasters that lack of honor or even basic honesty cause. The story of Arthur Andersen and Enron are all about honesty and the effects of coveting and greed. Clinton's problems were no cause by his enemies. They were behaving perfectly predictably. The one who had the last clear chance to prevent the whole thing was Bill Clinton, by putting his office ahead of his lust.