Polish and Politics January 26, 2004February 24, 2017 SILVER If you have any, here’s how to polish it. Forget trying to get in crevices with silver polish and a rag. Just put a few inches of water in your sink, add water softener, salt, and a sheet of aluminum foil. Dip in your silver and remove, rinse off in fresh water, and you’re done. Amazing. It comes from a book called Haley’s Hints promo-ed on Saturday’s TODAY Show. The other hints were nearly as amazing (toothpaste to remove scuff marks from linoleum; shaving cream wiped on and off a bathroom mirror to prevent steaming for six weeks) but of no use to me (Charles is strangely unenthusiastic about linoleum; I avoid steamy mirrors by leaving the door open). The silver hint is of no use to me, either. My job is taking out the garbage. Indeed, my view is that if God had intended man to clean silver, He would not have invented Stainless Steel. But every once in a while, a web site ostensibly devoted to finance should touch on silver. (Missing a few pieces from your silver pattern? Break a dish? Click here.) A CONSERVATIVE TAKE ON DEAN As a DNC officer, I don’t include this link to promote Governor Dean – I am enthusiastically neutral, rooting for whichever of our terrific candidates emerges from the primary process in March. (According to the latest Newsweek poll, he will win: 52% of Americans don’t want to give Bush a second term.) Rather, what interests me about this link is that it comes from a conservative . . . perhaps not unlike the two conservatives I quoted Friday. It’s an unlikely alliance, Democrats and conservatives. But in this limited sense, the President may actually be a uniter not a divider. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but here’s the nub of it: Is this what it comes down to – that we accept a president who lies us into war for his hidden agendas, and who harms the American people in countless other ways, because he piously mouths all these platitudes about God and country, and turn against a man who refuses to give a concession speech (which is what the press wanted) and turns it into a pep rally? We apparently have reached a (downward) stage in American political life where an open show of emotions is forbidden. The one thing I liked about Truman was his emotional honesty; he could never become president today because of that. A RADICAL TAKE ON BUSH I see no point in trying to impeach President Bush, not least because – hello? – that would just give us Dick Cheney (who, if Saturday Night Live is to be believed, already is President). But if you just can’t wait til November 2, and you’re free tonight at seven, click here.