John Podhoretz

addresses the Mel apologists on NRO's The Corner: "Listen, I understand that you found The Passion of the Christ stirring and meaningful. But there's really no way around this one. The guy got drunk and began abusing a Malibu cop --a job category that vies with Shiite sheikh for perhaps the least likely to be held by a Jew -- for potential Membership in the Tribe, then starts ranting about how Jews are the source of all the world's problems. You just have to give in and accept this one. He's an anti-Semite, and with that knowledge, you may have to revisit the controversy over his treatment of Jewish authorities in The Passion and, no matter how moved you were by its depiction of Christ's agony, understand that the criticisms weren't pulled out of thin air."

I am inclined to agree. Maybe he just gets that way when he drinks. I don't know. But he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on any issues involving Jews anymore, that much is certain. One of the iron-clad rules of the Big Tent: No patience for racism in any form. This Mel Gibson stuff is strange indeed.