Mencken!  Thou shouldst be here at this hour . I didn’t start reading H.L. Mencken until middle age, partly because certain  ugly aspects  to his character came to light during my youth, partly because conservatives adopted his style , and partly because I didn’t like Mencken’s contempt toward the “ booboisie .” But Mencken’s rudeness was the right antidote to the politically clueless 1920s, and it has a new relevance 100 years later. But the Senate is supposed to know better. George Washington