It may change in the coming hours, but right now the home page of The New York Times features a banner headline that reads: "Giuliani Lauds Bush's Leadership on Terror" Just below this is another headline: "Bush Cites Doubts America Can Win War on Terror." In standard English, that headline would read "Bush Doubts America Can Win War on Terror" — the doubts that he "cites" are no one's but his own, as Elisabeth Bumiller reports: President Bush, in an... Read more
You should already know this, but Mondays bring two of the blogosphere's regular must-reads: Matthew Yglesias' "Weekend Update" at Tapped — which surveys the weekend's op-ed pages, and "The Sunday Talkshow Breakdown" at Liberal Oasis — which, er, breaks down the Sunday talk shows. Today's STB catches the following people saying not-true things without challenge from their "tough" Sunday-morning interviewers: George W. Bush, Karen Tumulty, John McCain, George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani. This bit, from Giuliani on Meet the Press,... Read more
George Ratliff's documentary Hell House is an extraordinary film. Here's the IMDB summary: A look at the "Hell House" performed annually in October by the youth members of Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill, Texas (a Dallas suburb) — seen by over 10,000 visitors each year. We see the organization and planning of the event — including auditions, construction, scripting and rehearsals — largely through the involvement of one family: a single father with 4 children (one of... Read more
In a Slate article — "Buy Stock, Vote Bush" — Daniel Gross points out that the conventional wisdom about stock ownership and Republicanism doesn't hold up to scrutiny. He offers the following as the first of many possible explanations for this: … the flip side of Thomas Frank's theory in What's the Matter With Kansas. Frank, a Democrat, argues that poor Kansans vote against their economic self-interest for Republicans, because the GOP has deluded them that social issues matter more... Read more
Them that's got shall get Them that's not shall lose So the Bible said and it still is news Mama may have, Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own Census data: * There were 35.8 million people living in poverty last year, or 12.5 percent of the population. That was 1.3 million more than in 2002. * Children made up more than half the increase — about 800,000. The child poverty... Read more
President Bush sat down for an interview with David E. Sanger and Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times. As an expression of confidence in the president's ability to discuss and respond to any questions the reporters might have, Bush agreed to be interviewed alone. Well, almost alone. He was accompanied by Karen Hughes, Condoleezza Rice, Scott McLellan and Rudy Giuliani. Hughes' presense is particularly noteworthy due to her reputation as a campaign handler. Her job at interviews like this... Read more
For the first year of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration vehemently condemned any comparison between the quagmire in Iraq and the quagmire in Vietnam. Iraqification, they insisted, was nothing like Vietnamization and they denounced any hint of a mention of Vietnam. The mire continues to quag yet, we are told, there are signs of hope. We are turning the corner in Iraq. A peace deal has been brokered in Najaf. This is may be the fifth or the... Read more
The April Harper's published Bruno Latour's essay, "Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?" — which you can also read on Latour's Web site. Apropos the Swift Boat discussion below, and the apparent rule in contemporary journalism that says there are two sides to every fact, I was reminded of this essay, and this passage in particular: What has become of critique, I wonder, when an editorial in the New York Times contains the following quotation from Republican strategist Frank... Read more
Monday night's Daily Show had what I thought at the time was a very funny bit with Rob Corddry (transcript via Atrios): STEWART: Here's what puzzles me most, Rob. John Kerry's record in Vietnam is pretty much right there in the official records of the US military, and haven't been disputed for 35 years? CORDDRY: That's right, Jon, and that's certainly the spin you'll be hearing coming from the Kerry campaign over the next few days. STEWART: Th-that's not a... Read more
On Saturday night I attended MoveOn's "Leave No Voter Behind" meeting in Wayne, Pa. Several dozen people gathered at the Central Baptist Church, a few hundred yards away from "the veranda of the venerable Wayne Hotel" where the Republican ladies lunch. (The Main Line ladies who live in furnished souls are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds)* The photo in the link above accompanies Katharine Q. Seeleye's New York Times article "In Battle for Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Suburbs Probably Hold the Key":... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In