As the security situation in Iraq becomes more (to use the Bush administration's preferred term) desperate, many have questioned whether more American troops will be needed for the mission. During his press conference Tuesday, President Bush said the current size of the force was sufficient to the task — although, true to his character, he pointed to someone else as being responsible for any decision, thus escaping blame if it turns out to be the wrong call. As Elizabeth Bumiller... Read more
Paula Zahn in shocked — shocked — at the attempt to make the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks an issue in next year's presidential election. She's not upset with the Republican National Convention for plans to hold its big bash as close to the anniversary and as close to Ground Zero as they can. And she's not upset with President Bush, who has invoked this tragedy incessantly to raise millions for his campaign and to garner support for everything from... Read more
Donald Luskin, for those of you fortunate enough not to be familiar with the man, is a right-wing columnist for the National Review Online. Over the past several months, he has displayed an unhealthy obsession and an almost monomaniacal focus on Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. This has included, even, lurking about at a Krugman book-signing event. This creepy meeting seems to have been, at most, a footnote in Krugman's day, but for Donald Luskin it... Read more
Bob Garfield of On the Media weighs in on the day that Terri Gross, host of NPR's Fresh Air, made Fox News' Bill O'Reilly cry like a little girl: if I were face to face with him, it would be hard for me to resist what Gross could not resist … because O'Reilly is such a disgrace, such a mockery of Fox News Channel's claim to fairness and balance. So yes, Terry Gross lost her cool and played right into... Read more
"Sforzian" is Elisabeth Bumiller's term to describe the handiwork of: Scott Sforza, a former ABC producer who was hired by the Bush campaign in Austin, Tex., and who now works for Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director. Mr. Sforza created the White House "message of the day" backdrops and helped design the $250,000 set at the United States Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, during the Iraq war. That's from this May 16 New York Times article (see... Read more
Atrios ventures into the realm of rock criticism (briefly, he promises) to comment on Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around." Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt" alone is worth the 13 bucks. Not since L.L. Cool J's performance of "Mama Said Knock You Out" on MTV's Unplugged has the quality of a song been so revealed by its acoustic deconstruction. If you haven't heard Cash's version of this song, do so now. The video is online at MarkRomanek.com. "I... Read more
Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute provides a useful, if disturbing, set of leads and resources on the increase in domestic violence over the past two years. He cites the following statistics from the Family Violence Prevention Fund: "Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend per year to three million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. "Around the world, at least one in every three... Read more
Jane Smiley in Salon. I liked The Secret Lives of Dentists when I saw it, but I've grown to like it more since. Some movies/stories/performances are like that. They resonate. I hope that Campbell Scott reads Smiley's essay. She talks about how intensely personal and autobiographical her novella The Age of Grief was, and how strange and revelatory it was to see it reenacted there on the screen. And she talks about what she "learned from watching Mr. Scott play... Read more
Happy birthday to Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh, born 100 years ago today. Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is one of the most acclaimed religious novels of the 20th century, and a fine candidate for another round of "Torment the Mustard Seed." For those of you new to the game, it's quite simple: 1. Call up your local evangelical book store ("The Mustard Seed" is a regional chain in these parts, in your area it may be called the "Family Christian Book... Read more
Josh Marshall reports on the latest example of GOP voter-suppression efforts, this time in Kentucky: As recent press reports have noted, state Republicans plan to flood predominantly African-American precincts in western and central Louisville with poll watchers to challenge the eligibility of voters. On Thursday, Jefferson County GOP Chairman Jack Richardson IV told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the precincts in question weren’t chosen on the basis of racial make-up or voting patterns. But a flyer sent out in July advertising... Read more
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