Abraham Lincoln once said that “If you’re a racist, I will attack you with the North,” and these are the principles I carry with me in the workplace.–Michael Scott Our Attorney General is right. We are a nation of cowards, fearing an honest discussion of race. But, unless he’s breaking utterly with rigorously observed convention,Continue reading “Deconstructing Eric, or, Little by Little”
Tag Archives: politics
Heckling the Coronation
During his first year in office, President Obama can be expected to unquestioningly acquiesce to the consensus demanding he oversee an increase in public debt twice as large, as a percentage of GDP, as any year in the Roosevelt administration. He will do this because, as any successful politician, he is congenitally incapable of recognizing,Continue reading “Heckling the Coronation”
Make Believe and Reality
Last summer, as Barack Obama directed the subtle intimidation of fawning European crowds (millions of charisma-intoxicated Germans can’t be wrong!) at those Americans still retaining the quaint notion presidential elections are domestic affairs not subject to global opinion, at least one of his acolytes in the media here in the formal remnant of the UnitedContinue reading “Make Believe and Reality”
John McCain’s Base Base
Perhaps you‘ve seen it, the near-precise moment when John McCain lost control of his campaign. The scene is a now familiar one, the bogus “town-hall meeting.” He’s passing the microphone around like a decrepit Donahue, standing before a woman who starts by saying she “can’t trust” Obama; McCain is nodding along, intimately engaged for theContinue reading “John McCain’s Base Base”
The Falling Sky’s the Limit
It’s remarkable how shameless our political leaders are regarding their state of hysteria (of course it wouldn’t be hysteria if it wasn’t without shame and decorum) and not a little disconcerting, suggesting (but by no means proving) that their collective panic is warranted. Last Thursday’s convocation of politicians eager to impress upon the public howContinue reading “The Falling Sky’s the Limit”
Hope and Hype
(minor clarification: “the Mortician” is David Axelrod, for his dour visage, not Ms. Obama) Ah, it had nothing to do with Kennedy. Still, all that vigor disappeared once he found out he couldn’t get anything done.–Mad Men Events, dear boy, events.–Harold MacMillan To emerge sane from the recent party conventions and the endurance test ofContinue reading “Hope and Hype”
And the Uncle Tim Goes to…
I used to be disgustednow I try to be amused–Elvis Costello, The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes In Slate’s unfortunately named “Big Idea” column, Jacob Weisberg, waving about the latest NY Times/CBS poll (PDF) like Joe McCarthy brandishing his list of names, campaigns for title of this season’s most conspicuously contrite white (aContinue reading “And the Uncle Tim Goes to…”
The Magical, Mysterious, Absorptive Alchemy of Success
Time, time, time is on my side, yes it is…–The Rolling Stones Regarding this Freddy Gray post at TAC, I wouldn’t assume that today’s stenographers of the royal court aren’t correct about the perception, if not the truth, of current events as they will be viewed a generation on, at least here in the States.Continue reading “The Magical, Mysterious, Absorptive Alchemy of Success”
There’s a Draft in Here
This is the mucked-up initial draft of my most recent article in The American Conservative. I’m assuming it’s okay to post it here, seeing as the print issue is ancient by today’s hyper-paced blog-influenced standards: Rebates and Cheap DatesTo walk in money through the night crowd, protected by money, lulled by money, dulled by money,Continue reading “There’s a Draft in Here”
Has-Beens, Take Me Away!
It’s a familiar and cynical cliche that the masses “crave a strong leader.” This commonplace endures because it is so often demonstrably true. The priesthood of today’s prevailing order, mainstream media punditry, occasionally demonstrates this with the unintentional comedy of paeans extolling, say, the masculine vigor of a particular favored politician (think of of ChrisContinue reading “Has-Beens, Take Me Away!”
untethered 