I’m pretty sure I would have been a fan of Mad Men in any event, but the fact that Don and Betty Draper make their home in Ossining–one mere town over from Briarcliff Manor, where I have lived for twenty years–always made the show especially appealing to me. Last Sunday, however, when Betty and her …
I don’t know if Joe Scarborough is running for president, but he is sure doing all the things he would need to do if he were. Over the last few years, Scarborough has taken some cues from the Ronald Reagan playbook. Like Reagan, Scarborough has maximized his best natural asset–his amiability–to position himself as a …
Tad Friend, once upon a time my colleague at Spy, has written a family memoir called Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of WASP Splendor. It’s elegantly written, with many beautiful and touching passages, and the affection for his family really shows through. One very personal reaction it engendered from me was …
From an article in Editor & Publisher: “Since the financial meltdown began a year ago, journalism jobs have gone away at almost three times the rate jobs have disappeared in the general economy, according to a report by Unity: Journalists of Color. Unity’s 2009 Layoff Tracker Report shows an average 22% increase from month to …
Matthew Latimer, a former Bush 43 speechwriter, just published a memoir of his couple of years serving in the White House, and apparently it’s kicking up a small cloud of criticism from his former colleagues. “Without having read a single word, they’ve been on this mission against me—and it’s disappointing,” Latimer told The Daily Beast‘s …
WHY WOULD BUSH LOYALISTS WANT TO KILL THIS BOOK? Read More »
In The Washington Post today, Richard Cohen writes about Team Obama’s attempt to toss the inept New York Governor David Paterson out of the 2010 campaign. “The Defenestration of New York tells you nothing you did not know about Paterson. But it does tell you something about Obama and a toughness lurking behind that blazing …
WHY IS OBAMA HARDER ON HIS FRIENDS THAN ON HIS ENEMIES? Read More »
All I can say is, if ever you had the opportunity to be a child (or grandchild) in the good graces of Irene Malanowski, take the job. In all my life, I never doubted my mother’s love, and I do not think it is at all a debatable proposition that for the first 15 or …
While researching what I’m happy to report will become an article in The Washington Monthly on the use of CCTV in Great Britain, I became an admirer of the work of Henry Porter. This means I come to the Porter fan club rather late, since Henry has had a long and distinguished career as a …
Having been an unsuccessful and rejected president long ago liberated Jimmy Carter from the illusion that he might have something to gain by making nice to his former colleagues in government. Carter–pious, a scold, and possessed of a blind spot when it comes to foreign despots–is that sort of person whose views are hard to …
Trawling through photo albums last week, I found these wonderful pictures. Left, Kurt and Kate Andersen; above, George Kalogerakis, Rachel Urquhart, Spike and Graydon Carter. Below left, Molly Malanowski and me. These three photos were taken in 1989 at Kurt’s place in Putnam County. Below right, Molly, earlier that same year, in our apartment in …