Yesterday on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough trotted out one his preferred observations. “Americans don’t resent the rich,” he said. “We want to be rich.” He noted that voters had a high regard for the Kennedys and the Roosevelts, who managed to convey a sense of concern for the general good. I suppose Scarborough is right; …
Life with Newt Gingrich is, anyway. Mitt Romney‘s campaign staff has put together this compendium of Newt’s greatest moments of self-regard for the pleasure of one and all. I suppose a few of these observations may be taken out of context, but I’ll bet it’s not many. My only complaint is that Romney had his …
Okay, work with me here. It’s January 2012, and we’re in the midst of the full presidential campaign following the self-inflicted, nearly unprecedented financial collapse of 2008. We’ve talked a little about what happened and how the government reacted, but the candidates have only just begun to talk about destructive business practices. Now, maybe I’m …
The first stop in my 2012 Speaking Tour took me out the door, over the bridge above busy Route 9A, and to the basement of the library for a lovely Sunday afternoon reception of the Briarcliff Manor Historical Society. I had been invited to speak about And the War Came, and it was a lot …
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Will Leitch, erstwhile prime mover of the very funny and wildly popular Deadspin blog, once and eternally the target of Buzz Bissinger‘s bizarre and overbearing anti-sports blog blast on Bob Costas‘s HBO show, and now Contributing Editor to New York magazine, where he lends his elegant stylings …
Writing in the Washington Post last week, Robert Kagan argues that for all the emphasis we’re placing on new challenges in the year, much of our work will involve well-established ideas. Among them: “Military force matters: At a time when all we hear about is “soft” and “smart” power, it is ironic that some of …
AND IT’S ONE, TWO, THREE, WHAT ARE WE SPENDING FOR? Read More »
Simon Doonan had a wonderful article in Slate last week about his experience designing the installation for the auction of Marilyn Monroe‘s effects for Christie’s in 1999. Doonan says the process of cataloging her belongings took months, but “Right away, I discovered that Marilyn was shockingly and unimaginably slender. She was sort of like Kate …
Going into the weekend, smart money was saying that Mitt Romney would be ecstatic if he emerged from the Tuesday Iowa caucuses with a strong second or even third place in a dead heat finish, and would be over the moon if he won. Somehow, even after eking out an eight-vote win over Rick Santorum …
News we could use later this year: STEVE’S LAST GIFT! Jobs’ Final Invention Solves Nation’s Unemployment Crisis! New iJobs Device Pays People to Sit and Twiddle Their Thumbs! SLUGFEST! Ex-Comedian Sinbad Latest to Grab Lead for Republican Nomination Overtakes Garth, the Capital One Viking; Romney Holds Steady at 25% IT’S A MOCKERY! Kim Kardashian Denounces …
The peerless Ronald Searle has died in his sleep in France at the age of 91. Best known for a manically gothic style that invigorated his illustrations of the frantically anarchic schoolgirls of St. Trinian’s, the grinning, lustful oenophiles in The Illustrated Winespeak, the Molesworth series, The Rake’s Progress, The Adventures of Baron Muchausen, and …