(No Bill Frist jokes, please.) With the GOP in full attack mode, the press weighs how to handle Kitty Kelley’s book. Newsweek, for one, has already passed on publishing excerpts from The Family. Yes, the same Newsweek who just published this ridiculous Evan Thomas puff piece about Dubya’s personal “transformation.” C’mon, now.
Category: Media
Payback’s a…Well, you know.
Play with matches, Mr. President, and you’re gonna get burned. With the Kitty Kelley cocaine allegations making the unofficial rounds (I’ve heard the book promotion begins in earnest on 9/14) and the Ben Barnes 60 Minutes interview coming up in short order, journalists start taking a harder look at Dubya’s missing years. Adding fuel to the fire, a group called Texans for Truth has created this ad that will apparently begin airing on Friday.
Worst-Case Scenario.
In the new Washington Monthly, David Greenberg, E.J. Dionne, Paul Begala, and several others ponder the troubling question, “What if Bush wins?” The short answer? Head for the hills.
Bobos on Progressivism.
Interrupting my usual enjoyment of the Sunday NYT crossword this past week was the magazine’s cover story, in which conservative media darling David Brooks tried to outline a new “progressive conservatism” for 2008. Given my interest, historical and otherwise, in reviving progressivism in any form, I applaud Brooks for giving it the ole college try here. But this piece suffers from a couple of serious problems.
For one, there’s not much “new” here. Writers like Michael Sandel have already thoroughly outlined this project, the case for a Hamiltonian revival was done better in Michael Lind’s Hamilton’s Republic, and even George Will anticipated much of Brooks’s argument on government, culture, and fostering independence twenty years ago with Statecraft as Soulcraft.
More problematic, Brooks seems totally unacquainted with his own party. “[A]lmost every leading official acknowledges that we should have as much of a welfare state as we can afford.” Oh, really? On education, “[m]ore and more conservatives understand that local control means local monopolies and local mediocrity.” Coulda fooled me. “Most Republicans, happily or not, have embraced a significant federal role in education.” Well, somebody should tell these guys.
I don’t want to harsh on Brooks too much, because at least he’s trying to make the case for something close to a progressive resurgence (“But through much of American history there has always been a third tradition, now dormant, which believes in limited but energetic government in the name of social mobility and national union.”) But first he’s gotta realize that he’s standing on the shoulders of giants here, and should say as much. And, more importantly, if we really wants to see a return to progressivism, he’s probably looking in the wrong party. As Bill Moyers recently and eloquently restated, progressivism was ultimately a reaction against the corporate domination of politics that afflicted the Gilded Age, and somehow that doesn’t seem to bother the current GOP too much. Dubya and Rove apparently aspire to be William McKinley and Mark Hanna respectively, and the closest thing the GOP had to a TR is now gleefully prostrating himself before his corporate overlords. So, we’re probably going to have to search elsewhere for our Teddys, Woodrows, and Crolys these days.
Skull & Bones to Skill & Brains..
Via a friend and colleague in the program, Alan Brinkley examines the demise of the old-boy-network in Ivy League admissions for The New Republic.
That Woman? Not hardly.
By way of Value Judgment, Alexandra Polier — the woman whom Drudge et al earlier claimed had an affair with John Kerry — digs into the unsavory origins of her own non-story. The first half of the article is basically a recap of her situation and her actual connection to Kerry, but the second half — when she begins interrogating the journalists who breathlessly created this media scandal out of whole cloth — is quite interesting.
Where was I again?
Dubya and Cheney work on getting their stories straight for tomorrow’s joint appearance before the 9/11 committee. If the press machinery worked in this country, there is no way on God’s Green Earth Bush would be allowed to bring along his compadre for help on this one, or that the two of them would be able to testify without any recorded transcription, particularly when you consider how President Clinton was treated during his Lewinsky testimony. Absolutely pathetic.
Justice is Blind.
Facing increasing criticism for his closed-door colloquys, Justice Scalia backs down to some extent on Speechgate…he now says he’ll allow print reporters to transcribe his remarks, but not radio or television journalists. What, may I ask, is our esteemed Justice afraid of? Surely he can find a way to express himself more moderately for televised public consumption. He’ll just have to give up the Cheney hunting stories.
The Bitter Fruits of Defeat.
Following up on a Franklin Foer TNR article I first saw over at Value Judgement, Hannah Rosin examines the plight of DC’s Deaniacs now that the party’s over. Although it wasn’t nearly as well reported, I remember a similar purge happening after Bill Bradley went down last cycle, and, trust me, they can get ugly. (But, at least last time, all was forgiven after Al Gore screwed up the general.)
Miller’s Crossing.
Not that this is really news to anyone, but Dennis Miller freely admits he won’t ever badmouth Bush on his new CNBC show. Well, if that’s the case, as I said before, Sayonara, cha-cha.