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Showing posts from November, 2003
Stranger Bedfellows There Never Were Transafrica and the Free Congress Foundation Hold Hands When Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute teamed up for a pair of televised debates, there may have been a little head-scratching, but it was an easy uneasy alliance; one done of expedience with a wink and a nod to the audience. And everybody smirked together, singing "Who'da Thunk It?" in unison. But when I opened the New York Times today to find an op-ed by the team of Randall Robinson and Paul Weyrich ; well, my reaction was neither easy nor uneasy; it was downright queasy. The subject--who should run the presidential debates--is surely worthy of concern across the political spectrum. But for anyone who knows what Weyrich, one of the founders of the Heritage Foundation, really believes, it's a bit frightening to see Randall Robinson teaming up with him. (Shades of Andrea Dworkin and Ed Meese on pornography.) For those who don't know who Weyrich is o
Office Despots: A Popularity Contest A friend doing the ex-pat thing in the far reaches of Asia writes: "While here in D__________, I have had [the] opportunity to talk with many internationals... I have learned that not only is George W. Bush without respect by the international crowd, but he is considered an international threat. I would venture to say that if there was a world-wide election, George W. Bush would lose to Putin, Castro, Berlusconi, Mbeki, Howard, almost everyone--maybe even Blair. Although I bet he could beat Mugabe. "
Winning One for the Gipper The Tiffany Network Folds So, let me get this straight: CBS has cancelled the centerpiece of its sweeps package --a $9 million, two-part, made-for-TV-movie about former President Ronald Reagan and his lovely wife, Nancy--at the muscular request of the Republican National Committee. Now, it's one thing to go around naming every public works project imaginable after the patron saint of voodoo economics (Poppy Bush's phrase; not mine), but to mess with sweeps? To get in the way of that orgy of over-the-top first-run programming that comes our way a mere three times a year? How dare they! But seriously, folks; am I the only one who finds this episode a little bit scary? CBS's sin seems to have been its portrayal of the former president as befuddled and the first lady as controlling--hardly the stuff of scandal. And certainly not new information. (Remember Kitty Kelley ?)* Yet because the movie was the least bit derogatory, t