Some of them are budding fascists!

As for Churchill, his opponent Clement Attlee astutely called him "Fifty percent genius and fifty percent bloody fool."

"In this new landscape of magical Fed realism, we might well be past the point where morality is even an issue."

In that case, let's drop the pretentions and go for all-out fascism!

What do you think he is, a leader?

Obama's tax increases are actually on the timid side.

NEWSWEEK'S headline "We are all socialists now" clearly doesn't apply to the president.

Be realistic: ask for the "impossible."

"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!"

Ask for the impossible. Or at least the "not politically feasible."

That would be TRUE ROMANCE (though THE HUNGER had some style). It had the advantages of a witty Quentin Tarantino script and several quirky cameos (Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt).

Speaking of Tarantino, the detail in RESERVOIR DOGS where the crooks were code-named after colors (Mr. White, Mr. Blond, etc.) was borrowed from the original PELHAM.

If McCain were President, the inaugural invocation would have been given by a fundamentalist preacher, the US would still be in Iraq and increasing its presence in Afghanistan, Washington would still be giving billions to the banks, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would still be in effect, the Department of Justice would be arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, Robert Gates would still be Defence Secretary, the White House would be fighting to keep photos of US torture in Iraq secret...

Scary!

It isn't the respectful and dignified wheel that gets the grease.

An enemy of the perfect is no friend of the good.

"Given the political realities, a cap-and-trade system is the best we're going to get..." What political reality exactly? The answer is: The political reality that Obama himself has created with his refusal to demand anything more than cap & trade. (Remember when the Clintons created the political reality that the only hope for health care reform was the "managed competition" muddle?)

Unfortunately, on an issue like climate change Obama isn't the sort of leader who changes political reality.

They expect to be given their due.

Funny, part of the US myth was that everyone living under communism wanted to leave but couldn't.

When exactly did Noam Chomsky support Pol Pot? (Words have often been put in his mouth.)

And seven presidents were wrong.

They're both about a man facing the end of a disappointing life, trying to achieve some meaning while he still can. (In the case of IKIRU, he's a bureaucrat whose reform plan came to grief long ago, estranged from his son and nicknamed "the mummy," who ends up devoting his last days to pushing through a seemingly hopeless project for a city park.) They both have a '50s existential sensibility.

Great movies about death, which both of these are, are really about life.