Letters to the Editor
Asinistra
Published Letters: 45 Editor's Choice: 1
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I've seen how badly this movie ends.
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In the end we all live by our own anecdotal evidence. As for me, I've had to navigate through an election season between a wife who loves Hillary and a mother who hates her while loving Obama. As an Obama supporter, I've found myself, like Rebecca, spending an inordinate amount of time defending Hillary from the irrational attacks, mostly from the media (thanks to Olbermann and Matthews, MSNBC is now as toxic around our house as FOX.) The real scary thing for me is having been through this in 1968, I see all the signs that it's about to happen again. Democrats are going to lose the bitter vote--big! (The bitter block in America is a story in itself). In 1968 it seemed impossible that Richard Nixon, the Count Dracula of American politics, would actually rise from the crypt, remove the stake he had driven through his own heart, and win. But he did. This year is the sequel. President-elect John "Night of the Living Dead" McCain--playing at a theater near you this November.
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As Ronald Reagan Would Say...
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here we go again. I'll leave it to the usual combatants to continue the cannibal-fest. I just want to point out something that underscores how wobbly Lind's entire premise is. He writes:
"Since the 1950s, there has been a rift between the Harry Truman wing of the Democratic Party and the Adlai Stevenson wing. The Truman wing produced electoral winners in Truman and Lyndon Johnson. The Stevenson wing produced one winner, John Kennedy..."
Breathtaking in its wrongness. Lunch-bucket Truman so favored Egghead Stevenson over Kennedy that he wanted Adlai to make a third run for the presidency against JFK in 1960. Pull that loose thread and the entire Yankee-moralist-cultural-imperialist throw rug fabrication unravels.
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For his critics, with mercy
[Read the article: Tangled up in Dylan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand."
Every Grain of Sand
--Dylan
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Quick Takes
[Read the article: What should Obama do about Rev. Jeremiah Wright?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Andrew Sullivan—hysterical as usual
Robert George—surprisingly reasonable
Jabari Asim—gets it: Wright has just had his entire career trashed at the time of his retirement; he has every right to go out and try to retrieve it from the dumpster.
Hannaham—writes for Salon? Really? “Don't try looking for an American of African descent who has never...believed, even momentarily, some paranoid hypothesis.” You sure you didn’t inadvertently switch this one with the guy’s from New York Post?
Kissling-- “I think Wright has made clear that he does not speak for Obama and that he does not care if Obama is elected or not. “ Right on.
Deggans—captures the confused state of the mainstream media
Gitlin—Must be saving his best stuff for his own blog
Baker, Jr.--most inventive and enjoyable—also, ‘fraid to say, betrays the most bitterness
Contarino—WRONG. No more speeches. Been there. Done that. Time to stop reacting and start shaping this campaign, Barack...which brings us to...
Kaplan—As interesting as it all was, this could’ve and should’ve been the beginning and end of this panel “discussion”
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Quick Takes
[Read the article: What should Obama do about Rev. Jeremiah Wright?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Andrew Sullivan—hysterical as usual
Robert George—surprisingly reasonable
Jabari Asim—gets it: Wright has just had his entire career trashed at the time of his retirement; he has every right to go out and try to retrieve it from the dumpster.
Hannaham—writes for Salon? Really? “Don't try looking for an American of African descent who has never...believed, even momentarily, some paranoid hypothesis.” You sure you didn’t inadvertently switch this one with the guy’s from the New York Post?
Kissling-- “I think Wright has made clear that he does not speak for Obama and that he does not care if Obama is elected or not. “ Right on.
Deggans—captures the confused state of the mainstream media
Gitlin—Must be saving his best stuff for his own blog
Baker, Jr.--most inventive and enjoyable—also, ‘fraid to say, betrays the most bitterness
Contarino—WRONG. No more speeches. Been there. Done that. Time to stop reacting and start shaping this campaign, Barack...which brings us to...
Kaplan—As interesting as it all was, this could’ve and should’ve been the beginning and end of this panel “discussion”
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There's really only one explanation
[Read the article: Brian Williams nominates Peggy Noonan for a Pulitzer Prize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Brian and Peggy
Sittin' in a tree,
K-i-s-s-i-n-g
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High School Confidential
[Read the article: Did Sidney Blumenthal cross the line?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Every once in a while a story comes out that reveals that no matter how high the national stakes, no matter how grand the vision of the founding fathers, we are all--at home and abroad--essentially at the mercy of a couple of high school cliques doing pretty much what they did when they were 16. This is one such story. And to underscore how this gossipy shit "rules our world" whether it's coming from Drudge or HuffPost, this story actually topped the McCain "more blood for oil" story on Countdown Friday. Pathetic.
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3 Takes
[Read the article: Another pretty face of a generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1. I'm a guy, so this is not really my business. But I will say that I'm happy never to have spent a minute fretting over whether the world thought that Hemingway, Capote, or Al Bundy spoke for me or my maleness.
2. As a professional writer of long-standing, let me share our dirty little secret: narcissism goes with the territory. It's what gets us through the reams of blank pages, and it is also our worst enemy.
3. The person who wrote that Joni Mitchell's audience moved on after growing tired of her self-referential tendencies is an idiot, and ought not to be using the name of the best female songwriter of all-time in vain.
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Sandy with an E
[Read the article: "Sex and the City"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just for the record: Ms Parker can "swan" her way through roles for the rest of her career. Her performance in LA Story was one of the great comic turns in movie history, and all the sequined beanies in the universe won't ever diminish that on her resume.