William Timberman:

Yeah, Paul R

You couldn't get a decent piece fish for fifty miles around Yasnaya Polyana after the old man gave it up. Worse than when Zucky's in Santa Monica went under.

Having moved from the Westside to Long Beach lo these many years ago, I find solace in the words of Bob Dylan: "When you've got nothin', you've got nothin' to lose."

Did you say "dialectics"?

Brooks was talking about a delicatessan! Everyone knows it takes a great man to make a great delicatessan. And Tolstoy was no exception! Invariably, when the kids take over, it's just not the same. It broke Tolstoy's heart on more than one occassion.

Some time back I wrote a comment here about the whole movement of which Bush is the epicenter as "Nixon's Golem."

Glenn,

As is evident in my review, I agree with your assessment of Bush's Manichean logic. However, it's worth noting that the terms it's expressed in terms are a good deal more fluid. "Democracy" was never a part of the original package with respect to Iraq, though of course it was part of the rhetoric used primary for the benefit of the useful idiots at the New Republic. But the actual process of establishing a government was intended to be purely top-down, until a more open, democratic process was forced on us by some of the more unruly elements whom we nonetheless recognized as necessary.

While the press's general amnesia has flushed this all down the memory hole, we should not neglect to keep this piece of the historical redcord alive. The democracy we're now fighting to preserve in Iraq is one we were originally opposed to, just as the Iranians we're now threatening have been our allies more often than not since 9/11.

Some years back, Alanis Morisette took a lot of flak over her song "Ironic" which had lines like this, from the first verse:

An old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think

"That's not irony, that's just bad luck," people said. Leading to the ultimate put-down, "The ironic thing about 'Ironic' is that there's nothing ironic in it."

Except they were wrong. "A death row pardon two minutes too late" is a classic example of what's known as "cosmic irony/irony of fate," which comes from the idea that the gods are toying with us. Now, some of the examples in the song are sort of petty, but, then, gods toying with mortals is all about pettiness.

In contrast to Morisette, our serious political media really doesn't have the faintest idea what it's talking about when it goes on and on about Edwards' "hypocrisy." As I just noted, what would have been hypocritical is if Edwards hadn't paid full price.

It's not just that they don't know the meaning of the word "hypocrisy." It's that they are, in essence, walking around with a big sign over their heads, saying "I never heard of FDR." Not that FDR is the only rich man who ever cared about poverty. Just that, well, winning four terms as President, you'd expect they had heard about him somewhere.

My point? Alanis Morissette should be running NBC News or the New York Times or something similar. She'd do a hell of a lot better job than whoever's in charge now.

Being Canadian, she might not know as much about FDR as one might like. But, coming from Hollywood nowadays, she knows about rich folks caring for others who are less fortunate and less powerful.

If John Edwards got a $200 haircut, and only paid $20 bucks for it, that would be hypocrisy.

Fascinating comment, particularly about how the editors have finally stumbled onto a way to control the editorial cartoonists. They've been trying for well over a century now, and finally... SUCCESS!

Just one caveat: NPR only wishes they were Geeks.

I only listen occassionally while driving. Last time, I caught a 5-minute piece on whether kids were going to read the new Harry Potter as fast as possible, or savor it more slowly. Geeks--how shall I put it?--would have talked about the book itself and all the speculation about what happens in it.

I heard some media mucky-muck defending the Edwards haircut story on the basis that it was a harmless little fluff piece, and just part of "the mix."

To me, this statement was like a classical musician inadvertantly admitting to being tone-deaf, being totally oblivious to how rightwing political propaganda has worked in this country for at least the last 20 years or so.

Heckuva job, Wolffie. Nero's fiddling. You got the gasoline?

Late last week, I caught part of an NPR show while driving, and heard that rarest of things, an argument I hadn't heard before that struck me as somewhat plausible. Part of it was that the war (along with other things) did McCain in, but it was framed in terms of his overspecified, operational support, as opposed to the symbolic flag-waving of the other candidates, which was presented as comparable to Bush's own rhetoric.

Given that (a) I heard this on NPR and (b) I don't really follow GOP candidates that closely, I have no idea how true it may be. But in terms of what the media pays attention to and promotes, it seemed pretty plausible to me.

Of course, there's nothing particularly unique here. Conservatism always sounds better in terms of flag-waving symbolic slogans, as opposed to the messiness of actual facts. "Ownership society" sounds a hell of a lot better than "financing your stockbroaker's second European villa with your privatized Social Security account management fees."

But, still, it made me wonder just how much truth their might be to this observation, or whether it was just another piece of prefab CW made up by someone with nothing better to do, and $500 an hour to do it.