In the old days, the Time “Milestone” would have read like this:
DIED: Five years, six months and 30 days after the conclusion of “The American Century”; the credibility of a once great publishing institution founded by Henry Robinson Luce; following decades of dunderhead leadership, complicated by footsying with Hollywood and Steve Case; in Manhattan; Read More
In the old days, the Time "Milestone" would have read like this:
DIED: Five years, six months and 30 days after the conclusion of "The American Century"; the credibility of a once great publishing institution founded by Henry Robinson Luce; following decades of dunderhead leadership, complicated by footsying with Hollywood and Steve Case; in Manhattan; by Read MoreFor starters, a personal word.
Twenty-six weeks ago, this column got going with the story of an encounter on a cool April night in 1971 with a tall, young ex-Navy lieutenant in a veterans’ tent pitched on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The next morning, he led a march to the Capitol of the United States Read More"There are three kinds of lies," Disraeli purportedly said. "Lies, damned lies and statistics." The polls this week brought proof.
One hopes. In case you were too timid to catch the latest, four national surveys of "likely voters" (CNN/ USA Today/Gallup, Time, Newsweek, ABC News/ Washington Post) have George W. Bush widening his lead over John Read MoreThe war thought safely over bit John Kerry anew this week, just when he was beginning to nudge ahead in the polls. And, boy, did it bite deep.
Yes, dear reader, Vietnam is back. Again? Afraid so. And if you thought the Swift boat stuff was awful, brace yourself: This is worse. Unless decency or the Read MoreOnly every couple of thousand years do people rise from the dead. So—hosanna,Mr. Kerry, your resurrection was most unexpected.
Now, what’s your next trick? ’Cause another debate’s coming up. Friday, to be exact, in St. Louis, Mo.—a state where you’re no longer advertising (no use throwing good money after bad). But let’s stick with cheery tidings Read MoreTomorrow the big day comes: John F. Kerry and George W. Bush toe-to-toe in the first Presidential debate, which really isn’t.
A debate, that is. Ninety nationally televised minutes of alternating stump-speech snippets is what the encounter actually amounts to, with style (maybe even height) as important as content. So Lincoln-Douglas this is not. But then Read MoreJohn Kerry hadn’t held a formal press conference in nearly six weeks.
Good. Reporters traveling with the candidate had expressed their unhappiness by posting a sign that kept track of the days since the last "availability." Mr. Kerry ignored it. Even better. Mary Beth Cahill—still in charge of the campaign, despite months of stories predicting her Read MoreThe last seven days brought this: Dick Cheney suggested that the election of John Kerry would result in "devastating" terrorist attack. (His nominal boss merely opined that Mr. Kerry is a fan of Saddam Hussein.) Two generals informed the Senate Armed Services Committee that the C.I.A., in contravention of international and military law, kept up Read More
You can be forgiven for feeling good.
If you don't look at the polls (or The New York Times ' best-seller list), there's a lot to feel good about. Bill's ticker's on the mend; even Karl Rove thinks Zell Miller was a bad idea; Iraq's not getting any better; the economy remains a mess; Messrs. Carville Read MoreOnce upon a time, Republicans were pretty much like everybody else. Only richer.
The dads ran plants and offices; were doctors and lawyers and businessmen; belonged to Kiwanis and Rotary; groused about social programs and the taxes they had to pay to support them; played golf at nice country clubs and bought Buicks every other year. Read MoreRemember Bob Dole?
You know, the guy from the Viagra commercials, who used to be U.S. Senator, and the Republicans thought would be just the ticket to keep Bill Clinton from a second term, because he had a gimp arm from World War II while Slick had done handstands not to serve? Wife named Liddy ring Read MoreIt's the war, stupid.
Pretty much everybody seems to get that. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention sure did: They thought Iraq was the issue. Not the economy. Not health care. Not the environment, civil rights, freedom of choice, separation of church and state, or anything else the Bush administration has turned into pretzels-Iraq. Out there Read MoreEvery rare once in a while, a moment comes along that so
perfectly sums a mind-set, nothing's left to be said. Take the other day, when a Reuters correspondent phoned the headquartersof Bush/Cheney '04, looking for some info on "job quality"-an oxymoron for millions since Jan. 20, 2001. Whoever took the call apparently forgot to punch Read MoreFor a while last week, life was sweet for John Kerry.
Crowds were big; polls were nudging up; money was pouring in (so much, the campaign was having a tough time getting rid of it before public financing kicked in); reporters were being nice; and Dubya, bless him, was continuing to be Dubya. The latest: telling Read More
