Roundup: Media's Take

July 19, 2004

Why Do Our Scandals Seem so Similar? (Hint: Watergate)

Jack Hitt, in the NYT (July 18, 2004): THE lead story from Wall Street last week read more or less like this: "Kenneth L. Lay indicted; Martha Stewart sentenced." The two are constantly linked in the media like some poster couple of corporate corruption. ABC News has mashed them together as part of "a rash of rogue C.E.O.'s." What's distinctive about these and other business scandals is the way the mass media has been telling the stories in t

July 18, 2004

Brent Staples: Why Does Strom Thurmond's Black Daughter Want to Join the Daughters of the Confederacy?

Brent Staples, writing about Strom Thurmond's black daughter; in the NYT (July 17, 2004): ... amusement turned to perplexity recently when Ms. Washington-Williams announced that she would embrace her white heritage by applying for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a historically white group founded in the 19th century to memorialize Southern valor in the war to preserve slavery. Ms.

July 17, 2004

Was That Month in 1969 the Most Eventful Ever?

Bill Marvel, in the Dallas Morning News (July 16, 2004): Thirty-five years have passed. We've seen better and we've seen much, much worse. But for anyone who was alive and paying attention during the summer of 1969, four images are etched in the memory: • A wooden bridge in Massachusetts • An astronaut, a flag and the surface of the moon

July 16, 2004

What Happened to Leaders Like Saddam in the Past When They Were Captured?

Olivia Ward, in the Toronto Star (July 11, 2004):...The concept of rule of law is the key to understanding the significance of the dramatic trials that have made history through the centuries, experts say. Now taken for granted, the rule of law - or the belief that rulers should govern by legal means - dates back to the time of Socrates in ancient Greece. The Romans, though no democrats, later created a codified body of law. And the 13th-century Magn

July 16, 2004

Che Guevara ... The Dark Underside of the Romantic Hero

Sean O'Hagan, commenting in the Guardian on a new film about Che (July 11, 2004):Thirty years after his death, the remains of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, whose hands had been cut off following his execution by his Bolivian army captors, were finally returned to Cuba, the homeland he adopted and helped remake in his image. His final resting place is a mausoleum in the suburbs of the cit

July 16, 2004

When It Comes To Political Wives These Days, Style Doesn't Always Speak Louder Than Words

Tanika White, in the Balt Sun (July 13, 2004):... "I've followed all of the candidates and the candidates' wives since January," said Myra Gutin, historian and author of The President's Partner: The First Lady in the 20th Century. "And truthfully there hasn't been that much attention on fashion." Possibly because there isn't much of it to speak of.Unlike the ultra-chic Jacqueline Kennedy, who lived in Oleg Cassini, waved to th

July 16, 2004

Our Record on Nation Building Is Decidedly Mixed

Scott Peterson, in the Christian Science Monitor (July 15, 2004):One of the most apt - and worrisome - warnings about the future of Iraq may be the successful CIA coup that once toppled the regime next door. In Iran, the United States overthrew a prime minister and reinstalled Shah Reza Pahlavi, ushering in a quarter-century of dictatorship that itself was swept away by an anti-US Islamic revolution in 1979. Iran is one of several examples that today hi

July 16, 2004

H.D.S. Greenway: Bush's Neocons -- "The Vulcans" -- Have Weakened the United States

H.D.S. Greenway, in the Boston Globe (July 16, 2004): KARL ROVE, George Bush's senior political adviser, has a PowerPoint display of the personal characteristics that should get Bush reelected. Among them:"strong leader, bold action, big ideas, leads a strong team." I could have bought that in the days following 9/11 when the president rallied a f

July 16, 2004

Glasgow University Media Analysts Report Widespread Confusion among News Consumers about History of Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

From ZNet (July 15, 2004): TV news is the main source of information for about 80 per cent of the population. Yet the quality of what they see and hear is so confused and partial that it is impossible to have a sensible public debate about the reasons for the conflict or how it might be resolved. This is the conclusion of a major new study by the Glasgow University Media Group which for the first time

July 15, 2004

Given the NAACP's Recent History, Bush's Snub Was Justified

John H. McWhorter, in the Los Angeles Times (July 15 2004) Last week, for the fourth year in a row, President Bush declined the NAACP's invitation to speak at its annual convention. Predictably, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume railed that the Bush administration failed to recognize the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group as being significant o

July 15, 2004

The States Have Different Laws Regulating Divorce ... So Why Not Gay Marriage, too?

Joanna Grossman, associate professor of law at Hofstra University, in findlaw.com (July 15, 2004): ...The specific issues raised in the battle over same-sex marriage are new. But a broad question that is arising has been raised before in our history. The question is this: How can we reconcile -- or should we simply tolerate - conflicts among state statutes relating to family law -- an area oft said to b

July 15, 2004

We Should Be Worried that American Soldiers in Iraq Are Coming Home Psychologically Damaged

Dan Baum, in the New Yorker (July 5, 2004): ... In November, 1943, a bespectacled United States Army lieutenant colonel named S. L. A. Marshall waded ashore with the troops attacking the Japanese on Makin Island. Marshall, who was known as Slam, had fought in the First World War, and had then left college to report news and sports stories for the El Paso Herald

July 15, 2004

A New Lobbyist to Represent Hollywood ... Why They Need One

Thomas Doherty, in the Boston Globe (July 8 2004): LAST WEEK Dan Glickman, former secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration, was appointed to replace Jack Valenti as president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Not exactly a high-profile player in either Washington or Hollywood, Glickman was an unexpected choice. More interesting, though, the s

July 15, 2004

The Ancient Olympics: The Real Thing

From the Washington Post (July 10 2004): Sure, these newfangled modern Olympics are fun, I suppose, but take it from an old-timer, they ain't nothing compared with the Olympics we had back in the ancient days. Geez, you shoulda been there. Everybody's getting all fired up because the 2004 Olympics will be held in Greece, where the Olympics were invented nearly 28 centuries ago, but let me te

July 15, 2004

David Gelernter on John Edwards: Personal Past, Class History in America -- and Benjamin Disraeli?

David Gelernter, in the Los Angeles Times (July 11 2004): Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina seems like a decent and likable man, the political equivalent of a handsome, slightly under-ripe bunch of bananas, just the thing if you are looking for bananas and can't find any ripe ones, or don't know the difference. But I can't believe the public is going to buy this act. Last week, I heard an admir

July 15, 2004

Kay S. Hymowitz: What the Founders Thought of Marriage

Kay S. Hymowitz, in the City Journal (Summer 2004 edition): [Kay S. Hymowitz is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. She writes extensively on education and childhood in America.] These days everyone has a strong opinion about marriage, but no one seems to be sure what it is, exactly. Is it a sacramental union? Is it a public recognition of a committed love re

July 15, 2004

Elaine Kamarck: Will the 'Massachusetts Liberal' Shibboleth Still Work for Republicans?

Elaine Kamarck, in the Boston Globe (July 11 2004): When it became clear that Senator John Kerry would be the nominee of the Democratic Party, Republicans saw an opportunity to recycle some of their best lines from the contentious Bush-Dukakis presidential campaign of 1988. Like Governor Michael Dukakis before him, they said, Kerry was an Massachusetts liber

July 14, 2004

Wendy McElroy: Class Action Lawsuits Are Out of Control

Wendy McElroy, an HNN blogger, in the Independent Institute (June 30, 2004): Wal-Mart is facing the largest class action lawsuit ever been brought against a private company. As many as 1.6 million women may join the suit and the possible payout could exceed $1 billion dollars. What are class action

July 13, 2004

Emily Yoffe: The Importance of Being Handsome in Politics

Emily Yoffe, in the Los Angeles Times (July 13 2004): You can't say the fixation with John Edwards' looks is just a media phenomenon ("His dazzling smile" — Wall Street Journal;"His hair is a beautiful shade of chocolate brown with honey-colored highlights" — Washington Post;"Each tooth is an ivory treasure, perfectly polished and aligned" — Slate). Not when

July 13, 2004

Robert Bork: It's Judicial Imperialism to Use a Law Passed in 1789 to Hound Human Rights Abusers in 2004

Robert Bork, in the WSJ (July 12, 2004):The Supreme Court has just endorsed lawsuits against American and foreign individuals and corporations under a supposed "human rights" component of the "law of nations," two amorphous and shifting concepts that give little warning of what conduct may result in liability for damages. Although the Court gave assuran