No Room for the Gentleman Amateur
Heroism is now all-but inconceivable except as slapstick comedy — From The American Spectator of March, 2008
Entry from March 27, 2008
Bill Clinton may not be the most graceful in utterance of our public men, but no one has ever thought his political instincts to be less than finely tuned. So when the other day he said: “I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people…
A New Kind of Right
Everyone should own this excellent handbook to and history of American conservatism, written by someone who was there from the beginning — From The New York Sun of March 25, 2008
Vantage Point
Groundhog Day meets The Bourne Ultimatum — but what is the point?
Entry from March 10, 2008
“I can understand why Prince Harry would want the media to respect an ‘embargo’ for weeks or months so he could fulfill his dream of fighting on the front lines of a war. What I don”t understand is why editors would ignore their news judgment — and abdicate their mission — and play along.” Columnist…
Entry from February 29, 2008
Yesterday, February 28, I gave a talk at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., about my new book, Media Madness, which is published by Encounter Books in its Brief Encounters series. Responding was Martin Walker, formerly head of UPI and Washington and Moscow correspondent for The Guardian of London. Here’s what I had…
Nerd Do-Wells
Without faith in something outside oneself, there is nothing to believe in but the endless fascination of one’s own intellect — From The American Spectator of February, 2008
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
A movie about abortion that makes Juno or Knocked Up look as trivial and sentimental as most other Hollywood products
A Kick in the Pants
Is it realistic to hope that, one day, we might be able to elect the media? — From The New Criterion of February, 2008
Entry from February 8, 2008
Last week, Barack Obama came up with what he doubtless saw as a snappy comeback in answer to Hillary Clinton’s oft-repeated boast that she would have the experience to be ready to govern “on Day One” by saying that “it is important to be right on Day One.” I hold no brief for either of…
Samurai Sage
Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, maker of Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, helped bring a new kind of hero to the American movie screen — From The American of November-December, 2007