Monthly Archives: November 2002

November 24, 2002 — Paul Mirengoff

Trunk, thanks for posting Schickel’s

Trunk, thanks for posting Schickel’s piece about Sam Fuller. Schickel is right that Fuller was a great critic of middle-class hypocrisy, and never more so than in The Naked Kiss, which I consider his best film. However, Fuller was no Hollywood leftist. In fact, he delivered a superb anti-communist film during the 1950s with Richard Widmark and Thelma Ritter. I don’t remember the name of the movie, but it has »
November 24, 2002 — John Hinderaker

The Indonesian police (with help

The Indonesian police (with help from the Australians) are rounding up the Bali bombers, and in the process are gaining a great deal of information about their operation, especially since the leader of the group, Imam Samudra, was captured. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that bin Laden videos and tapes have been found in the plotters’ homes. More troubling is the claim by Samudra that one of the bombs–the one »
November 24, 2002 — Scott Johnson

One more shaft of sunlight

One more shaft of sunlight to pierce the weekend darkness: Hey, it’s the holiday season. Some Web site–I believe it may have been the fine folks at No Left Turns–steered me to the site of the The Richard Nixon Library Museum Store. I have never seen a museum store quite like it, one with a great sense of humor. The humor is especially evident to me in the World Famous »
November 24, 2002 — John Hinderaker

After reading the Times-Picayune article

After reading the Times-Picayune article on the aftermath of the Landrieu/Terrell debate, I would say Landrieu can see the handwriting on the wall and is becoming unhinged, like a number of other Democrats–Tom Daschle, Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor et al. »
November 24, 2002 — Scott Johnson

The fallout continues from Friday’s

The fallout continues from Friday’s Powderhorn Park neighborhood murder of the 12-year-old caught in the crossfire of a couple of Minneapolis’s finest gangbangers. The Star Tribune devotes more page-one coverage to “Friends and family gather to mourn and remember Tyesha” while the St. Paul Pioneer Press story “My heart was just torn apart” is relegated to the paper’s metro section. Although both stories place the murder in the context of »
November 24, 2002 — Scott Johnson

Before “Saving Private Ryan” and

Before “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers,” the best movie ever made about World War II was Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One. If you’ve never heard of Fuller or The Big Red One, please take a look at the review of Fuller’s posthumous autobiography (sort-of) A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. The review is from the Sunday Times Book Review and is by the »
November 24, 2002 — Scott Johnson

Matt Drudge has posted an

Matt Drudge has posted an interesting account by the Times-Picayune of Saturday’s debate taped for broadcast today between Mary Landrieu and Suzi Terrell: “Candidate debate has unfriendly end.” I leave the interpretation to Rocket Man. »
November 24, 2002 — John Hinderaker

And here is one last

And here is one last photo from Bush’s trip, showing him addressing the crowd in Bucharest with the Romanian and American flags on banners around the square. »
November 24, 2002 — John Hinderaker

Analysis of President Bush’s trip

Analysis of President Bush’s trip to Eastern Europe has been spotty. Here, the New York Post offers a concise and positive summary of the President’s accomplishments over the past five days. »
November 24, 2002 — Scott Johnson

On its Web site, the

On its Web site, the New York Times carries a package on President Bush’s speeches in Lithuania and Romania yesterday that includes Elisabeth Bumiller’s story on them, the full text of the Bucharest speech, and a one minute video excerpt of the Bucharest speech. One click takes you to the package under Bumiller’s story, “Bush appeals to new allies on Iraq plans.” According to Bumiller, in Bucharest Bush spoke to »
November 24, 2002 — John Hinderaker

George Will sees a sunny

George Will sees a sunny future for the Republicans in the Senate. »
November 23, 2002 — John Hinderaker

As to Kennedy, I think

As to Kennedy, I think on the whole he was a good President. I also think it is fortunate that he served for less than three years. That, really, is the remarkable thing about Kennedy–how short his presidency was, for all that has been said and written about it since. I read somewhere, long ago, that had Kennedy not been murdered, his administration would surely have come crashing down in »
November 23, 2002 — John Hinderaker

I agree that there is

I agree that there is a psychological kinship between Nixon and Gore. I think it is this: both are (or were) by nature private, closed-in people who had difficulty relating easily to others and were therefore fundamentally bad politicians. But both were more or less consumed by a craving for acclaim or approval that could only be satisfied by the Presidency. This obsession drove both to overcome (more or less) »
November 23, 2002 — Paul Mirengoff

Speaking of Nixon, yesterday was

Speaking of Nixon, yesterday was the 39th anniversary of John Kennedy’s assassination. It coincides wtih additional revelations about the extent of Kennedy’s medical problems and his reliance on medication. Here is Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal piece, “Camelot on Painkillers.” Noonan thinks that Robert Dallek, the historian responsible for the latest revelations, is too quick to conclude that the drugs Kennedy took did not impair his leadership. I’m not sure. »
November 23, 2002 — Paul Mirengoff

Several readers took exception to

Several readers took exception to my comparison of Al Gore to Richard Nixon earlier this week. In response, I acknowledged that Nixon had virtues Gore lacks, but I stood by the comparison. I may have to reconsider, however, now that Frank Rich of the New York Times has also compared Gore with Nixon. Actually, the Rich piece reminds me of another similarity. Gore is now going on television shows like »
November 23, 2002 — John Hinderaker

The St. Paul Pioneer Press

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on growing suspicion that an al Qaeda cell is active in the Twin Cities. »
November 23, 2002 — John Hinderaker

Ann Coulter takes on the

Ann Coulter takes on the New York Times. It’s another mismatch. Her topic today is the Times’ umbrage at Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News, urging President Bush to strike hard against terrorism. The Times thinks this blew the cover off Fox’s pretension to journalistic neutrality. The cat is out of the bag: Fox is on America’s side. Somehow this revelation didn’t shock people as much as the Times thought »