Hubert Humphrey
What the Jackie Robinson Film Leaves Out
'42' doesn't touch on his conservative politics, which are widely misunderstood
The 24-hour news cycle yielded one of its better sitcom interludes last week when Rand Paul went to Howard University, the historically black college, to tell its student body why it needed the Republican Party. The libertarian junior senator from Kentucky, at one point, asked for a show-of-hands from those who knew that most of the African Americans who founded the NAACP more than 100 years ago were Republican. READ MORE >>
Welcome to Another Golden Era of Liberal Senators
One of the most stunning outcomes of the 2012 elections was the Democrats’ two-seat gain in the Senate. With 23 seats at risk to only ten for Republicans, Democrats were hoping simply to hold their own or keep their losses to a minimum. A gain of a single seat was almost wildly optimistic; picking up two seemingly unrealistic. READ MORE >>
Efficacy and Democracy
Before 2013 begins, catch up on the best of 2012. From now until the New Year, we will be re-posting some of The New Republic’s most thought-provoking pieces of the year. Enjoy. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of PowerBy Robert A. Caro (Knopf, 712 pp., $35) I. READ MORE >>
During the 1960 West Virginia primary, John Kennedy campaigned in tandem with Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. to claim that he—and not liberal stalwart Hubert Humphrey—was the rightful heir to FDR. The biopic shown at the 1992 Democratic Convention showcased difficult-to-locate footage of Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK at the White House in 1963 as an Arkansas delegate to Boy’s Nation. READ MORE >>
&c
-- The Emergency Committee on Israel flip-flops on '67 borders. -- Rick Hertzberg reminisces about his father, Hubert Humphrey, and Vietnam. -- Ramesh Ponnuru and Rich Lowry: Romney's problems go beyond Medicare. READ MORE >>
Yes, We Hate Congress
I recommend an excellent essay from political scientist Josh Huder about why Congress is so unpopular, both in general and right now. READ MORE >>
How Robert Byrd Won My Respect
What Are Nukes Good For?
The nuclear order seems to be falling apart. Gone is the uneasy balance between the cold war superpowers. We now face a slew of new nuclear actors. North Korea has reprocessed enough plutonium for perhaps ten bombs, in addition to the two it has already tested. Iran’s centrifuge program seems poised to produce weapons-grade uranium. And Syria was apparently constructing a clandestine nuclear facility, before it was destroyed by Israeli air strikes in 2007. READ MORE >>
