The New Republic

The Boston Globe's Joan Vennochi frames the choice of Ted Kennedy's interim replacement as "a test of Camelot's clout and Governor Deval Patrick's loyalties." The Kennedys, as has now been widely reported, want Patrick to pick Paul Kirk; Patrick reportedly favors Mike Dukakis. Although it's starting to sound like Kirk's a done deal, Vennochi tries to stoke an anti-Kennedy backlash: READ MORE >>

A wonderful account from the NYT's Sharon Otterman. I hadn't realized the official time limit on speeches was meant to be fifteen minutes. The Libyan went six times that long. Also, a money quote: “We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as the president of America." I have more than a few neighbors here in Brooklyn who might agree. READ MORE >>

Is maybe-Senate-hopeful Carly Fiorina's website the sorriest in recent political history? I mean, she's not even in the race yet and already she's alienated the night-owl and cat-owner votes. And while we're on the subject, shouldn't that be Carlyfiorinia Dreamin'? READ MORE >>

New York magazine's Sam Anderson gathers a club to read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol so that you (and I) don't have to: But who would be its members? READ MORE >>

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For any who were not adequately shaken by David Grann's masterful article "Trial by Fire," about a man put to death by the state of Texas for a crime he almost certainly did not commit, Ta-Nehisi Coates points to a Salon article by Alan Berlow that simply beggars belief: READ MORE >>

At a moment when the U.S. Congress is poised to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran's refined petroleum industry--the Senate bill to do this recently gained three new co-sponsors, including Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, bringing the total to 76 senators in support of a measure which could see action very soon--China takes action that cuts the opposite way: READ MORE >>

Immediately following Obama at the lectern here at the U.N. is the Libyan "leader of the revolution" (as he was introduced), who has emerged from his bizarre run-in with Donald Trump--and the interference of angry protesters--to deliver a predictably kooky speech. READ MORE >>

I spent a decent chunk of my morning navigating the U.N.'s press credential system and, after filling out the same computerized form for the fourth or fifth time in the past three days (which I fear sheds some light on U.N. peacekeeping operations), and later seeing a Japanese reporter rush out of a bathroom stall with his pants at his knees, for reasons unclear, I made it inside to hear Barack Obama speak. READ MORE >>

Agence France-Presse reports, unsurprisingly, that Sarah Palin's speech to the CLSA Investors' Forum in Hong Kong met with divided opinion. As AFP notes, "Some of those who attended praised her forthright views on government social and economic intervention and others walked out early in disgust." READ MORE >>