The New Republic

Frank Rich, who loves disparaging Republicans for McCarthyism, seems to be following the late Wisconsin senator's playbook. Summing up the president in his Sunday op-ed, Rich writes, "I have not been one to buy into the arguments that Mr. Bush is stupid or is the sum of his 'Bushisms' or is, as feverish Internet speculation periodically has it, secretly drinking again. I still don't." Nice of him to pass on the rumor nevertheless. --Isaac Chotiner READ MORE >>

Randy Cohen, the New York Times "Ethicist," laid a big egg yesterday in counseling an Internet technician who stumbled onto the company president's personal stash of child porn to keep his mouth shut. Cohen argues that, since it's not totally clear the boss is up to no good (really?), this doesn't justify imperiling the man's reputation: READ MORE >>

It's so hard to escape the PC Police these days! As the venerable Dylan might put it, they'll stone you when you call a bad thing "gay," they'll stone you when you fete Columbus Day, they'll stone you if you love foie gras and veal, and now they'll even stone you if you want to skip a meal! This from this week's National Review (sus req): READ MORE >>

Yes, I'm back to Jimmy Carter, the most self-righteous of our contemporary presidents and, if I knew more about the rest of them, perhaps also all of our presidents. READ MORE >>

by Eric Rauchway Further to yesterday's post, a few related items. First, under the heading of, "the Internets are awesome", the "I Have a Dream" speech: READ MORE >>

I suppose that, if you are against the Jewish restoration to their ancient homeland, you won't care a fig about the coming of the B'nai Menashe to Israel. This group, that says it descends from the lost tribe of Menashe, one of the ten lost to history, is spread out in places like India, Thailand and Burma. They practice a pretty vibrant sort of vestigial Judaism and have a resonant will among of them to end their exile. READ MORE >>

by Eric Rauchway READ MORE >>

Hillary Clinton spent upwards of $30 million for her re-election campaign against an opponent whose name no one seems to remember or even knew. This and more, according to Anne E. Kornblut and Jeff Zeleny in Tuesday's New York Times. The Democratic Daily, a liberal web site, characterized this expenditure as "blowing a shameful $36 million" on a shoo-in campaign. READ MORE >>

by David GreenbergIn the fall of 1990 I was fresh out of college and interning at The New Republic, taking in the excitement of living in Washington for the first time and working at a leading liberal magazine. Sometime in the early afternoon on Election Day, Sid Blumenthal, then a senior editor at TNR, walked into the office with exit poll numbers. Back then, these numbers were a closely guarded secret, and as he ran down the projected outcomes of gubernatorial and senatorial races, one felt the thrill of getting the inside dope. READ MORE >>

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Paris trying to eke out some hints from CNN. Nothing really. So I read The Plank in TNR Online. What seems clear is that Senator George Allen, Republican from Virginia, is on his way at midnight here (6 p.m. in Washington) to a devastating defeat. READ MORE >>