The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Another Roosevelt

As the recently proposed massive financial bailout plan apparently needs and awaits a rescue itself, we are now witnessing the all-too-familiar practice of political posturing. Lou Grant, the curmudgeon television producer played by Ed Asner, who ruled the newsroom on...

Herman Perry’s Letter to Richard Nixon

Sixty-three years ago today, businessman Herman Perry wrote a letter to Richard Nixon asking him if he was interested in running for a seat in the House of Representatives. At the time, incumbent Democrat Jerry Voorhis was representing the 12th congressional district...

A Way With Words

Once again you’ve got to hand it to Maureen Dowd.  Even in an otherwise uneven column like today’s, she can still come up with the kind of stinging snarkism that says all there is to say about the subject at hand: Who would have dreamed that when socialism...

Watch What We Mean Not What We Say

Apparently I wasn’t the only one to be a bit unsettled by the image of that long empty corridor behind President Bush in his too-little-too-late attempt to address the nation’s concerns about the careening economy. (What the President was really trying to...

The Debate in Context

If appearances alone decided the debate’s winner, then John McCain won. His energetic demeanor helped dampen concerns that he is too old for the job. Obama, on the other hand, did not come across as the candidate of cool. His expression alternated between a...