News

Frost/Nixon’s First Night

Ron Howard's film Frost/Nixon made its debut in Leicester Square last night, as the opener of the London Film Festival.  And the early reviews (four of them, and from the quality papers as you might expect) are now in. But before we get to them ---second things...

Some Thoughts On The Final Debate

I think Antonio Gonzalez, head of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, was correct when he said on the Tavis Smiley show tonight that while Sen. John McCain scored the most points in tonight's debate with Sen. Barack Obama, he did not score a knockout...

Will the Trend Continue?

With just a little more than three weeks to go before America goes to the polls to elect the next president, Barack Obama maintains a lead in the polls. To use a Richard Nixon phrase from election night in 1960, “if the trend continues…” he will be our next president....

FDR and the Great Deflation

The period between late 1929 and the beginning of the 1940s is, of course, known as the Great Depression. But in a real sense, it could be called the Great Depressions. There was more than one massive downturn in all things economic during those days of deprivation....

The Old Man and the Debate

Here's one of my favorite quotations from the Old Man:  "Politics is battle, and the best way to fire up your troops is to rally them against a visible opponent on the other side of the field.  If a loyal supporter will fight hard for you, he will fight twice as hard...

Helen Gahagan Douglas Redux

I apologize in advance for the shameless bit of name dropping that is about to take place.....but I remember asking Henry Fonda why he so disliked RN — was it because of Vietnam (the conversation took place the spring of 1972) or the economy or something else? I was...