World News Center
Slouching Toward Washington
September 9, 2010Election tension is worse in New York now that John Kerry seems to have a chance of winning. It was almost easier when his was a sort of Children's Crusade with no one actually believing he would make it to Jerusalem.
In His Seat of Power, Cheney Stands His Ground
September 9, 2010It was the giant armadillo vs. the baby cougar. The split screen wreaked its havoc on the Cheney-Edwards debate Tuesday night. If you'd been listening on the radio John Edwards would have won by a pencil, but in a 90-minute two-shot the gravitas gap was a problem for him.
Waiting for Kerry's Big Finish to Start
September 9, 2010 On the eve of the debates people are so on edge in New York that every gathering has become like a visit to the dentist. In this town of Democrats, Karl Rove's real or imagined brilliance has got people dangerously psyched out. Someone in a group always produces some new vulnerability of Kerry's to drill down on, some fresh tactical error to palpitate about.
Breaking the News, Then Becoming It
September 9, 2010Are the media having a nervous breakdown?
Kitty Kelley, Derided And Delicious
September 9, 2010Matt Lauer's opening one-on-one with Kitty Kelley on the "Today" show this week was an example of a new genre of TV journalism: the interview as Hells Angels initiation ceremony. After being smacked around, stomped on and having her leathers urinated on from a great height by Lauer, Kelley was then welcomed back for two consecutive mornings to plug her new doorstopper, "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty."
Time for Kerry to Change His Pitch
September 9, 2010Does Bush have winner's luck? Just as Kerry launches his fall offensive with Cannonball Carville and other Clinton vets onboard, the wonder boy himself goes under the knife. One of the best campaigners in political history is suddenly benched.
The Democrats' Topical Depression
September 9, 2010 While Republicans just move on when they make mistakes, Democrats in New York go into therapy. It took no time at all for last week's righteous rage against the Bush campaign's stoking of the Swift Boat Veterans' smear campaign against John Kerry to morph into self-flagellation about the way the candidate is blowing it.
Old Warriors Giving Their Last, Worst Shot
September 9, 2010Bob Dole's nasty swipe at John Kerry's war wounds this week made you understand why Viagra has been losing market share to Cialis. The sight of that bitter old face piling on to protest that Kerry did not bleed enough is instant detumescence.
The Governor Slips Out Under Cover of Gayness
September 9, 2010New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's gay declaration of independence, when he advanced downstage to muse about his inner turmoil, brought an oddly Shakespearean turn to the national soap opera. The difference is that when Shakespeare's Richard III goes on about what it's like to be a hunchback, he's talking only to himself. That's what a soliloquy is -- a character's inmost thoughts, overheard only by the audience. Whereas Jim McGreevey was cleansing his soul in front of all the other characters in the drama of a family and a state, including millions of strangers. His thoughts are no longer inmost. They're outmost.
Paranoia Sneaks Up On a Suspecting Electorate
September 9, 2010Among New York Democrats there's a weird fatalism about John Kerry's chances in November. The city's mania to see the president routed does nothing to lift the mood of bullish defeatism. What you hear is that Bush will still win by a hair -- not because Kerry fails to rev the electorate's engine, but because "they" will "pull something."
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