My commenters below are right: the prejudices that Sacha Baron Cohen stokes in Borat are conventional ones, and the film is a form of Red-State blackface. All the juice in his journey happens between the coasts. When he’s on the…
I caught Lieberman on Meet the Press today. The guy is an amazing politician. He’s always been a great politician, this time he outdid himself. He knows how to talk to people, he knows how to build a coalition, he…
The movie Borat is a lot of things, a comic triumph, mean, weirdly Tocquevillian. It is filled with anti-semitic humor, and I admit I laughed. But there is also something really scary about the film, and that seems to me…
The Gates appointment to replace Don Rumsfeld is important: I think it might signal a shift in George Bush’s thinking (I know, that’s an oxymoron) re Israel/Palestine. Consider a few facts: Former Sec’y of State James Baker is now of…
If Rumsfeld’s resignation was in the playbook, presumably under Hail Mary Pass, then why didn’t they call the play two weeks back when it could actually have done some good politically and maybe saved Lincoln Chafee et al? Paralysis at…
I can’t wait for the Republican fingerpointing to begin. I can’t wait so much I want to start it myself! My Monday-morning questions for Karl Rove: Why didn’t you sacrifice everything else to try and hold the Senate? Howard Dean…
You are not disenfranchised. Stop talking about voter fraud (perennial) and computerized voting (inevitable). Start talking about ideas about real policy. Bring progressive vision to the so-called clash of civilizations.
I’ve spent a lot of time critiquing an event at Yivo Institute last week, well I must praise the all-day conference Yivo put on Sunday, to mark the 350th anniversary of the excommunication of Baruch Spinoza by Jewish religious authorities…