David Margolick has an interesting piece about NPR in the new issue of Vanity Fair. He spends much of his time on Juan Williams, but this observation about NPR's right-wing critics is an important observation: Apart from the occasional stories about gays or Palestinians (and maybe even gay Palestinians), there's precious little on NPR these days for conservatives really to hate. For them, despising NPR and cutting off what amounts to the few pennies it collects from the federal budget has increasingly become more a matter of pandering, or habit, or sophomoric sport, than of conviction or serious policy. The [...]
Apr
22
2009
More Calls to Bomb (Any) Somalians
By 4 Comments
Taking the brave position (ScholarsAndRogues.com, 4/20/09) that the National Review Online is so bad that it makes William F. Buckley's print version look "semi-respectable" by comparison, former U.S. Navy Commander Jeff Huber writes that in his April 11 NRO post, "military historian and former classics professor Victor Davis Hanson comes across like a rabid war mongrel": Frothing over the recent Somali pirate caper involving a U.S. flagged merchant ship, Davis insists that, "To end Somali piracy, disproportionate measures against the shore should be taken–for every one pirate assault, a lethal air assault should immediately follow." It's perhaps understandable that Hanson [...]
Jan
26
2009
Media Criticism, Homer Simpson-Style
By 2 Comments
Reading this at the bottom of neo-con William Kristol's column in the New York Times (1/26/09): This is William Kristol's last column. Homer says, "Woohoo!" Then reading this at the Politico: EXCLUSIVE: Progressives will delight when they get to the italic note at the end of Bill Kristol's column in the Times today say, "This is William Kristol's last column." His one-year contract was up. Sources tell Playbook that he's now beginning a monthly column in the Washington Post. Homer says, "D'oh!"
