Fifty years from now, school children may learn that 2003 was the year President Bush liberated Iraq, creating a prosperous powerhouse of democratic capitalism in the Middle East. We don't know how it will turn out, of course. But we know one thing: the first draft of history out of our national media came from the angry left, furious at the exercise of American power and solicitous of the dictator now in the dock. The worst media eruptions of 2003 are now collected in the Media Research Center's annual greatest-misses collection known as the Best of Notable Quotables. Forty-six judges... continue reading
The latest rage in reality programming is the rich-fish-out-of-bottled-water plot. MTV's "Rich Girls" follows two spoiled eighteen-year-old super-rich kids, Ally Hilfiger (daughter of fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger) and aspiring singer Jaime Gleicher, as they flutter about shopping malls and fuss about their teenage angst. Noisier buzz has greeted "The Simple Life," a typically smarmy Fox reality show featuring waifish blonde hotel heiress Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, the adopted daughter of singing star Lionel Richie. They took these two pampered princesses and plopped them smack-dab in the middle of rural America - Altus, Arkansas, to be precise. Watch the culture... continue reading
As the news bubbled up on early Sunday morning that Saddam Hussein had been captured, the White House publicity line was crystal clear. It was "a no-gloat zone," they reported on TV. That's smart politics - humility in triumph, generosity with your opponents, moderation on a new international obstacle course - but it's completely unsatisfying to hooting, cheering war supporters. Many Americans who've had their fill of the media and their perpetually overflowing cup of negativity stumbled to the TV set in their pajamas and erupted with delight at the left's plight: Take that, Peter Jennings! What are you going... continue reading
What were they thinking at NBC's "Saturday Night Live" when they invited racial hate-monger Al Sharpton to be a guest host? "For me, it's a wonderful opportunity," Sharpton said in his opening monologue. "Maybe tonight, people can finally get to know the real Al Sharpton. President Al Sharpton." "Saturday Night Live" is now a routine stop for politicians who've ended their active campaigns and in some cases, their political careers. Al Gore, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Janet Reno and Steve Forbes have all guest-hosted. But never before has NBC handed over roughly a half hour of its air time and... continue reading
Last Sunday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something she has never done before: appear on the three morning shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, all on the same Sunday. Once viewers could see the easy sleigh ride she was getting, they might ask: why'd she wait until now? Foolish people - defined as those who expected Hillary to be grilled by the networks - were surely not only disappointed, but disgusted. In one softball pitch, Mrs. Clinton was asked her to defend herself against nebulous conservative charges that it was wrong of her to tell soldiers in war zones that... continue reading
The Drudge Report was beaming out the news to computer stations nationwide: Hollywood's Democrats were meeting in Beverly Hills on December 2 for what was dubbed a "Hate Bush" event, aimed to "prevent the advancement of the current extremist right wing agenda." The Drudge item sparked a small media boomlet about the Hollywood left, including a spot on CNN's "Crossfire," where I sat across from Paul Begala as he tried to claim, "This has right-wingers in a tizzy. They seem to believe that only tobacco, chemical and oil lobbyists ought to be politically active." Begala's outburst was just plain silly,... continue reading
The White House received some serious hand-rubbing good political news in the last week of November: passing a new Medicare bill, watching economic growth numbers revised upward to a startling 8.2 percent, and on Thanksgiving, the President secretly jetting into Baghdad to meet with wildly cheering troops. With all this positive news, you just knew it wouldn't take long for liberals in the media to complain about pro-Bush media bias. On "Fox News Sunday," Washington Post reporter Ceci Connolly sulked because the White House won't allow camera access to flag-draped coffins coming off planes at Dover Air Force Base, and... continue reading
To those who think the endangered species known as the Liberal Republican has become extinct, please take a look at their laboratory of social engineering: the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of Massachusetts. Largely appointed by a string of constitutionally lackadaisical Republican governors, these judges have bowed their heads like puppies waiting to be petted by the national press, ruling four to three that the cramped institution of marriage as we've known it through millennia is no longer socially useful. In fact, it's downright discriminatory, Bull Connor in a bad tuxedo. Pull back the fabulous velvet curtain as they... continue reading
Academics who study popular culture marvel at how Hollywood has used its propagandistic powers to sell social issues. This normally means persuading by any dramatic means necessary that traditional values are not only wrong, but archaic, even dangerous. It's not enough to disagree with a conservative position. Hollywood must demonize it, suggest that conservatism is not just unworkable, but dark. When failure comes, they imagine some fraudulent conservative's going to lash out in rage and kill. On perhaps no issue is there more built-in cultural politics - and manifest hyperbole - than homosexuality. Beginning in the mid-1970s, homosexuals regularly have... continue reading
Have you noticed how Britney Spears keeps sinking lower into the barrel of sexual shock tactics? Is this evidence of "maturation"...or just record-label cold sweats? After all, Britney's first two albums sold 22 million copies, but her third album in 2001 sold only four million. That's still a massive number, but also a massive decline. All three singles from that CD failed to crack the Top 20. What to do about the drop? Ramp up the smut factor for the next one. On November 18, the fourth Britney Spears album, "In The Zone," hit stores, but not before a massive... continue reading