The Democratic presidential race is turning into a snippy identity-politics battle waged around the question: Is America more racist or more sexist? Is America too racist to deserve Barack Obama? Or too sexist to deserve Hillary Clinton? Liberals think this is a real puzzler, since they assume America is bigoted both ways. It's going to be a long, America-accusing election year no matter who wins. This is nuts. Our system of laws in this country contains energetic remedies for discrimination against blacks and women. Discriminatory attitudes still exist in isolated, politically irrelevant pockets whose existence is then magnified one hundred-fold... continue reading
Fads and fashions are so fickle they ultimately undo the people who tried to be the tastemakers. The Bravo cable network reality show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" was all the rage for a season or two, but collapsed after five seasons when the insulting schtick of ultra-hip gay men improving the "style-deficient and culture-deprived straight man" annoyed its last viewer. Which is not to say that the entertainment elite tired of the concept, of what one TV writer from the Boston Globe called the "national gay genie escorting all kinds of slovenly men and women to Fabulousville on... continue reading
At what point, exactly, did we come to hate humans for having the arrogance to assume they are wiser than beasts? The "we" in that equation belongs squarely to the camp of the loony radical left, which now broadcasts that hatred for humans on the Air America radio network. How low can this disgraceful failure of a radio venture go? One of their newest hosts goes by the radio name "Lionel." (His real name is Michael LeBron.) "Lionel" unfurled a rather unique take on the tragic incident at the San Francisco Zoo, where a tiger mauled a teenager to death... continue reading
The presidential nominating contest keeps creeping earlier and earlier into the election year. The Iowa caucuses are 16 days earlier than in 2004. The New Hampshire primary is 19 days earlier than in 2004. Before the first results, the media were already pushing the contenders around, predicting that most presidential campaigns are toast if they don't win in one of these states, and in so doing, are only advancing that perception. All the talk of reforming the primary system - to make it more logical, more rational, more regional, more representative, less tilted to traditional first states like Iowa and... continue reading
It was encouraging, almost a decade ago, when it was announced that some corporate advertisers had banded together to offer their corporate support for television shows that were more friendly to viewing by entire families. The group was called the Family Friendly Programming Forum, and over the years its presence certainly has helped bring some safer programming to television. But in the world of the networks, where sleaze, sex, blood, and shock are the rule, the definition of "family-friendly" can easily be watered down - and has been. One TV critic announced the FFPF's annual awards show on the CW... continue reading
For America's celebrity-watching media, 2007 was the Year of Spears, about which we should breathe a sigh of relief that Western civilization survived. The year began with increasingly erratic Britney Spears popping in and out of rehab stints. Then she shaved her head in the spring, a move that screamed that the pop star's moves were more crazy than calculated by publicists. The year ended with the news that Britney's 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn Spears, a star of the children's channel Nickelodeon, was pregnant. Had the youngest Spears sister been cast as a tawdry teenage tramp on "Desperate Housewives," her... continue reading
Hillary Clinton has no right to complain that her friends and flatterers in the media are rough on her. But when the Clintons hit rough passages on the road to victory, this is what the Clintons do: complain. That's too meek. They whine. But she obviously feels wronged by the news media when her polls begin to slip and she looks at her Barack Obama's worshipful press clips. In fairy-tale terms, Obama is Snow White, and Hillary is the vain and wicked queen peering into the mirror and demanding to know "Who is the fairest one of all?" She can... continue reading
In these times of moral relativism, it's head-spinning to see how the profanity quotient of a word seems to depend entirely on who is using it and who is on the receiving end. Fans of Hillary Clinton were scandalized a few weeks ago when a voter in New Hampshire stood up and asked Sen. John McCain about her. The old woman stunned the crowd by asking "How do we beat the bitch?" On PBS, Bill Moyers used the episode to decry that this "language of degeneration" is unique to women, and then tried to suggest the B-word's profanity quotient should... continue reading
The end of 2007 doesn't seem half as depressing to the conservative faithful as it was in the beginning. Democrats captured the Congress, sure. But now it's their approval ratings that are in the toilet, and worst still, their rabid leftist base has turned on them for not being rabidly leftist enough. The presidential front-runners are no longer inevitable, not even Hillary Clinton's buy one-get-one-free ticket. The economy is fairly strong, regardless of the pessimistic media coverage. We've had another year without America being successfully attacked by terrorists. The surge is working. All this good news is driving the Left... continue reading
At the summit of national power, politicians and bureaucrats are terrified at the idea of endorsing the religious views of the majority of Americans. Our First Amendment forbids the establishment of a state religion, but many of our governing elites are taking it a step further, outlawing its very existence from the public conversation. Congress can turn this into an unintentional comedy of manners. On December 11, the House considered a rather meaningless resolution "recognizing the importance of Christmas" - and nine members of the House voted "nay." The roll call of Grinches are, surprise, largely from blue states: Gary... continue reading