McCain and Obama as Leading Men
As I was sorting through my Sunday Washington Post so that I could throw everything but the Parade and Washington Post Magazine my wife reads into the recycle bin, my attention was grabbed by this photo montage on the front of the Style section: For a second, I thought they had juxtaposed Barack Obama with Malcolm X (the newsprint version is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2008 08:53
Obama’s Race an Asset for Young Voters
YahooNews has applied the nonsensical headline "Young voters: Obama's race as an asset, non-issue" to an AP story about how various age cohorts view the issue of race in general and Barack Obama in particular. Either something is an issue or it isn't. If it's an asset, it's an issue. For young voters, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 7, 2008 07:32
The Conservative Minority
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse on the issue, but the continued high pitched battle between conservative Republicans who have rallied around conservative-come-lately Mitt Romney in hopes of defeating Teddy Kennedy's Good Friend John McCain remains the most interesting story this election cycle. Conservatives Love Romney The most recent Rasmussen poll shows that "Romney leads by sixteen percentage points ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 3, 2008 09:28
Quiet Heroism
On the eve of Veterans' Day, a new study sheds light on the nature of heroism. An infantryman charges a pillbox in the face of enemy fire. A firefighter rushes up the stairwell of a burning skyscraper as office workers flee. A teacher shields her student from a schoolyard gunman with her body. Heroes all. But what personal qualities made ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 11, 2007 08:59
Murderabilia - Congress looks at law to help foil sales of grisly collectibles
People collect all sorts of things, stamps, coins, velvet Elvis paintings, & old manuscripts. And some collect murderabilia, a term I had not heard before. Round and chrome, it looks a lot like an average hubcap from a vintage VW Bug. But this one is special. And it’s for sale. It’s off the 1968 Beetle that Ted Bundy drove as he roamed ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 12, 2007 03:31
The Military in Fiction
Phil Carter's commenters are having great fun with his critique of Lifetime's "Army Wives" for "easy caricatures and the easy plot formulas" which "fails to convey the depth and complexity underlying a number of important military issues." They rightly note that very few movies and television shows about anything are accurate and complex because their interest is in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 28, 2007 16:21
Classic But Boring Movies
In the comments section of a recent post about Andrew Sullivan's movie reviews, I noted that “2001 [A Space Odyssey]″ is one of several movies–“Shane,” “Gone With the Wind,” and “High Noon” come immediately to mind–that are widely considered classics and yet I either disliked or found rather underwhelming even though I typically like films in those genres. Having recently ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on December 8, 2006 11:02
CIA Commercial: A World of Ambiguity and Adventure
Travis Daub points to the CIA's new recruiting commercial for the Clandestine Service: Daub is confused by the tagline, "Are you ready for a world...of ambiguity and adventure?" saying "I'm not sure I know what that means." One gathers it means that the CIA is looking for people who have to navigate a world where they make decisions on the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 25, 2006 12:20
Army Considering Fort Belvoir Amusement Park
Living as I do very near Fort Belvoir, I read with interest this morning's A1 piece in WaPo about the Army's plans to build a giant amusement park and hotel complex in land owned by the base. Army officials say they are considering allowing a private developer to build a 125-acre entertainment, hotel and conference center complex next to a national ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 8, 2006 14:45
Kos: Sexy, Quivering, Muscular, Charismatic
Former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox takes us Inside the Cult of Kos with a TIME magazine feature on the Yearly Kos convention. It turns out that Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is one sexy, charismatic, drill sergeant of a manly man. And a charismatic S.O.B. to boot. Some excerpts: Compact and wiry, Moulitsas, 34, exudes quivering intensity. He speaks in staccato paragraphs, punctuated ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 6, 2006 10:52
