Well-Made World 26

Here's another article from Frank Rich from a few days ago and stillworth the read. Rich compares the recent controversy (or lack thereof) surrounding Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for attorney generalto the current situation in Pakistan; particularly interesting to NEreaders in the face of upcoming presidential nominations, however, isone of Chuck Schumer's main arguments regarding his role in ensuringMukasey's nomination: simply that hes not as frightful as Gonzalez orthe acting attorney general who might otherwise be in line for theposition. Rich points out that in this statement and elsewhere,democrats like Schumer "sounded whipped." The democrats' impotency,of course, is old news, but more importantly, such comments remind usthat the democrats' pathetic "anybody but Bush" strategy from the lastpresidential election still quite miraculously figures in theircurrent strategy.

Also, may we direct you to an ongoing series from Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair on the history/candidacy of Hillary Clinton, in (thus far) parts one and two (of three).

Well-Made World 25

We're generally of two minds about Frank Rich, but his NYT opinion piece this past Sunday, whose title borrows from Joe Biden's pitch-perfect one-liner on Rudy Giuliani, is a worthwhile read. Rich muses on the idea that, for all of its swaggering and bluster, if the Bush administration does not wage an attack inside Iran, it could spell curtains for any Democratic hope of winning the White House next year.

Speaking of Giuliani, here's what he had to say recently about an old pal (guess who!):
"Sure, there were issues, but if I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape."
Meanwhile, that old pal's legal troubles just won't go away...

The Guardian's US correspondent, the wonderful Gary Younge, spoke recently with Angela Davis, who comments eloquently on, among other things: the current state of race relations in the United States; the incorporation of her iconic image into American popular culture (akin to the t-shirtization of Che Guevara); the regressive nature of the political appointments given to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice; and the candidacy of Barack Obama, who, she says, represents "a model of diversity as the difference that makes no difference, the change that brings about no change."