Joseph McCarthy
Have They No Shame?
Just moments ago, a tribute to prominent Democrats who have died since the 2004 convention was screened at the Pepsi Center. With somber music in the background, the names and faces of the departed were presented for a few seconds each in a kind of slideshow. (The same thing is done at the Academy Awards every year.)
It was a thoroughly respectful salute – until it was Eugene McCarthy’s turn. Or, as he was labeled in the slideshow, “Joseph McCarthy.”
Despite sharing a last name, Eugene Joseph McCarthy and Joseph Raymond McCarthy were very different men.
Just to clear things up: Gene McCarthy was a Democratic Senator from Minnesota who was good friends with poet Robert Lowell and whose 1968 presidential campaign channeled frustration with the Vietnam War and forced Lyndon Johnson to abandon his re-election hopes. read more »
Death & Co. Puts Liquor-License 'McCarthyism' On Trial
David Kaplan, owner of embattled East Village cocktail cathedral Death & Co., is suing the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) over its refusal to renew his liquor license.
Mr. Kaplan had formally requested a reconsideration of that potentially business-killing decision this past February—a request the S.L.A. has since denied.
In court papers, Mr. Kaplan and his attorney have argued that the proprietors “never defrauded nor made misrepresentations” to the S.L.A.—despite what some critics in the neighborhood have alleged. read more »
Don't Fight With Your Wife About George Clooney
George Clooney. "He's my type."
Then this week we watched two George Clooney movies. First Syriana, about which I blogged below. I think its ideas are appalling in their simplicity and uselessness. Of course my wife loved it.
Two nights ago we watched Good Night and Good Luck. I could just see my wife loving it. After it was over, she said, "It wasn't slick. It was naive in a good way. It got people to care about something they would never care about usually. George Clooney has got all this power in Hollywood now and he's using it for good things."
I really disliked the movie. It was naive and heroic about corporate life. Its manner was pedestrian and earnest. I said to her, "Why is Murrow such a hero? He isn't. The guy was mainstream, and yes a force for good generally. But when he went after Joe McCarthy it was 1954, and McCarthy was already a laughingstock. The only good thing about the movie is they didn't cast McCarthy, they used real footage. He looks like Satan and he's crazy. Other people had already taken the big risks before Murrow."
My wife got upset. She said, "You're like that gospel according to Judas but the other way: You are taking something that's good and heroic and spinning it to be bad and obvious."
I went to two encyclopedias to prove my point. They were inconclusive.
While I am sure I'm right, I don't know that I can win this fight. This morning I heard my wife talking about me on the phone: "He doesn't understand, every woman is in love with George Clooney." Later, I had to drive with her somewhere. I said, "O.K. In two words, What is George Clooney's type?"
"Not you."
I had to wheedle a while before she came out with: "Low key, cool, straightforward and handsome. And a little bit simple."
I'm counting that last adjective as a victory.
Letters
Letters
To the Editor: read more »
Harmful Man, Harmful Myth: The Misplaced Liberal Concern
Barbara Cook
There's Nothing Glorious About Today's Journalism
There’s Nothing Glorious About Today’s Journalism
George Clooney's Movie About TV Doesn't Get Ike Right
George Clooney’s Movie About TV Doesn’t Get Ike Right
Scoundrel Time May Yet Return
A Century-Long Witch Hunt-And the Witches It Exposed
Living-Room Cold War: Broadcasting McCarthyism
My Dinner With Ann
My Dinner With Ann
Mayor's Decency Panel Confirms Elite's Bigotry
Exhuming McCarthy in a Novel-and Doing the Oedipal Shuffle
