Free Republic

I see that the stalwarts of Reform Politics throughout the city of New York have been given reason for hope and change. It is reported that former congressman Anthony D. Weiner (pronounced as you might expect) is testing the waters for a return to public life. He is mulling over a run for the mayor's mansion or perhaps a campaign for "public advocate." I am not really sure what a public advocate does, but Weiner has done things in public that are very daring, so I have no doubt he could handle the duties of a public advocate. You will...

WASHINGTON -- In the acrid aftermath of the South Carolina primary I think it is safe to say that Toni Morrison, the novelist, was dealing in fiction when she pronounced Bill Clinton our first black president. After watching him huff and puff up the issue of race in a way that Americans have not seen since the presidential campaigns of the late George Wallace, the former Boy President, rather than being our first black president, is our second redneck president. I say Clinton is our second redneck president because first came Jimmy Carter. Jimmy did not play the role of...

One night in 1973, I was sitting in an old armchair my parents had cast off in a little tiny house I was renting in Georgetown, D.C. Maybe I shouldn't say "cast off." They generously gave it to me. I lived in that little house with my girlfriend Pat. We had very little money and lived very modestly. But Pat had gone to bed and I was up reading John Gregory Dunne's great novel, Vegas: A Memoir of a Dark Season. Or maybe it's a memoir and not a novel, but I think it's a novel.But anyway, the phone rang....

The infallible Washington Times reports that up for sale is one of the most famous scenes of infantilism in the 20th century, "Woodstock." Actually, what is on the block is the late Max Yasgur's New York farm, 38 acres of which were used for the 1969 Woodstock music festival that hagiographers for the "1960s Generation" have ever since boomed as a pivotal event in American history. Such rock singers as Jimi Hendrix and Richie Havens got together before a stupefied crowd of some 500,000 eternal children to sing of peace, and freedom, and mind-numbing substances, even the most feeble of...

It is a sign of the Himalayan presumption to which the anti-DeLay hordes have soared that one of their websites is soliciting from their rank and vile "witty slogans" to be reproduced on billboards in House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's district and thus sink him into oblivion when next the electorate speak. Now how would any of these angry hysterics recognize wit? I do long to see the fruits of their labors. Already we have some specimens of their facetiae. There is the T-shirt that reads, "Dear Tom DeLay, Drop Dead/ Sincerely, The American People." Ha, ha, ha — and...

Now, do you agree with me, Mr. President? Old Europe is a lovely place to visit. Yet one would not want to live there for any extended period of time. Any continent so given to long luncheons cannot be a very vigorous place. On holiday, the civilized thing to do is to dine apolaustically, to take in the theater and museums. In fact, Old Europe is one grand museum. That is why I am always happy there, but then I visit solely for holiday. When it is time to be productive, I head home. From all the news reports, it...