The Jawa Report (Free subscription) | 11/26/2008
I like Ross Douthat, but it seems to me he mostly misses the mark in this column:I'd say the difference has more to do with the fact that Huckabee was running in a primary campaign, when both he and his...
9 Numbers (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
Ross Douthat quotes Ezra Klein’s good post from this morning on how stellar Bush’s cabinet and staffing appointments were, but the former seems to have missed the latter’s point. Ross thinks Ezra is throwing “some much-needed cold water on all the excitement about how smart and experienced and hyper-competent the Obama Administration is shaping up [...]
Arts Admin (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
Via Ross Douthat, thoughts on B-list Hollywood actors, wanting to join the A-list. Our fictional case is Vincent Chase, of Entourage . Touré (that's the guy's whole name?) asks the meta-question: can a mediocre actor (Adrian Grenier) portray a mediocre actor? I have lost track of Entourage , so I'm not sure I can answer. The show had its moments, but not enough utility to compensate for...
L'Hôte (Free subscription) | 12/01/2008
Ross Douthat discusses the new Bond movie . (Incidentally, I think Ross's movie reviews and thoughts on cinema are my favorite parts of his impressive body of work.) In the piece that Ross quotes, Moriarty of Aintitcoolnews.com says "the same cast sadly growing older while James Bond mysteriously hovers around the same age in one of the weirdest continuity choices in franchise...
Save The GOP (Free subscription) | 12/01/2008
... Thats not a constructive way to move forward. On the panel at the National Review Institute, Ross Douthat spent some time talking about how to appeal to suburban voters, with increased child tax credits and the like. Jonah Goldberg, on the other hand, and the representative from CATO stated that it was the duty of conservatives to speak truth to power, even when going against popular...
Scholars and Rogues (Free subscription) | 11/29/2008
In an article in the October Atlantic, Ross Douthat raises the age-old question, Is Pornography Adultery? He cites sex columnist Dan Savage addressing women: Tearful discussions about your insecurities or your feminist principles will not stop a man from looking at porn. That’s why the best advice for straight women is. … If you don’t want to be with someone who looks at porn. . . get...
Emdashes (Free subscription) | 11/26/2008
Jonathan Taylor writes: Matthew Yglesias , seemingly not a print subscriber with access to Digital Reader, reminds me of something I've been wanting to take note of here: the pleasures of the New Yorker abstracts. Directed by The Atlantic 's Ross Douthat to Rebecca Mead's 2003 article about Jamie Pressly, "The Almost It Girl," he points to what must be the longest abstract I've seen...
2parse/blog (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
This tidbit from James Pethokoukis’s blog over as USN&WR makes me want to read Douthat’s and Salam’s new book: Another interesting healthcare reform option is highlighted by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam in the book Grand New Party. Uncle Sam would require individuals and families to put 15 percent of their income into health savings accounts. [...]
normblog (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
I have my reservations about the way Ross Douthat carves up the world in this post. For him 'progressive' and 'liberal hawk' evidently belong in different conceptual domains. But I won't argue the toss on that right now. I'm interested...
