Kristolization? Oy!

When The New York Times announced that William Kristol will be a weekly columnist for its Op-Ed page, the first thing it said about him is that he's "one of the nation's leading conservative writers and a vigorous supporter of the Iraq war."

Which prompted a friend to ask two questions: 1) "Hasn't America suffered enough from the actions of these nut-jobs?" And 2) "Is Kristol the Times' move in anticipation of the Murdochization of The Wall Street Journal,  sort of the way CNN moved to the right to counter Fox News?"

Well, 1) Apparently not. And 2) WSJ's news columns are more likely to feel Rupe's impact than the editorial page, which is already so far right it can't move further in that direction. If anything, its vicious brand of conservativism is more likely to be moderated in pragmatic support of Rupe's global business agenda.

(Jan. 16 -- Have a look: "Murdoch to Bury the Leder? Rethinks Journal Strategy")

Meanwhile, the lead editorial in this morning's Times, "Looking at America," offers at least some assurance that, despite losing the zip in its prose with the departure of Gail Collins as editorial page editor, it remains the most outspoken establishment newspaper opposing the BananaRepublic. Except for the tooth-fairy conclusion -- a rose-tinted final sentence about hoping to look in the mirror after the 2008 presidential election to "see, once again, the reflection of the United States of America" -- today's editorial is a serious year-end critique.

Remember these?

December 31, 2007 9:30 AM |

Categories:

Me Elsewhere

'WILD SIDE' STILL ROCKS 

Nelson Algren was one of the great American authors of the 20th century, it is no exaggeration to say, and among the most neglected. Consider his underrated classic, "A Walk on the Wild Side." The title -- popularized and co-opted as an idiomatic phrase by Hollywood and Madison Avenue (institutions Algren loathed) -- is familiar to most anyone who speaks English or knows Lou Reed's lyrics. But the novel itself? Hardly.

BUSTER KEATON REVISITED 
Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat is not a biography. "This book is merely a fan's notes," Edward McPherson writes in the introduction, although his publisher ignores the disclaimer and calls it a biography on the cover. In fact, the book is a bit of both, a difficult combination to bring off unless you're David Thomson, who set the standard with Rosebud, his penetrating rumination on the life and career of Orson Welles, which was nothing if not a distillation of every obsessive thought he ever had about the myth and the man and all his movies.
LAUREN BACALL, STILL SALTY AT 80 
When Lauren Bacall writes that her singing voice ranges "somewhere between B minus sharp and outer space," she's being candid and funny. It's not every stage star with two Tony Awards for best actress in a musical whose vocal talent offers so little promise. (OK, Harvey Fierstein excepted.) Still less would one admit it.
THE STARS ACCORDING TO BOGDANOVICH 
Peter Bogdanovich's superb collection of movie-star profiles and interviews -- a sequel to Who the Devil Made It, his interviews of top film directors -- begins with an affectionate tale about Orson Welles that reminds us just how intimate the author's connection to Hollywood's greatest has been. But contrary to what we've come to expect from dime-a-dozen celebrities and celebrity interviews not worth two cents, the tale avoids bromidic egotism and journalistic platitudes.
SAMMY'S WHITE DREAMS 
Four decades ago Lenny Bruce sentenced Sammy Davis Jr. to "30 years in Biloxi," stripping him of "his Jewish star" and "his religious statue of Elizabeth Taylor." Now we have two new biographies of Davis that spring him from ridicule, if not from doubts about his legacy, and restore a measure of dignity to a black entertainer whose huge fame and success never overcame his devout wish -- indeed his lifelong effort -- to be white.
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This page contains a single entry by Straight Up | published on December 31, 2007 9:30 AM.

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