The Stakes This Fall
Zhubin Parang, a writer for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, writes about this year's presidential election:
The match is uneven, to be sure, but the stakes are high. Securing a second Obama victory is the only way we can be assured that our nation will not return to the dark era when it was choked in the grip of an imperial president who executed suspected terrorists with impunity and commanded lawless prison camps while drowning us in debt.High stakes indeed. Let's hope we can move beyond that dark era. Parang's essay appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of Tunnel Vision, a Vanderbilt University alumni publication that does not promptly post new issues online.
Posted on August 9, 2012 Posted to Cato@Liberty
The Iron Grip of Polarization
Like a lot of people these days, the actress Kathleen Turner is very concerned about polarization in Washington. She has a special reason to be concerned: She's coming to Washington's Arena Stage to do a one-woman show, "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins,' based on the life and writings of the sharp-tongued liberal columnist. She tells the Washington Examiner:
"One of these challenges may be getting a wide enough breadth of people to come, you know, because people are so closed-minded now, that if they think it doesn't represent their point of view, they're not interested," she said. "I'm afraid it will be like -- if you're a Republican, don't go to the show -- it's a real shame both artistically and as a reflection of our nation's mentality."Fortunately, liberals from Hollywood don't have that sort of us-against-them mentality:
But while Ivins became famous for mocking former President George W. Bush, nicknaming him "Shrub" and "Dubya," Turner told us that her approach to dealing with the Bush years was a bit more subtle. "I had to do some real dodging there once in a while, but I pretty much managed it," she said, explaining that she "purposely" never met Bush. "I used to be on the Kennedy Center artistic, you know, selection board and those events are always held at the White House, and so then I had to bow out for a few years, didn't I?"It's a real shame when Republicans are closed-minded.
Posted on August 8, 2012 Posted to Cato@Liberty
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