Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Romney: Father, son and ghost. How much does the life and experience of George Romney, failed candidate for Republican nomination in 1968, explain motivation and electoral strategy of his son Mitt?
Scathing takedown of US president. "It isn’t simply that Obama lied. Politicians lie. But there are norms for political lying. The depth and dependability of Obama’s misrepresentation constitute a difference in kind"
Colleagues profess sorrow for Richard Lugar, denied the chance to run again for the Senate at 80. But why didn't he retire long ago? Doesn't he have a home or family to go to? Is he so foolish as to think he is indispensable?
Enjoyable hatchet job, following bullying revelations. "For all his business success and well-manicured family, Romney is essentially an entitled fopdoodle who divides the world into two classes, Himself and The Help"
Teenage Mitt Romney bullied a gay student at his elite prep school, pinning his victim down and cutting off his hair. Inevitably, the presumed Republican presidential candidate of today has no recollection of this
Revisiting Jean Jaurès, figurehead of the French political left. Brilliant philosopher whose dogged determination, "physical politics" and powerful rhetoric made him the intellectual champion of socialism in early 20th century
Revisiting the young Barack Obama and his life in New York, with help from collected letters of a former girlfriend. "Even when he was uncertain about much else, Obama seemed hyper-alert to avoiding a future he did not want"
"An unabashed member of the privileged classes, he has somehow managed to win the affection of a Labour-leaning city as it endures the harshest cuts in public expenditure since World War II." How does he do it?
Reporter lands meeting with Dominique Strauss-Kahn, disgraced former IMF chief. Blames political enemies for his downfall. No hint of remorse. "Perhaps I was politically naive but I simply did not believe they would go that far"
Seeking out Mitt's Mexican roots in "a place famous for producing true hombres, a rural frontier where thousands of Mormons still live, and where settling differences at the point of a gun has been a tragically resilient tradition"
Candid and caustic Massachusetts congressman discusses 30 years in Washington. Interesting throughout. On Republicans today: "Half of them are Michele Bachmann. The other half are afraid of losing a primary to Michele Bachmann"
Fourth volume of Robert Caro's great biography of Johnson focuses on mysteries of character as much as it does on mysteries of power. And specifically how LBJ and RFK could both combine vicious cruelty with stirring kindness
Image from Wikimedia Commons
