Politics and the box office
Early last week, the critical word on “300″ was that you could read the film as pro- or anti-Bush, pro- or anti-American, depending on your interpretation.
Then, Dana Stevens weighed in on Slate with this:
If 300, the new battle epic based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, had been made in Germany in the mid-1930s, it would be studied today alongside The Eternal Jew as a textbook example of how race-baiting fantasy and nationalist myth can serve as an incitement to total war.
And A.O. Scott of “The New York Times” offered this:
“300” is about as violent as “Apocalypto” and twice as stupid.
Despite the reviews, the action movie racked up $70 million in box office over the weekend and could end up setting a record for a film opening in March.
The dismissals from the intelligentsia apparently convinced thousands of filmgoers, like conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, that “300″ was a must see.
Or maybe, like our own Christian Toto, filmgoers were just enjoying a stylish, heart-racing actioner:
But the unsung hero here is director Zack Snyder, whose sole prior credit is helming 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake. Mr. Snyder orchestrates the violence with a touch of pageantry, no small feat given the mayhem on display. “300″ isn’t for the faint of heart or anyone against bombastic scores or serious male bonding.
Personally, as the father of a teen who’s a big fan of the “300″ trailer, I suspect that the all-important young male ticket-buying demographic found the choice between the Spartans wreaking havoc and John Travolta and a bunch of other aging boomers looking for their mojo (Wild Hogs, No. 2 at the box office) to be no choice at all.
Politics, schmolitics.
– David Eldridge, managing editor, washingtontimes.com
posted at 7:17 PM | 1 Comment »
We saw this one coming
The folks from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have called a news conference for Tuesday morning with three of the imams who were kicked off a U.S. Airways flight last year in Minneapolis for disruptive behavior.
The subject of the press conference is to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the airline charging it with bias, and that the removal of all six imams “from the flight was based on racism and religious intolerance,” according to a press release from CAIR.
Stay tuned …
— Audrey Hudson, national correspondent, The Washington Times
posted at 5:54 PM | 4 Comments »
Even more inconvenient than Al
The BBC, of all places, broadcasts an encore presentation tonight of “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” a documentary that questions, as the title suggests, the proposition that global warming is manmade.
This film, which originally aired last week, and earlier documentaries skeptical of the environmental movement, have some calling the film’s director, Martin Durkin, “the anti-Al Gore.”
He’s also been called, as you might imagine, some other … things … that we can’t print on a family Web site.
If you don’t pull in the BBC with your antenna, never fear. Check out what all the fuss is about right here, on Google videos.
– David Eldridge, managing editor, washingtontimes.com
posted at 4:13 PM | 4 Comments »
Down in Kentucky
No truer words were ever spoken than this poem delivered by Kentucky Judge James Hillary before a legislative dinner on Feb. 11, 1902, called “In Kentucky.”
As a Bluegrass State native who has spent the last 14 years inside the Beltway, I’m often reminded of the final phrase:
“Songbirds are the sweetest
In Kentucky;
The thoroughbreds the fleetest
In Kentucky;
Mountains tower proudest,
Thunder peals the loudest,
The landscape is the grandest - and
Politics — the damnedest
In Kentucky.”
This is the only way to explain why the Republican Party’s nominee for president next year will not be on Kentucky’s ballot as the current law stands.
The glitch is a state filing deadline on Sept. 2, 2008, which is two days before the Republican National Convention will name its nominee.
Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson told the Lexington Herald-Leader he hopes the General Assembly can tweak the election law, however Democrat State Rep. Darryl Owens of Louisville says it might be too late in the session to get it done.
And then there’s the rub: Kentucky was a Democratic stronghold for a couple centuries until Mitch McConnell showed up in 1984. Couple decades later, the political kingpin and senior Senator now lords over a “red state” that elected Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr., a Republican governor, a majority of the state’s congressional seats, and Republican control of the state Senate.
But there is one little problem — Democrats still hold the state House by a comfortable margin.
Which brings me back to Judge Hillary’s poem:
“Friendship is the strongest,
Love’s fires glow the longest;
Yet, a wrong is always wrongest
In Kentucky.”
However, one “Yellow-Dog Democrat” and longtime political activist who may, or may not be my mother, assures me Democrats will not take a vindictive view of the situation.
“We’re not that kind of people,” mom said.
— Audrey Hudson, national reporter, The Washington Times
posted at 3:57 PM | 5 Comments »
Through the valley of the shadow
One of the ugliest ironies of our bloody world is that people who want to reach out and lend a helping hand are often at risk of losing that hand — or worse.
In Washington this week, about 35 employees of World Vision, a billion dollar international humanitarian aid organization, are learning how to deliver medical aid, food and shelter in hotspots around the globe — without being injured, kidnapped or killed in the process.
“You can have the best intentions, but without basic survival skills, you’ll get nowhere,” said Joseph Fifield, operations director for Medical and Safety Consultant Training Services, Ltd., a company with 20 years experience protecting aid workers in troubled areas.
Mr. Fifield joined World Vision officials at the National Press Club in Washington today to talk about the risks faced by volunteers and staffers of humanitarian organizations.
Mr. Fifield and his security pros are teaching World Vision’s District staff how to handle themselves on upcoming missions.
Seattle-based World Vision, ranked as the country’s 22nd largest charity organization, according to Forbes, started in 1950 as a relief effort to care for Korean war orphans.
Since then, World Vision has spread to six continents, and focuses on strengthening impoverished communities by providing emergency relief, education, health care, and economic development.
In 2006, representatives of the organization responded to 29 major disasters around the world. Their rapid response units, nicknamed “Beeper” teams, are designed to be on the ground at disaster sites within 48 hours.
Security training like the regimen the World Vision staffers will go through this week has become part of the job for people who are trying help with the tragedies in Darfur, the flooding in Mozambique, or the ongoing fighting in Afghanistan.
Rachel Wolff, a spokeswoman for World Vision, spent six weeks last year helping victims of the drought in Kenya. The work, she says, is worth the risk.
“Even though there are risks to our lives, we understand that the people there live in this type of situation daily. For us, it’s temporary; we can go home. But this is the reality of the lives of the people there. That’s what motivates our staff to go out and help.”
– Brandon Leonard, reporting intern, The Washington Times
posted at 6:26 PM | 2 Comments »
Coincidence or design?
Because I spent three days out of the office to attend last week’s 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, the elements on today’s Culture Etc. page — A2 in the print edition — had to be edited in advance last Wednesday. However, on Monday afternoon, given the continuing Internet uproar sparked by commentator Ann Coulter’s comments Friday at CPAC, it was decided to ditch the pre-edited feature in favor of a 1,400-word story surveying conservative reaction, pro and con, to that tempest.
The result of the substitution is that, in the print edition, the Coulter story coincidentally runs side-by-side with an Associated Press story about Rebekah Rice, the Mormon girl who got in trouble for telling a classmate, “That’s so gay.”
Not only that, but today’s Culture Briefs include items about (a) the split among Episcopalians caused by the appointment of homosexual Bishop V. Eugene Robinson, and (b) another famous blonde who’s gotten a lot of press lately — and not in a good way — Britney Spears.
More coincidences? My old college friend and recent “Donkey Cons” co-author, Lynn Vincent is an editor at World Magazine and she helped me get in touch with her boss, editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky, whom I interviewed for the story. He’s the University of Texas professor sometimes called the “godfather of compassionate conservatism.” Mrs. Vincent is a fan of Miss Coulter, but her boss says an apology is due:
“Ann Coulter confesses Christ and recognizes that she, like me and everyone else, is a sinner, and this is a time for her to apologize.”
For the record, Miss Coulter said last night she doesn’t feel any need to apologize. Dan Riehl, a conservative blogger who didn’t sign the round-robin open letter demanding that the bestselling blonde be purged from CPAC, isn’t exactly cool with Miss Coulter’s choice of words, but he does tell some fellow bloggers to chill out:
“Yesterday’s melodramatic group hug around a rather pretentious letter was as annoying to me as can be Coulter at times. …
There are few things in life more alienating than someone preaching to you when you haven’t given them the job. …
Conservatives should champion free expression. And when we encounter unpleasant or inappropriate speech … we’re correct to denounce it and make our thoughts known. But there comes a time to move on. That time is past.”
Yes, let’s move on, but not before observing that the coincidental layout of Tuesday’s Page A2 — the unintended result of remarks by the author of “Godless: The Church of Liberalism” — must either be (a) entirely random, or (b) the product of intelligent design.
– Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor
posted at 9:38 AM | 7 Comments »
The unexpected happens
When the curtain rose in January in the 2008 presidential election cycle, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to be a safe bet for the Democratic nomination and Arizona Sen. John McCain was the frontrunner for the GOP nod.
But the former first lady’s Democratic presidential preference polling numbers have been declining, following her fierce attacks on a chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and McCain’s campaign seems to be hemorrhaging.
Even more surprising, a mere four months after the 2006 midterm elections, in which the Democrats crushed the Republicans and won control of Congress, the GOP seems to be bouncing back and showing renewed life. A Democratic president in 2009 is no longer a sure thing.
A slew of polls shows increasing doubts among Democrats and independents about Clinton’s political appeal and electability. She fell to 34 percent, from 43 percent, in a recent Fox News poll of 900 registered voters nationwide, while Obama shot up to 23 percent from 15 percent. An ABC/Washington Post poll and a Newsweek survey showed similar declines for Clinton.
Notably, the ABC/Post poll, completed just four days after her all-out-attack on Obama, showed voters overall have a less favorable opinion of her, with 49 percent saying they had a favorable impression of her, down from 54 percent, and 48 percent expressing a negative feeling, up from 44 percent.
Over in the Republican camp, McCain seemed to be in a near-free fall as a result of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s meteoric rise in the polls. The latest Newsweek poll shows Giuliani leading McCain by 59 percent to 34 percent. In fact, Giuliani now leads in most if not all Republican primary matchups.
From the start, McCain’s problem has been with his party’s conservative base who deeply distrust him for a variety of reasons: He voted against the Bush tax cuts. He sent signals in 2000 that he wasn’t entirely trustworthy on right-to-life issues and other social policies. He attacked Republican religious leaders and then made nice with them when he began campaigning.
He worsened his position with conservatives last weekend when he decided not to address the Conservative Political Action Committee, the mecca for the GOP’s right whose support is pivotal to any Republican presidential campaign.
Not surprisingly, McCain came in a dismal fifth place in a CPAC straw poll, with an embarrassing 12 percent. Mitt Romney, who wowed CPAC with a stirring, Reagan-like address, came in first, followed by Giuliani, two men who were not exactly the darlings of the conservative movement.
A South Carolina straw poll in the heavily-Republican Spartanburg area proved disappointing to McCain’s campaign, too. He had established a major organization there and has been endorsed by much of the GOP’s infrastructure, while Giuliani has been invisible in the state.
But when the votes were counted, the two men were in a dead heat for first place.
Not a good sign for McCain who has been organizing for months, while Giuliani has hardly gotten started.
The unexpected very often happens to presidential frontrunners (ask Howard Dean). The Democrats’ frontrunner, a feminist liberal who is trying to reinvent herself, is seeing her numnbers fall just 10 months before the primaries. Meantime, the GOP’s frontrunner is an Italian-American from the Bronx with potentially strong appeal in the Northeast that Democrats must hold if they are to have any chance of winning next year’s election.
– Donald Lambro, chief political correspondent, The Washington Times
posted at 5:35 PM | No Comments »
Reagan’s legacy
Among the attendees at the 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which ended Saturday, were 11 students from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Over the past two months, members of the Westmont College Conservatives raised $10,000 to fund their trip, explained Aubrey Bettencourt, president of the group — the only political club at the 1,300-student college.
The nearby presence of the Reagan Ranch was one key to the club’s fundraising success, said Miss Bettencourt. The Westmont club members attended several seminars at the historic home of President Ronald Reagan, now operated by the Young America’s Foundation.
“They really walk you through how to do fundraising,” Miss Bettencourt said during a lunchtime interview at Murphy’s, across from the Omni Shoreham Hotel, site of CPAC.
Club members also received training from the Arlington-based Leadership Institute, said Miss Bettencourt.
Six of the 11 club members are freshman, including co-director of public relations Tracey Cooper, who joined Miss Bettencourt for the interview, along with club treasurer James Witrock, secretary Cassandra M. Joiner and member Annie Mason. The younger club members jokingly refer to Miss Bettencourt, a 20-year-old junior. as their “mom.”
Miss Bettencourt said the training the members received through the Westmont College Conservatives has value beyond politics.
Organizing the CPAC trip “was great training for these kids. It helps develop transferrable skills for the students at a younger age,” she said.
Among other things, club members are taught to keep business cards handy at all times — a lesson especially useful at CPAC, where many introductory conversations end with an exchange of cards.
“When they get out in the world … these are the skills that will help them in their career,” Miss Bettencourt said.
A few minutes later, in the lobby of Omni Shoreham, club members were exchanging business cards with Internet newsmonger Andrew Breitbart, a fellow Californian who spoke at the conference, and with CPAC director Lisa De Pasquale, who proudly reported that this year’s conference drew a record 6,300 attendees, up from 4,800 last year.
– Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
posted at 9:31 AM | No Comments »
Naming the enemy
During his lunchtime speech today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Rudolph W. Giuliani made an important distinction that will resonate among the Republican Party’s core supporters.
“I have no doubt that America will prevail over the Islamic terrorists,” Giuliani told a standing-room only crowd.
A longtime complaint of many conservatives has been the Bush Administration’s unwillingness to identify the essential Islamic nature of the threats posed by Osama Bin Laden, Al qaeda and other terrorists.
Mr. Giuliani was introduced warmly and enthusiastically by newspaper columnist George Will, who recounted the former New York City mayor’s accomplishments.
Observers have said Mr. Giuliani’s reception at CPAC would be an early indication of whether the party’s more conservative elements would embrace him as the party’s standard-bearer.
In other good news for the former mayor, tthe Associated Press reported last night that Mr. Giuliani was leading 10 other candidates in a nonbinding straw poll in South Carolina’s conservative Spartanburg County.
With 71 of 75 precincts reporting, Mr. Giuliani garnered 123 votes. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California was running in second place with 110 votes, and Sen. John McCain of Arizona was third with 86 votes.
— Washington Times political staff
posted at 1:51 PM | No Comments »
Gore gives Oscar a goose
Give Al Gore his due: Sometimes the man-who-would-save-the-world demonstrates a sense of humor.
He did that last night at the Academy Awards by going on stage and starting to make what appeared to be an important announcement (his fans want him to run for president again) … only to be drowned out by the orchestra.
It was probably the funniest moment of the night, amid an interminable string of lame jokes and skits mixed among overwrought thank-you speeches.
Mr. Gore does have his charming side.
Early in the Clinton administration, this writer attended a briefing on reinventing government (remember that?).
Mr. Gore, who had broken a leg not long before, hobbled into the room on crutches, and proceeded to work his way around a large table in the Old Executive Office Building, shaking hands with the 20 or so reporters present. I was impressed.
Less impressive last night were Mr. Gore’s acolytes — the makers of Mr. Gore’s global-warming movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and Melissa Etheridge, who in the Gore film sang “I Need to Wake Up,” and won an Oscar for it.
They all need a humor transplant, but it’s hard to have fun when you’re busy trying to rescue the world from itself.
Miss Etheridge, in her acceptance speech, insisted that global warming is not a Democratic or Republican issue. But Republicans, or at least conservatives, are always going to be suspicious of a movement that believes there is no room for disagreement.
While Mr. Gore and his coterie predict weather-related cataclysms in the decades and centuries ahead, Washingtonians yesterday were digging out from a surprise snowstorm.
The meteorologists had called for rain.
– Greg Pierce, The Washington Times
posted at 4:48 PM | 19 Comments »
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