Saturday, September 04, 2004

Chris Lydon has a fascinating post, tied to an audio interview with William F. Buckley, about George W. Bush's place in the GOP pantheon. His surprising take is that W is the heir to the Rockefeller wing of the party -- not the Rocky the "moderate," but Rockefeller the child of privilege, the scion of oil and banking fortunes. Lydon: "It's the Rockefeller instincts I never stop worrying about. Drawing on the power of oil and Wall Street with the personal entitlement that comes of almost infinite inherited wealth, the Rockefeller instincts are compounded with secrecy, overfamiliarity with nuclear weapons and the CIA, and a possessive outlook on the whole world...It's the old Rockefeller instincts that are still trying to euphemize and legitimize aggressive blunders that Ronald Reagan would never have committed." He provides a new perspective on the biases of the New York Times, too. Bonus depressing/brilliant Lydon essay: "Empire or Republic?" Lydon: "(I)t's only the vast, increasingly mindless middle of our media and our politics that refuses to engage the empire question--which refuses, that is, to acknowledge the sad, sore, sinking, pit-of-the-stomach sense that the best of our old American birthright is in jeopardy." 8:38:24 PM    comment []

Hoggard: "If you want your take on things to get a full airing... get your own damn blog." 10:16:35 AM    comment []

Dave Winer had the same surgery Bill Clinton will have. 9:41:54 AM    comment []