New York Times
Magazine
, Jan. 3
(posted Thursday, Dec.
31, 1998)
As always, the year's
final issue--"The Lives They Lived"-- is devoted to the "old friends" who have
died in the previous 12 months. The 40 profiles include the obvious
choices--Frank Sinatra, Dr. Spock, Roy Rogers--but there are also stories about
Otto Bettmann, who began his photo archive with two suitcases of photographs
carted out of Nazi Germany; Martha Gellhorn, who covered wars from Spain in the
1930s to Patagonia in the 1980s; and the inventors of the Cuisinart, the
La-Z-Boy, and bubble gum. All of the obits speak fondly of their subjects, save
one: Former Alabama Gov. George Wallace is castigated for both his racism and
his superficial renunciation of it. Wallace, the profile argues, claimed to
have repudiated racism but used issues such as crime and welfare as veils for
old-school segregationist politics. The most lives seem to have been lived by
Eldridge Cleaver, who spent his years as a convicted criminal, a Muslim, a
Black Panther, a presidential candidate, a Moonie, a Mormon, and a conservative
Republican.
Weekly
Standard , Jan. 4
(posted Tuesday, Dec.
29, 1998)
The cover editorial
argues that the president's popular support should not prevent impeachment,
because it is merely a "momentary delusion" achieved through "effective
demagoguery." The framers of the Constitution, argues the Standard ,
intended impeachment as a way to remove an unworthy if popular leader. As for
censure, it would be useless, "a gob of spit attached to the presidency's
reputation by a craven legislature." ... A piece argues that fat
attorneys' fees corrupt the multistate tobacco settlement, because plaintiff's
lawyers will now a) bankroll the Democratic Party; b) fund their own political
ambitions; and c) try to keep Big Tobacco profitable , so they can keep
pocketing said fees for decades to come. ... The Standard
advocates the establishment of a conservative arts weekly (suggested title:
Alienation ). It won't make a cent, but even "two years of heterodox
culture coverage could galvanize the New York (and hence American) culture
scene," which is full of dissatisfied souls seeking only "a place to speak and
an institution to rally around."
