Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2580

The Palin Model, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

Jan Brewer runs for the border. Money quote:

[She:] has put the kibosh on all future debates with her Arizona gubernatorial opponent Terry Goddard (D), after her rather embarrassing display at Wednesday's debate. "I don't believe that things come out in proper context in an adversarial atmosphere," she defended herself.

Jan Brewer - Terry Goddard - Arizona - United States - Forensics

The Weekly Wrap

Today on the Dish, we heard from customer service reps; one pretty angry lawyer; a master herbalist; an academic librarian; a resident physician; and the conversation continued on elites. Leon Wieseltier found clarity and common ground on the mosque; we played war games with the Taliban and the Discovery gunman was mostly just crazy. 

Weigel took on the Tea Party; Reason went robo-tripping; and and labels were for soup cans.  The Palin article got factchecked and Bristol Palin's dancing might ...

The Past, Present, and Future of the Tea Party

by Conor Friedersdorf

The indispensable Dave Weigel has published an enormously informative take on the Tea Party movement. It's here, and if you've been observing the phenomenon from afar it probably answers most of your questions.

An excerpt:

The politician who's rightly seen as the ideological vessel of the tea party movement is Sen. Jim DeMint. I'd argue that he's more important to the movement than its bigger star, Sarah Palin, because DeMint has actually gotten specific about what he...

Prophecy of Franzen

by Zoe Pollock

Ross is a little freaked out by the ability of Franzen's novels to tap into the zeitgeist, and maybe even predict it a little. First with The Corrections which addressed the excess of the 1990s and was followed by September 11th, and now, with Freedom:

One thread in the narrative tapestry involves the Iraq War (there are neoconservatives, defense contractors, etc.), and so of course "Freedom" just happened to be published on the day that Barack Obama announced the end of...

Face Of The Day

A model participates in the 2010 Daegu International Bodypainting Festival on August 28, 2010 in Daegu, South Korea. The festival is the largest in the field of body painting. By Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images.

South Korea - Daegu - Body painting - Asia - Government

Prep Schools

by Conor Friedersdorf

A reader writes:

I teach at an Ivy, so I could go on at length about the privileges my undergraduates receive. Even in this most recent class, I still had a fair number of students who started at 100k+, flights to the Hamptons, etc... However, what I really wanted to discuss is the effect of elite high schools, which I think is far greater than that of the Ivies. My wife attended Andover, did well, etc... but chose to attend a large public university in the South (read...

About My Job: The Resident Physician

by Conor Friedersdorf

A reader writes:

I think that the most common misconception for my job is that we actually do routinely work 80 hours a week. Doctors in training are one of the few professions, along with truck drivers and pilots where we are defined by a maximum number of hours to work. The way it is defined now is that we can work no longer that 30 hours in one shift, must have 10 hours off between shifts, and must have one day off in 7 when averaged over 4 weeks. You do the math...

"Elegant But Empty"

by Chris Bodenner

Christopher Orr reviews the latest Clooney vehicle, The American:

A film so spare in its dialogue needs to offer meaning in its silences, and neither Corbijn nor the script (Rowan Joffe's adaptation of a Martin Booth novel) is quite up to the task. Jack's relationship with Father Benedetto never acquires the requisite moral gravity, nor his tryst with Clara the emotional consequence. And for all of Clooney's quiet charisma, his Jack remains a cipher, balanced awkwardly...

Business As Usual

by Patrick Appel

Hooman Majd thinks sanctions against Iran are doing little good:

The suggestion that tensions within the leadership have been aggravated by the sanctions, or that sanctions are responsible for Iran's apparent willingness to talk, is a misreading of the political scene in Tehran. At a base level, it ignores the long history of clashes and rivalry between strong personalities in government and among the ayatollahs. Moreover, history has shown that outside threats tend to create...

Can Church Be Hip? Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Thanks for asking the question recently about whether the church can be hip.  In the interest of disclosure, I am an Episcopal priest, and I find great value in traditional worship and music.  I listen to a wide range of music, but I'm often suspicious of "Christian" artists because, frankly, most of them are lame.  Not all, but most.  I can get on board with a lot of what you've cited as hip Christian music on the blog recently.  The problem with all...