Last night in the New York Times building, before a crowd of over 300, five members of the Times political team — assistant managing editor Rick Berke, chief political reporter Adam Nagourney, online political editor Kate Phillips, and reporters Patrick Healy and Jodi Kantor — held a surprisingly frank conversation about the 2008 presidential campaign Read More
THE POLITICS OF HEAVEN: AMERICA IN FEARFUL TIMES
By Earl Shorris
W.W. Norton, 371 pages, $25.95
Some of the meanest people in the world are nice.
That’s the conservative evangelical paradox: the smiling churchgoer who will kindly volunteer his last crust of bread with one hand while voting to gut what remains Read More
The latest idiocies from Pat Robertson cast a new light on a long-lost document about the God Biz. I’m speaking of the Oscar-winning 1972 documentary Marjoe, unavailable for some time now, recently rediscovered and opening again on Jan. 13 here at the I.F.C., with a DVD release soon after.
It’s a film I have a Read More
The Democratic front-runner’s rivals in the New Hampshire primary insist that his flaws will render him “unelectable” in November. “Unelectable,” warns the junior Senator from neighboring Massachusetts. “Unelectable,” warns a former governor of one of the nation’s biggest states. “Unelectable,” warns the Democratic Senator from Iowa, seconded by his colleague from Nebraska.
This candidate Read More
The calamity that turned the nation toward military
confrontation is also revealing the character of its people, both collectively
and individually. From the overwhelming majority, not only in America’s
greatest city but everywhere, we have seen evidence of altruism, nobility and
tolerance. These qualities encourage hope that we will also summon the patience
and judgment Read More
A couple of weeks ago in this space, the Reverend Brian
Jordan suggested that religious organizations pause for a moment’s reflection
before signing on to President Bush’s faith-based initiative. Father Jordan,
who works with poor immigrants at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West
32nd Street, wondered if taking government money for the Read More
As a sales team seeking to promote their political goals,
the present occupants of the White House truly excel. By now, everyone must
know that the Bush administration is a cheerfully efficient team of
“compassionate conservatives” presenting the nation with “charitable choice” so
that we can achieve “faith-based solutions” to our national woes. Yet behind Read More
