Garance Franke-Ruta

FROM ONE GULF TO ANOTHER. There’s been some talk on the blogs about how Arab and Muslim support for the cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian Authority is quite low in the grand scheme of things, but just how low it is comparatively speaking is really driven home when you look at the incredible generosity of a number […]

WHAT A MESS. A front-pager (at least online) at The New York Times details the predictable decline of medical services in the Gaza Strip under the economically sanctioned Hamas-led Palestinian government, and outlines the increasingly dire predictions of the World Health Organization for the long-term health of the Palestinian medical infrastructure. Meanwhile, gun-battles between rival […]

TAKE TWO. Let me try to explain this again. I was quoting Concerned Women for America. They and other conservative groups have, in recent years, written extensively about why even “perfectly ordinary hookers” should be considered slaves, and they have hailed President Bush for his leadership on this issue. According to Elaine McGinnis of the […]

THE CORRECT PHRASE IS SEXUAL SLAVERY. There�s lots of talk on the liberal blogs about Porter Goss‘s sudden resignation as director of the CIA and whether it has anything to due with the burgeoning investigation into the prostitution/congressional corruption/homeland security contracting scandal centered around Brent Wilkes and deposed Congressman Duke Cunningham. ThinkProgress, as usual, has […]

MEDIA WARRIORS. The New York Observer media blog The Transom issues a declaration of war against Salon. Much hilarity sure to ensue. This item explaining the declaration, though, is right on: WHEREAS, Ms. Walsh cannot perceive what Observer senior editor Tom Scocca has since dubbed The Inverse Dean Scream Effect�the inverse part being that the […]

THE NAME GAME. Some commenters, in response to this post on George Allen‘s turn as a Confederate officer in a 2003 movie, are alleging that Allen’s child Forrest Allen was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry officer who was a founder of the Ku Klux Klan after the war and whose name remains […]

BUILDING A BRIDGE TO THE 19TH CENTURY. Boy, George Allen is really into this wanna-be Southern secessionist thing. A tipster informs me that the junior senator from California, I mean Virginia, didn’t just cotton to the rebel flag, he’s also dressed up in the uniform of the old slave states in film. According to this […]

RUSH TO JUDGMENT. Tim Noah explains everything you ever wanted to know about the Rush Limbaugh OxyContin deal, complete with source documents. Very Smoking Gun. –Garance Franke-Ruta

CAPTURE THE FLAG. Ryan Lizza‘s just posted a devastating follow-up to his TNR cover story on Virginia Senator and likely presidential contender George Allen. The take-home: Allen’s love affair with the slave-holding past was no youthful affectation. Writes Lizza: Images of Allen are like a Civil War version of Where’s Waldo, with the Confederate flag […]

THE BEST COVER EVER. Via Atrios, I see HuffPo contributor Philip Weiss has some concerns about Kenneth Pollack‘s new book, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America: I just got a copy of Ken Pollack’s latest book on Iran, The Persian Puzzle, and was shocked on flipping to page 429, the Author’s Note […]