The New Republic

The New Republic

Why Chris Christie isn’t going to be the VP. Romney is not going to pick Chris Christie to be his running-mate. How do I know? He told me.  Ha! Just kidding. Got you for a second there, didn’t I, Andrea Mitchell? You should have seen the look on your face! No, I can tell you that Romney is not going to pick Christie because the New Jersey governor does things like host an Iftar dinner for New Jersey Muslims and then use the occasion to call out fellow Republicans for being “bigots” against Muslims. “I’ll tell you,” said Christie, “there is a gaze of intolerance that is going around our country that is disturbing to me.”  Amy Sullivan — “Romney Meets with the Islamaphobes”
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Why Chris Christie isn’t going to be the VP.

Romney is not going to pick Chris Christie to be his running-mate. How do I know? He told me. 

Ha! Just kidding. Got you for a second there, didn’t I, Andrea Mitchell? You should have seen the look on your face!

No, I can tell you that Romney is not going to pick Christie because the New Jersey governor does things like host an Iftar dinner for New Jersey Muslims and then use the occasion to call out fellow Republicans for being “bigots” against Muslims. “I’ll tell you,” said Christie, “there is a gaze of intolerance that is going around our country that is disturbing to me.” 

Amy Sullivan — “Romney Meets with the Islamaphobes”

Was the New York Times unfair to John McCain? I’m not usually in the habit of defending Republicans. But when Sen. John McCain, R.-AZ, takes to the Senate floor to denounce as “ugly and unfortunate” personal attacks made on a Democratic State department aide by his fellow Republicans—one of them (Michele Bachmann) a recent presidential candidate—I don’t see how the New York Times can justify, a mere ten days later, slapping onto Page One the headline, “Once A Rebel, McCain Now Walks The Party Line.” The story itself, by Jennifer Steinhauer, reads like it once matched the headline, but underwent radical surgery after McCain’s gutsy floor speech. Now it is merely incoherent. It posits three McCains. Once he was a maverick. (Correct.) Then he tacked far to the right to win re-election in 2010. (Correct.) Now he is a “partisan warrior and party stalwart.” Huh?  Sensing that this narrative doesn’t really work, Steinhauer changes it after the jump. After his defeat in the 2008 presidential election, McCain spent three years sulking, much as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., did after his 2004 presidential defeat. “It took me three years of feeling sorry for myself,” McCain is quoted saying to a group of reporters. Now he has re-emerged as “a polestar on nearly every major issue consuming the Senate.” If you say so. Exhibit A is McCain, “in all of his McCain-ness,” deriding Bachmann and Co. So … he is a maverick again? Actually, he doesn’t know what he is! Here I begin to picture Times editors as emergency room doctors, jumping onto this story and pounding on its chest in an attempt to bring its point—any point—to life. Timothy Noah — “Defending McCain”
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Was the New York Times unfair to John McCain?

I’m not usually in the habit of defending Republicans. But when Sen. John McCain, R.-AZ, takes to the Senate floor to denounce as “ugly and unfortunate” personal attacks made on a Democratic State department aide by his fellow Republicans—one of them (Michele Bachmann) a recent presidential candidate—I don’t see how the New York Times can justify, a mere ten days later, slapping onto Page One the headline, “Once A Rebel, McCain Now Walks The Party Line.” The story itself, by Jennifer Steinhauer, reads like it once matched the headline, but underwent radical surgery after McCain’s gutsy floor speech. Now it is merely incoherent. It posits three McCains. Once he was a maverick. (Correct.) Then he tacked far to the right to win re-election in 2010. (Correct.) Now he is a “partisan warrior and party stalwart.” Huh? 

Sensing that this narrative doesn’t really work, Steinhauer changes it after the jump. After his defeat in the 2008 presidential election, McCain spent three years sulking, much as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., did after his 2004 presidential defeat. “It took me three years of feeling sorry for myself,” McCain is quoted saying to a group of reporters. Now he has re-emerged as “a polestar on nearly every major issue consuming the Senate.” If you say so. Exhibit A is McCain, “in all of his McCain-ness,” deriding Bachmann and Co. So … he is a maverick again? Actually, he doesn’t know what he is! Here I begin to picture Times editors as emergency room doctors, jumping onto this story and pounding on its chest in an attempt to bring its point—any point—to life.

Timothy Noah — “Defending McCain”

Are Egyptians angry at Hillary Clinton because of Michele Bachmann? Much has been written about the role of the internet and social media in the Arab Spring last year, particularly in Egypt, where protestors organized and communicated on Facebook and Twitter. But while global connectivity can help protestors overthrow dictators and tell the world their story, it also gives everyone access to the less-inspiring corners of the web. That was on display this past week during Hillary Clinton’s visit to meet with leaders in Egypt. You may have read about the protests that greeted the Secretary of State in Alexandria. Egyptian Christians and secularists are concerned about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and they oppose the newly-elected president Mohamed Morsi. Protestors outside the U.S. consulate threw tomatoes and shoes at Clinton’s motorcade, jeered her with shouts of “Monica, Monica!” and waved signs with messages like: “Stop U.S. funding of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “Clinton is the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Amy Sullivan — “The Global Reach of Conservative Conspiracy Theories”
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Are Egyptians angry at Hillary Clinton because of Michele Bachmann?

Much has been written about the role of the internet and social media in the Arab Spring last year, particularly in Egypt, where protestors organized and communicated on Facebook and Twitter. But while global connectivity can help protestors overthrow dictators and tell the world their story, it also gives everyone access to the less-inspiring corners of the web. That was on display this past week during Hillary Clinton’s visit to meet with leaders in Egypt.

You may have read about the protests that greeted the Secretary of State in Alexandria. Egyptian Christians and secularists are concerned about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and they oppose the newly-elected president Mohamed Morsi. Protestors outside the U.S. consulate threw tomatoes and shoes at Clinton’s motorcade, jeered her with shouts of “Monica, Monica!” and waved signs with messages like: “Stop U.S. funding of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “Clinton is the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Amy Sullivan — “The Global Reach of Conservative Conspiracy Theories”

What issue has brought the likes of Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi and Justin Bieber all on the same page? “For some of us at TNR, the most surprising aspect of yesterday’s Great Internet Blackout wasn’t the crushing recognition of just how often we head to Wikipedia—it was noticing the strange political bedfellows forged by SOPA, the House’s Stop Internet Piracy Act, and its Senate analogue PIPA.” Click through to see our full list of Bizarre Political Coalitions Forged by SOPA.
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What issue has brought the likes of Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi and Justin Bieber all on the same page?

“For some of us at TNR, the most surprising aspect of yesterday’s Great Internet Blackout wasn’t the crushing recognition of just how often we head to Wikipedia—it was noticing the strange political bedfellows forged by SOPA, the House’s Stop Internet Piracy Act, and its Senate analogue PIPA.”

Click through to see our full list of Bizarre Political Coalitions Forged by SOPA.

The New Republic’s newest issue is out! TNR’s latest issue features a breathtaking exposé, “The Turnaround Men,” by special correspondent Mariah Blake on a charismatic entrepreneur, an ex-con turned devout Christian, and the politicians who championed them. It’s a spiraling story about power, drugs, sex, lies, money, and faith. And it’s a story in which a number of Minnesota politicians, from Michele Bachmann to Tim Pawlenty to Walter Mondale, play intriguing roles. An excerpt from the piece includes: “As Bachmann was pressing Vennes’s cause, the Ponzi scheme was crumbling. By late 2007, hundreds of millions of dollars of PCI notes were extending beyond their maturity date without being paid. Nevertheless, Petters bought himself a new Bentley and paid his fellow plotters (Coleman, White, and a handful of other functionaries) more than $6 million in bonuses.” Also, check out Timothy Noah on the super committee, Sean Wilentz on the illusion of bipartisanship, Richard Posner on the crisis in the American criminal justice system, Leon Wieseltier on Libya after Qaddafi, and more! Subscribe to TNR Society and get 20 issues/year, access to our archives, and TNR events invitations for only $2.25/issue by clicking here.
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The New Republic’s newest issue is out!

TNR’s latest issue features a breathtaking exposé, “The Turnaround Men,” by special correspondent Mariah Blake on a charismatic entrepreneur, an ex-con turned devout Christian, and the politicians who championed them.

It’s a spiraling story about power, drugs, sex, lies, money, and faith. And it’s a story in which a number of Minnesota politicians, from Michele Bachmann to Tim Pawlenty to Walter Mondale, play intriguing roles.

An excerpt from the piece includes:

“As Bachmann was pressing Vennes’s cause, the Ponzi scheme was crumbling. By late 2007, hundreds of millions of dollars of PCI notes were extending beyond their maturity date without being paid. Nevertheless, Petters bought himself a new Bentley and paid his fellow plotters (Coleman, White, and a handful of other functionaries) more than $6 million in bonuses.”

Also, check out Timothy Noah on the super committee, Sean Wilentz on the illusion of bipartisanship, Richard Posner on the crisis in the American criminal justice system, Leon Wieseltier on Libya after Qaddafi, and more!

Subscribe to TNR Society and get 20 issues/year, access to our archives, and TNR events invitations for only $2.25/issue by clicking here.