Is there a possible causal relationship between an increasing occurrence of violent political rhetoric in broadly available media channels and the occurrence of violent political behavior? Spotlight from Glenn Beck brings CUNY professor Frances Fox Piven threats on her life (and more). That’s political entertainment: With the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as pundits, James Wolcott writes, rational debate is really beside the point. David Weigel on how liberals are rethinking the constant Palin coverage (and more). Return of the Republicans: Why they’re unlike any political party America has ever seen. Obama and his critics: There is a perilous course being proposed by “progressives” that, if successful, will contribute to a Republican government — both houses of Congress and the White House — in 2012. Obama and the media: An excerpt from Kabuki Democracy: The System vs. Barack Obama by Eric Alterman. The President's Movie: Like most liberals, Obama resists entering the darkened theater that Reagan mastered. The unbearable heaviness of governing: At midterm, the Obama age has become something no one expected — an ordinary presidency. Perhaps what the US government needs is an adviser that for hundreds, even thousands of years kept European and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese rulers from making terrible mistakes: a court jester — don’t laugh. A review of Playing the Fool: Subversive Laugher in Troubled Times by Ralph Lerner.
