At a time when his party increasingly preferred military might over soft power, the Arizona senator still defended the work of diplomats.
Vietnam War
Posted inPolitical Animal
Did Vietnam Send Us Their Best?
When our country was faced with a flood of refugees from Vietnam, the Senate voted unanimously to accept them. That would never happen today.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Don’t Let David Buckel’s Death Be in Vain
As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures—and when it comes to the climate crisis, we are indeed living in desperate times. It’s hard to overstate the passion and principle of pioneering attorney David Buckel, who died one week ago today at the age of 60. He did not pass away from a dreadful […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
March Madness: Right-Wing Media Will Take Aim at Youth Opposed to Gun Violence
They can’t help themselves. If you’ve ever doubted the fundamental foolishness and ghoulishness of the American right, just watch—if you can bear it—the right’s reaction to today’s March for Our Lives. If you think the rhetorical assaults on anti-gun-violence American youth in the days leading up to this march were bad, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive famously […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Above the Rim: Charles Barkley Dunks on Fox News
About 25 years ago, Charles Barkley starred in an iconic commercial in which he declared that he should not be regarded as a role model. With his on-point recent remarks about Fox News hack Laura Ingraham’s rhetorical assault on LeBron James, perhaps we should in fact regard Barkley as a role model: In today’s charged […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
On the Moral Necessity of Impeaching Trump: Part I
Frederick Douglass said it best: This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The Grammys and Oscars Should Take It to Trump
Days after the start of the Iraq War, Michael Moore demonstrated uncommon valor by calling out the Bush administration’s obvious lies in front of an international audience: Moore’s resolve should serve as an inspiration to those who will perform and be honored tonight at the Grammy Awards, as well as those whose achievements will be […]
Posted inBooks, January/February/March 2018, Magazine, Main
The Still-Ugly American
Could a legendary Cold War spy’s “hearts and minds” strategy, which failed in Vietnam, have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan? It’s a tough sell.
Posted inPolitical Animal
An Optimist Struggles in the Era of Trump
What we are living through today is not so much an aberration as it is part of the American fabric.
Posted inPolitical Animal
Seemingly Insignificant Decisions Affect the Course of History
How will Trump’s openings (or closings) impact our future? The Vietnam War offers a clue.
