My latest article on the Daily Beast

Republicans are in a tizzy over the upcoming Bush book. Since the Obama world is eager to convince people that Bush is still president -- and thus to blame for the current mess we're in -- the book could well play into their hands. My take on the situation.

"Bill Kristol Must Resign"

Ann Coulter's take here.

Bill Clinton defends Klan Membership

This guy can spin anything.

The Rabbit Attack

Due to popular demand -- the literally ones and ones of people who view this site regularly -- I've been asked to delve a little deeper into Jimmy Carter's infamous bout with a killer rabbit back in the 1970s. I have now found photographic evidence of the attack. This is one of the few surviving photos of the scene. Look carefully and you can clearly see another rabbit in the grassy knoll.

Whatchu talkin' bout, Siena College?

Here is their kooky list of the best and worst presidents.

First of all, look at some of the criteria? "Integrity"? (Not to beat a dead horse, but Jimmy Carter has more integrity than FDR and Jefferson? Says who?) "Imagination"? How many presidents claimed that a rabbit swam out to his boat and tried to kill him (hint: see below). Does that make Carter number 1? Why not a category of "plays well with others" or better yet -- "presidents most acceptable to the other liberal professors I hang out with."

Some Facts about History's Greatest Monster

In light of a new Siena College poll that keeps Jimmy Carter out of the bottom five presidents -- and just as oddly puts FDR and TR ahead of Washington and Lincoln -- it's worth remembering just how bad Carter was (as was once attested to by both the left and right). A sampling:

1. He claimed he was attacked by a killer rabbit.

2. His brother, Billy, had his own brand of beer.
3. He claimed he committed adultery in his heart many times.
4. He said we should live our lives as if Christ were coming this afternoon and then called Ronald Reagan a racist and a war monger.
5. He never used the word "malaise" in his famous "Malaise speech" in which he seemed to blame America for his unpopularity as president.
6. He is less crazy than Dan Rather.
7. He wrote a book attacking Israel and equated the Israeli government with South Africa's apartheid policy, for which he was forced to apologize.
8. At a Democratic party tribute to former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Carter mispronounced his name on camera as "Hubert Horatio Hornblower, er, Humphrey."
9. I have stolen the line to describe him as "History's Greatest Monster" from an episode of the Simpsons.
10. Carter said "human rights" was the soul of America's foreign policy, and then praised the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the PLO.
11. He publicly criticized American troops at Guantanamo Bay, suggesting their actions contributed to international terrorism.
12. He writes poetry. One verse: "My young life, shaped by those I loved, felt the gentle touch of Rachel Clark."
13. In a debate with Ronald Reagan, he said the following: "I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was ..."
14. He claims to have seen a UFO. ("It was the darndest thing I've ever seen. It was big, it was very bright, it changed colors, and it was about the size of the moon.")
15. During the Bush administration, he met with the terrorist group Hamas, circumventing American foreign policy.
16. Carter reportedly lobbied other members of the UN Security Council to undermine the American position during the run-up to the Iraq War.
17. He once claimed to be "ashamed" to be an American.
18. Called a sitting president, George W. Bush, the worst president ever to an overseas audience.
19. Reagan in 1980: "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."
20. Christopher Hitchens: "In the Carter years, the United States was an international laughingstock."
21. Carter went on the BBC to call retiring British Prime Minister Tony Blair "loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
22. Time magazine labeled Carter's reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 "shockingly naive."
23. Sen. Eugene McCarthy, a liberal antiwar Democrat, voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980. "Mr. Carter," he said, "quite simply abdicated the whole responsibility of the presidency while in office. He left the nation at the mercy of its enemies at home and abroad. He was the worst president we ever had."

Sex and the City 2 -- Yes, I had to see it, so you suffer too

I depart from my many deep thoughts about politics to share with you one of the more interesting movie experiences I have had in a while.

I had nothing else to do and my friend really wanted someone to come with her, so I agreed to see Sex and the City 2. I had never seen the first movie, or a single episode of the television show for that matter, but my friend assured me I didn't need to know any of that to see the movie. This turned out to be true. A few seconds with each of these characters and I had their whole life stories in my head. We aren't dealing with Edison or Franklin here.

The plot, such that it was, centers on these four petty, extremely wealthy, self-involved, over plastic-surgeried women and the stupid louts (all men are louts, of course) who don't appreciate them. (And before anyone castigates me as someone who hates all chick movies, let me say that your humble reviewer actually loved -- yes, loved -- Mamma Mia. I admit it.)

The first woman is an obvious sexual addict who views all men as one-night conquests and who is trying to pretend like she is 25 years old, fooling absolutely no one but herself. Her whole life is a meaningless mess.

The second woman does not like being with her kids. She feels so overwhelmed constantly putting their needs ahead of her own. You get the sense her children -- adorable adopted Korean girls -- are meant to be quiet adornments. She has a very hard parenting life -- a doting husband, a full-time nanny, a huge house, and the money to buy practically anything. "How do single moms do it?" she grumps at one point to another mother who doesn't want to be around her kid. My guess is much better than these women do.

The third woman decides that she is not moving ahead in her career because her boss can't stand a strong woman. That's possible, if cliche. But it's also possible that her boss cannot stand a know-it-all, abrasive loud mouth who has an opinion on practically everything. Anyway, it's the man's fault of course that she isn't heard. She soon quits her job to go somewhere where she's better appreciated (meaning, apparently, where she can run everyone's life and be the office star.) I detest this one the most.

The fourth woman is the big star of the show -- Carrie something or other. My first impression of her -- what a strange-looking person. I know we're not supposed to talk about looks here -- that's just like me, a typical loutish man -- but there is something unnatural about her appearance. At one point she dresses for a wedding and looks eerily similar to Satan. She gives me the creeps.

Well, this Carrie is in a terrible situation. She lives in a perfectly furnished house, can afford a separate apartment all her own in Manhattan, goes out to expensive dinners every night, but her husband after a long day of work has the nerve to want to sit on the couch and spend time with her alone. He does not want to relive his 20s, going from one bar to another, one party to another, just so everyone can see her clownish, far too tight, far too young, and mostly ridiculous outfits. He is a grown up. She just wants to party all the time. Then when he does go out to a party with her and has a good time, she's even more miserable because of course he hasn't given her his full attention.

Poor Carrie. She needs a break. So she insists on staying at her old place for two blissful days and nights. When he suggest the same, this is a crisis. It's fine for her to do this, but how could he want to spend a moment without her? This is her metaphysical crisis, leading her to hook up with an ex-boyfriend she runs into in the UAE. It must be fate, of course. Thus cheating is okay. Oh, and she continues to dress like a clown throughout the movie.

All this Carrie person needs, of course, is a talking mirror and she's Snow White's stepmother.

I'm fascinated by these characters. There clearly is no bottom to their shallowness, and they revel in it. Though they are of course all super liberals, they seem to advocate no causes, release huge carbon footprints, and waste their money on frivolous self-indulgences while judging everyone else. What a surprise.

I've gone this long and I haven't even mentioned the gay wedding. This in fact is how the movie starts. Carrie is apparently the "best man" at this wedding -- for reasons never explained. I have no doubt that the director and writers of this film are 100 percent pro-gay marriage and pro-gay activists. Presumably they think this movie expresses support for the gay movement. It doesn't. In fact it exhibits every single gay stereotype known to man. Gays all sing show tunes, cheat on each other, wear over the top outfits, accentuate fashion and style over substance and emotion, are effeminate, self-involved, and love Liza Minelli (who turns out to be the one officiating the ceremony.) Basically everything anti-gay people think gay weddings are is seconded by this foolish, poorly conceived, embarrasing scene.

Oh, and I haven't mention the Middle East yet. This, too, is another stereotype. Muslims are super wealthy, judgemental, hypocritical, intolerant, bigoted, money-obsessed, sex-obsessed, and superficial. This supposedly is a terrible indictment of the Middle East, except that the Middle East is no different than Carrie and her three sob sisters.

On my Robin Williams scale -- five Robins equalling truly awful -- Sex and the City 2 rates a 4.5 (I deduct half a point since I sort of liked Carrie's husband and feel sorry for him.)