World News Center

Giuliani's Warped Reflection

July 31, 2010

It turns out that all that Capitol Hill huffing and puffing for three weeks about how our mighty intelligence agencies should share information was irrelevant. They have no information to share, whether it's about Iran, Iraq -- or Bernie Kerik.

Diana, Still Full Of Surprises

July 31, 2010

Every time Princess Diana's ghost returns for another haunting, as it did this week on NBC's "Dateline," our perceptions of her change. The only thing that stays the same is the revolving cast of clapped-out courtiers, posh lowlifes and fleabag turncoats who continue to cash in on her memory.

Those Post-Election, Pitiful Yankees, Big Apple Blues

July 31, 2010

New Yorkers are feeling a severe case of heat withdrawal. They were used to being the red-hot center of American news and opinion. Suddenly they're flyover country, relics from a dying tribe, seedy and unloved. They are as forlorn as those fiery partisan books that once pulsed with an angry beat on the bestseller list and now linger on the remainder tables in Barnes & Noble.

Requiem In Blue

July 31, 2010

In the next four years Democrats will look back on the heady afternoon of Nov. 2, 2004, with the kind of nostalgia they used to reserve for their honeymoons. It was a buoyant, sunny afternoon of the new Kerry administration and it felt as light and airy as it must for the women of Afghanistan when they first throw off their burqas.

Catching Election Fever, Be It Fahrenheit or Celsius

July 31, 2010

People tell each other they can't wait for the election to be over, but in the last days the suspense has become its own addiction. The big finish will be bigger than the last episode of "Friends," bigger than the finale of "The Apprentice," bigger than Mr. Big's reunion with Carrie.

An Election Process Deflated by Airheads

July 31, 2010

In the end this election is probably not going to turn on something important. The October surprise, the grand, explosive news finish everyone talks about, is less likely to close the deal than some dopey, misappropriated sound bite that cuts through to the undecided airheads. The Mary Cheney flap brought this home with a vengeance, as the latest Wall Street Journal poll showed with Kerry slipping in four battleground states after the third debate. The one thing a candidate can't do when looking for sly new ways to put the boot in is behave out of character. Never in a million years would the elegant, stentorian John Kerry lean across the dinner table and say, "So, Dick -- how's that LESBIAN daughter of yours?" -- let alone do the equivalent in front of 50 million people.

Slouching Toward Washington

July 31, 2010

Election tension is worse in New York now that John Kerry seems to have a chance of winning. It was almost easier when his was a sort of Children's Crusade with no one actually believing he would make it to Jerusalem.

In His Seat of Power, Cheney Stands His Ground

July 31, 2010

It was the giant armadillo vs. the baby cougar. The split screen wreaked its havoc on the Cheney-Edwards debate Tuesday night. If you'd been listening on the radio John Edwards would have won by a pencil, but in a 90-minute two-shot the gravitas gap was a problem for him.

Waiting for Kerry's Big Finish to Start

July 31, 2010

On the eve of the debates people are so on edge in New York that every gathering has become like a visit to the dentist. In this town of Democrats, Karl Rove's real or imagined brilliance has got people dangerously psyched out. Someone in a group always produces some new vulnerability of Kerry's to drill down on, some fresh tactical error to palpitate about.