In the March 26th New Yorker, Ian Parker profiles Armando Ianucci, the creator of Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus's new show on HBO. Ianucci is the genius (some might say monster) behind Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge character on the BBC. But he's best known here for the Brit TV series The Thick of It and its movie adaptation In the Loop, which was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Indeed, his acrobatic profanity—in screenwriting, though not in person—is legendary and hilarious. Given that I'm a fan of Ianucci's work, I liked the article.
Now that we have the first gay president, what does that make the vice president? His bitch?
In a word, yes, but not a terribly obedient one. By declaring his support for same-sex marriage last week on Meet the Press, Joltin’ Joe Biden tipped the president’s hand and forced him to move up his timetable.
The Only Thing Mitt Romney and I Have in Common
Hint: It has to do with scissors and hair and humiliation.
Such a strange feeling came over me last week when I read about Mitt Romney’s high-school escapade—you know, the one where he and his buddies at their fancy prep school ganged up on the new kid, held him down, and forcibly cut his hair? “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” one of Mitt’s old mates recalls him saying about the new kid, whose hair was bleached blond, a few days before he and his posse hunted him down and tackled him. As the friend describes it, the victim cried and screamed for help as Mitt “repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.”
Mitt Romney Is Still a Big Bully
Forget his high school antics: Romney picks on the weak and panders to the powerful. America, get ready for four years of noogies.
Mitt Romney was a high school bully? Big deal. Don’t get me wrong: I hate bullies. But I also know that there are very few of us who make it through our teen years without being huge jerks at some point—and I guess I’d rather my next job interview didn’t hinge on that time I called a classmate a nasty name. The eternal shame is punishment enough, thanks.
So the problem isn’t that Mitt was a bully. The problem is that he is a bully.
I know that Mother’s Day has become a manufactured holiday, but I would be pretty hurt if my family ignored it, i.e., me. As with all other holidays, families have very different ideas of how to spend the day, with brunch seemingly the most popular time to get together, but then again, that could just be my perception due to the preponderance of Mother’s Day brunch advertising.
President Obama’s Lame Coming-Out
The president says gay marriage should be left up to states. Which means he still doesn’t see it as a fundamental right.
President Obama has come out in favor of gay marriage. Great. Two questions: So what? And now what?
Is the president going to send a bill to Congress repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition of gay marriages performed even in states where it’s legal? When the lawsuit against California’s Proposition 8 reaches the Supreme Court, will his administration file a brief arguing that marriage—for everybody—is a Constitutional right that states cannot prohibit?
Or is this it?
