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On Hardball

By Julia Turner
Updated Friday, Oct. 3, 2003, at 4:49 PM ET

New Republic, Oct. 13 and 20
Franklin Foer uses the career of Washington lobbyist C. Boyden Gray to illustrate the plight of old-school Washington Republicans—typically patrician and moderate—faced with contemporary Republican politics—thoroughly partisan, à la Karl Rove. Foer contends that GOP moderates now have a tough choice: Pick up the requisite knife skills, or get out of politics altogether. Gray chose the former option. He now chairs the Committee for Justice, which runs ads supporting controversial conservative judicial nominees.* … Also, it's the fall books issue. Jonathan Lethem comes in for qualified praise: Of The Fortress of Solitude, Lethem's new novel, James Wood writes: "Big books with big virtues and big flaws are preferable to little books with little virtues and big flaws." (Join Slate's "Book Club" discussion of the novel, beginning Oct. 6.)

Economist, Oct. 3
The magazine casts a wary eye over the small deceptions bubbling up in Washington—David Kay finds no WMD in Iraq, White House officials leak Valerie Plame's name to the press, the administration backs off the Saddam/al-Qaida link—and warns the president to look sharp. "Mr Bush will be well aware of what has befallen his closest ally across the Atlantic. Britain's Hutton inquiry began simply by investigating the suicide of a senior weapons scientist (after he allegedly told a journalist the government had knowingly exaggerated in a dossier that it used to make the case for war), but it has waded further into the excruciating who-said-what-when details of Britain's case for war. Prime Minister Tony Blair's ratings have plunged in the process." Bush's have already dropped, and to avoid a further nose dive, the president "will want to avoid a grilling by an increasingly restive Congress that could further dismay voters."

New York Times Magazine, Oct. 5
New York—with its recent blackouts and economic recession—has entered "the Neo-'70s," according to the magazine's cover. … Nostalgia-laced pieces inside pay homage to the "grittier," artist-friendly New York of the original era and herald an art-world resurgence. … Gary Shteyngart forwards the dubious notion that not much of interest happened once the city went plummy under Giuliani in the '90s. … One piece notes the increasing number of "melting-pot tracts" in New York; these are neighborhoods in which no one ethnic group dominates. There were 64 in 1990, and 84 in 2000. No word on why. … Also, more candid photographs of disheveled celebrities at long-ago parties you didn't attend. These were taken by Marcia Resnick in the '70s. (In one, Debbie Harry has stuck crudités up her nose.)

The New Yorker

The New Yorker, Oct. 6
Jonathan Franzen profiles Dennis Hastert. The varied lore about the understated speaker of the House suggests he is "an irrelevant, indispensable, modern, old-fashioned, moderate, archconservative nobody somebody." Franzen's portrait is more coherent: He paints Hastert as a powerful man whose style seems almost antiquated—has humble roots, values hard work, sees politics as service—but whose effectiveness is untrammeled. … Also, it's the fall books issue. Gabriel García Márquez describes how, as a law student, he had his very first story published. "My first reaction was the devastating realization that I did not have the five centavos to buy the paper." He bummed a copy off a guy getting out of a cab. … And Louis Menand, writing on the nettlesome nature of creating footnotes, observes with amusing, palpable frustration that computers don't help: "It is time to speak some truth to power in this country: Microsoft Word is a terrible program."

Weekly Standard

Weekly Standard, Oct. 6
David Gelernter thinks President Bush should take the moral high ground, already. "With the discovery of those torture cells and mass graves [in Iraq], the moral question was closed forever: We were right to fight. Europe should be reeling, backpedaling, apologizing. 'We told you so!' is our line." (Windy italics Gelernter's.) He argues that the president should fend off antiwar opponents by speaking "the language of justice and mercy, duty and honor."

Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report

Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 6
Certain sartorial choices—like, say, the stirrup pant—may seem astute in the heat of the moment but induce cringes later on. Time's cover suggests that President Bush's decision to don a flight suit in May could prove similarly misguided: The magazine fronts a photo of Bush in triumphal swagger-wear with the (obvious, but damning) cover line, "Mission Not Accomplished." Michael Elliott's piece inside examines how the administration came to bungle the war. On WMD: "Western intelligence" intercepts suggested that Saddam himself believed he still had some, so some administration officials were genuinely surprised not to find any. Both Time's piece and a similar evaluation in Newsweek contend that Condoleezza Rice failed to effectively resolve quarrels between Defense and State. 

On the demise of Friends: Newsweek's "exclusive" on the popular sitcom's last season—with a photo of the well-coiffed cast on the cover—purports to explain "Why the future of TV sitcoms isn't pretty." Sure enough, the piece inside includes a few stats about how there are fewer sitcoms now than there were in the early '90s and some nasty quotes from rival TV execs wondering why NBC hasn't drummed up a replacement. But for the most part, the story gazes dreamily at the long-running show, sighing over its consistent wit and offering at least one spoiler for impatient fans.

On America's far-flung soldiers: They'll soon be farther flung, according to U.S. News. As the U.S. military figures out how best to combat terrorism, they're repositioning troops around the globe, moving them from relatively luxe bases to spare outposts.

On "mouth feel": This, apparently, is what food scientists talk about when they talk about texture. A Time reporter visits test kitchens and reveals several notable tidbits, including the concept of squid-flavored Pringles (in the works for Asia).

Correction, Oct. 3, 2003: The New Republic item originally stated that C. Boyden Gray chose the latter option. In fact, he chose the former. (Return to the corrected item.)

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Julia Turner is Slate's deputy editor. You can e-mail her at .
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