New Republic, Nov. 30

(posted Friday, Nov. 13, 1998)

The cover story claims that probable House speaker apparent Bob Livingston will face the same bickering and upheaval that Newt Gingrich did. Why? 1) The GOP coalition is still wildly divided ideologically; 2) rules that impose term limits on the speaker and committee chairs mean members are always jockeying for their next powerful position; and 3) the self-imposed term limits of many Republican members encourage them to eschew working within the system in favor of making trouble.

New York Times Magazine, Nov. 15

(posted Friday, Nov. 13, 1998)

A special issue about status. (It follows special issues about money and business travel: We get the idea, already.) An essay distinguishes between class and status: Class is Old World, assigned and never changing. Status is American, attained and fought for. Accompanying short pieces reveal status symbols for various cliques. For retirement-villagers, a valid driver's license; for vegetarians, eating only raw foods; for Las Vegas gamblers, winning so much that you're banned from the casino; for gay men, an adopted baby; for Catholic priests, fancy cuff links, their only outlet for vanity.

Time and Newsweek, Nov. 16

(posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998)

Newt Gingrich is on both covers, post-mortems on his resignation and the elections are inside. The newsweeklies agree that the speaker's ego did him in. Time salutes Hillary Clinton's soldierly campaigning: She swung voters, women especially, in almost all the races she worked on. One reason why: As a wronged wife, Hillary is unassailable by the media or the GOP. Newsweek gets the best quote from Jesse "The Mind" Ventura, Minnesota's governor-elect: "In June I was at the University of Minnesota, and all these kids said, 'We're voting for you.' And so I asked them, 'Why are you voting for me?' And the leader of the kids said, ' 'Cause you're cool.' And I thought, 'Well, good enough. I'll take that.' I am cool. ... Mentally, I'm still 21 or 22 in a lot of ways."

In Newsweek, George Stephanopoulos outlines keys to an Al Gore presidential campaign: 1) He must express a clear agenda, not just be "Clinton without the personal baggage." 2) He must parry opponents' attacks better. 3) He needs to get lucky the way Clinton did in 1992.

Time notices the meteoric rise of the Onion, once a small University of Wisconsin humor 'zine, now a force on the Web. Its secret is deadpan parodies of news stories ("Report: Drug Use Down Among Uncool Kids"). Books and TV specials are on the way.

U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 16

(posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998)

The lead article leaps onto the Texas Gov. George W. Bush bandwagon. Bush, who gets high marks for his positivism and inclusiveness, may succeed in the 2000 presidential race, because he can steer clear of the flailing Republicans in Washington. Obstacle: He may not have the guts to withstand a "meat-grinder" campaign. ... A story asks if Russia is the new Weimar. Parallels abound, from tottering President Yeltsin (akin to weak pre-Hitler President Hindenburg) to vulturous oligarchs (Weimar tycoons) to the staggering inflation and recession. Two important differences: As yet, no proto-Hitler figure has emerged in Russia, and Weimar didn't have itself as an example to avoid ... An article surveys Asia's economic woes and finds glimmers of hope, from Malaysia's currency stability to the nationalization of South Korea's banks.

The New Yorker, Nov. 16

(posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998)

An essay hates the new "super-Capone" strategy used by prosecutors such as Kenneth Starr. The government nailed Capone for tax evasion instead of murder. Now, zealous prosecutors in search of big game use even pettier crimes to indict friends of the true target, coercing testimony with the threat of legal action. Starr pressured Kathleen Willey's friend Julie Hiatt Steele by questioning the legality of her adoption of a Romanian orphan. "[I]nvestigative techniques that seem perfectly reasonable when they're applied to murderers or Mafia dons may be unreasonable when they're applied to speeders, jaywalkers, or twenty-five-year-old seductresses." ... A story follows a Montana punk band named Sputnik on its shoestring-budget tour of small clubs. Punks face a dilemma: If they stay underground, they can't support themselves and they're miserable; if they get popular, they've sold out and will be both self-loathing and rejected by fans. Sputnik hasn't had to face the latter problem yet.

Weekly Standard, Nov. 16

(posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998)

An essay argues that voters did not reject Republicans because of the way they handled the scandal. In fact, Democrats won because they have seized congressional control of issues such as Social Security, Medicare, and education, despite the fact that GOP governors are winning with those same issues. The GOP's "bedrock strength is its willingness directly to confront troublesome questions of public and private morality. ... Someone must step forward who is capable of making the case for conservative principle as the animating force of a governing Republican party." ... A funny set of dispatches chronicles Election Night at, among other places, the DNC victory party (hastily assembled when it became clear there was something to celebrate), the RNC "victory" party (still termed so despite being less than victorious), the AFL-CIO headquarters (where they wouldn't watch ABC news because of a labor dispute), and a bar in Marietta, Ga. filled with glum conservatives.

The Nation, Nov. 23

(posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998)

The cover package assesses the future of progressive politics. A postelection editorial on ballot measures asserts that progressives won big on campaign finance reform (in Massachusetts and Arizona), but lost on cultural issues (gay marriage bans in Hawaii and Alaska). (For Slate's take on this theory, see "The Triumph of ... Liberalism?") ... An article cheers the ascendance of "living wage" movements in local politics. The author argues that these movements, which aim to bring higher wages and more benefits to workers, are beneficial even if they force some companies out of the cities that support them.

Economist, Nov. 7

(posted Saturday, Nov. 7, 1998)

The cover editorial marvels that President Clinton has been shown to be "a liar and a philanderer" yet "still he comes back laughing." But Republicans should pursue impeachment, regardless of the election results: "If they believed that they had grounds for an inquiry, it should be a thorough one, for this election has no effect on those grounds." ... An essay says our two-party system is dissolving, especially at the state level. Republicans and Democrats look more and more like each other. GOP governors such as George W. Bush and Tommy Thompson are the leading edge of this movement. State voters don't care about parties: They just want politicians who get the job done. ... The Economist, marking its "Science and Technology" section's 20^th anniversary, offers a challenging science quiz. Question No. 2: "What is unusual about the sheep on the Scottish island of Foula? a) They eat sea birds. b) They eat seaweed. c) They eat each other." If you are going take the quiz, stop reading now. The answer is a).

--Seth Stevenson