or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
November 27, 2006
The More Things Don't Change, The More They Stay Exactly The Same
This is from a 1968 NY Review of Books article by I.F. Stone:
...the Democratic party for the first time in its history did indeed campaign against McKinley in 1900 on an anti-imperialist platform, but they were "at a disadvantage," as Robert Beisner's study of the anti-imperialist movement shows, "because they had bellowed for war in 1898 as loudly as anyone." William Jennings Bryan, the party's foremost anti-imperialist leader, "first volunteered to fight in Cuba, then declared himself an opponent of expansion, and finally urged Senate approval of the peace treaty" by which we annexed the Philippines and set out on the course we are still pursuing...
Posted at November 27, 2006 12:30 PM | TrackBack
where do you get this stuff?? you reader you....
you're making it up, really....
Posted by: osama -- err -- sam at November 27, 2006 12:51 PMyou reader you....
Well, my middle name actually is Reed.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at November 27, 2006 12:54 PMI always knew it was those damned Cubans that made us do it.
Posted by: Jesus B. Ochoa at November 27, 2006 02:43 PMDid you ever end up reading Overthrow? I accidentally gave away my copy right in the middle of it.
Posted by: Saheli at November 27, 2006 03:53 PM...the Democratic party for the first time in its history did indeed campaign against McKinley in 1900 on an anti-imperialist platform...
Something's wrong with Stone's sentence structure. Of course they campaigned for the first time in history in 1900 because 1900 had not occurred before.
Perhaps:
...the Democratic party did indeed campaign against McKinley in 1900 on an anti-imperialist platform, the first time in its history it had tried such a platform...
Not sure how to fix it, but think I would have separated the who and when from the how by using separate sentences.
Posted by: SPIIDERWEBâ„¢ at November 27, 2006 06:47 PMSupposedly, McKinley had a pet parrot named "Washington Post" on his shoulder at the fair when he was shot in 1901.
Posted by: Henry at November 27, 2006 07:39 PMStone did okay, Spiiderweb. The "its" makes it clear. I would have used a couple of commas, myself, but I like commas.
...the Democratic party, for the first time in its history, did indeed campaign against McKinley in 1900 on an anti-imperialist platform...
Posted by: J. Alva Scruggs at November 27, 2006 09:06 PMJ. Alva Scruggs, you're right. I missed that. I also would have used a couple commas because I tend to use more than necessary.
Commas, are the best thing, ever.
Posted by: Dayv at November 28, 2006 10:43 AMPunctuation can make a great deal of difference.
And also, to turn to a tangentially related topic: time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
Posted by: mistah charley at November 28, 2006 11:55 AMAnd the US military finally left Subic Bay Navy base and Clark AFB in 1992.
Posted by: Lloyd at November 28, 2006 12:36 PMIf it wasn’t for that bit of imperialism, you wouldn’t have anywhere to send honored guests for all expense paid Caribbean vacations with complimentary orange swimsuits.
Posted by: Cous Cous at November 28, 2006 02:56 PM
