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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...front-page story in the New York Times last week pointed out that candidates opposing Bush seem intent on implying that he doesn't have wattage sufficient for the job. This is difficult to combat gracefully. By joking about his own temper, John McCain not only helped defuse the issue but also picked up some points for being self-deprecating. In the early Clinton years, Gore managed to seem less like a piece of chain-saw sculpture for a while by going on talk shows to make fun of his own woodenness. But if you're running for President, making...
...least it has seemed so until now. One of the New Republic pieces, by Jonathan Chait, argued that, partly because voters seem to be in a mood to prize personal authenticity over ideas, candidates see some advantage in presenting themselves as, if not flat-out stupid, at least aggressively nonintellectual. It's true that when Bush first got into the race he joked a bit about his academic shortcomings in college, and when his Yale transcript was printed in the New Yorker, the impact on his campaign seemed so negligible that I was moved to write a couplet that went...
DIED. NICCOLO TUCCI, 91, writer of witty and sardonic novels (Before My Time, Unfinished Funeral) and short stories, many with an autobiographical cast and a household of colorful characters; in New York City. Sample advice to novices: "First learn to write as if you were already dead, and then you will discover that you can write as if you were still alive...
...Windows machine with a Pentium II 233-MHz or faster processor) and an external hub that takes analog video from myriad sources (VCR, cable TV, camcorder) and puts it on your computer screen. The accompanying software, called Avid Cinema, provides the easy-step editing tools. The quality of the new video you create is only as good as the original source, however, so you won't be able to touch up that grainy Christmas '87 segment...
...TATTLETALE? Although the U.S. crime rate is declining, a new Justice Department study offers some major caveats: many crimes are never reported to any authority, and violent crimes against juveniles are reported less often than those against adults (44% vs. 55%). Sexual assaults and thefts are reported about as often for both groups. But in those three categories of crime, no more than 3 out of 10 offenses against juveniles get reported to police. Parents can help by encouraging kids to talk about any crime against them...