From our UK edition
Jim Hacker, immortalised forever in the classic BBC comedies Yes, Minister and Yes Prime Minister prepares to deliver a Prime Ministerial televised address to the nation. But what, if anything, should he say? And how should he say it? Plus, reflections on media management, clothing, make-up and much much more in this classic clip. Verily, the more the times change, the more they remain the same...
From our UK edition
Say what one may about the Blair-Brown years but I'm not sure even they would be mad brazen enough to try something like this: The Federal Emergency Management Agency's No. 2 official apologized yesterday for leading a staged news conference Tuesday in which FEMA employees posed as reporters while real reporters listened on a telephone conference line and were barred from asking questions. "We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straight forward and transparent," Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson Jr., FEMA's deputy administrator, said in a four-paragraph statement.
From our UK edition
Matt Yglesias sees Fred Thompson jump into a tie with Rudy Giuliani, despite having next to nothing to offer the country beyond shop-soiled platitudes and observes: All-in-all I continue to find it surprising that the press seems more interested in the Democratic primary (and I've heard conservatives complain about this, so I'm not making a partisan complaint), which seems frozen in a locked pattern, than in the much more fluid and objectively interesting GOP race. But there's a simple reason for this: the press assumes that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will also be the next President.
From our UK edition
On, the other hand TNR's John Judis wins the prize for being the first (I think) to speculate upon the likelihood of us all actually being able to enjoy the delicious pleasure of a brokered convention: With former Senator Fred Thompson's entry into the presidential race, the Republicans now have at least three candidates who could have the money and votes to compete, if necessary, all the way to June 2008. And they might have to do so. Indeed, when the Republicans meet in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September 2008 to choose their nominee, they might be looking at a brokered convention. Of course, the party has had multiple strong candidates before--in 1980, for instance, and 1988 and even in 2000. But the old schedule of primaries and caucuses was designed to winnow down the field.