The American Scene

An ongoing review of politics and culture


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November 2009
17: PJTV Does Gitmo {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: Seven Isn't Just a Name on Seinfeld {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Ringside Interview -- Taking Aim at the Judge's Scoring {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Links {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Why I'll Never Be a Singer-Songwriter {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Four Items, A La Carte {30} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: 5 Items, Zero Spin {36} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: A Radical or Marginal Change? {62} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Open Letters, Etc. {31} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Postie Bob Barkered for Bad Journalism {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Presidential Politics {21} by Conor Friedersdorf
October 2009
31: Bemused and Weirdly Uncomfortable {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: Defending One of the Worst Rap Songs in History {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: Journalism, Viral Loops, Etc. {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
27: 4 Items, One Post, I Crave French Toast {26} by Conor Friedersdorf
26: Who Is It That's Selling Out the Base? {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
26: Unlearning Jargon {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
25: Fallen Soldiers {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: Today's Top Story: A Pundit Is Reflective! {53} by Conor Friedersdorf
21: Hospitality with a Purpose {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
21: Quote of the Day {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
21: Cheers! {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: Surveying the Right {32} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: How the Law Works {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Paramilitary Groups, Riots on the Streets of New York City {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Paging Adrian Nicole LeBlanc {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Race Baiting on the Radio -- Updated {23} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: "Taking Responsibility" {66} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: Tempting Neptune {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: 4 Items, One Post {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Quote of the Day {26} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Topics Too Narrow for a Tumblr {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Explainer, Please {37} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: The GOP Speaks {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Responding to Andrew Breitbart {28} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: No Idea What They're Talking About {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: It Was The Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times... {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: The Impact of Summers {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: Paging Alan Jacobs {44} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: The American Scene Advice Column {28} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: The Pro-Torture Right {49} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Must've Been in the Footnotes {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: Attention New Yorkers {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: The Single Time I'll Ever Write About Roman Polanski {66} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: YouTube's Greatest Hits {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: A Blogger's Lament {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
September 2009
30: Why Not Fruit Trees? {23} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Sorry Lawyers... {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: A Subculture That Is Difficult to Understand {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: I'd Hate to See Their Investment Advice {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Fields That Demand Integrity {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: A Pricey Foreign Policy {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: "Glorified PSAs" {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: The Dearth of Elephants in the Room {29} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: Why Not Let the Foreign Exchange Students Go to High School Here? {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: On Letting Your Adversaries Define You {32} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: Don't Bailout Newspapers (Even Though They're Invaluable) {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
27: Miscarriage of Judgement {100} by Conor Friedersdorf
26: Loyalty, Cont'd {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
24: Loyalty to Presidents is Overrated -- Be Loyal to the People, Please {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
24: Is Michael Ledeen Serious? {28} by Conor Friedersdorf
23: Please Grant Andrew Sullivan Citizenship {19} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: The NEA, Cont'd {117} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: The NEA Flirts with Propaganda {89} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: Elsewhere in Nefarious Taxpayer Funded Organizations... {41} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: This Is Starting to Make My Head Hurt {99} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Racism, Anti-Racism, and Faux Anti-Racism {58} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Missing the Point {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: The Daily Show Takes on ACORN {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Why I Have Contempt for Rush Limbaugh {95} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: When Undercover Activism Meets Journalism {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Life in the USA, 1912 {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: When You Value Talking Heads More Than Governing {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: How to Grapple With Conspiracy Theories {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: Well Played {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Quick Thoughts on the 9/12 Protests {19} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Credit Where It's Due: Andrew Breitbart 1, Acorn 0 {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: They Report, Then Verify {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Educational Links {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: Liberty, Freedom, Etc. {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: "Longing On A Large Scale Is What Makes History" {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: The Post-Journalistic Media {15} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Worse Than a Waste of Time {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: The Left's Movement Bubble {48} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: A Quick Favor {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: The Cheapest Higher Education Ever {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: I'd Rather Chip in for a Dalmatian {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: A Quick Rebuttal {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: It Could be Easier {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Stay or Go {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: "There's A Difference Between a Sugar Mama and a Hooker..." {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Elites Are the Problem -- But That Doesn't Mean What You Think {36} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: "Pie in the Sky" {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Even the strategic case for torture is weak {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
August 2009
31: Monday Morning Links {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
31: When Movements Hurt More Than Help {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
31: Irrational Arguments for Drug Prohibition {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
31: The California Scene {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Two Gems in The Weekly Standard {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: "The Lonely Passing..." {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Letter to Wonkette {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
23: Age of the iPhone {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
23: In Defense of Rich Lowry {52} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: The Right, The Movies & Journalism {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: Up from Comments {83} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Can Jonathan Klein Help Save Conservatism? {37} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Conor's Reform Guide to Wedding Etiquette {21} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Which Parts of the Government Do You Trust? {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Alpha Males Exist Only in Contrived Situations {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Keep It Simpler, Stupid {62} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Stop Negging Them On! {28} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Jelly Sans Peanut Butter {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Cash for Clunkers, Cont'd {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Debating Cash for Clunkers {40} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: Newspapers Are Poorly Written, Stilted, and Boring {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: Government by Goldman Sachs {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: I Hate Meetings {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
July 2009
31: An Uninteresting Question: Who Delivered Andy McCarthy? {67} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Against the Taser {26} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: "...When They're Being Pushed Around" {22} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: And Beyond the Slur... {23} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Obese Legislation {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: What Transparency Demands {78} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: Slow and Steady Wins the Race {33} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: The 4 Day Work Week {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: The Role of the Beat Cop {54} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: Born in the USA {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: Being Ivy in America {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
23: CC: Internet Ombudsman {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: What Kind of Elites Do We Want? {55} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Miscellaneous {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: "The Great One" {21} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: He Pities the Fool Who Is Naughty {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: The Health Care Conversation {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: Success! {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: The TAS Advice Column {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: The Personal Trainers Liberation Army {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: When Penguins Attack {26} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: He's Innocent! {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: TAS Advice Column {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Summertime {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Press Secretary '12? {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: The Dirty Secret of Magazine Journalism {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Call Conservative Elites What They Are {57} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Storytelling {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Elites Span the Political Spectrum {78} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Meanwhile at the Ideas Blog... {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Roger Federer, The Best Ever {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: Politics as Unusual {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: You Get What You Pay For {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: November 5, 2004 {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Infinite Conors {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: How to Tell Stories in Print {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: April 1, 2004 {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: September 2, 2003 {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: Fox News Guest: America Needs Osama to Attack {66} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: An Opening for Anti-Corporate Cons {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
June 2009
30: September 1, 2003 {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Feministing or Fox News? {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: August 31, 2003 {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: The American Scene Book Review, Edited by Graeme Wood {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
29: Too Soon? {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
25: My Big Tent Movement {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
24: Meta American Scene {25} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: Wood Gems {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: The Limits of Science {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: Next Time, Kick the Tires {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: A Letter to Talk Radio Listeners {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Activist Judges Irrationally Revoke Standing of Conservatives!! {73} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: "Thinking Big" {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: In the Refrigerator {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Bermuda? Obama Ends the Uighur Drama {28} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: Go Read Reihan {27} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: In Defense of Lesbian Studies Majors {29} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Resisting a Universe of Pure Hatred {33} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: The Best Man in Basketball {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Why I Love Bloggingheads {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: What Good Is Empathy... {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: If You Still Can't Handle a Hannity Interview... {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: What's Blame Got to Do With It? {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: The Man with the Golden Microphone {26} by Conor Friedersdorf
10: Cliffs Notes -- Ross Douthat on Abortion {52} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: Hooking Up: Even Older Than Plastic! {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: "Structural Deficits" {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: Oh, That Trillion Dollars? Let Me Think... {23} by Conor Friedersdorf
09: Back to Fundamentals {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Our Children Aren't Economic Inputs! {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: "Drawing a moral equivalence" {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: A Clarifying Case {22} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: The Other Publius {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Americans Do Care About Smaller Government {53} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: The Most Compelling Woman in Brooklyn {44} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Against Outing (Most) Anonymous Bloggers {27} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Lying to Fox News Viewers {27} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Humankind Needs Fish Like Lance Armstrong Needs A Bicycle {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: When Perfect Is the Enemy of Progressives {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: "Truly terrifying" {32} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Links, Lynx, Lingx {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Why People Mistrust Supreme Court Justices {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: A Balancing Act in Georgia {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: Harry Reid, Blissfully Ignorant {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: The Right's Political Future {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Under His Skin {79} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: How Empathetic Judges Can Hurt People More Than They Help Them {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: A Question for War on Terror Hawks {40} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Why is Judge S worse Than Judge X? {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: Attention Feministing! {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: Blog Debate of the Day {43} by Conor Friedersdorf
May 2009
31: Please Initial Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here, And Sign There {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
30: Their Rights vs What's Right {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
28: She Says Sotomayor... and So Should We! {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
26: Mark Levin Part II: The Dispatcher Is Dispatched {134} by Conor Friedersdorf
25: Debating Dan Riehl -- Bottom of the First Inning {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
25: Debating Dan Riehl -- Top of the First Inning {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
24: Quote of the Day {32} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: Standing Athwart Your Accountant Yelling "Don't You Dare Stop, Whatever You Have to Charge Me Later" {19} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: "I don't know why your husband doesn't put a gun to his temple." {63} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: The Porcupine Principle {19} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: You Say Obstruction, I Say Due Process {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: David Frum on Rome {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: Too Close to Kafka for Comfort {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: The Last Word: Andy McCarthy's Rebuttal {12} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: How Can Anyone Think Both of These Things? {69} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Questions for Andy McCarthy {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Start Snitchin' {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Recommended Reading {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
16: Show Me the Money {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Creeping Out to Beck {27} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: The Most Qualified Gubernatorial Candidate in History? {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: No One on The Corner Has Swagger Like Rush {56} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Deep in Debt, But Planning a New Federal Wing {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Hilzoy, My Old Prof! {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Dick Cheney's Faux Arguments {16} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: What I'm Always Hunting For {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: All the News That's Fit to Aggregate {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: But is it art criticism? {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Hannity, Steyn and Ingraham {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: On Closing Gitmo {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Final Thoughts on Education and Teachers' Unions {57} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Suspended Teachers Paid $10 Million Per Year {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Let the Principals Decide {66} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Education, Cont'd {24} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Awful Teachers Awfully Hard to Fire {40} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Torture Ethics {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: "Everything Within His Power..." {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: Answers Needed {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: The Pundit Who Cried Bias {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: Courage {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
April 2009
29: Is Teeth-Gritting the Answer? {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
23: When All Else Fails Invoke 9/11 {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: The Truth Usually Outs {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
22: Conceding Nothing {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: My Gut Tells Me We're Better Off Without Torture {20} by Conor Friedersdorf
19: Strip Searched {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Searching for the Right Analogy {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Blue Jean Drama Queen -- Worst George Will Column I've Ever Seen {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Plumber for Sale {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: "China's Missing Girls" {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: What to Cut? {15} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Unstable Journalism {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
14: On the Road, Day 4 -- Burlington, Iowa City, ? {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: On the Road, Days 2 & 3 -- Ann Arbor, Chicago, and ? {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Deftly Handled {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: On the Road -- Day 1, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: There's Nothing to Fear But All the Awful Things That Might Happen {92} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: In a Just World... {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: What Might Have Been {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
01: This Stuff's Made in New York City! {15} by Conor Friedersdorf
March 2009
24: On the Road {21} by Conor Friedersdorf
24: Profiled {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: Bettering Ezra's List {9} by Conor Friedersdorf
20: Coverage Matters {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: When America's Celebrity Culture Began {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: What Do They Drink at Magazines? {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
15: Piggybacking on Newspapers {29} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: Last to the Party {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Ah, The New Yorker's Complete Archive {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
11: Talk Radio as Wrestlemania {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Governing by Crisis {14} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: Whiplash Watching the Right {18} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Reader Contest {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Is Twitter Too Big to Succeed? {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: Confirmation! {2} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: In Defense of Flawed Things {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: In Defense of Prepared Remarks {10} by Conor Friedersdorf
February 2009
26: Did Tucker Carlson Make It Out Alive? {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
26: Substance Matters! {19} by Conor Friedersdorf
19: Framed for Murder? {3} by Conor Friedersdorf
18: My Tricky Parents {6} by Conor Friedersdorf
17: Misplaced Loyalties {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: The Largest Earmark in History {4} by Conor Friedersdorf
13: Whither Economic Realism in Fictitious Media? Or: The Other Jeffersonian America {11} by Conor Friedersdorf
12: Asking the Right Questions About Newspapers {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
08: Let This Be A Lesson {5} by Conor Friedersdorf
07: The Honeymoon Is Over {7} by Conor Friedersdorf
06: Attention New Yorkers: Go See This Exhibit! {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
05: "The Meaning of Sarah Palin" {32} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: What Exactly Does PJTV Do Well? {17} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Gene Healy, Check Your Google Reader! {0} by Conor Friedersdorf
04: Conservatism -- It's Alive! {13} by Conor Friedersdorf
03: The Taxman {8} by Conor Friedersdorf
02: The Panoramic Photo {1} by Conor Friedersdorf
January 2009
31: The California Section, RIP {15} by Conor Friedersdorf