The Week in Review -- January 8
Troy Senik, Ed. ·
Jan 8 at 12:40pm
- Tuesday’s Iowa Caucuses resulted in a de facto tie between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, leaving Republican voters with a choice between the boss whose parties they try to get out of attending and the co-worker whose parties they try to get out of attending.
- It was announced this week that the Pentagon’s Inspector General is investigating allegations that high-level sources may have leaked classified information about the death of Osama Bin Laden to “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow for her upcoming film on the Al Qaeda leader’s demise. While investigators won’t disclose where they think the leaks may have come from, they have revealed that suspicions of an inside source grew out of an initial draft of the film’s script featuring a shirtless Joe Biden, smoking a cigarette and accompanied by a scantily-clad Scarlett Johansson, issuing the order to kill Bin Laden.
- ABC News reported on Friday that Texas Governor Rick Perry spent his downtime in advance of this weekend’s New Hampshire debates shooting a handgun at an Austin firing range. Perry’s left-wing critics pointed to the story as an exhibition of gratuitous machismo, though it was quite tame in comparison to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who actually fired five rounds at Mitt Romney onstage during Saturday’s debate.
- In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a man wearing a tuxedo reportedly robbed an east coast Denny’s at gunpoint. Further proof, ladies and gentlemen, that Dick Clark is still going strong at 82 years of age.
- On Tuesday, Rick Santorum’s 19-year old nephew, John Garver, published an op-ed piece in The Daily Caller announcing his support of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. The column was especially notable for being the first attack on Santorum’s campaign to turn primarily on the argument that “he consistently refuses to buy me beer.”
- On Monday, the New York Times instituted a 25 percent increase in its newsstand price. The move was derided by media critics who charged that the Times is failing to adjust to a shifting newspaper market, but the publication claims it has no choice, citing the increasing costs of Maureen Dowd’s lithium and Tom Friedman’s frequent phone calls to the Chinese politburo.
- On the stump in Iowa on Sunday, Mitt Romney made a rare comedic turn, telling an audience in Council Bluffs that the gap between President Obama’s campaign promises and his performance is “the largest I’ve seen … since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of ‘til death do we part." Asked if the remark indicated a newfound comfort with levity, a Romney spokesman responded, “we’ll let you know once we finish downloading the humor patch.”
- President Obama held a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday to unveil the new defense strategy that will accompany nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to the military’s budget. The major aspects of the plan include a reduction in the size of the Army and the Marine Corps by 10 to 15 percent in the next decade; an abandonment of the traditional mandate that the military be able to win wars on two fronts simultaneously; and an initiative to buy every American under the age of 40 Rosetta Stone’s complete Mandarin set.
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Comments :
Jan '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
How do I get back out from behind the looking glass?
Any ideas?
Mar '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
Out of respect for the code of conduct, let us merely say this.
The number of lives that would be spiritual improved by seeing the lovely Ms. Johansson on screen as you've described her is inversely proportion to the amount of time a shirtless, smoking Joe Biden is present anywhere.
Aug '10
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
I see someone's competing with Lileks for the title of Ricochet Humorist Laureate.
Now I'm just waiting for Klaven to enter the race...
Jul '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
Your last sentence was just priceless.
Apr '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
Now that's just funny.
Oct '10
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
Righteous dude!
Apr '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
Magnificent.
Jan '11
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
I love the comment about Dowd. She once did a brilliant piece of the late A. Schlesinger sucking up at a Kennedy party that produces howls. Gary from Philly
Jul '10
Re: The Week in Review -- January 8
The nyt price increase was Paul Krugman's idea for readership stimulus.