The Week

“Hopefully for the last time, but this time for sure, the United States must provide a foreign nation with military aid adequate to deter any wise enemy and crush any foolish assault.” FDR, 1939? LBJ, 1964? Nope. Ramsey Clark, 1974. Not to be confused with Ramsey Clark, 1972. Or 1973. Or 1971. Why has Clark-74 taken to this imperialist warmongering? Frankly, we are baffled. But a) the “foreign nation” is Israel; b) Clark-74 is seeking election to the U.S. Senate; c) the incumbent he is trying to unseat is the redoubtable Jacob Javits. File under Politics, New.

Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in a woman and doubly gratifying in a New York Post columnist. Then came Amnesty, and Mary McGrory went the way of Harriet Van Horne: “Everybody expected a pardon. But nobody expected Gerald Ford to make a Pearl Harbor of it.” Why a Pearl Harbor? Because “Ford chose a Sunday for his sneak attack on due process and common sense.” And another thing: “Ford’s proclamation was suitably given on the day that Evel Knievel, who was also defying common sense and the laws of gravity [sic], attempted to zoom over the Snake River Canyon.” And how appropriate that it should be the Snake River Canyon! Then the giveaway: “His statement was worthy of Watergate, and could in fact have been written by Nixon. The passive construction—always a sure sign that a fast one is being pulled—is used.” Having parsed those last two sentences, we are pleased to report our strong suspicion that Miss McGrory is pulling —ah, that is, that a fast one is being pulled by Miss McGrory. For a minute it was feared that a real conniption was being had.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Bob Woodward

“Hopefully for the last time, but this time for sure, the United States must provide a foreign nation with military aid adequate to deter any wise enemy and crush any foolish assault.” FDR, 1939? LBJ, 1964? Nope. Ramsey Clark, 1974. Not to be confused with Ramsey Clark, 1972. Or 1973. Or 1971. Why has Clark-74 taken to this imperialist warmongering? Frankly, we are baffled. But a) the “foreign nation” is Israel; b) Clark-74 is seeking election to the U.S. Senate; c) the incumbent he is trying to unseat is the redoubtable Jacob Javits. File under Politics, New.

Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in a woman and doubly gratifying in a New York Post columnist. Then came Amnesty, and Mary McGrory went the way of Harriet Van Horne: “Everybody expected a pardon. But nobody expected Gerald Ford to make a Pearl Harbor of it.” Why a Pearl Harbor? Because “Ford chose a Sunday for his sneak attack on due process and common sense.” And another thing: “Ford’s proclamation was suitably given on the day that Evel Knievel, who was also defying common sense and the laws of gravity [sic], attempted to zoom over the Snake River Canyon.” And how appropriate that it should be the Snake River Canyon! Then the giveaway: “His statement was worthy of Watergate, and could in fact have been written by Nixon. The passive construction—always a sure sign that a fast one is being pulled—is used.” Having parsed those last two sentences, we are pleased to report our strong suspicion that Miss McGrory is pulling —ah, that is, that a fast one is being pulled by Miss McGrory. For a minute it was feared that a real conniption was being had.