Free Republic

OPINION Frank Rich Dishonest, Reprehensible, Corrupt ... By FRANK RICH Published: November 27, 2005 An angry country has learned the hard way that it can no longer afford to be without the truth about the Iraq war. To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S new Supreme Court nominee was a historic first after all: the first to be announced on TV dead center in prime time, smack in the cross hairs of "I Want to Be a Hilton." It was also one of the hastiest court announcements in memory, abruptly sprung a week ahead of the White House's original timetable. The agenda of this rushed showmanship - to change the subject in Washington - could not have been more naked. But the president would have had to nominate Bill Clinton to change this subject. When a conspiracy is unraveling, and it's every...

America's social fabric, to ape a Times-worthy phrase, is such a jumble today, it's a challenge to choose which brand of political commentator is more full of malarkey. Representing the paranoid left that believes we're living in a theocracy, there's Frank Rich, the op-ed columnist who rises at the Times as the paper's credibility sinks. On the xenophobic right, Pat Buchanan roars about preparing muskets for the invasion of innocent Mexicans while suggesting maybe the U.S. should've let the Europeans get crushed by Hitler. In his syndicated column of May 21, "Was World War II Worth It?", the aging, increasingly...

Conservatives can't stop whining about Hollywood, but the embarrassing reality is that they want to be hip, too. It's not easy. In the showbiz wrangling sweepstakes of 2004, liberals had Leonardo DiCaprio, the Dixie Chicks and the Boss. The right had Bo Derek, Pat Boone and Jessica Simpson, who, upon meeting the secretary of the interior, Gale Norton, congratulated her for doing "a nice job decorating the White House." Ms. Simpson may be the last performer in America who can make Whoopi Goldberg seem like the soul of wit. What to do? Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers have sunk,...