Global News: July 2014 Archives

P. J. O'Rourke on the 1986 Philippine election

In his book Republican Party Reptile, P. J. O'Rourke recounts the 1986 "snap election" in the Philippines between incumbent Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino, the widow of his murdered rival. O'Rourke spotlights the fecklessness of the American observers, particularly preening Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Indiana Senator Dick Lugar.(Via Ace of Spades HQ.)

MORE: Neo-neocon calls John Kerry a cargo-cult Secretary of State: "He has never seemed especially bright or accomplished, and certainly never especially likeable. But he always looked like a senator, and so instead of playing one on TV he became one.... He looks a certain way, and sounds a certain way, and our society has devolved to the point where looking like something is considered good enough. Why should skills be necessary, as well? The simulacrum of the thing is enough."

STILL MORE: Boston political columnist Howie Carr on John F. Kerry's trademark phrase, "Do You Know Who I Am?"