By JJ Bowman
Associate Editor
Two things in the news this week deserve discussion.
Barbra Streisand, the star of “Yentl” with a face for radio, has again forced herself upon these pages.
First we used the Graphic on multiple occasions to concede the depressing point that Streisand did not single-handedly dim the theme tower. As much as so many of us wish, she did not act like the psychotic robot caricature of herself from South Park. Instead she only maintains her stature as the Jessica Simpson of political thought.
Streisand’s latest diatribe came in defense of her husband, James Brolin, who was scheduled to play Ronald Reagan in an upcoming CBS miniseries, which has been bumped to Showtime amid a fury of controversy. Members of the Republican National Committee have demanded that CBS allow them to view the series before airing to make sure no defamations befall the former president.
In defense of her husband and the CBS project, Streisand made a statement on her Web site, “Instead of boycotting and trying to have the movie changed, why don’t they all just wait to see the film when it airs like the rest of us.”
Poor punctuation aside, she might have a point. The national committee should should not fight over a fictionalized television program.
For the first times in my lifetime, Republicans have begun to look cooler than the Democrats. As John Kerry and Howard Dean try to show how hip they are as they “Rock the Vote,” they come across as out of touch — and worse, unhip. Democrats began losing the coolness battle ever since Clinton said he smoked but did not inhale. He said he wanted to look cool in front of all his pothead Rhodes scholar friends, but lacked the fortitude to say, “No thanks.”
Now the Republicans appear determined to look lamer than their opponents. They express shock and dismay that the miniseries about a Republican president starring the husband of the nation’s most prominent nosy liberal would sensationalize and contain mistruths. What miniseries doesn’t? Rather than shake it off and ignore the misrepresentation, they promoted the highly un-cool practice of prior restraint, in the process giving publicity to the miniseries they hated.
Another bit of news came during the toy-gun fiasco at a Capitol Hill building. According to the preliminary reports – and they were very preliminary – two, maybe three, perhaps 12 people checked through security with guns, maybe bombs, or possibly surface-to-air missiles in their bags. Once the security guard could process that the image in the scanning machine resembled a gun (so, 30 minutes later), panic broke out, as the potential assailants could not be found. Making matters worse, they also had some sort of caped costume in the bag, leading investigators to believe they might have superhuman powers. The fact that this occurred on Halloween never entered anyone’s mind.
This developing story threw CNN into a frenzy, as the anchorwoman could smell a promotion if only enough people would die. The man on the scene found a congresswoman caught in the mayhem and let her use airtime to vindicate her pro-gun control stance. The congresswoman also knew she would become a star if only the gunmen would go crazy.
Well, unfortunately for all involved, the truth came out. Another reporter told the anchorwoman that the gun was a toy, part of — gasp — a costume. The 20-minute controversy had ended, and the woman could not even look at the camera to explain what had happened without bearing the despondency in her face.
Congress has reacted in typical fashion, by suggesting legislation to outlaw toy guns. This would be a huge mistake. Instead, the great deliberative body should follow the suggestion of George Carlin: “Toy guns should only be used to rob toy stores.”
November 06, 2003
