McCain and Kerry Agree on Vietnam
There will be scores of community talk-backs associated with the Ken Burns-Lynn Novick opus "The Vietnam War" that starts Sunday on PBS. Perhaps none will be as prestigious as the one…
With Obama Goes the Anger Translator
The end of Barack Obama administration Friday also means the end of Luther, Obama's Anger Translator. While the 44th President was cool and calm in the Oval Office, what he…
Tuesday TV: Only the Future of Mankind
First, go vote. Then you can be more invested in both the country and in 2016 Election Night Coverage (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, Telemundo, Univision, 8…
RNC, Night One: Melania Loves Chachi
You thought those three-hour finales for “The Apprentice” stretched things out. The four day Republican National Convention (MSNBC, 5p.m.; Fox News, 6 p.m.; CNN, CSPAN, 7 p.m.; PBS, 8 p.m.;…
Frank Underwood Bares His Knuckles
It’s not like he threw me in front of the Metro train as he did poor Zoe Barnes. But I feel a little bit of what it’s like to be…
Dispatch from Iowa’s Political Front
So much of politics is pageantry, and rarely is it in play as much as at the annual Jefferson Jackson Day dinner in Des Moines the year before a Presidential…
‘The Mole’ Host Moderates Debate
Presidential debates so far this cycle have brought cable news networks their biggest ratings in years, but also on the Republican side, some changes to the formats. Not just in…
When Business Writes History
I expected another benign array of American dates, names and artifacts when the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History opened its new Innovation Wing last week. Zippier display cases, sure. A…
Azar Nafisi on the U.S.-Iran Deal
I had the author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" on the line. Azar Nafisi was about to receive the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate in the Humanities and Public Service from…
John Oliver Meets Ed Snowden
As the Comedy Central news/comedy division remains in transition, “Last Week with John Oliver” has turned into a solid work of weekly political satire. In addition to a comedy staff,…