_______________GONE WITH THE WINDBAGS BY GARY KAMIYA (11/05/98)
	Gary Kamiya overlooks at least part of the reason for both the animus of the pundit class against President Clinton and their misreading of the American public. The censorious mood of middle and even left-of-center pundits came not simply from priggishness or envy. People who care about the liberal agenda are disappointed at the wasted opportunity, the squandering of our political capital by Clinton's many flaws. Clinton didn't merely waste his seed, he wasted ours. This presidency began with such bright hopes, but soon deteriorated into political and moral rudderlessness. Those most highly involved and emotionally invested are the angriest. But since the overwhelming majority of voters don't know or care about anything as complex as an agenda or ideology, they view Clinton as just a flawed "Good Old Boy." Clinton's enemies will never forgive him for surviving, for being harder to kill than a vampire. His former friends will never forgive him for failing to be committed to anything other than his survival and abandoning them (OK, us). But the tough truth is that few voters actually care. -- Jonathan Dobrer Encino, Calif. Gary Kamiya's and Richard Rodriguez's articles about the election outcomes were a pleasure to read -- witty, acerbic and wonderful. The pontificating pundits have lost touch with the common American, and perhaps the television medium has in fact become Paddy Chayefsky's "Network," that specious amalgam of journalism, show biz and ballyhoo. Fortunately, it seems that the vast majority of Americans have taken the over-the-hill newscaster's (played by Peter Finch) advice. They have thrown open their "windows" and yelled, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." -- Arthur Laupus I enjoyed reading Gary Kamiya's article, and I believe he has accurately portrayed the punditocracy for what it really is. But there is another reason for the "far-right-leaning" of the mainstream media, and to find that reason, you need go no further than the very conservative corporations that own the media. The ability of the press to publicly evaluate a story -- fairly and honestly without political bias -- disappeared as quickly as they were bought. And the media icons/pundits very quickly understood that having a successful career in a very conservative environment meant becoming conservative themselves. And the more conservative they got, for which they were rewarded by their owners, the further they got from what the ordinary American thought and felt. -- Jim Ward Madison, Alaska Excellent piece today, a first-rate hatchet job on the blow-hard class of journalism. I have read just about everything written on the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal in the last 10 months, and this article says it all the way it should have been said from the beginning. Keep up the good work you guys are doing at Salon. Someday soon you will be recognized for the invaluable common sense opinions you give the country -- you are the last bastion of sanity. -- John Flynn Chicago I just want to say thank you for Gary Kamiya's masterful piece on the worst collection of windbags inside and outside the Beltway: the pundits. (The very word is starting to sound as mean an insult as "liberal.") I turned them off a long time ago, not only because of their intolerable arrogance and unfairness. What truly makes pundits such an annoying lot is their subtle way of silencing more progressive views and voices. Talk shows are like bullfights. The right-winger plays the matador, the one with all the advantages and weapons on his or her side, and the liberal-looking centrist plays the role of the bull, furiously chasing its opponent in an endless exercise in futility. When was the last time you heard of a bull killing the matador? Conservatives now have it both ways. They have tremendous control over the press, but when it does not serve their purposes or it acts recklessly, they blame it on the "liberal media." Thank goodness for Salon. -- Javier Sierra Gary Kamiya's essay on the punditocracy's immense failure to do their jobs in 1998 was right on. Next to the Republican leadership and just behind Starr they're more responsible than anyone else for this year's long list of acts that consistently outraged a large majority of Americans. Hear that, Bennett? We are outraged about your side's hypocrisy and unprincipled never-mind-the-costs trampling of constitutional rights for partisan political gain. Where I differ with Kamiya is on the future. The elite media has been discredited to such an extent that in the not-too-distant future we'll look back and recognize 1998 as the year two generations of journalists -- baby boomers and their war-era predecessors -- committed mass career suicide. This group has ruined their credibility among all but the most paranoid nut cases of the "Ridiculous Right." Marketers and media owners will quickly determine this is not a lucrative demographic and throw these sorry journalists out. I see an emergence of all new faces and most from a younger generation taking over print and airwaves soon -- and that positive development will revive American journalism. Though they're no longer as important as they once were (after all we can import our news coverage from abroad), it's still best if we have a healthy, properly functioning American news media. Let the purge begin! -- Dennis Slough Gary Kamiya has eloquently articulated exactly what I and several of my friends have been thinking and saying for some time. Seeing the egg hit the faces of the pundits made election night that much sweeter. Unfortunately, the same "experts" are still out there today, "explaining" things to us and "predicting" the next turn of events. Like Ken Starr, they have no shame. -- Peter Bennett Mississauga, Ontario Excellent essay by Gary Kamiya. However, I would be remiss if I did not point to Salon's own hypocrisy in terms of the generally right-leaning makeup of its own columnists. Ideologues such as Camille Paglia, Ariana Huffington and David Horowitz do in fact belong to the McLaughlin school of distortion, hyperbole and hypocrisy. While Salon has done an excellent job in exposing the right-wing conspiracy of a coup d'état of the Clinton administration, Salon has also given a platform to the likes of Horowitz to spew inflammatory racist venom at African-Americans by comparing their voting records to those of "communists." Why aren't columnists such as the likes of Jill Nelson, Katha Pollitt, Susan Faludi, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jesse Jackson, Molly Ivins, Ellen Goodman and Jeff Cohen given more ink on your magazine? -- Amy Dadichandji Laly Seattle Gary Kamiya's "Gone with the windbags" article was right on. Today I found myself screaming at Russert, Safire and company, "Take THAT you supercilious jerks!" I only wish your article had a much wider distribution. What it said, really needed to be said! -- Jack Miklos Piedmont, Calif. Gary Kamiya told it like it is. I couldn't agree with him more! I am a "moral," 77-year-old great grandmother and am so glad that this messy election is over. I hope some of those "stupids" in Washington, D.C., will now come to their senses and represent what the people want, and not keep telling us how we should believe and act! -- Marian Monson Santa Rosa, Calif.
_______________WORSE SEX CAN BE YOURS -- TONIGHT! BY HOLLY SMITH (11/03/98)
	I just read Holly Smith's hard luck tale. Poor Ben. This Holly sounds like the most difficult breed of hag. With all that "ER," "X-Files" and sleeping, it's no wonder she could pull a muscle having sex with her husband. Grow up, lady. I'm not saying having sex with your husband is an obligation of marriage. It's not. But for whatever reason, Ben is still trying to get some attention at home. You say your husband is attractive and interesting, and obviously he's making an effort here. Yet, your end remains planted, more comfortable feeling your whole life is so exhausting that sleep is the only thing you really want. Beware, if Ben isn't being serviced elsewhere already, he is sending all the signals of somebody headed in that direction. -- Jeffrey Benjamin I wonder how glib Holly Smith will be when she finds her husband having an affair? And considering her disinterest, who could blame him? I, for one, think it would be completely understandable. Monogamy in a nonsexual, even unfulfilling, relationship is ridiculous. It's unfair and a waste. Sex is a great part of life and we all have a right to pursue fulfillment. Why doesn't she just send him out for it. He'll get there eventually anyways. -- Jason Arrington As I read Holly Smith's piece, I felt compassion for her husband -- and faint smugness about the considerably superior state of mine and my husband's sex life. Then I decided that she must be somewhat older than me, poor thing, to be so diminished and fatigued by her two children; not to mention harboring the venom she directs at the more carnally successful couples on the tape. When she revealed that she is a year younger than me, what little sympathy remained evaporated instantly. Her self-righteousness in refusing to even try to enjoy or improve sex with her life partner made me sick. She embodies the sad stereotype of the frigid wife, an image that needs no further promotion in current pop culture. Most divorced persons know that sex is the first thing to go. I hope Smith's husband realizes soon that having to coerce one's wife into lovemaking is not a normal condition. -- Ashley Shochat
_______________FRESHEN UP YOUR ELECTION, HON? BY JAMES PONIEWOZIK (11/03/98)
	James Poniewozik's article about "waitress moms" was typical of the kind of reporting/commentary that has made Salon one of my favorite and most trusted sites. I have always wished that you would include more links to external sources in your articles, but I never really thought about it too much until today. Poniewozik's piece includes five hyperlinks in the body, three of which are to non-Salon sites. Sixty percent of the total: not bad. What bothers me is the fourth link, represented by the word "wallets." It directs the reader not to some political site with views and opinions relating to the impeachment (which the context would clearly imply), but rather to Salon's own membership drive page. Bad, bad juju if you ask me. I have been thinking very seriously about sending you my $25, but I will wait now to see if this sort of editing-for-profit mentality was a one-time mistake or whether it becomes prevalent. Please keep your solicitations out of the editorial portion of your mag. Please keep your standards such that I can continue to call myself a loyal Salon reader. -- Richard Stovall Los Angeles
_______________FOREIGN FILMS FOR KIDS? BY CHARLES TAYLOR (11/02/98)
	Charles Taylor's recent article on foreign films for children was deeply shocking insofar as he failed to mention a single work by Jacques Tati. "Mr. Hulot's Holiday," "Mon Oncle," "Traffic," "Parade" and the greatest motion picture ever made, "Playtime," are all available on home video. The recently restored color version of "Jour de Fête" should be coming along shortly as well. No childhood -- or adulthood for that matter -- should be considered complete without them. -- David Ehrenstein Another wonderful foreign film for children is "Hope and Glory," a child's eye view of the London Blitz. The movie is by turns funny, tender, silly, dreamy; small children love the silliness, and their older siblings tend to find the mixture of pathos and humor very absorbing. Moreover, the underlying seriousness of the story gives parents and children several points for discussion. -- Aimee Spencer SALON | Nov. 10, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| GOP NEWTERED BY JOAN WALSH

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