“With modern presidencies, we have to watch the poignant tableau of such leaders realizing that they have squandered their chance for greatness even as they suffer the indignity of rejection by those who once sought their blessing.
These painful periods for W. and Bill Clinton, falling low after starting with such grand hopes, are recounted in two new books. . .
The pen-and-tell by Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer, ‘Speech-less,’ is being denounced by some former Bushies and Republican commentators as a ‘Devil Wears Prada’ betrayal. (Except, in this case, the Devil wears Crocs. Preparing to make a prime-time address explaining why the 2008 economic bailout wasn’t socialism–‘We got to make this understandable for the average cat,’ the president tells his speechwriters–W. pads around the White House in Crocs, an image that’s hard to get out of your head.)
‘The guy is a worm,’ Bill Bennett told Wolf Blitzer about Latimer, adding: ‘He needs to read his Dante. He probably hasn’t read The Inferno. The lowest circles of hell are for people who are disloyal in the way this guy is disloyal, and at the very lowest point Satan chews on their bodies.'” [. . .] –Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, September 26, 2009
Karl Marx, “Das Kapital” (1867)
Ending his preface to the first edition of Das Kapital, Marx states the following:
“I welcome every opinion based on scientific criticism. As to the prejudices of so-called public opinion, to which I have never made concessions, now, as ever, my maxim is that of the great Florentine: ‘Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dire le genti.'” –Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, trans. Ben Fowkes, ed. David Fernbach, Fowkes, and Ernest Mandel (New York: Penguin Classics, 1976), p. 93.
As the editors note, Marx actually altered Dante’s words for his own purposes. The original line, Purgatorio V 13, is as follows: “Vien dietro a me, a lasica dir le genti.”
Cover of “The New Yorker,” April 21, 1997
Seen in the Edward Sorel illustration are three tiers of political sinners: “Politicians Who Promised to Cut Taxes,” “Politicians Who Promised to Balance the Budget,” and finally (and most egregiously) “Politicians Who Promised to Cut Taxes and Balance the Budget” (detail shown below).
Watercolor Lithograph by “Mata”
Bettino Ricasoli as Count Ugolino attacks Urbano Rattazzi, who ousted him in 1892 from his leading role in the government. This piece was on exhibit at the “150 Years of La Nazione” in Florence, Italy at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, March 7 – April 30, 2009.
Pdf close-ups of the re-written terzine:
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Contributed by Kavi Montanaro
“You Will Feel the Heat” Penny Arcade Comic (2008)
Found at Penny Arcade.
Contributed by Charlie Russell-Schlesinger (Bowdoin, ’08)
