Erin Montgomery was a contributor to The Weekly Standard from 2003 to 2010, writing on politics, culture, and human interest topics. Her work for the magazine included coverage of political figures, social commentary, and narrative feature pieces.
Never before have matters of the newspaper business mingled so closely with matters of the heart as in Tom Rachman’s superb debut novel. Rachman used to be a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome, and he still lives there today; so it is fitting that the setting is an international…
Dirty Sexy Politics
Marriage
Ana's Story
Warm Springs
Monopoly
THIS ELECTION is going to be close, but George W. Bush will indeed be victorious. This was the prediction made by Matthew Dowd, senior strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign, at a luncheon held at the St. Regis hotel in downtown Washington yesterday. For the past week, a dining room at the hotel…
THE CLASSIC, BLOOD-CURDLING MOVIES so many people like to watch in the days leading up to Halloween suddenly don't seem so frightening when compared to the real-life horror flick that made its debut in Washington, D.C., last Friday. An hour-and-a-half of ominous background music, graveyards…
WHOEVER SAID PLAYING VIDEO GAMES was a non-educational, mind-numbing activity meant to divert you from more worthwhile pursuits such as, say, keeping up with current events? Not Kuma Reality Games, a New York City software company, whose website allows you to download and participate in…
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Donald Rumsfeld told an audience at the National Press Club last Friday afternoon that America must remain on the offensive and cannot be "faint-hearted" when it comes to the war on terrorism--a war he likened to the Cold War. He also spoke optimistically about the progress…
Boston
Boston
BILLIONAIRE AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCIER George Soros, who is bankrolling the campaign against Bush, yesterday compared the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal to the attacks of September 11. "I think that those pictures [of prison abuse] hit us the same way as the terrorist attack itself--not quite…
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, a little Hollywood glamour was bestowed upon Washington, when an Academy Award-winning actress spoke at the State Department. The drab Loy Henderson Auditorium suddenly became a whole lot prettier as the distinguished guest speaker walked into the room. She flashed her pouty…
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH may be putting the heat on John Kerry, but media coverage of President Bush's religious beliefs has also intensified in the last week. Last Thursday, PBS aired its Frontline documentary "The Jesus Factor," a revealing examination of the roots of George W. Bush's religious…
"ABORT BUSH IN THE FIRST TERM." A group of women on the National Mall displayed a banner with these words during last Saturday's March for Women's Lives, while a throng of fellow abortion-rights demonstrators marched by, nodding their heads in approval. The banner's message couldn't have been more…
AN ATTENDEE of the DC Independent Film Festival once jokingly suggested that Carol Bidault de l'Isle, founder and director of the week-long film showcase, re-name the event the "What the Hell Is Going on Here? Festival." Bidault laughs, but is the first to admit that such a description is not all…
ON MARCH 19, 1979--25 years ago today--an energetic congressman from Tennessee delivered the first televised speech on the House floor. That congressman was Al Gore, and this is what he said in the one minute allotted to him by then-House speaker Tip O'Neill:
CONGRESSWOMAN Marilyn Musgrave, a first-term Republican from rural eastern Colorado, is, in the words of one reporter, "taking freshman feistiness to a new level." Dressed in a raspberry-colored suit, with simple blond hair framing a pretty face, Musgrave hardly comes across as aggressive. Yet she…
JIM HAKE traveled to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base near San Diego a few days before Christmas to meet with senior officers of the 1st Marine Division. During the visit, Hake learned from the Marines what Iraqis could really use right now: frisbees.
HOW SOMEONE DIED can sometimes tell us more about a person than how they lived. At the very least, the events surrounding one's death can make that person more intriguing, as a new History Channel special--"The Day They Died"--attempts to reveal. The two-hour program profiles the deaths of 19…
PRESIDENT BUSH'S MESSAGE to Iraqis on Sunday was deliciously absolute: "You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again." Kanan Makiya's message to Iraqis does not convey the same sense of finality, but it rings just as true: You can never forget Saddam.
THE OTHER NIGHT, I went to a fancy gala at the National Building Museum. As I strolled between the towering, golden Corinthian columns of the great hall, I felt sophisticated in my off-the-shoulder black dress, and chatted easily with a friendly professor about his course on the American…
THE RECENT FLURRY of media attention surrounding Jessica Lynch--the NBC movie "Saving Jessica Lynch" aired this past Sunday and the former POW's "Primetime" interview with Diane Sawyer aired Tuesday--has many viewers wondering what really happened in the days leading up to April 1, 2003, when a…
ON OCTOBER 11, the Chicago Tribune editorialized that the United States has more important things to worry about than whether or not to amend the Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to run for president: "This is a nation of immigrants, of course, and one that offers more opportunity to…
YOU'VE SEEN George W. Bush in standard presidential attire--a suit. But chances are you haven't seen him in a snowsuit as a toddler, frolicking in wintry weather with another future president, his father. This charming clip alone, taken from a Bush family home movie, is reason enough to tune into…
ANCIENT LEGEND has it that around 1500 A.D. a Chinese official named Wan-Hu attempted a flight to the moon in a wicker chair. Wan-Hu sat expectantly as 47 torch-bearing assistants came forth to light the 47 rockets secured to the chair. There was a sudden blast, and clouds of smoke filled the air.…
ONGOING NEGOTIATIONS over who will manage the National Bison Range, a national wildlife refuge in Moiese, Montana, are making some people uneasy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior, currently manages the Bison Range, located within the Flathead Indian…
NO MATTER WHAT your religion or where you live, invite the PBS documentary "God and the Inner City" into your living room on Sunday night, June 22. "God and the Inner City" tells the story of three faith-based social service groups: Boston's Ella J. Baker House, which works to prevent street…
THE U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the exhibit "Anne Frank the Writer: An Unfinished Story." It's a moving testament to Anne's literary talents, which go far beyond her famous diary. Some of the featured writings, what Anne liked to call her "pen-children,"…
ON APRIL 30, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of the United States of America announced that former NOW president Patricia Ireland would be its new chief executive officer. And just this past weekend, the 145-year-old YWCA moved its headquarters from New York City to Washington, D.C.…