The Daily Dose

The Death of Socrates

As new-media guru David All would say, Franklin Foer "gets it." In an 3-minute video uploaded to YouTube, the editor of the New Republic previews the contents of this month's magazine. Similarly, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank is now complementing his Washington Sketch column with on-the-scene videos (WashingtonPost.com uses its own video software instead of YouTube).

Seeing an unfilled niche, Mediabistro has created a market of magazine mastheads. While it'll cost you $49 a year, the database covers over 100 magazines and includes a way to track a reporter's career history and the e-mail conventions of each company (so that once you find a name, you'll know how to reach someone).

Maureen Dowd shows a little leg, of libertarianism (from a 1997 column on censoring smoking out of cinematography): "TV and movies are a powerful influence, but it is the family's role to shape behavior and instill values. . . . The state has no authority over culture. It is the purpose of art . . . to explore all aspects of life. Politicians are not parents. Studio executives are not parents. Only parents are parents."

On Sunday I described Sam Brownback as the most fiscally and socially conservative Republican running for president. An article in today's Politico, resulting from a wide-ranging, policy-focused interview with the senator, bears me out. For instance, Brownback distinguishes his political philosophy—which he calls "bleeding heart" conservatism—from the so-called compassionate conservativism of George W. Bush, not only in name but also because it seems the former does not necessitate bigger government.

Update (8/17/07): In fact, as Terry Eastland wrote in a cover story for the Weekly Standard one year ago, "Not limited government, but compassionate government is Brownback's chief preoccupation."