William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 December 1929
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
care caused ignorance speech
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care
looking perform
She would take it and perform a typographical miracle. It was like looking at an E. E. Cummings page.
babies forget phrase shares
The phrase "New World Order" is Bush's baby, even if he shares its popularization with Gorbachev. Forget the Hitler 'new order' root; F.D.R. used the phrase earlier.
confined engaged minds stop worrying
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.
american-journalist
I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know.
action attack choice critics current describe harbor led military necessity official pearl response unwise vietnam war wars
Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.
adjective compound noun phrase straw wizard
The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American culture by 'The Wizard of Oz.'
academia answer brought call fellowship good henry neither nor partner related teammate
What do you call a co-worker these days? Neither teammate nor confederate will do, and partner is too legalistic. The answer brought from academia to the political world by Henry Kissinger and now bandied in the boardroom is colleague. It has a nice upper-egalitarian feel, related to the good fellowship of collegial.
electronic pundits responding targeted
When infuriated by an outrageous column, do not be suckered into responding with an abusive e-mail. Pundits so targeted thumb through these red-faced electronic missives with delight, saying 'Hah! Got to 'em.'
career ought party republican sake
For the sake of the country, the conservative cause, the Republican party and even his own long-term career -- he ought to resign.
foolish fools-and-foolishness
Because that would be foolish politically, and I think there's a lot of practicality going on.
talking professors novel
I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.
media joy manipulation
What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
writing nouns use
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?