“A campaign is like an MRI of the soul,” said President Obama’s campaign chief, David Axelrod. If so, then Gov. Rick Perry should be charged a co-pay for the examination he received this week, when The Washington Post turned up the fact that a hunting camp his family leased was once named with a racial slur (see News at a glance). A rock that once had the word “Niggerhead’’ painted on it suddenly took center stage in Perry’s faltering campaign. His rivals pounced, demanding an explanation. The governor, insisting the rock had been painted over long ago, said the slur “has no place in the modern world.” But with Perry busy doing damage control, Herman Cain blew by him in the polls.
How does it feel? Bob Dylan might have asked, if the reclusive songwriter were inclined to public utterances. For 50 years, Dylan’s every word and deed has been scrutinized with Talmudic fervor. This week, Dylan found himself being attacked like a politician, after bloggers revealed that the folk hero’s paintings were mostly copied from vintage photos (see Talking points). This brought a great “aha!’’ from the Dylanologists, who would gladly slide him into an MRI machine if they could. In the 1960s, A.J. Weberman, dubbed by Rolling Stone “the king of all Dylan nuts,’’ spent weeks going through Dylan’s garbage. To his hard-core followers, the charge of copying other people’s work isn’t so much a crime as a clue. “He copies with a wink and a smile,” says Johanna Parker, a moderator for the Dylan fan page ExpectingRain.com. “He knows he will be found out.” When he is, he never explains. Maybe politicians ought to try that strategy next time something embarrassing shows up.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Bluesky: the social media platform causing a mass X-odusThe Explainer Social media platform is enjoying a new influx but can it usurp big rivals?
-
Why Justin Welby has stepped down as Archbishop of CanterburyIn the Spotlight 'Lack of curiosity' over claims of abuse of dozens of boys by Christian camp leader had made Welby's position untenable
-
Climate change is threatening Florida's Key deerThe Explainer Questions remain as to how much effort should be put into saving the animals
-
Editor's letterfeature
-
Editor's letter: Are college athletes employees?
feature The National Labor Relations Board's decision deeming scholarship players “employees” of Northwestern University has many worrying that college sports itself will soon be history.
-
Editor's letter
feature
-
Editor's letter: When a bot takes your job
feature Now that computers can write news stories, drive cars, and play chess, we’re all in trouble.
-
Editor's letter: Electronic cocoons
feature Smartphones have their upside, but city streets are now full of people walking with their heads down.
-
Editor's letter: The real cause of income inequality
feature When management and stockholders pocket all the profits, the middle class falls further behind.
-
Editor's letter: The real reason you’re so forgetful
feature When you consider how much junk we’ve stored in our brains, it’s no surprise we can’t remember our PINs.
-
Editor's letter: Ostentatious politicians
feature The McDonnells’ indictment for corruption speaks volumes about the company elected officials now keep.