We Didn’t Start the Fire: 5th Edition

May 18, 2020

We Didn’t Start the Fire

we didn't start the fire

Billy Joel

Here’s the fifth iteration of We Didn’t Start the Fire (Annotated), first published on July 13, 2014 and last posted on February 10, 2018. For whatever it’s worth, no post at Mark Rubin Writes gets more views.

we didn't start the fire

Christie Brinkley

we didn't start the fire

Elle Macpherson

William M. Joel writes and sings songs. On March 23, 1985 he married tall and very classy Christie Brinkley. (They divorced on August 25, 1994.) Was Ms. Brinkley the Uptown Girl in Uptown Girl, Mr. Joel’s big 1983 hit song? Only maybe, for while Mr. Joel—the short, Downtown Guy—knew and was friendly with Ms. Brinkley when he wrote the song, at the time he was dating taller very Uptown babe

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The Trump Administration: Farce? Tragedy?

July 11, 2017

Mr. President

The Trump Administration: Farce? Tragedy?

Today, Ezra Klein wrote The Trump administration isn’t a farce. It’s a tragedy. Mr. Klein is the Editor-in-Chief for Vox, and one of our very best writers. He’s also only 33, born 117 months, to the day, after President Richard Nixon waved and left the White House grounds on Marine One on August 9, 1974. Read the next paragraph, please, for his age matters.

In his excellent piece Mr. Klein posits that “this must be what it was like to live through Watergate.” His statement begs the question, for as a 33-year-old he was not around. I was!

Honestly, Trump-i-stan feels much, much worse than Watergate. President Nixon was bent, evil, and surely mad.

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Happy 91st Birthday, Tuck!

January 25, 2015

So maybe you’ve seen Tuck. Slight, old, with shorts in all kinds of weather, and bright red knee socks. If you’re in Tucson you’re almost surely seeing Dick Tuck.

Who is Dick Tuck? First of all, today, he’s “birthday boy,” 91 years young. Second, he’s the now retired political consultant, and the bane of Richard Nixon’s existence.

You know, political consultant really doesn’t accurately describe Tuck. There are lots of political consultants out there. Many are drawn to placing ads for candidates, with those fat 15% commissions. Others advise on reaching this or that segment of voters, helping candidates be for and against the set of policies that maximizes votes.

Not Tuck. Prankster best describes him. Here are a

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