Richard Saad's List: MRC

• He Knew He Was Right

  • Title hints Christopher Hitchen's arrogance, while disguising hit political leanings towards the Iraq war. Hitchens was an staunch supporter of the left, having written for The Nation for several years. It seems that after 9/11, Hitchens had a change of heart and supported the invasion of Iraq and the Bush administration's War on Terror policy. Hitchens still defends the war in Iraq.
• How a former socialist became the Iraq war’s fiercest defender.

  • This deck simply expands on the title of the profile and gives the reader a clear understanding of what the profile will be about. This deck also serves as the theme of the profile.
• Until not long ago, Christopher Hitchens, the British-born journalist, was a valued asset of the American left: an intellectual willing to show his teeth in the cause of righteousness. Today, Hitchens supports the Iraq war and is contemptuous of those who do not—a turn that has confused and dismayed former comrades, and brought him into odd new alliances. But his life looks much the same. He still writes a great deal, at a speed at which most people read. And, at fifty-seven, he still has an arrest-photograph air about him—looking like someone who, with as much dignity as possible, has smoothed his hair and straightened his collar after knocking the helmet off a policeman.

  • This opening paragraph is a terrific lead because it accomplishes several things. Firstly, it hints at the theme of the profile by introducing us to a man who abondoned his initial political affiliations and moved on to another. Also, it foreshadows the man we are about to be introduced to: a mistfit and an intellectual. The description of him as a man who has just had his mug-shot taken is brilliant. (This is also an example of the writer's voice and point of view).
• his wife, Carol Blue

  • Writer quotes the wife.
• who only recently gave up the habit of smoking in the shower

  • Setting the scene and describing character.
• He seems to be perpetually auditioning for the role of best man.

  • Great line and this is an example of the writer's voice coming through. It's using strong point of view to illuminate a character. The sentence works because of Parker's description of Hitchens right before this line.
• Ian McEwan, the novelist

  • Another source who is quoted
• During the ride, he had discussed with the Pakistani-born taxi-driver the virtues and vices of Benazir Bhutto, while surreptitiously using a bottle of Evian to put out a small but smoky fire that he had set in the ashtray.

  • Example of detail and colour to describe the scene and the character all at once. Instead of just describing what the inside of the cab looked like, Parker describes the scene in detail by relating it to Hitchens - the subject of the profile.
• “All politicians lie!” the women said.

  • women quoted (3)
• His tone tightened, and his mouth shrunk like a sea anemone poked with a stick;

  • Again, great use of detail and description of the subject.
• Hitchens’s friend Martin Amis, the novelist

  • Another source quoted. So far, these people are just his friends.

9 more annotations...

• Until not long ago, Christopher Hitchens, the British-born journalist, was a valued asset of the American left: an intellectual willing to show his teeth in the cause of righteousness. Today, Hitchens supports the Iraq war and is contemptuous of those who do not—a turn that has confused and dismayed former comrades, and brought him into odd new alliances. But his life looks much the same. He still writes a great deal, at a speed at which most people read. And, at fifty-seven, he still has an arrest-photograph air about him—looking like someone who, with as much dignity as possible, has smoothed his hair and straightened his collar after knocking the helmet off a policeman.

  • This opening paragraph is a terrific lead because it accomplishes several things. Firstly, it hints at the theme of the profile by introducing us to a man who abondoned his initial political affiliations and moved on to another. Also, it foreshadows the man we are about to be introduced to: a mistfit and an intellectual. The description of him as a man who has just had his mug-shot taken is brilliant. (This is also an example of the writer's voice and point of view).

• “You know what? I wouldn’t want you on my side.” His tone was businesslike; the laughing protests died away. “I was telling you why I knew that Howard Dean was a psycho and a fraud, and you say, ‘That’s O.K.’ Fuck off. No, I mean it: fuck off. I’m telling you what I think are standards, and you say, ‘What standards? It’s fine, he’s against the Iraq war.’ Fuck. Off. You’re MoveOn.org. ‘Any liar will do. He’s anti-Bush, he can say what he likes.’ Fuck off. You think a doctor can lie in front of an audience of women on a major question, and claim to have suppressed evidence on rape and incest and then to have said he made it up?”

  • HUGE quote but it's all so good that it has to go into the story in detail.
• What happened to Christopher Hitchens? How did a longtime columnist at The Nation become a contributor to the Weekly Standard, a supporter of President Bush in the 2004 election, and an invited speaker at the conservative activist David Horowitz’s forthcoming Restoration Weekend, along with Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh?

  • More explicit theme statement than the deck but it closely resembles the deck and the title of the profile. We are several hundred words into the profile before the theme is stated but it is clear and unambiguous.
• Hitchens’s former friend and Nation colleague Alexander Cockburn.

  • Another quote.

1 more annotation...