[Marxism] Against the crime of smearing Gene Kelly -- protests greet Maureen Dowd column

[Fred Feldman]

I'm not a big fan of Dowd, but this column struck me as way more out to
lunch as usual.  By the way, Kelly and the late Jack Lemmon were cosigners
of "Against the Crime of Silence," an antiwar advertisement that appeared
frequently and in many venues throughout the Vietnam War.
Fred Feldman

www.thenation.com

BLOG | Posted 03/20/2008 @ 12:22am 
George Bush: No Gene Kelly 
Jon Wiener   
  
When New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote recently that George
Bush has "turned into Gene Kelly," she set off a firestorm of protest from
fans of the late dancer, director and choreographer. 

Kelly's widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, declared that "If Gene were in a grave,
he would have turned over in it." 

In a letter to the Times, she wrote that "when Gene was compared to the
grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was
delighted. But to be linked with a clunker -- particularly one he would
consider inept and demoralizing -- would have sent him reeling." 

Dowd's column, "Soft Shoe in Hard Times," asked "why the president is in
such a fine mood" - at a time when "the dollar's crumpling, the recession's
thundering, the Dow's bungee-jumping and the world's disapproving."
Nevertheless, she noted, Bush "has turned into Gene Kelly, tap dancing and
singing in a one-man review called 'The Most Happy Fella.'" 

Kelly's widow contrasted her late husband's achievements with those of the
president. Kelley, she wrote, "graduated with a degree in economics from
Pitt," and, unlike the president, was "a most civilized man. He spoke
multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the
projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times
crossword in ink." 

Kelly, she said, differed from the president also in that he was
"exceedingly articulate." 

"For George Bush to become Gene Kelly," she concluded, "would require
impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility." 

Gene Kelly's credits include, in addition to "Singin' in the Rain" (1952),
"Anchors Away" (1945, nomination for Best Actor), "An American in Paris"
(1951), and dozens of other films. He was awarded the National Medal of
Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994. 

George Bush's credits include tax cuts for the rich, and the war in Iraq,
now beginning its sixth year.