Medved Decries Seattle's "Hip Sensibility"

Photo: Rick Dahms

Just in time for Thanksgiving, if a little late for Election Day, local conservative writer and occasional film critic Michael Medved has a new book out. In fact, his The 10 Big Lies About America: Combating Destructive Distortions About Our Nation (Crown, $26.95) is pegged to Thanksgiving. It seems that last year, Seattle Public Schools sent out some letter about how to celebrate turkey day, what with our past history of colonialism, stealing the land from Indians, and such.

Do you remember the story of the dreaded "Thanksgiving Letter," or the comment it aroused on Fox News Channel and Medved's own KTTH radio? I sure don't. But, hey, he got another book out of it, one with an argumentative title sure to elicit calls to his show.

In a sense, 10 Big Lies arrives on the wrong side of the cultural moment: If Palin and McCain had swept the country with their talk of "real Americans," Medved might've had a broader forum. Instead, it looks like such us-and-them rhetoric is shrinking to the South and depopulated Midwestern states, with the Republican base. Honestly, who has time for the culture wars anymore? We've got the economy to worry about. But that doesn't stop Medved from name checking Jeremiah Wright (four index citations), the forgotten former pastor to Barack Obama (six), whose "messianic vocation" just got him elected to the White House. (Where, I'm guessing, it won't be on the staff's required reading list.) Medved will appear to discuss his book as follows:

Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 652-4255, www.townhallseattle.org. $5. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 20.