Bob Novak Could Sting, But He Was Really A Honey

"Beneath the surface, Novak was a sweetie.." Bernadette Malone, former Novak reporter; Senior Editor, Penguin

"There was nothing more fun after a long day than to sit down with Bob Novak and argue about capital-gains taxes, the Fed, the Contras or [any other] topic. But nobody ever doubted that we liked each other and that there was a part of us that would stand off in a corner saying, 'You can't take this too seriously.' " Democratic strategist Bob Shrum

"[O]nce you talked to Novak, you liked him.." Greg Gutfeld, Fox News

Liberals, moderates, even some conservatives have a right to dislike Robert Novak. Pundits everywhere have cataloged his "evilness" with great relish -- never more than in recent pseudo-eulogies and obituaries.

Well, why not? Novak gave them a giant target. He also gave them a solid example of a determined, dedicated Reporter. Even his enemies grant he was a professional political analyst par excellence.

There was another side of Bob Novak. A lighter side. Generous, funny, kind, thoughtful. And more. Not in public of course. Behind the scenes, among friends. It's true. I was there to see some of it for myself.

So, I am not here to defend Robert Novak's public politics, allegiances or deeds. My modest but determined goal is to assert that for those who knew the private man, especially in the years before his dark public persona had solidified, calcified, virtually taken over -- there was quite a lot about Bob Novak to like.

Yes, really.

I'm not speaking about or for his family. I don't know them and I imagine they're having a tough enough time dealing with his death and the public glee expressed by so many. I do know he wasn't an easy family man, so I also imagine they'll have a tough time making peace with it all.

I'm referring to Novak's other family. Not in a legal sense. Not other children. A privileged family of friends. An enduring love. Nothing "official" or even widely known.

Way back in the dark ages of the 1970's some things weren't acknowledged or discussed. The things some of us lived.

It seems like yesterday that I was such a young pup. First a student, then an intern, a low level 'operative." Eager for knowledge and to be all grown up inside the political universe of Washington, DC.

I ran in circles that included some pretty big names in journalism and politics. Some became my friends. Some my mentors. A few lovers. Many provided great stories.

My closest friend and mentor was Johnny Apple, aka R. W. Apple, Jr. of the New York Times. When he died in 2006, he took a big chunk of my early professional and personal years with him. And some of those great stories too. Read my Personal Notes on a Professional Journalist when you can.

Another whose path I crossed gave me one of my all time best stories: Dousing Dan Rather. (This one's especially dedicated to my Texas friends).

It's a different world now, but back then, politics and journalism were strange bedfellows, in both senses of the word. We all worked together, played together, helped --and used-- each other, loved and laughed and learned and betrayed and protected one another.

Life was a little more black and white on the outside and a lot greyer on the inside. Hard working, hard drinking, hard living people created and reported the news. Relationships were intense but friable. Entertaining, free-spirited, at times well-choreographed, often wildly chaotic and doomed.

There were very few constants. Oddly, Bob Novak was one. A grown-up, a power-broker, a potential king maker or breaker. A man who know exactly who he was, what he wanted and how to get it.

And no matter how high he flew (and he did, um, fly), his feet stayed on the ground. He seemed almost a father figure to the younger among us, me included.

He was so proper, edging toward pompous, it was beyond fun to watch him let loose, make indecently funny jokes, double over with laughter, become The Enforcer trying to quiet our riotous behavior.

Even when serious, if you knew where to look you could still see that private twinkle in his eye. Often pointed in one specific direction.

From the 70's through to the present, Bob Novak was friend, mentor and more to one of my oldest, dearest friends. For her loss, I grieve. He was her treasured LH (initials of her private nickname for him), known only by a few intimates. No, I won't tell you what LH stands for, you'd never believe me anyway.

There are a lot of things I'll never tell. But it doesn't matter now to say that Bob Novak had a very special relationship with a small group of insiders and with one very special woman.

You're shocked? Doubtful. You don't care? Fine. Enough of us do. We know there are no absolutes in people or relationships. Everybody's got secrets. Regrets. Imperfections large and small.

Everybody's got some good inside too. And true light. Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean it wasn't there. For some of us, that light's gone out. Though not darkness, but sweetness remains. And we'll always have P Street.

Best. Campaign. Twofer. Ever.

Blending the names of a twosome, whether celebrity couple or political running mates has become a big trend.

Now that Obama is the nominee and has chosen his Veep, the Twofers are starting.

On Letterman Monday night they came up with some ideas for the Democratic ticket. "This is a CBS News Election '08 Update. In a new CBS Poll, voters were asked which nickname they preferred for the Democratic ticket of Obama-Biden.

In second place is ‘Obiden,' with 39%.

In last place with 3%, ‘Jidenamackojoba.' " (I have no clue what that means).

Then, tonight, after Obama's rock 'em, sock 'em speech, Tom Brokaw made a classic slip of the tongue, saying again: OBiden.

But I have to say again, especially in this town, the hands down winner by a country mile:

Politicians' Infidelity - Playing with Power

"He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." Lao Tzu

I don't want to talk about John and Elizabeth Edwards. They have enough on their plates. They don't need anything from me that feeds the beast. But I have something to say about an already well-fed beast, our very own Bubba, and his already well-documented infidelities, specifically with Monica Letmeinsky.

The Clinton-Lewinsky affair is an object lesson for all politicians.

Infidelity among us common folk is about a lot of things, mostly dissatisfaction with a marriage. Not the same dynamic in celebrity circles. Movie stars, rock stars, we know all about their groupies and the Cult of Celebrity. Getting behind the velvet rope. 'I'm with the band.'

There's an even different, I'd say more seductive dynamic among political groupies. A sprecial breed. Getting behind the rope line. 'I'm with the Man.'

My checkered career includes working in politics from the State House to the White House. I've seen firsthand how enticing Political Power can be. And how willingly young women (maybe these days young men too) offer themselves sexually to their powerful superiors.

Power is an incredible aphrodisiac. During the act, yes, but even more important to the less powerful, after the fact. Think about it. What did Monica Lewinsky get out of the sex or 'relationship' with Bill Clinton? A cigar? Sheesh. No cigar. A recycled book of poetry? Please. She was the one on her knees. She did the work, sex-wise, not the other way around. She was totally turned on by the fact she was, ohmigod, doing the President of the United States.

There's another aspect about the whole mess that's just plain wrong. It's bad enough Republican hypocrits used the Clinton-Lewinsky affair to further their own agendas at the country's expense. I got almost as sick and tired of liberal feminist bleating about Bill Clinton's sexual harassment of a poor little intern. It. Didn't. Happen.

Their affair wasn't about sexual harassment, it was about sexual dalliance. And the pull of power. She was more than a willing participant, she was an instigator. What, the president just looked around, their eyes met across a crowded room... and... give me a break. She put herself in his path. Probably climbed over others to get there.

L'affair Lewinsky was inappropriate behavior by the president, but not harassment. Monica Lewinsky wasn't seduced. Her job was never in jeopardy. Her reputation was ... ironically at her own hand.

Bill Clinton certainly rocked his marriage, but the only person who damaged Ms. Lewinsky was Ms. Lewinsky, with her inability to keep her mouth shut, on and off the job. She couldn't keep the details of the affair discretely to herself.

She had to brag. They all have to brag. There's no fun in having sex with a powerful politician if you can't tell your friends about it. Revel in their envy and awe. That's the draw. The telling, not the doing.

For those who've got real power it's tough to resist when attractive people throw themselves in your lap. It's tough to resist reaching out for whatever you want. Including low hanging forbidden fruit. That's the fatal flaw in many of our political protagonists. The ego and sheer guts it took them to get to the top makes them believe they're invincible. Untouchable.

Many are untouchable. Except by willing sex partners. And that's what inevitably brings them down.

DNC Follies

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

"This body of 30 individuals has decided that they're going to substitute their judgment for 600,000 [Michigan] voters." Harold Ickes

I tried hard to watch the DNC rules committee hearing. Really I did. I know many of the players. I have a personal, pro-Hillary, pro-Democratic Party stake in the outcome. But I knew what it would be, what deals were made, how the die was already cast.

The hearing on CNN: Ponderous pomposity. Transparent toadying. Boring bullsh*t.

The ruling: No surprise. As it has so many, many times, the DNC let us down.

Why has this country suffered almost eight long years of incompetent, indifferent, criminal behavior from the Bush administration? Not because George W. Bush won two elections ... but because the Democrats threw them away.

And now we're about to do it again. Have we learned NOTHING? Count the votes. Count all the votes. All. And let the people speak. Yeah, right, like that'll ever happen.

I'll tell you this: I don't give a damn any more about He Said, She Said. I'm tired of opinions pro this or anti that. Woulda coulda shoulda. I just want to win! What is there left to say?

(Okay, that's it, burnout has officially commenced).

SATC - Entertainment, Not Politics

"... we have come a long way. No question. Definitely. But it's not because of 'Sex and the City.' It's because of what real women have done in real lives, not on TV sets." Susie Bright

Just when my brain is about to explode from too much media coverage of the presidential campaign, along comes the movie version of Sex and the City.

What does it say about our values that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama get a break from the spotlight while the media engage in a virtual masturbatory orgy of psychobabble about the global impact of a fictional group of horny, romantic, often silly women?

Enough! Sex and the City is a movie, not a movement. The real, political movement already happened -- back in the 60's and 70's. I know. I was there. It was called Women's Liberation. Equal Rights. The Sexual Revolution.

Those hard won battles weren't fueled by a TV show or a movie any more than the SATC movie or TV show launched any kind of new cultural breakthroughs. So today's 20-somethings seem obsessed about sex, why does that have so many writers' panties in a twist?

Every generation of young people thinks it invented sex. Our great grandparents were having group sex in bathtubs full of gin, for cryin' out loud. It was the Baby Boomer generation --Make Love, Not War-- that opened a truly new and open discussion.

We Boomers can claim, legitimately, that ours is the generation who brought sex, drugs and rock 'n roll out of the closet and into the forefront of our culture.

We took away the shame, the blame, the insulting game whose rules told us that healthy sexual appetites are for men only. That sexual objectification and worse, abuse, is tolerable. That women don't have the right to control our own bodies.

That's the bottom line. Now, we can not only control them, we can enjoy them. Do what we want with them. Discuss them. Trust me, we dished down-and-dirty then, and we still do.

Most of us weren't strutting the streets of Manhattan in $800 shoes and $1500 dresses. We wore jeans and flip flops. (Oh, you thought you invented those too? Jeez). But we had just as much sex just as casually and reviewed just as many details with our BFF's as do fictional Carrie and crew.

By the way, I'm a devoted SATC fan. Especially because the openness, dreams and vulnerability portrayed resonate with me and my generation of sexually active women from 30-to-50-something. And, one hopes, beyond.

SATC was a hot, sexy TV show with a lot of snappy dialogue, sex, flash, dazzle, and women dropping the F-bomb as casually as they dropped their panties. Yes, they all wanted to be married or at least cared for, but guess what ... so do we all. We don't need someone with a PhD in relationship therapy to tell us the obvious.

I've been eagerly waiting for the movie, but I'm planning to wait just a little longer til the crowds of over-dressed, overly self-conscious and pretentious SATC wannabes are gone. Then, my girlfriends and I will go. And laugh and cry and maybe get annoyed (I already hate Carrie's wedding dress) at the excess.

But in the end, it's just entertainment. Not politics. Which, frankly, gets more fantastical every day.

Liz Spikol and 'Mad Pride'

Shea Roggio for The New York Times

"It's not a 'mental' illness, it's a medical condition." Dale Neaman

So there she is, Liz Spikol, profiled in the New York Times and on the Huffington Post, back to back. Wow. How cool is that. Especially on a subject about which she happens to be an expert: mental illness.

The focus is on Spikol's contribution to a modern movement dedicated to bringing mental illnesses out of the dark ages and onto the Internet and YouTube. To shine light on a litany of very real medical conditions once hidden in the same kind of closet as homosexuality.

I knew Liz as a child, followed her impressive professional career, learned of her long battle with mental illness. I've celebrated her growth here but never came out, so to speak, about my own membership in her not so exclusive club.

'Mad Pride' is finally a group I can get behind 100 per cent. No, I'm not crazy (neither is Liz). But I'm not totally sane either. If you just went, HUH? that's the problem 'Mad Pride' proponents are trying to address.

Look around, hardly anybody you know is issue-free, so to speak. Or chemical-free, as a result of any number of very real mood disorders and illnesses. Usually inherited, just like heart disease or diabetes.

Yeah, I live a "normal," mentally balanced life, but only with the help of prescribed pharmaceuticals, internal fortitude and external support. So do millions of others, many, many of whom are related to me.

In our family alone we've got bi-polar disorder, manic depression, hypo-mania, clinical depression, suicidal ideation disorder, a potpourri of anxiety disorders, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcoholism, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome and last but not least, body dysmorphic disorder.

Just about the only thing missing is schizophrenia. Although.... wait ... no! ... maybe ... well ... hold on! ... shut up! Oh, nevermind. Just kidding.

Mental illness isn't funny. Unless you've been through the tunnel, come out the other end and are managing your disease well. Then it can--for some, Must--be a stitch. Because that's the best way to patch yourself up.

A poster girl for 'Mad Pride,' Liz Spikol speaks with heart, humor, raw honesty, intelligence and incredible perception about her battles with bi-polar disorder. Listen to her.



Then listen some more.

I'll take my turn in print. Sometime soon.

Barbara Walters Really Is Baba Wawa

"I guess it's good to be made fun of, I guess that means you're slightly famous." Barbara Walters

If you're an early Baby Boomer you remember Gilda Radner's hilarious send-ups of Barbara Walters on Saturday Night Live. More than parodying her slight speech impediment, Radner really skewered Walters' overblown sense of self-importance and concurrent false modesty about her iconic celebrity status.

Serious journalist? Yes, Walters had the chops and some of the 20th Century's top interviews to prove it. Ground-breaking feminist? Absolutely. She was television's first female journalist, breaking ground for most of today's women on TV news and quasi-news shows.

She even broke through the glass ceiling, if only briefly as television's first female evening news anchor on ABC. When she got cut, she showed 'em all by making more money and becoming more famous than the jamokes who juked her.

Less than impressive is her pivotal role in creating the execrable "infotainment" triad of news, entertainment and celebrity gossip that has supplanted actual news for millions of television viewers.

Did she dally with the great and near great along the way? Well, of course. Who wouldn't? But I don't believe for a second she slept her way to fame and fortune. She just slept with the famous and the rich and powerful who swam in the waters where she dangled her feet.

Now, thanks to the nauseating hype surrounding the most obscure affair she reveals in her newly released autobiography, we are subjected to cutesy, near-adolescent descriptions of her sexual exploits.

I just have to say for the record, Blech. If you can't talk like an adult, I don't want to listen.

Which is nothing compared to my outrage at the media for pouncing on Walters' revelation of her affair with former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke. And beating it to death. It's pandering of the very worst kind.

Until Walters' book, Brooke was a man living under the radar, completely out of public life. At the time of their affair he was her "younger man." A married man. A US Senator. And by the way, he's Black.

Groundbreaking, famous white woman and younger, formerly little known Black senator plastered all over the news together. Beyond Blech.

I don't know who thought up that disgusting marketing ploy, but Shame on You! And, I have a feeling, shame on Baba Wawa for going along with it just to sell her wittle book.

Billy and Miley Sittin in a Tree

Annie Liebovitz

"That’s just my personality. I don’t get shaken or stirred up over anything. Which can be a problem sometimes. I’m just, like, so no emotions. I just don’t let things faze me. I’m very much like my dad. My dad’s like this." Miley Cyrus

Interesting article by Rebecca Traister in salon.com on the Current Cyrus Controversy. I wrote about it too earlier this week, but I have more to say. Especially in response to readers comments, including one that accused all who decry the photos of having dirty minds.

I was skeeved out by the Billy-Miley images, not because I have a "dirty mind" but because the father-daughter photos were deliberately sexualized. And because Vanity Fair, Disney and Miley's parents chose to showcase them in that context.

Of course fathers hug and kiss their daughters in complete innocence; many such loving acts are caught in family photos. But few fathers would willingly contribute to, much less allow publication of photos appearing to celebrate Daddy's Little Ho.

Look at that picture. And the others. Does that say father-daughter to you? Yeesh.

And by the way, did anybody bother to read the actual article? Even it's author is taken aback by Miley's creepy child-woman maturity.

You have to wonder about her parent's judgement beyond the photos when you learn Miley's favorite TV show is Sex and the City. And that she tries to make Hannah Montana into a SATC teen homage. Not the sex, she assures us, just the friendships.

Blech. Really. Blech.

I'm a certified Baby Boomer (we invented open sexuality, remember). But I have to draw the line at a 15-year-old watching a show that portrays believable adult characters discussing the intimate details of their sex lives and engaging in soft core porn.

Neither Miley nor any other teenager can possibly understand or process the complexities of adult sexuality and relationships -- nor should they.

Our 24 year old son grew up in an open, loving home with all questions welcomed and answered. And with plenty of hugs and kisses. But he--and I--still find it creepy and uncomfortable to sit in front of the TV together watching graphic sex scenes.

Not because there's anything "dirty" about sex. But because we're mother and son. And because he was taught the value of privacy, decency, personal space and appropriate boundaries. He's also smart and mature enough to find sexual pictures of a 15-year-old disturbing, not sexy. Especially those with her father.

Teen sexuality is out of whack in this country already. The Cyrus pictures just make the issue more glaringly real. And sad.

Parents should educate their children about sex, but not by Show and Tell. A concept the Cyrus family seems to have left behind in the trailer.

Mormon Moms and Miley

Annie Leibovitz

"There is no greater reason for children to honour parents than for parents to honour children except, that while the children are young, the parents are stronger than children." Bertrand Russell

There's an old cliche that says people will do almost anything for love or money. It seems the current trend along those lines--at least in LA and Eldorado, Texas--is pimping out children.

Every time I look at that picture of 15 year old Miley Cyrus and her father Billy Ray, I gag.

I'm no prude, but don't tell me that's art, Annie Leibovitz or not. Some things are just simply wrong ... including a photo that portrays a teenage girl waay too close to her father's Achy-Breaky Heart.

Would you pose like that with Your father? Would he sit like that with you, on or off camera? Would you sanction other half naked pictures of your teenage daughter flashed all over the media?

No. Of course not.

Miley Cyrus is a young girl in a business that chews up over-exposed teen sexpots and spits them out directly into drug rehab. At only 15 she still has a chance to grow up undamaged.

Yet instead of protecting her, Miley's parents are selling her to the highest bidder. In this case, Vanity Fair. Read the article, even it's author appears sceeved out by the Cyrus clan.

Hard to top, but Tish and Billy Ray's inappropriate parenting pales in comparison to the acts of abuse and neglect by the Stepford Wives of the Yearning For Zion Ranch in the name of religious big love.


AP Photos

We don't have pictures of their Mormon child-mothers to make us gag, thank god. The mental images are bad enough. Although, maybe that teen girl in the pink dress is the smaller kid's mother. A truly horrifying thought.

Would you send your teen daughter into the bed of a man 2-3 times her age in order to get her pregnant? Would you welcome a 14-year-old girl into your bed as your "wife" and impregnate her over and over?

No. Of course not. God, I certainly hope not.

Because 31 of the 53 teen girls between 14 and 17 who were taken into state custody from that Eldorado hellhole either have children themselves or are currently pregnant.

Do you, would you, have you ever beaten your children until you broke their bones?

Because so far 41 children have been identified as having multiple bone fractures. C'mon, you watch Law and Order. That's clear evidence of child abuse.

We don't know how badly abused the adult women of this bizarre cult may have been or for how long to have treated their own children so outrageously. Perhaps they were regularly drugged without their knowledge.

For sure they've been brainwashed. But that's no excuse.

Whether it's Miley's parents or the Mormon Moms, the adults in both real life dramas are acting like children by forcing their children to act like adults. Apparently for love or money.

El Sistema - Drums, Not Guns

"A child's physical poverty is overcome by the spiritual richness that music provides." Dr. José Antonio Abreu

Did you watch 60 Minutes Sunday night? If so, you were inspired and humbled by a story about a music program call El Sistema -- the system. It's credited with saving hundreds of thousands of Venezuela's cruelly disadvantaged, impoverished children by teaching them music.

Bob Simon tells how children start in El Sistema as early as 2 years old, are eventually given instruments, willingly practice for hours every day, six days a week and learn to play in orchestras instead of on the dangerous streets.

The brutal reality of the slums in which they try to stay alive is so unfair you want to scream. Not so different in America, but what do we do about it? Cut after-school and cultural enrichment programs. Our children play with guns instead of clarinets and trumpets and drums.

The best of the El Sistema musicians travel the world as the Simon Bolivar National Youth Orchestra. They've just played Carnegie Hall to cheering crowds. That's what happens everywhere they appear.

If this doesn't make you smile and cheer and even choke up a little with pride for the accomplishments of these amazing children, then you are made of stone. But you're not.

So crank up your speakers and get the hankie ready.

Obama's Slick Oil Ad

"The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different." Aldous Huxley

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Barack Obama supporters say he's a fresh face with a whole different view of politics. Not. So. Fast.

Obama's latest and most ubiquitous ad, in which he declaims self-righteously, "I don't take money from oil companies," isn't exactly correct, according to FactCheck.org and the Center for Responsive Politics.

In fact it's illegal for any federal candidate to take corporate money. So Hillary Clinton and John McCain don't take money from oil companies either.

Except they do. And so does Barack Obama.

How? The old fashioned way -- through individuals who work for oil companies. And with the help of their campaign "bundlers" who gather large contributions from groups of corporate fat cats.

Ahem. Politics as usual.

It's all here FactCheck.org: Obama's Oil Spill.

I have a news flash for those who get all high and mighty about Obama as New Breed of Politician: Nothing. Has. Changed.

Another Sane Voice for Hillary

"The campaign is going very well. Very, very well. Why, what have you heard?" Hillary Clinton on SNL

I'm still a one-armed bandit. If I ever typed with one hand in the 90's (no jokes please), that skill is long gone now. So I'm grateful my galpal Cynthia Johnston offered to give her spin and voice to my own thoughts on Hillary.

HEAD OVER HEELS OVER HILL

Today I'm going over to Hillary HQ to make some calls into Ohio and Texas. The more I think about drinking the Kool-Aide and going for that Fabulous Obama Feeling, the more my heart tells me to stick with Hillary. Her Saturday Night Live appearance clinched it. One, Tina Fey is one of my super heroes. A FUNNY WOMAN. My whole life, funny women have been my salvation. All my best friends are funny as hell. I LOVE FUNNY WOMEN. And what a revelation. Hillary Clinton is a funny woman! She GETS funny women. She's not afraid to laugh at herself.

Set aside for a minute the fact that she's a super-wonk, with a preternatural grasp of policy details. She also has a sweet sense of humor. Not only would I feel more than secure with her at the helm, I would feel happy. How silly of me to want that. But I do. With all my heart. So today I'm setting aside a mountain of deadlines and heading over the bridge to Virginia. Why stop believing in miracles now? It's gone way beyond politics. At this point the feeling I have in my heart for Hillary Rodham Clinton is love, pure and simple. I love her and I want her to be MY President.

But before I post this little love letter I want to tell you one more reason I support her. It's because of the people who hate her. My father was a spy. When he died, most of his friends were retired CIA agents. Crusty old coots, with a world of hate in their hearts. After my dad died, I went to McDonald's in McLean, Virginia, where a gaggle of old spooks go every morning for breakfast. I asked to join them for a goodbye breakfast, knowing I'd never have a reason to see them again. There was no love lost among us, although I had a modicum of respect for them as my father's colleagues.

As I left the table to go get my breakfast I heard one of them say behind my back, I wonder if SHE inhales. I went back with my food and listened to them grouse about "Billary." They hated her guts. They hated her because she was a feminist. They hated her most of all because she included her maiden name in her married name. The "Rodham" part made them absolutely livid. They hated Bill because of Hillary. They hated him because she was a feminist. I was dumbstruck by the visceral quality of their hatred. It had no basis in anything but misogyny. It was clear to me how much these cold war relics hated women and I secretly reveled in the fact that I would have the last revenge: I would outlive the bastards.

I said my farewells as I stood up to go. Just before I turned to leave I said to them, "Oh, and don't forget to inhale. Or you'll DIE."

I left there a confirmed supporter of Hillary Clinton. I love her for the way she makes me feel and I love her even more for the way she makes a bunch of misogynistic old sons of bitches feel.

More power to Hillary RODHAM Clinton.

And my deepest thanks to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and the rest of the good people at SNL for waking up the world to the fact that the media, especially Campbell Brown, who should know better, are on a par with a bunch of woman-hating cold-war relics. At last, at this eleventh hour, they're acting more like journalists and less like pathetic, starstruck Obama worshippers.

Vote for Hillary and don't forget to inhale.

Thanks, Cindy Lou. A lot.

One last thought from me: I so fear for our future if the Obama Eloi continue to follow the Media Morlocks blithely without using their heads.

Joe Wilson's Case For Hillary

thesituationist.files.wordpress.com

"Contrary to the myth of [Obama's] campaign, 2008 is not the year for transcendental transformation." former ambassador Joseph Wilson

Joe Wilson, who's been there done that (think Plamegate), goes on:

The task for the next administration will be to repair the damage done by eight years of radical rule. And the choice for Americans is clear: four more years of corrupt Republican rule, senseless wars, evisceration of the Constitution, emptying of the national treasury -- or rebuilding our government and our national reputation, piece by piece. Obama's overtures to Republicans, or "Obamacans" as the Senator calls them, is a substitute for true national unity based on a substantive program. His marginal appeals have marginally helped him in caucuses in Republican states that Democrats won't win in the general election. But his vapid rhetoric will not withstand the winds of November. His efforts will be correctly seen by the Republican leadership as a sign of weakness to be exploited. While disaffected Democrats may long for comity in our politics after years of being harangued and belittled by the right wing echo chamber, the Rovians currently promoting Obama are looking to destroy him should he become the nominee. Obama's claim to float uniquely above the fray and avoid polarization will be short-lived. He is no less mortal than any other Democrat -- Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry -- all untouched at the beginning of their campaigns and all mauled by the end. We should never forget recent history.

Wilson makes a far more informed and cogent case than I ever could.

Read the full piece. Please. And tell me you agree. Joseph C. Wilson: Battle-Tested - Politics on The Huffington Post

If you disagree, tell me why. I don't want slogans. I don't want pie-in-the-sky rhetoric. Or empty promises. Or bullsh*t about Bill.

I want facts. Details. A defense of Obama stripped of hype and meaningless buzz-phrases about hope and change and dreams.Take Wilson's reasoning apart and show me where he's wrong.

You can't. Because he's not.

Britney - Yesterday and Today

Question: There are some of rumors going around right now (none of which I believe are true) but, how do feel about them and how do you handle it?

Britney Spears: Well, first of all, of course, all of the rumors are not true. I think it's really sad that people will say anything to sell magazines. And it's really sad that at 17 I have to deal with this. But that's just the entertainment business, I guess and I'm just going to have to roll with the punches.

I knew Britney Spears nine years ago while doing live chats on AOL. She was 17, unsophisticated, naive, not terribly bright. But a sweet child. With real talent. Charisma. Youthful humility. Not so blind ambition.

She was already a Teen Queen and was just beginning to catch the attention of main stream audiences and The Media. She had a boyfriend, a new car, a hit record, a loving family, strong faith and a very promising future.

Britney realized much of her promise too fast and with too little support from her parents. Money and fame and real life hit her like a runaway train. Yet her parents let it drag her along and down.

She became a gigantic star before she had a chance to become a grown woman. And so of course she became a media punching bag, a designated bimbo whose every action is chronicled and maligned around the world.

Yes, she's behaved badly. Celebrities have behaved badly for generations, both publicly and in private. Many of them experienced, educated, urban adults. But Britney hasn't had those advantages. And almost nothing is private any more.

In Britney's case, she keeps bumping into not only paparazzi but her own young, worse self. The signs--filled with irony--were all there from the beginning.

Look at these sad, prophetic tidbits from one of those early AOL chats:

Question: Are you recognized on the street?

Britney Spears: It's not overwhelming. It's just enough to where it's flattering. I've been with people where it's like they can't go anywhere. It's ridiculous. It's sad.

Question: Do you have any idols?

Britney Spears: Yeah, I love Whitney Houston, she's incredible. I totally admire her.

Question: Do you like all the attention of being a hot singer?

Britney Spears: I mean sometimes it's fun, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming and you don't have peace or time to yourself, but sometimes it is really flattering.

Question: What do find most rewarding about performing?

Britney Spears: Probably just the crowd's reaction is the best feeling when you're up there. Even the songs that aren't out yet, they're still screaming, and that's the best feeling in the world because they know your music. And they're screaming your name! (c) 1999, Entertainment Asylum & America Online.

I guess not so much in the right way any more, Britney.

Remember the You-Tube video made by a distraught fan defending Britney with tearful, over-the-top intensity? Most of us made fun of what we saw as misplaced teenaged celebrity-worship and dramatic angst.

It turns out he was right.

And it makes you wonder about Britney's parents -- what took them so long? Why weren't they the first to defend her, even half as passionately?

Her father's on the case now -- better late than never. I hope he acts like a parent and gets her the help she needs.

It would be a shame to see Britney turn into Whitney. And give away all her tomorrows.

The New York Times: Hillary and McCain

"If you look at the history of endorsements in this campaign, they haven't had a lot of sway with voters, which is understandable, ... Voters make their own decisions in presidential campaigns." John Edwards

Seemingly out of nowhere and so quietly you could hear a poll drop, the New York Times editorial board today endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain as its candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations.

An editorial endorsement is perforce a partisan announcement, so why today? Apparently to give the candidates time to incorporate the endorsement in their campaigns for Super Tuesday.

So why throw the endorsements away on a Friday, 5 days ahead of time? Why not give them that added punch on Sunday, February 3? Haven't they heard Everybody Reads the Sunday Times?

I'm sure people all over South Carolina have been waiting with baited breath for the New York Times to tell them how to vote.

As if it matters. The only people who care about newspaper endorsements are ...well... nobody. Except of course the newspaper itself.

Endorsements are so last century. In this unusual election cycle, even celebrity endorsements mean little, except perhaps to the young. And they've made their candidate, Barack Obama, into a superstar himself.

Even George Clooney can't compete. Although if Britney awoke from her stupor and tagged a different candidate, it might raise a blip.

The Times endorsed my candidate, Hillary Clinton rather begrudgingly as highly intelligent and a solid, experienced leader while showering lavish praise on Barack Obama's future near-messianic promise. In the end, that's what I believe --and hope-- America's voters will do too.

John McCain gets the usual deserved points for his war service and sacrifice, but overall is damned with faint praise as the least objectionable Republican candidate.

Neither Times endorsement is meaty or substantive. The most excited prose is reserved for Bush-bashing. And in fact the best part of the McCain endorsement is its bitchy, vicious evisceration of Rudy Giuliani. That alone makes it worth the read.

In the end, I hope you choose your own candidate for your own reasons. Not from Facebook or Fox TV or Entertainment Tonight ... or your church. Not even from the New York Times.

Primary Choices: Hillary Clinton - New York Times

Primary Choices: John McCain - New York Times

1-2-3

"If last year was our Silver Anniversary, what's this year?" my husband
"This year is our Tire Iron Anniversary." me

Today is our wedding anniversary. We've been married 26 years, no small accomplishment. Friends used to ask if I chose January 23 --i.e. 1.23-- deliberately, to help my husband remember our anniversary date.

Nope, January 23 just happened to be the Saturday night all the elements came together ... including an unplanned humongous sleet storm.

In the interest of history--or boredom--I decided to find out what else happened on January 23, according to the New York Times.

It wasn't the best date for some people. Salvador Dali, Captain Kangaroo and Johnny Carson died on January 23, in different years of course.

But it's heartening to remember just two days after celebrating celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr that on January 23, 1964 Congress ratified the 24th Amendment, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections. And for some historic perspective, the TV mini-series "Roots" first aired January 23, 1977.

On the political front, how fitting that January 23 is the day in 1845 that Congress decreed national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Continuing in that theme, Franklin D. Roosevelt chose January 23, 1932 to announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Richard Nixon announced an end to the Vietnam War on January 23, 1973, a day I'll never forget. Sitting on my bed all alone I watched him speak on TV, tears running down my cheeks in relief and grief for all the carnage and ruined lives.

January 23, 2009 would be a good day for our next president to announce an accord to end to the War in Iraq.

That will be an anniversary worth remembering.

Campaign 08 - The Media Race

Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office

"We differ on a lot of things. And it is critical to have the right kind of discussion on where we stand. But when it comes to civil rights and our commitment to diversity, when it comes to our heroes -- President John F. Kennedy and Dr. King -- Senator Obama and I are on the same side." Hillary Rodham Clinton

Read. My. Lips. Hillary Clinton is not a racist. She didn't deny or denigrate the pivotal contribution to the Civil Rights movement by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And Barack Obama knows that. But he's letting his surrogates play the race card to the media. Another indication he's more image than substance.

Hillary's substance and her image are being burned. No matter what she says, no matter how respectful and how reasoned, somebody's going to use it against her. Worse, her opponents are joined and assisted by a media hell-bent on deifying Barack Obama and crucifying Hillary Clinton.

Now they've jumped on the issue of Civil Rights. That's just plain wrong.

Chris Matthews and Tim Russert (Andrea Mitchell too) and their networks should be ashamed of picking it up. They're supposed to report political news, highlight specific issues, comment--if they must--on trends, polls, patterns, public response.

It is not their role to create conflict, push for confrontational scenes or--let's get to the meat here--shill for the candidate of their choice. They are doing the public a huge disservice. They are also making asses of themselves.

What, they don't think we notice? For smart people, they're acting like idiots.

Let's get something straight about Hillary's remark that "[Dr] King's dream became a reality when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

She happens to be right.

Dr. King was a leader of extraordinary courage and vision who gathered a community --on behalf of the nation-- together in the cause for Civil Rights.

Nobody disputes that. Certainly not Hillary. Or Bill. Or Obama.

President Lyndon Johnson was a leader with incredible guts and determination who wrestled a Congress, especially the Senate --on behalf of the nation-- together in passing Civil Rights legislation.

Nobody should dispute that either. Not Obama. Not the media.

Dr. King had a dream and fought hard to make it a reality. Kennedy shared the dream, helped bring the country on board. But it was Lyndon Baines Johnson who got the job done. In the hard, dirty trenches of Capitol politics.

Dr. King was a minister, a proponent of non-violent protest, our nation's conscience on race, and his vision of equal rights for all races is his enduring legacy.

Lyndon Johnson was a senator, a president, a knowledgeable old hand at political maneuvering. In the end, he was the contractor who turned the dream of civil rights into a reality. That makes civil rights his legacy too.

Read up on the history of civil rights legislation before you take another cheap shot at Hillary's admiration for the savvy, gritty politician who did the heavy lifting.

Match Dot Politician

(image slightly altered)

"A politician weakly and amiably in the right, is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong." Edwin P. Whipple

Think you know which candidate best fits your personal and political ideology?

Do you know the issues and where your perfect candidate stands on each one?

Have you chosen the best match for yourself and your country?

Try this:

ABC News: Match-O-Matic

I thought I knew my exact match. Turns out I was almost right. But I was left at the alter by Number 1 (Biden), know absolutely nothing about Number 3 (Dodd) and found my top choice in the middle ... Clinton.

The Clinton Crying Outcry

"In the heat of our campaigns, we have all become accustomed to a little anger and exaggeration. Yet, on the whole, our political process has served us well." Senator Edmund S. Muskie

"You know, this is very personal for me. It's not just political, it's not just public. I see what's happening. We have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game, they think it's like who's up and who's down. It's about our country, it's about our kids' futures, and it's really about all of us together." Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

Babies cry. Kids cry. Women cry. Men cry too. But only idiots cry foul when a political candidate sheds a few tears in public. Even bigger idiots make a major news story out of a minor and personal response.

Hillary Clinton teared up at the end of a long day in a moment of unabashed honesty and connection with her audience. And, I suspect, with the enormity of the task she has undertaken.

Frankly, I'd be more worried if she didn't take her presidential campaign to heart.

Those who wonder if Hillary cried on cue not only don't understand women, they don't understand human nature. Those who think it undercuts her ability to govern are just plain Neanderthals.

The ones who believe her tears made Hillary appear "more human" --and who voted for her based on that belief-- highlight the great divide that continues to exist between the expected behavior of men vs women.

Then, when you remember that a few choked, angry words from the front-running presidential candidate are credited with derailing the 1972 Muskie campaign, you have to wonder if we've learned nothing in 36 years.

Let's review: Babies cry. Kids cry. Women cry. Men cry too. But only small minds make a big deal out of who cries when.

In the end, Hillary's small moment of Zen caused an outcry far beyond its equally small contextual scope.

So, enough already, for cryin out loud!

2007 Follies

"Time quickly puts an end to artificial and accidental fame." Samuel Johnson

We can only hope.

But why not end 2007 with trash, it's been that kind of a year. So I grabbed this from AOL's home page: Top 11 Scandals of 2007 - AOL News, though I don't know how they chose the number 11 -- they definitely missed a few of the juicier ones.

OJ comes to mind, for example ... pun intended.

I barely know--or care--about the first two bimbettes on AOL's list. Certainly Imus qualifies. As does Larry Craig. And let's not forget Scooter Libby. But where are the Three Stooges he took the fall for?

In the Insensitive Boob category, they forgot to add the Grey's Anatomy McFiring of Isaiah Washington. The phone stylings of Alec Baldwin. And, of course, Rosie.

Plus, I have to ask, where's Barry Bonds and the Mitchell Steroids in Baseball Report?

How can they let Mattell off the hook? Or Jet Blue?

What about Anna Nicole's Daddy Derby, complete with crackpot granny?

Not to mention the Top Trashy Twits: Paris and Lindsay and the hands down champ... Britney.

Philly's no slouch in the scandal department either. There's Phila Eagles coach Andy Reid's Bad Seeds. And, to close on a bright note, we've got our own TV anchor-bitch Alycia Lane right up there with a last-minute Offensive Behavior of the Year award.

I'm so pumped to see who will misbehave in 2008. At least we'll eventually get rid of the biggest scandal of all. Yeah, him.