Shots in the Dark

“Bush Says He Didn’t Compromise His Soul to be Popular.”

There’s a lot to work with there….

A friend recommends this holiday classic.

In Salon, Glenn Greenwald points out that Eliot Spitzer has been the subject of far more opprobrium than Dick Cheney, and wonders, “Is Using a Hooker Worse than a War Crime?”

Obviously, it isn’t. So why do we pay so much attention to it? And so little attention, relatively, to Cheney’s crimes? (I.e., torture.)

There’s something odd here about the way our culture is so troubled by sex and so placid about violence—consider, for example, the fact that movies depicting sex are frequently threatened with X ratings, while movies with absolutely over-the-top violence have no trouble getting an R….

A friend writes with a brilliant idea: Let’s bailout Bernie Madoff, or at least his clients. Too big to fail!

Though I basically feel that I’ve said my piece about Caroline Kennedy and have no desire to say more—which is what I’ve been saying to the various reporters who are calling me because they can’t get anyone else to say anything negative about the anointed one—I can’t resist posting this quite funny humor column by (Harvard grad) Andy Borowitz.
DECEMBER 17, 2023
Caroline Kennedy Asks to be Time’s Person of the Year
Places Phone Call to Magazine’s Editor

Caroline Kennedy would like to be considered Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2009 and has let the magazine’s editor know of her interest in the honor, aides to Ms. Kennedy confirmed today.

While some observers considered Ms. Kennedy’s bid to be premature, especially since 2009 has not officially begun, aides to the New York senatorial aspirant said that it reflected her view that 2009 will be a very big year for her.

“I think Caroline’s calling Time magazine and asking to be put on the cover shows just what a tireless worker she is,” said cousin Kerry Kennedy. “When she really wants something, she’s not afraid to roll up her sleeves and make a phone call.”

Her cousin said that having witnessed Caroline’s work ethic, she has no doubt that she is deserving of Time’s highest honor: “I can’t tell you how many times she’s gotten the wrong number, been put on hold, or had calls dropped altogether.”

In addition to the Person of the Year honors, Kerry Kennedy said that Caroline had also expressed an interest in next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

“That’s a call she hasn’t made yet,” Ms. Kennedy said. “She has to figure out the time difference in Oslo.”

This always happens to me—I get hammered with work in December and don’t have enough time to slow down and enjoy the holiday. (Christmas, for me.) Though I’m not particularly religious, I value the spiritual quality of the season and the call to remember what is truly important—family, friends, gratitude for what we have, concern for the well-being of others.

Plus, there’s been so much awful news lately, it’s hard to take a step back and try to find good cheer.

So I’m turning to Charlie Brown for inspiration. Here, Charlie Brown has lamented that his friends are caught up in the commercialization of the holiday, and Linus has just reminded him of the true meaning of Christmas. Quite sweet.

Well, more or less. Watch this astonishing video from Times reporter Sam Roberts, who says that Caroline combines the best of her mother and father, won’t push her positions on people because “that’s not the kind of politician she is,” and “walks into the Senate” with great name recognition.

And here I thought she hadn’t actually gotten the job yet.

I haven’t even mentioned the part where Roberts lovingly reminisces about Caroline’s days as a copy girl at the Times, and how he used to tip her, and how “given where she is now, I hope she remembers that I was a good tipper.”

However one feels about Caroline Kennedy being senator—and there are fine arguments pro and con—watching the paper of record prostrate itself before a Kennedy is embarrassing.

Betty Currie is helping the Obama transition team.

Enough Clintonites already!

MassMutual Life announces that it poured some $3 billion into a hedge fund which lost it all to Jack Bernie Madoff.

MassMutual happens to be the holder of my 401k. The company reportedly has $500 billion in assets, so this shouldn’t be a problem. But, yikes. That’s a little too close for comfort.

The Madoff fallout keeps getting worse.

I’m struck by this language from the Globe article linked to above:

Even this year, amid the stock market’s dismal performance, Madoff was telling investors they were making money. Through Nov. 30, the Rye Select Broad Market Fund [blogger: a fund that invested with Madoff] reported an 8.26 percent gain, according to an investor statement.

In other words, Madoff was allegedly beating the market by about 50% for the year. This didn’t raise any eyebrows?

…are in order, this time to my Yale friend and fellow journalist Jay Carney, who is becoming Joe Biden’s spokesman. We worked together on a college magazine, the New Journal at Yale, and Jay’s wife, ABC correspondent Claire Shipman, used to write a really good White House column for me at George.

Nice to see some Yalies in the Obama White House. (Well, the Obama OEOB.)