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Some semi-salacious Page Six items

by Mark Gisleson

It took a while, but there's a fairly accurate transcript up of the recent Fox interview with Wes Clark that got a little testy. Three cheers for Clark. It's long past time for politicians to let interviewers have it when they ask stupid or misleading questions.

I: [interrupting] Scuse me just one minute... I just want to add onto that. While our men and women are dying in Iraq is it proper to call it a sideshow?

C: Our men and women in Iraq are doing a fabulous job. They're doing a great job. I love them. I respect them and I honor them and. My problem is with the president of the united states. He's the one responsible for this. As he told us. He was going to make the decision when to go to war. He did. Our men and women are doing everything their country has asked them to do. But for the war on terror it's not the right thing that we should ask them to do. Don't you dare twist words into disrespect for the men and women in uniform. I love those men and women. I gave 34 years of my life to them. You better take my words the right way...

Speaking of another candidate with a reputation for bluntness, Edward Cone takes a good look at the marketing of Howard Dean. The important thing here is not the Internet, by the way. The 'net is a tool, and Dean's folks used it well, but that's about it. You could say that the typewriter changed the face of politics, but that wouldn't make it true. Political activists are usually quick to adapt to new technologies, and in my lifetime I've seen campaigns revolutionized by faxes, overnight mail, e-mail, and now the Internet, but none of these were the cause of change, just the delivery boy.

At the risk of totally blowing it out my (very cute) ass, I think what Dean's really done is to tap into the energies of countless hacker moms who've parked their minivans and gotten their kids to teach them how their PC works. And, in this case, the hacker moms are also in cahoots with plenty of online allies who've been waiting for a chance to flex their modems.

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When the feds couldn't nail Al Capone for being a murdering, thieving psychopath, they got him on tax evasion charges. Hmm, I wonder if that scenario may be playing out again: the feds are investigating two-year-old leads into Rush Limbaugh's dozens of withdrawals of $9000 odd dollars from his New York bank account (banks must notify the feds of any withdrawals of over $10,000 in cash). Could Rush get sent up on money laundering charges? Can you say "poetic justice"? How about "lying loser"? And "fat," did we mention that he's really, really formerly fat? And don't forget deaf, richer than god, or the fact that he's Ted Bundy's third cousin on his mother's side.

James Carville and Mary Matalin's "K Street" is pretty much a goner:

"'K Street' is extremely bad," said TV Guide critic Matt Roush. "So much so that I don't see how it stays off any critic's 10 Worst list." Added USA Today critic Robert Bianco, who is based in Virginia, just across the river from the nation's capital, "Some people have said that it is a show that would only be of interest to people in Washington, and that's an insult to the people of Washington."

The ratings went into a downward spiral and the buzz quickly evaporated. As the show finished its 10-episode run, it was averaging only a 4.3 rating in HBO's universe, or about 2.2 million viewers. HBO hits such as "The Sopranos," by contrast, typically attract numbers almost five times larger. "The Sopranos" has attained a 20 rating in HBO households.

Meanwhile, on tonight's West Wing:

The president engages in a war of wills with the GOP house speaker (Steven Culp), resulting in a government shutdown; Bartlet seeks to end the fiscal crisis by challenging the Republicans in the halls of the Capitol.

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OK, this is my second time around on this post, having lost my first draft when my tv listings page crashed me as I checked on tonight's West Wing episode. Only three more posting days and I is out of here!

One word of caution: Steve's already making noises like he might be really busy next week. Ever since he finished his Bush Lies cover story and we draped his cape over him as he slumped down in his editor's chair, he's been busy being editorial and not at all bloggerly. So send him an email to coax him out of bullpen and back onto the mound.

Posted by at November 19, 2003 10:41 AM

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