Monday, January 27, 2003

Free Ride for Ritter? Howie Kurtz, the WaPo's more than efficient media critic is the only one so far to ask a few hard questions about the coverage of Scott Ritter's pervy activities in a MacDonald's parking lot two years ago. He gave it a segment of his CNN Sunday show, Reliable Sources - quizzing a blinking and flummoxed Newsweek reporter as to why this weeks' issue runs a feature on the Sweet Potato Queen and did not cover Ritter. The answer? "Maybe next week." Howie's column this morning (scroll on by human shield wannabe Janeane Garafalo's babblings) brings up the non-coverage again. Way to go, Howie.

Killing Time: This new Gallup poll tells us that Americans want to give those ludicrous Keystone Inspectors more time to dork around the Iraqi landscape finding nothing. It's an easy position to take when those polled don't get it. By Wednesday morning after the State of the Union wakes everybody up - they will.

Bus of Fools: Here's the most pathetic story of the morning. Three buses full of people no one may ever see again left London yesterday on a two-week journey through Europe, Turkey and on to Baghdad. The most excitement they will get will most likely be agonizing bouts of diarrhea and the flu. All seem to have the collective delusion that their presence there will change anything that is about to happen. Perhaps they are unaware that a host that gasses his own people is unlikely to have the best interests of this ragtag crew in mind.

In Case You Missed: The most important story of the weekend may have not reached you. We suggest you start your week with John F. Burns stomach wrenching piece in the Sunday New York Times (yes, the New York Times). While documenting the horrors Saddam has committed, he makes one of the most telling points that paper has permitted to be printed. That Saddam's atrocities alone justify the world's outrage and intervention. It will be interesting to hear how liberals, peaceniks, know-nothings and bus loads of nut-balls answer this.

Martha's Role Model: In her first interview since being hung out to dry, Martha Stewart names Hillary Clinton as her idol and says she hopes to be like her. She also says that people hate her because she insists on really thin chopsticks. We kid you not. How can someone who got it so right - in the end - get it so wrong?

-Your Sometimes Bewildered LComStaff