Short Cuts

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Headcount: Probably the most bias-free, hard-nosed and apolitical professionals on the scene today are television talk show producers. TV Week chatted a bunch of them up for their anonymous takes on the people who make their shows tick. We particularly like their warning to John Edwards to lighten up if he ever wants to get out of Iowa and their awareness of the predictable behavior of Carl Bernstein who bogarts the free limo provided to get him to and from the studios - fun stuff for a bleak war-nervous morning.

Anyone Ever Notice... How often Dan Rather tells us he is "a journalist," "a news man," "just a reporter" and talks about how much he "loves what I do"? (Like Terry McAuliffe's "end of the day" locution ( 17 times on one Meet the Press show alone)) Dan constantly repeats the boring throat clearer, "Reasonable people may disagree.") A shrink might say his constant reminders of his profession is self-deprecation. We say it is a case of Impostor Syndrome. Here's the best take on the impact of Rather's recent Suck-up in the Desert by Dennis Prager.

Excuse Us While We Lift: Our colleagues over at National Review Online feature a daily link to some cool site under the clever heading "Cool Site." A loyal Ldotter sent us this one this morning and we are going to hog it for ourselves because it is beyond cool - it is fantastic. Fan it around to your e-list. People should remember this stuff. Big time.

Where In The World Is KSM? If we are to believe the London Telegraph (and why not?) he's got a room with no view on the US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia (just in time for the high season). It is also emerging that his nickname in the Intel community was the "Playboy Planner." Seems he loves singing in karaoke bars (oh, for some footage of that!) and hanging out with Philippina call girls. This wouldn't make him a playboy by New York standards but for a devout Muslim it's pretty over the top. May we suggest that his singing days have just begun?

How's This for a Headline? On the front page of this morning's New York Times: Israeli Raid Snares A Foe, but Leaves Family Motherless. When is the last time you saw a headline like that to describe any one of hundreds of Jews blown up by homicide bombers. This kind of thinking comes from those who remind us that Saddam was a baby once. Grrrrrrr.

-Your Under-Amused LComStaff