Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Quote of The Day

Q----Since nationally syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg has described Ms. McKinney as "aggressively stupid, pugnaciously ignorant, moronic and dim-witted," surely you won't dismiss this with a no comment evasion because that would suggest that you agree with Goldberg, wouldn't it? How do you and the President feel about her statement?

A----MR. FLEISCHER: I've not discussed this matter with the President and I'm not familiar with the second person's statements.

---From White House Press briefing Tuesday, October 30, 2001

W rethinks his position on the Yankees

The Fungus Among Us: As Tony Blankley pointed out yesterday, Bush not only has to fight the Taliban, he has to fight the White House press corps. He might have added, Congress. The news that is slowly surfacing leaves little doubt that Ashcroft & Co. weren't just blowing smoke about our newest high alert and by the end of today we will know more. Here's the Washington Times run down of the grief Tom Ridge is getting for doing his job.

And, here's Michael Kelley's latest - one of the few columnists around who has his eye on the ball.

Perfect Pitch by a Class Act: Here's the local New York paper's take on W's sterling appearance at the Yankee game last night. New Yorkers overlooked his not being a Yankee fan and roared with approval. On ABC, Peter Jennings commented that W shouldn't be surprised if he got booed. If he was, no one heard it for the cheers. W is happy in his own skin. What's Jennings problem?

My Spore's Bigger Than Your Spore: Just a tad late to the anthrax derby explanation game - health officials and Senator/Dr. Bill Frist told a closed meeting yesterday that the letter sent to Tom Daschel had the biggest spores of all and could have killed a whole bunch of people if it had gotten into the ventilation system. Didn't they tell us that had happened in their first announcement? Anyone sense a CYA going on here?

Kiss Elton John's Instead: Scroll down through Jason Gay's New York Observer piece on Rupert Murdoch apologizing for a News Corps columnist calling Christiane Amanpour a "war slut," (we thought it was a cleverly accurate phrase) for news that CBS will rebroadcast the Concert for New York benefit and cut out the part where firefighter Mike Moran told bin Laden to "kiss my royal Irish ass." No word on whether they will cut Hillary being booed off the stage. Let's pay close attention and raise hell if they do.

Jesse's Sheet Problem: When your kid is sitting in the kitchen crying because all the other kids are dressed in really cool costumes running around the nabe glomming goodies and he's not - just tell him the Rev. Jesse Jackson said we should send our treats to "Afghani children" (sic). The man simply doesn't know when to stop.

Your Dazzlingly Costumed and Treat Hungry LComStaff