Thursday, October 4, 2001

Quote of the Day

"There’s another thing that’s huge: Gore’s big rationale was that he got ripped off in the Florida recount. That’s all over now. After Sept. 11, George Bush was legitimately elected president of the United States."

Pro-Gore Democrat to Deborah Orin, New York Post

Today's Must-Read: Kudos to Andrew Sullivan, who is so consistently good, even when we don't agree with him, that it makes up for the eyeball twisting layout of his otherwise excellent website (www.andrewsullivan.com). His piece on the awakening of the left in the WSJ this morning is one of the best. One can almost hear the scales falling from their eyes.

Soul Search Payoff: The site is virtually wall-to-wall war this morning but to put you in the right frame of mind here is Deborah Orin's essay on why all should reassess Bush's first year and how his offbeat and sneered at approach to world leaders is all working out. In a more begrudging acceptance of Bush's on going success, the Washington Post quotes "European diplomats, commentators and policy analysts" as saying they are now "pleasantly surprised by White House's measured tones and methodical attempts." There now. Was that so tough, you guys? The subtext in all this is that Bush doesn't care if people love him or not - he's getting a job done.

The Chutzpah of It All: Gary Condit (remember him?) probably thought he could slip into reelection mode while we were all otherwise distracted and has begun to set up his re-up shop. He also put his Adams-Morgan apartment up for sale but when the real estate people walked a Washington Post gossip columnist through the place (who described 5 candles on the night table and big fat red one in the bath) he yanked it off the market.

Every Now and Then Some Sunshine: For those of us who still hold the sight of a terrified little Elian Gonzalez being bundled away tightly in our angry minds, there is a touch of good news. A court ruling says that Janet Reno can be sued for the outrage.

Noted With Apprehension: This morning a Russian airliner from Tel Aviv to Siberia fell out of the sky. Yesterday there was a horrible bus crash in Tennessee that killed six people. Yesterday afternoon an Indian airline plane was supposedly highjacked. When we hear this kind news, at least here this nervous city, we instantly think terrorists. We don't know yet about the Russian airplane but the bus crash was the work of a crazy person and the Indian airline highjacking was a "government drill." Does this mean that every pop, boom and tinkle of breaking glass means jumping out of our skins? Sadly, at least for now, the answer is "yes."

Your Grumpy LComStaff

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001