Entry 13:

Harry,

Mea maxima culpa. I had seen the Wallace and forgotten. As for "Le Show," I'm going straight to the Web site.

I totally agree re Chris Matthews. I find the guy personable whenever I see him around Washington. But the show's pretty unbelieveable. I try to imagine "Hardball: 1776." "Isn't this whole Declaration thing just a bunch of Monticello elitists sitting around telling the rest of us--us common folk--what to do? I mean, he's up there with Sally Hemmings lecturing to the rest of us about virtue. Give me a break."

You got a take on Mayor Riordan? I saw him on one of these millennium shows flicking the Hollywood-sign fireworks with Jay Leno, which seemed pretty goofy. But from a distance, he seems pretty good at making the trains run on time without Giuliani's authoritarian tenor. Also, how does Di Fi manage to run without a serious opponent? It seems fairly amazing to me that they can't find a Repub of any heft to put up against her.

I love Dole endorsing Bush at the same time Kennedy endorses Gore. Is this not like the meeting of the five families in The Godfather. "We sell the drugs. But it never goes into the neighborhood." I half expect to hear Poppy drive away with W.: "McCain is a ... pimp. It was not until this day that I realized all along it was ... Dole."

What would be wrong with a Germond tour d'steakhouses and racetracks? Believe me, it was easier greeting the day with an Apple column on San Marzano tomatoes than a column on the Greenspan reappointment. Gotta run.

--Matt