Plus: Giuliani attacked for living with a small dog!

Shi-Tzu-Baiting Rears Its Ugly Head in the Red States: Valerie Bauerlein of TheState.com reports on the recent debate in South Carolina between Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alex Sanders and Republican Lindsey Graham:

Sanders said Graham was the one running a TV endorsement from Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City.

"He's an ultra-liberal," Sanders said. "His wife kicked him out and he moved in with two gay men and a Shih Tzu.

"Is that South Carolina values? I don't think so."

Prediction: Sanders will get a pass for his gay-baiting a) mainly because it's the sort of deliciously cynical cheap shot reporters who enjoy covering politics savor; b) secondarily because he's a Democrat running against a Clinton-impeacher and won't be attacked by gay-rights groups; c) because he has some sense of comic timing; d) because he's a pretty appealing fellow; and e) because he's going to be repudiated by the voters... But Sanders probably should be blasted for it anyway. Over to you, Frank Rich.  ...[Links via The Note] 12:28 P.M.

A Jury of Her Peers: How dumb were prosecutors to let Peter Guber, former head of Sony Pictures, on to the Winona Ryder shoplifting jury? They must not have read Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters'  Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood. If the lawyers in the D.A.'s office do get hold of a copy, they perhaps should pay special attention to the pages cited in the index entry:

"Guber/Peters ...

and greed, 9, 108, 109, 119, 142, 148"

Can the prosecutors seriously think Guber is someone who's about to get all moralistic over a few missing hats and hair bands? ...

According to  the Los Angeles Times' report, Guber was asked about any personal or professional ties to Ryder, and answered "I was the chairman of Sony when one of the companies under our control -- she made a picture for them." Times reporter Carla Hall pointedly notes, "In fact, Guber ran Sony when Ryder was making three big budget movies" for its Columbia division [italics added]. ... Kf is told by knowledgeable sources that it's customary Hollywood business practice for studio heads to both approve  the decision to "greenlight" such movies and to approve the budgets (i.e. including Ryder's salary). ... Should prosecutors come to their senses today and try to bounce Guber, they might attempt to focus on the adequacy of his voire dire confession. (In the elevator of the Beverly Hills courthouse, according to the Times, Guber was overheard saying, in a more uninhibited fashion, "I have about as much chance of getting on this jury as the man in the moon. I only made three pictures with the lady.") ...

Note: The rest of the Ryder jury is less controversial. It includes two disgruntled French auteurs, one member of the Dogma group, three highly-regarded script doctors, a veteran "indie" actress and the television voice of the Ziploc "Gripper Zipper." After that, it's all independent producers. ... Actually, Hall reports, the other jurors "include a teacher, a UCLA graduate student, a woman who works at a fast-food restaurant, an aerospace engineer, a woman who works for a mortgage company, and an obstetrician-gynecologist" -- reinforcing the idea that the jury system, along with the DMV, is the last offical bastion of social equality and class mixing in America. Even (perhaps especially) in Beverly Hills. ... 12::14 A.M.

Sunday, October 27, 2002

If President Bush's strategists really grokked the (now widely-accepted!) Feiler Faster Thesis -- namely that voters are capable of and comfortable with processing new information increasingly quickly -- wouldn't they realize they can't coast to November 5 on a "tie-'em-on-domestic issues, beat-'em-on-the-war" strategy (as Howard Fineman indicated on yesterday's Chris Matthews Show that they'd try to do)? Wouldn't they know there is still time for a "wave" ( Larry Sabato's phrase) in the final week of the campaign -- maybe two or three waves? And wouldn't they therefore have some sort of news-cycle-starting announcement -- not just a presidential speech, but an actual substantive break, like Bush's generic drug initiative of last Tuesday -- scheduled for, say, every other day between now and the election? ... Or did they use up all their ammo too early? ... (The same save-it-for-the-end principle would apply to the Democrats, except that without the White House they have less ability to make news and change the political dynamic in the final week.) ... Update: Ipsos-Reid/Cook detects a small swing back to the Democrats, which would seem to be the default trend if the GOP tries to coast. ...  1:42 P.M.

Saturday, October 26, 2002

I think this is sincere, and moving. ... 11:16 P.M.