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Russ Smith and Ellen Willis

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from: Russ Smith

George W.'s Rise; Hillary's Fall

Posted Monday, Aug. 16, 1999, at 10:40 AM ET

ELLEN:

My family and I returned last night from a week in Bermuda, where I managed to pick up a bad sunburn, watch my 6-year-old boogie-board in the Atlantic, and make sure my younger son didn't get swallowed by the undertow. My wife and I managed one night without the boys, going to a country club dinner with my brother and his wife, which was remarkable only for the dazzling array of photos on the walls. One in particular, of a (undoubtedly re-touched) Churchill when he visited the (mostly) golfing facility in the early '50s, was very striking.

Another change of pace for me was the lack of cable TV, save CNN, and the stateside dailies not being delivered until about 5 in the afternoon. Which was kind of cool: You'd get the meaningless Times fax with breakfast, but then read the Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Boston Globe before falling asleep. After days in the sun, and the arduous exercise of building sand castles and going swimming, it made me less angry at the morons who staff the daily papers.

But here's a question: Where have all the fact-checkers gone? One of my hobbyhorses is that the vast majority of dailies and magazines are overstaffed by at least 50 percent--there's a problem with unions for you--and still the quality, overall, is poor, especially in comparison with the upmarket British dailies. For example, in a sidebar to the letters section in today's Time magazine, an editor wrote: "Several people pointed out that while John F. Kennedy uttered the phrase ["Ask not what you can do ..."] in his Inaugural Address in 1962 ..." Now, of course, the date was '61 and you'd think one of the scores of editors and editorial assistants and assistants to editorial assistants could've snared that mistake. We run a small shop at NYPress, and make mistakes, as every publication does, but I find it inexcusable that large media organizations are rife with errors every day.

Today's New York Times has a teaser on the front page, "With Straw Vote In, Some Hint of a Race," that says Gov. George W. Bush really has a contest on his hands. You don't have to guess who wrote the story inside: Richard Berke, perhaps the most biased beat political reporter in the United States. In fact, it was a decisive win for Bush, and the Forbes camp, which outspent Bush considerably, was privately disappointed by the outcome, hoping to either defeat the governor or come within a few percentage points. Unless some catastrophic scandal is revealed--and drug use doesn't come close to alleged rape and illegal campaign contributions, but don't get me started--Bush will be the nominee. The Times, which must be apoplectic that Gore is on the ropes, will do everything in its power, from pictures to captions to editorials, to stop Bush. Which is fine; I just wish they'd declare themselves as partisan, as say, the Guardian or Telegraph in London do.

I may be going on too long, but one more thought. I read in the New York Post this morning about the Clinton family's house-hunting in Westchester. I don't believe Hillary Clinton will wind up running. She'll be creamed (meaning by 6 or 7 points) by Giuliani, and I suspect she'll end the campaign sometime in December. I think the final blow, ironically, was the tragic death of John Kennedy Jr. It pointed out that Hillary isn't a New Yorker, and that liberals and moderates would've far preferred Kennedy as a candidate. I think eventually RFK Jr., a solid New York citizen, or Andrew Cuomo will run. Personally, I'd love to see Charlie Rangel go against the Mayor: That would be entertaining politics. More later.

Best,
RUSS

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516171819
from: Russ Smith

George W.'s Rise; Hillary's Fall

Posted Monday, Aug. 16, 1999, at 10:40 AM ET
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Russ Smith is the editor in chief and owner of New York Press, the Manhattan weekly he founded in 1988. He writes the column "Mugger" for the paper. Ellen Willis directs the cultural journalism program at New York University. Her latest book, Don't Think, Smile! Notes on a Decade of Denial will be published this fall.
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