As long time readers of this space--all three of you--know, I like to start my reading with the Guardian (and on Sunday, the Observer), my favourite newspaper. Lately, and for the next weeks, the Guardian's ace political writers (O Simon Hoggart! O Backbencher!) are center stage as Gordon Brown ends his ten year wait for Tony Blair to get on his bike, as they say on EastEnders. I predict Americans will learn to like Brown even more than they liked Blair. The press' fascination with all things English will give him a lot of U.S. exposure, and when he stands up to Bush it will be one more nail in the Republicans' coffin.
Meanwhile, in presidential politics, I read today with interest of the Irish roots of the man one village calls O'Bama, and of how Bill Clinton is only allowed to talk to Mark Penn about his wife's campaign.
That possible canard is in the Times' yawner about the supposed still-emerging strategy in Hillary Clinton's campaign over the role given to her husband. We've seen media coverage ping pong between "he's a liability" to "he's essential" and today's story falls in the latter camp. But it fails, as do most of these pixel-wasters, to grasp the point that this debate is over. It's clear that Bill and Hillary Clinton are once again running as a team, which as everyone who's ever known them has said, is what they've done forever.
As I"ve said before in this space, everyone who says terrible things about Hillary Clinton probably wouldn't vote for any Democrat anyway. But enough people who are pleased at the prospect of having Bill back will happily vote for Hillary.
Finally, via the always essential Political Wire, I got a chuckle out of this knucklehead. Read all about how Tommy Thompson says he misspoke about gay rights during the recent presidential debate because he had to go to the bathroom. You can't make this stuff up...and you understand why Tom Lehrer said when they gave Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize it made political satire obsolete.
