How Scott Got Hot

As Chicago Tribune columnist Manya Brachear puts it, "Can a political figure join a house of worship without putting its spiritual leader or congregation under the microscope?"

In Vanity Fair, Todd Purdum examines former president Bill Clinton:

"To know Clinton is, sooner or later, to be exasperated by his indiscipline and disappointed by his shortcomings. But through it all, it has been easy enough to retain an enduring admiration--even affection--for a president whose sins against decorum and the dignity of his office seemed venial in contrast to the systemic indifference, incompetence, corruption, and constitutional predations of his successor's administration. That is, easy enough until now.

"This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife's presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife's reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton's own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What's the matter with him?"

Oh, and there is no "proof of post-presidential sexual indiscretions on Clinton's part, despite a steady stream of tabloid speculation and Internet intimations that the Big Dog might be up to his old tricks."

Purdum adds this disclosure: "My wife, Dee Dee Myers, was [Bill] Clinton's first press secretary. They have not been in regular contact since she left the White House, and she has not been a source for this article."

Bill Clinton's office didn't much like the piece:

"A tawdry, anonymous quote-filled attack piece, published in this month's Vanity Fair magazine regarding former President Bill Clinton repeats many past attacks on him, ignores much prior positive coverage, includes numerous errors, and ultimately breaks no new ground. It is, in short, journalism of personal destruction at its worst . . .

"This piece was written by Todd Purdum, who is married to Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary. Purdum's disclosure of this in the piece does not, as Vanity Fair apparently concluded, remove the obvious conflict of interest. It's a conflict that would likely not be contemplated at more reputable publications."

Wait a second. Dee Dee worked for Bill Clinton. Wouldn't she be considered a sympathetic source?

The memo goes on to cite past libel suits against Vanity Fair and to criticize Editor Graydon Carter's Hollywood deals.

Is John McCain cynical enough to win the White House? The New Republic's Noam Scheiber says it can't help McCain to be constantly bringing up the war: