Snow White Survives

"John Edwards' decision to accept public matching funds to finance his campaign is a political blow but it's probably also the only lifeline he has to stay in the race," says Politico. "The simple fact is that Edwards was never going to keep pace with the Democratic front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, or the upstart campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama."

It was inevitable, given all the snarking about the Thompson marriage, but now Jeri makes her move:

"Sources close to Fred Thompson's campaign tell The Brody File that Fred's wife, Jeri Thompson will be featured in People Magazine. The article is expected to run next week.

"Jeri Thompson has pretty much stayed behind the scenes and not granted interviews. Clearly, what the People Magazine article will show is a different side of her, a side that shows her to be a mom of two young children. A lot of stories have been written about her (many of them not very flattering) but let's remember here that while she's active in her husband's campaign, she's more active in raising two young children."

You know who else used People to soften the old image? Bill, pictured with Hillary and Chelsea, back in 1992.

I've linked a number of pieces critical of Dan Rather, so here's a different view in Salon by former Clintonite Sid Blumenthal:

"Dan Rather's complaint against CBS and Viacom, its parent company, filed in New York state court on Sept. 19 and seeking $70 million in damages for his wrongful dismissal as 'CBS Evening News' anchor, has aroused hoots of derision from a host of commentators. They've said that the former anchor is 'sad,' 'pathetic,' 'a loser,' on an 'ego' trip and engaged in a mad gesture 'no sane person' would do, and that 'no one in his right mind would keep insisting that those phony documents are real and that the Bush National Guard story is true.'

"If the court accepts his suit, however, launching the adjudication of legal issues such as breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference with contract, it will set in motion an inexorable mechanism that will grind out answers to other questions as well. Then Rather's suit will become an extraordinary commission of inquiry into a major news organization's intimidation, complicity and corruption under the Bush administration. No congressional committee would be able to penetrate into the sanctum of any news organization to divulge its inner workings. But intent on vindicating his reputation, capable of financing an expensive legal challenge, and armed with the power of subpoena, Rather will charge his attorneys to interrogate news executives and perhaps administration officials under oath on a secret and sordid chapter of the Bush presidency.

"In making his case, Rather will certainly establish beyond reasonable doubt that George W. Bush never completed his required service in the Texas Air National Guard."

With that verdict, I guess we don't need to bother with the trial.

My advice to all companies: If you're going to adopt a policy -- say, banning abortion rights text messages from your cell phones -- that you will have to cave and reverse five minutes after it makes the front page of the New York Times, don't do it.

This here is the story of a White House coverup, foiled at the last minute:

"Childrens do learn. So do presidents. And White House press secretaries.

"That was the word (words?) Thursday from President Bush's spokeswoman, Dana Perino, after a Washington kerfuffle over a grammatical slip-up by the president in New York the previous morning.

"At an appearance with city officials, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Bush sought to spotlight his signature education bill, No Child Left Behind. The president pronounced himself pleased by a recent report that math test scores have improved, citing it as evidence that the law is working.

" 'Childrens do learn,' the president said, 'when standards are high and results are measured.'

"For a president who likes to joke that he can barely speak English -- and whose every malapropism is dutifully recorded by the White House press -- the mistake was hardly out of character. (As a candidate, he once asked, 'Is our children learning?') But when the official White House transcript of Wednesday's remarks appeared, the 's' in childrens was nowhere to be found.

"Ms. Perino, who took over as press secretary this month from Tony Snow, told reporters on Thursday that White House stenographers were responsible for the disappearance of the 's' and that she had instructed them to correct the correction by putting it back."

Nixon thought Jack Anderson was a "skunk" and Kay Graham a "terrible old bag." Shocking, that man's language.

Ever get the feeling that the blogging community is rather incestuous? If so, I give you this paragraph by Garance Franke-Ruta:

"Why the blogosphere is like being trapped at a cocktail party with the same 50 people forever:

"For anyone who ever thought the blogosphere was insular, I'd like to lay out all the relationships behind today's D.C. cafe society contretemps, because it's actually kind of funny. Brian is/was Ezra's roommate. Sommer is Matt's friend. Ezra is staying with Matt here in NYC while we are all up here for the Clinton Global Initiative. Alex and I are friends, as are Alex and Megan. Matt and Ezra and Megan went shooting together on Yom Kippur (bad Jews!), along with Dave, who is throwing a joint birthday party with Brian later this week. Also, Megan and Matt work together. And I used to work with Matt and still work with Ezra. And I think we are all Facebook friends."

Whatever.