A Little of the Old In and Out

In: Richard Clarke's story optioned by SONY Pictures. Clarke is the envy of K Street, not only because Simon and Schuster bent over backwards to place him on all the Top Drawer programs in town -- Tim Russert, 60 Minutes and Chris Matthews; but now he has that which many secretly covet: Hollywood fame. Most have to settle with some adricultural subcommittee chair, secretly wishing that they could have all the glamour as well as the power and lobbyist kickbacks. Aint life a bitch.

"Clarke was repped by ICM in the deal," wrote Gregg Kilday of the Hollywood Reporter. How many times on K Street is someone repped by ICM?


Out: Cofer Black was "reassigned" at the last moment yesterday. What a coincidence that Saturday is the slowest news day, no? We would not entertain the possibility that the White House wanted the least possible coverage of that bit of news. Bob Woodward and Dan Eggen write in the Washington Post, "In other developments yesterday, CIA officials said Cofer Black, head of the agency's Counterterrorism Center for the past three years, has been assigned to another position. They described the move as part of normal turnover at the agency."

In: Doonesbury. Gary Trudeau's daily syndicated strip has got it's groove back. After Iraq, Trudeau protrayed the President as a floating Imperial Roman helmet, as opposed to a floating cowboy hat, as he had during the campaign. Either way, an administration deaf to nuance is shown in all it's imperial Daddy-issues swagger.

Out: The Swan. Natalie Chicha is brilliant today, a swan in her own right, in passionately denouncing this reality trash:

"We love to hate reality TV, and reality TV knows that. It cues our hate to keep us watching, like a bullfighter taunting a bull: waving red to draw our attention and anger. Usually, the red flag � the brandished target for our hate � is a loathsome character, the best example from this season being The Apprentice�s Omarosa. And, for the joy of the game, we pretend that the flag is live prey, rather than a manipulation introduced and controlled by the bullfighter.

"But The Swan, which ran an encore debut last night, drapes the red around the bullfighter and knots it like a cape. Other shows have had equally shallow and enraging premises �remember Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? But the premise always drew equally shallow and enraging contestants, while the contestants on The Swan don�t seem shallow so much as insecure and clueless. The show itself is the villain, the only target for our hatred. But the question is, is The Swan purposefully loathsome, or just deeply hypocritical?"