A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via columbia)

In: George Stephanopoulos, Accidental Powerbroker? Did George Stephanopoulos inadvertently get Madeline Albright her gig at Foggy Bottom? That's our muddled Monday morning guess anyway. At the Chicago Tribune Printer's Row book fair in June 11th (Televised on C-Span), author John Harris told an interesting tale. Apparently, while giving a blind quote to the Washington Post, a Clinton official in letting slip that Madeline Albright was considered a "second tier" candidate for the State Department job (George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke were also up for the position), incurred the wraith of feminists.

As a result, protesters barraged the White House, carrying signs saying, in effect, that Madeline Albright was not "Second Tier." At the time it was widely noted that Clinton could not have beaten Dole by handy margs without the help of the soi-disant "soccer moms." As a result, Albright shot to the head of the pack and duly became the first woman Secretary of State.

But who was the anonymous Clinton staffer? Harris told James Warren of the Chicago Tribune that the mysterious Clintonista refused to go on record of having made the "second tier remark," but disclosed, wryly, that our man was, at present, a "former political advisor" with "his own television show."

Hmmm: Stephanopoulos?



" ... But his friends call him 'Bubbles'" (image via knesset.gov)

Out: Bibi Netanyahu. What, pray tell, was Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment) thinking when he resigned his cushy Finance post in the inclusive Israeli Government over the humane and -- IMHO -- goddamned noble Gaza pullout that Ariel Sharon has been attempting, against the growing forces of darkness, to bring into the light of day? Curiously, the opportunistic troublemaker made his "move" the day after Robin Cook, Baron of Thorndon, that principled and highly acclaimed British statesman shuffled off the mortal coil, and was gathering posthumous praise by the chattering classes on both sides of the Atlantic for resigning from the Blair government over the Iraq WMD issue.

And so, like clockwork, the settlers who resist evacuation and who have yet -- at this late date -- to ask for reimbursement from the Israeli government for their property throw their lot behind the ever-positioning, ever-divisive Netanyahu. Swell.

We won't entertain the possibility that the Machiavellian "Bibi" was exhibiting his naked ambition?



(image via cmukgb)

In: "Avids." It looks as if we are smack-dab in the midst of a "revenge of the nerds" moment that has reached, we believe, critical mass. With Microsoftian billionaire chic-geeks like Paul Allen rocking the most massive American yacht named -- ironically -- "Octopus (Averted Gaze)," as he squires high-calibre women like Mick Jagger's ex Jerry Hall (The dream-girl of every Baby Boomer heterosexual male, BTW), and superhottie euro-socialite Laura Harring around, this is clearly a nerd moment that we must address.

Hollywood insiders Uberguber and Peter Bart took AMC's "Sunday Morning Shootout" to the OK corral known to the cool-challenged everywhere as "Comicon," which is billed, unfortunately, as "The World's Largest Comic Book Convention (Averted Gaze)," to see what these early-adopters are melting their pocket protectors over.

To The Corsair's surprise, A-List director Brian Singer took time out from shooting "Superman Returns (Where, we hear, geek-pranksters are causing a ruckus)," to make an appearance at Comicon, as did Oscar winner Aeon Flux's Charlize Theron.

Charmed, I'm sure; and the geek shall inherit the earth.