Media-Whore's D'Oevres

"Vanity Fair is tapping 'power moms' like Kathy Hilton and Dina Lohan for an upcoming article" (FashionweekDaily)

"The Television Critics Awards, bestowed Saturday night in Los Angeles, is an odd event: Praise and prizes handed out to stars and producers, some of whom have been savaged for their earlier shows by newspaper, magazine, and online scriveners ... David Chase, making a rare public appearance since the conclusion of The Sopranos, ... turning to the TV critic from the Newark Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall, and said, 'I'm from New Jersey; you're from New Jersey... explain to the people that it is entirely possible to be sitting in a restaurant in New Jersey and everybody just stops.'" (Popwatch)

"Hillary Clinton--a good night. Very quick tactical move to challenge Obama on his desire to talk to "foreign leaders." Of course, substantively, Obama and Clinton would lay the exact same groundwork before meeting with those leaders. But Clinton's pointing out that the groundwork had to be done was, dare I say it, judicious and presidential...and made Obama look, well, inexperienced. Obama--a pretty good night. But I fear that the operative sound bite will be Hillary's foreign leader takedown. Also, he's just wrong: the only way to get to universal health insurance is through a mandate. No two ways about it." (Joe Klein)

"Ever since the US became bogged down in Iraq and the President's yearly pronouncements about progress have turned out not to be wildly exaggerated, the President has consistently blamed the generals. For example, when it became clear that the US did not send enough troops to secure Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein, President Bush claimed General Franks, the combatant Commander, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff assured him that we had enough troops to succeed. And during 2005 and 2006, as the violence in Iraq and American casualties increased, the President said that General Casey the Commander in Iraq had not asked for more troops. Of course, Bush never mentioned the fact that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld made it clear to the Generals that they would not get more troops. And that Rumsfeld and his top lieutenants had publicly criticized General Shinseki, the Army Chief of Staff for having the temerity to testify before Congress that several hundred thousand troops would be necessary to stabilize Iraq after the regime change." (HuffPo)

"The Beckhams' crash into L.A. last week didn't always smell like roses, what with Posh's prime-time special blasted by the critics and Becks' team failing to score in his first game Saturday. But that didn't mean the hosts of their Hollywood-style welcome bash — the Cruises and the Smiths — nixed the hundreds of blood-red rosebuds scattered under glass tabletops at their Sunday night party downtown. The 600-strong love fest, held behind barriers at the Geffen site of the Museum of Contemporary Art, drew out the likes of A-listers including Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria, Brooke Shields, Bruce Willis, Stevie Wonder, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and, of course, Victoria Beckham's longtime manager, 'American Idol' creator Simon Fuller. But inside it was hardly the star magnet expected — some insiders having buzzed it would rival Vanity Fair's Oscar blowout. Suffice it to say, VF editor Graydon Carter's pull in these parts remains unscathed." (LAT)