Media-Whore D'Oevres



"It’s good news for Obama that Hillary’s out of the race. But it’s also bad news. Now Republicans can turn their full attention to demonizing Michelle Obama. Mrs. Obama is the new, unwilling contestant in Round Two of the sulfurous national game of 'Kill the witch.' There are some who think it will be harder for America to accept a black first lady — the national hostess who serenely presides over the White House Christmas festivities and the Easter egg roll — than a black president ... In their narrative of how Hillary lost in The Times on Sunday, Jim Rutenberg and Peter Baker said that Mark Penn argued that Hillary should subtly stress Obama’s 'lack of American roots.' That’s a good preview of how Republicans will attack Michelle, suggesting that she does not share American values, mining a subtext of race." (MoDowd/NYimes)



"Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez slipped into the Hart Senate Office Building on Wednesday.. for a mysterious meeting inside presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) office. The Hollywood star, sporting a black cocktail dress and carrying an orange handbag, surprised staffers when she was spotted walking through the Hart atrium and taking the elevator to Obama’s seventh-floor office. When asked what brought her to the Hill, Lopez smiled. 'I’m not ready to do any press yet,' she said, her eyes hidden behind a pair of big, black sunglasses." (TheHill)



"Hippie Rome" via PatrickMcMullen)

"Given the fickle fashionista's current obsession with gladiator sandals, Monday night's Dance with the Dancers party, cosponsored by Salvatore Ferragamo and Elle, drew plenty of swans who traipsed about in their best bondage footwear, keeping with the night's 'Roman Chic' dress code ...Togas and head wreaths abound at the New York State Theater as guests, including Elise Øverland, Gillian Miniter, Debbie Bancroft, Alexandra Lebenthal, Debbie Bancroft, Douglas Hannant and Robbie Myers, who wore Dior, did their best to cope with the stifling heat and humidity--raising $300,000 in the process. The ornate costumes donned by Nina Griscom and Leo Piraino (rented from Abracadabra) allowed some ventilation, but not much else. 'It's not the kind of outfit you drag around Park Avenue in,' laughed the former, clad as a gladiator with the latter as a senator. 'Are you hippie Rome?' Charlotte Moss teased Charles Askegard." (Fashionweekdaily)

"Four hundred dedicated and generous opera lovers did just that last weekend to participate in the Washington Opera’s biggest fundraiser of the year, which essentially closes the city’s formal spring social season ... It was an international alphabet soup that included Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Morocco, Peru, Russian Spain, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. For dessert and dancing, everyone made their way to the residence of French Ambassador Pierre Vimont ... Twenty-four of us sat down to a candlelight dinner at the long and polished table, with the ambassador in the center. Across from him was Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who was briefly among the democratic candidates for president. To (Brazil’s ambassador, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota’s) left was Selwa 'Lucky' Roosevelt, a member of the Opera’s Board of Trustees, and to his right was Elizabeth Kucinich ,, The Kuciniches are vegans. While the rest of us dined on Terrine of Foie Gras and Pave of Brazilian 'Bacalhau' (or codfish cakes), they were served asparagus crepes and other vegetables. Elizabeth said it was her husband who was vegan first and got her to come aboard. 'Wherever we go we phone ahead to let them know and it’s not a problem,' she said." (NYSocialDiary)

"This past Saturday night, The Misshapes took over Santos' Party House to celebrate the launch of their website, and the birthday of Ms. Sophia Lamar. Both floors of the club were totally packed with revelers, with a heathy combination of old and new faces." (Papermag)

"'Post Bang: Comics Ten Minutes After the Big Bang!' nobly sought to map the dimensions of this ostensibly new cosmos. Organized by Art Spiegelman and Kent Worcester, and sponsored by the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU in collaboration with the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, the all-day symposium—comprising four panels and two creator interviews—kicked off the weekend-long MoCCA Art Festival. Pacing myself, I attended two of the panel discussions and both interviews." (ArtForum)

"Given the looming importance of national security concerns, I used to think that Virginia's pugnacious junior senator, Jim Webb, an ex-Marine, would be Obama's most prudent running mate. Obama doesn't need some veteran pol like the 66-year-old governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, who would simply make Obama look younger than he is. Arizona's ebullient Governor Janet Napolitano would certainly fill out my Italian-American dream ticket and help to nail down the Southwest. But I've come to feel that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is Obama's best bet. She is a polished public presence who epitomizes that cordial, smoothly reassuring, and blandly generic WASPiness that has persistently defined the American power structure in business and government and that has weirdly resisted wave after wave of immigration since the mid-19th century. An Obama-Sebelius pairing would be visually vibrant and radiant, like a new day dawning." (Camille Paglia/Salon)