Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"There are two indisputable facts about politics. The first is that every modern president in the fourth year of his presidency resorts to the cheap political stunts, broken promises and truth-fudging it takes to win reelection in what has been and will be a 50-50 nation. The reason is simple: Politics is not clean-living; it’s survival. The second is that Barack Obama, for all his talk of moving beyond conventional political tricks, is doing just that, which wouldn’t be so glaring had it not been for his incessant call for a newer, cleaner and more transparent paradigm for American politics. So much for the high road: Victory is more important than purity. It’s debatable whether Obama is more crudely political than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan. But what’s transpired over the past several weeks isn’t debatable: He’s made a series of calculated, overtly political gestures that are far more transactional than transformational." (Politico)

"On Thursday night I went over to the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on East 68th Street between Park and Lex where Jodi Kantor, the author of the recently published biography of the President and the First Lady, 'The Obamas,' was being interviewed by Kati Marton. The evening was originally planned for a much smaller public room in Hunter College’s Roosevelt House on East 65th Street across from Restaurant Daniel but the demand for tickets was so great they moved to this auditorium. They filled the the place ... I haven’t read Jodi Kantor’s book yet. Someone will probably hit me for saying this, but there is a 'type' of New York Times reporter that separates them, image-wise, from other journalists ... Kati Marton wrote a book about First Ladies and That Job. She also has a lot of firsthand background experience in the worlds of journalism and Presidential politics, both professionally and through her husbands, the late Peter Jennings and the late Richard Holbrooke ... According to Kantor, the Obamas have a very quiet home life and social life which is centered around their family and two couples who are old friends of theirs from Chicago, and Valerie Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett is, if you did not know, an old friend of both the President and the First Lady. She is also an important Presidential advisor, and even looks after social details for them. There is no question to anyone dealing with Ms. Jarrett that she has tremendous access and therefore, presumably, influence on both the President and the First Lady. If anyone were to ask me who is the most interesting person in the White House, I’d guess Valerie Jarrett." (NYSocialDiary)

"What is the Syrian uprising all about? That’s an easy one. The Sunni Saudis are financing the Sunnis in Syria to get rid of the governing Alawite clique. The Syrian army is Alawite-led, the Alawites being a minority and an offshoot of Shia Islam. Get it? The Saudis fear Shiite Iran, which is helping Assad. The Sunni-led kleptocracies of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are posturing and threatening war against Iran’s Shiites and Syria’s Shiite-Alawite regime. It is the game of nations, a fight between Sunnis and Shiites in reality, but I don’t expect many of the Super Bowl-winning team’s defensive linemen to understand it. Russia is not the kind of country that plays nice for the hell of it. Russia sees the falls of Saddam and Gaddafi as part of a plan to draw countries into the Western orbit. Syria is the seventh-biggest Russian arms purchaser. The deepwater port of Tartus welcomes Russian warships. Putin dreams of a Russian return to the Soviets’ global standing. The Russkis have made a bet, and I think it’s a fifty-fifty one. As the great Marcel Dalio playing the croupier in Casablanca used to exclaim, 'faites vos jeux'—place your bets." (Taki)

"Bill Powers put it this way: 'They may be French, but they're all-American, because what do you get what you cross red, white, and blue?' Purple, of course—and the French-inflected crowd that packed into Tribeca eatery Super Linda last night to celebrate the magazine's latest issue. Olivier Zahm and Carine Roitfeld, a guest editor for this edition, swung by the back booth to say hi to Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde; tucked in with the photographer duo was Johan Lindeberg—BLK DNM was celebrating its one-year anniversary, and earlier in the day Zahm had pretty much literally put the magazine on the wall at Lindeberg's Lafayette Street shop. Robert Longo, who'd been there signing prints, got up from his seat to chat with fellow contributor Terry Richardson, while André Saraiva, who'd had an art opening at Powers' Half Gallery earlier in the evening, held court in a dashing scarf. Lindsay Lohan wore an overcoat, having caught a chill while outside on a smoke break. It's a Purple tradition of sorts that there be more guests than seats available, which led to cozy lap-sitting: Annabelle Dexter-Jones on Saraiva, Mark Borthwick on Waris Ahluwalia. The restaurant's Matt Abramcyk circulated, trying to keep the salads and meat platters arriving in due course. 'I don't eat the head,' Lily Donaldson said of the unshelled prawns that were going around. 'Only French people eat the head—they like to suck out the brains.' She scanned the room for Zahm, hoping he might confirm, but couldn't spot him." (Style)

"Some friends came over for dinner on Saturday, one a writer finishing a novel, who didn’t ask any questions about my novel or my schedule. The last thing he wanted to talk about was writing and I don’t blame him. Another friend, visiting form the city, said he felt sorry for me, isolated out here in the winter—he knew Anne had been in Florida all last week. I tried my best to convince him there was no need to feel bad for me, that I was actually having a good time and glad to be writing full time. New York and all the rest of the world will be waiting when I get back. In the meantime solitude is welcome, and in fact, when you’re really writing there’s a powerful feeling that company of any kind is the enemy. You have to be careful not to make it personal, not to get mad at your wife when she buzzes on the intercom to ask if you can help her open a water bottle, because she’s semi-incapacitated with a cast on her right arm. (Actually, the cast is coming off Friday afternoon, finally.) You have to be careful not to get irritated at a friend who calls with all good intentions, to see how you’re faring. Haven’t been doing much reading this past week though I have read a hundred pages of a galley—a forthcoming novel by a friend who wants a blurb. The book is good, I think it will be well-received in some quarters and might sell very well, but it’s just not doing it for me. I lost at least one friend over this issue, when I was so fastidious that I let a few minor scruples convince me to withhold my endorsement—which was stupid and self-important. And subsequently I’ve lost my self-respect once or twice endorsing books by friends that I didn’t think were very good. Not sure what to do with this one." (Jay McInerney)

"Nighttime, in her tropical garden. They lay in the hammock, the curve of the woven canvas eased them toward each other, encouraging an inclination to nestle, their faces close together inspired a sense of familiarity, of tenderness, and then they were kissing.…For sure this time she’ll let me……I wonder if he gives head……I’m sure she can tell from my kiss that I am a sexual superhero……Why does his tongue feel like a rolled newspaper jamming down my throat? Jesus! I must not gag. And she pulled away. 'Your eyes are gorgeous. Do you know that?' he smiled, speaking excitedly. What garbage! 'Thank you!' 'I’m not bullshitting you,' he said. 'I promise you one thing, I will never lie to you.' 'Really!' she said, pushing off from him. 'I lie pretty much all the time.'  They had been here once before. " (Christina Oxenberg)

"When Karen and Richard LeFrak hosted a party at Doubles for Harry Benson and Hilary Geary Ross’ book “New York New York,” at least one guest ignored the tony club’s jacket-and-tie policy. Interior designer Peter Marino and his pal Juan Carlos Menendez turned heads among the upper crust crowd by arriving in full-on leather biker gear. Gobsmacked guests included Steven and Kimberly Rockefeller, Blaine Trump, Wilbur Ross, Mario Buatta, Gillian Miniter, Jamie Niven and John Loring. Jay McInerney wrote the intro to Benson and Geary Ross’ tome, featuring pics of notable New Yorkers, including Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol and Mikhail Baryshnikov." (PageSix)