She Just Doesn't Get It

Hillary claims that her lie about landing in Bosnia under "sniper fire" was due to sleep deprivation. Well, I'm sleep deprived like the mom of a newborn but I don't think I was ever under sniper fire.

Here's how CBS News reported the trip at the time:



I suppose next John McCain will be saying that he visited a market in Baghdad while it was under nuclear attack...

Tom Moran

The Oldest Profession

Like everybody else, I've been watching and reading about the whole Eliot Spitzer scandal on TV and in the papers, and it's amazing to me how people are missing the real issue involved.

Granted, it's easy to miss the real issue because people think the story is about Eliot Spitzer, and the fact of his incredible hubris and hypocrisy (which, you have to admit, is mind-boggling) does tend to cloud the issue somewhat. But there is a larger issue to be discussed and no one (as far as I know) in the mainstream media is discussing it.

Let's think about this in the abstract -- as a "thought experiment" as Bill Bennett might say.

A man, married and with three daughters, has trysts with high-priced call girls. He's wealthy and using his own money. Aside from his wife, whose business is it?

And even if it is a politician, why should we give a shit?

People get all moralistic about this to the point where they deny reality. Politicians are powerful men with powerful drives -- and such men have large amounts of testosterone and high libidos, libidos that are, more likely than not, not likely to be contained within the friendly confines of a monogamous relationship. That's just a fact, inconvenient though it might be.

The more powerful they are, the more likely they are to fuck around. You want a politician who stays faithful to his wife and never screws around? You get Richard Nixon.

These sorts of things happen every day and we're always shocked -- shocked! -- when they happen. Granted, Spitzer's was a particularly awe-inspiring, almost Swaggart-esque form of hypocrisy, but the principle remains the same. Powerful men have powerful drives, and one of those drives is sexual.

Isn't it time we grew up about this?

The internet has revolutionized prostitution, and it's time to admit it and to legalize it. What two consenting people do alone in a hotel room, even for cash, is no one's business, and it shouldn't be considered a crime. Other countries are far more sane about these things, and it's time that we as a nation grew up, stopped being childish and just admitted that there are men who want sex and women who want money and these two are going to find each other to take care of each other's needs no matter what obstacles, legal or otherwise, are put in their way.

A long time ago I had a conversation with a call girl when she was, so to speak, off the meter. She was the friend of a friend of mine and we ended up talking all night. It was a very revealing conversation, and ever since my take on the subject has been tinted by what I learned from her. I don't know whether I've written about this before in the blog (I suspect I have but I'm not going to look it up), but the inescapable fact is that, for young attractive women in New York City, giving it up for money is always an option. Always. I remember having a conversation some years ago with a struggling young actress and when I told her how much call girls could make in one night she sighed and told me, "I'm so glad I didn't know that when I first got here." Meaning that, if she had known that, she might have ended up a call girl.

From the media reports, Ashley Alexandra Dupre (the young call girl in the Spitzer scandal) is a party girl with a troubled past, ambitions for a music career and expensive tastes. She's also a dead ringer for the Australian actress Rachel Griffiths -- so much so that if I was a producer on ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," I would seriously think about giving the Walker clan one more illegitimate daughter. It would give the ratings for that show a much-needed boost.

She's young and gorgeous (if you can overlook the skanky tattoos, which I can't) and by all accounts very good at what she does. So why shouldn't she do it?

It's time to begin the discussion about legalizing prostitution. If not in the country as a whole, at least in New York City. And as the new governor takes the oath of office tomorrow, perhaps he should consider bringing up with the state legislature the idea of recognizing reality, and at the very least decriminalizing an act that occurs between consenting adults.

Politicians recognizing reality. Wouldn't that be refreshing?

Tom Moran

Between Barack and a Hard Place

This is not an easy time to be Barack Obama.

He has aides caught in what they thought were off-the-record statements calling Hillary Clinton a "monster" who will do anything to win, and Clinton aides are comparing Obama to Ken Starr. When asked if Obama was a Muslim, Hillary hedged, saying that he wasn't "as far as I know." The Hillary Slime Machine is in full force, attempting to do what they can to drag Obama down to the level of the Clintons. She's even suggesting that as far as national security goes, McCain woulf be preferable to Obama. Can't wait to see that turn up in a Republican ad this fall.

Ironically enough, this has the effect of proving Samantha Powers, the Obama aide who called Clinton a "monster," to be more or less correct. Clinton will do anything to get elected -- and that's what some Democrats want. They're tired of seeing their candidates go down to defeat after being swiftboated by Republican hacks -- they want to do their own swiftboating.

This mindset was explicated for me by a highly intelligent friend I spoke with the other day. They see Clinton as vicious and unprincipled but they see Obama as another Jimmy Carter -- too soft to be president. To get anything done, this argument goes, you have to be an unprinicipled vicious son of a bitch -- which, they claimed, Clinton has proven herself to be.

The problem with this argument is that it placed Obama in an untenable position. If he doesn't respond to Clinton's scummy attacks, he's a wimp and not suited to be president. If he does respond in kind, then he's a phony and doesn't deserve to be president.

He loses either way. Gotta love these Clintons. They'll do whatever it take, no matter how slimy it is. Winning is everything.

Bob Herbert in the Times offers a hint as to how Obama should respond:

Whatever anger and frustration he may be feeling, he should stick to the high road. He can’t win wrestling in the mud with Hillary Clinton. That will not put Barack Obama in the White House. Mr. Obama’s strength was his message of hope and healing, the idea that he could bring disparate groups together to work on the nation’s toughest problems. That has gotten him this far, which is much further than almost anyone expected.

He now needs an added dimension. He needs to articulate a vision. He needs to spell out to voters where he wants to take this country over the next few years, how he will alleviate the suffering of millions trapped in vicious economic circumstances and what he will do to restore the honor and prestige of the U.S. around the world.

It would be nice to see that happen. But in order for that to happen he can prove he can respond to the Clintons and their slimy attacks without getting covered in mud himself. That's not going to be easy. President Eisenhower, in a similar situation regarding Senator Joe McCarthy, once famously said that he "wasn't going to get into the gutter with this guy."

Unfortunately, that might not be an option for Barack Obama.

Tom Moran

From The The "Get A Life" Department

I know that there has been some controversy over Diablo Cody's win of a screenwriting Oscar for "Juno," but it's not something I could overly relate to, since I have either read the script (which has been published) or seen the film (which is still in theaters). I know, lazy fucking me.

I did read her book, and I wasn't all that crazy about it. But that's another story.

But I know that some people get seriously bent out of shape on the subjects of "Juno," Diablo Cody and the film's star, Ellen Page. I just wish I understood why.

And then I saw this clip on You Tube.

I'm wondering what you think of it. This young woman absolutely horrifies me. Where does all this venom come from? I mean, really.

Check out the video and see what you think:



Does this girl need some serious therapy or what?

It almost makes me want to see the movie, if only to discover what could possibly inspire such near-pathological hatred in what looks to be a perfectly ordinary young girl.

Tom Moran