Media Minutiae: SCOTUS, Bad News, Bad Taste and Bad Showtune References Edition
Nobody knows what it's like to be the bad man, to be the sad man...: It's official: Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts is dreamy. He's not saying a whole lot of course but if it's true that blue eyes will get you halfway there then this guy's got it all locked up (as if he doesn't already). I mean, did you SEE the front page of the New York Times yesterday? Was there anything else on it besides Judge Roberts' blue eyes? This is probably because he won't answer any questions -- a source of endless frustration to Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate, who seems to want to take him by the shoulders and shake him into emoting (or is that the Senators? Either way, John Roberts has no desire to feel the motion, feel the motion, down the hill)(Lithwick opts for a very nice Star Trek reference over musical theater: "Doesn't she know Vulcans only get feelings once every seven years? And then only long enough to mate?"). Point being, there may be something behind those blue eyes, but we probably won't know what until he's the head of the highest court in the land. Roll the dice, baby! [Slate]
And by "bathroom break" I mean... Apparently Reuters caught Bush and Condi passing notes in class. "But what's the problem?" thinks Condi, swinging a Ferragamo shoe playfully off her toe. "Shouldn't a woman be able to pass notes with her husband?" [E&P]
Let's file this under "Things We Really Didn't Need To Know Just Now": We usually enjoy Slate's "Explainer" column, but not today. Still a little soon. Because news like this is still all too fresh.
All too fresh, for all too long:Newsweek reporter Michael Hastings writes again from Iraq with more bad news: while the recovery for Katrina is just starting over here, they're having "the deadliest day since the fall of Saddam." Hastings wonders how to frame the news from Iraq; do we want the good news first, or the bad news? Because there is good news: he attends a smoothly-running school in the second week of the school year, sharing in some cake and the justifiable pride of his Iraqi hosts; and he wants to report, too, that the soldiers who have been protecting him on excursions are around the city are great, solid guys. But there is bad news, awful news, like suicide bombs and then still more suicide bombs. So he wonders, "how should I focus my coverage today?" and just gives it to us straight. It's interesting to remember that what we're getting is only what they're giving us -- and that's the stories that weren't spiked last week for Katrina, or won't be spiked this week to make way for Britney's baby. [Newsweek]
Amanda Ernst
