Ana Marie Cox has created a career out of one vice mankind has found perenially irresistible, gossip, in the one place, outside Hollywood, it is valued more than highly than discretion, Washington, DC. Combining trampy, bad girl titillation, a trashy mouth and being in the address book of key Washington hookers has fueled her notoriety. Cox parlayed a few dark secrets into a vocation by hinting that she knew all the dark secrets in a town obsessed with them. Clever girl she is, but I find her strident exertions to appear too hip and so cool, more profane and raunchy than everyone else as just simply trying too hard. Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was hip without effort; Ana Marie is a 21st century poseur. A taste of Parker:
If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
Having established her character flaws, I will say Cox is funny and original when she gets out of her own way. She has compiled a list of odd couplings between Republicans and Democratic operatives and found this to be her all-time favorite. I thought it was interesting enough to share:
WHAT HAPPENS IN HOUSTON…: Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff designate for Obama; Mark McKinnon, former Bush ad man and McCain strategist; David Axelrod, presidential adviser-designate for Obama; Bill McInturf, Republican pollster; Matthew Dowd, former Bush strategist. This motley crew, all with major roles in recent political contests, came together as consultants drafted for the 1991 Houston mayoral race of businessman Bob Lanier. All friends still, McKinnon and Axelrod remain the closest: “There the bond developed and never broke,” says McKinnon. “Although technically, neither of us live in D.C. Maybe that’s why we’re friends.” This dream team wound up guiding Lanier to victory, a feat McKinnon still marvels at: “On paper the guy was totally unelectable.” Emanuel ran opposition research—”hall of fame level,” says McKinnon—and the rest of the group argued and spent Lanier’s money. “Was great fun and it was a time we were all younger and most of us had more hair,” says Dowd. “And the conference calls together were quite the discussion.” In-fighting, however, was limited, perhaps due to Lanier’s instruction that the team need not argue about who would get the most credit or the biggest cut of the campaign budget: “Lanier was smoking a cigar, his size 14 cowboy boots on the desk,” McKinnon remembers. “And [then he] drawled: ‘Boys, just spend it till you waste it.’” There is a lesson here for Barack Obama, but I’ll let Axelrod figure it out.
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That given the right set of circumstances, anybody, including Hussein can get elected is what I draw from this. Hussein had insufficent qualifications and NO experience but still got elected. Hussein had no money but with the right group of spenders that wasn’t a problem. The economic situation allowed him to come in and make promises that he had no intention of keeping. But what helped Hussein the most was his ability to speak, albeit from prepared text. At least he was a good reader!! Well, he’s in and he doesn’t have to prove himself because the liberal media, who hyped him, will always blame have GWB to blame for everything bad that happens during Hussein’s administration. What a perfect scenario.
#1 Robert 1
Lanier was an immensely popular mayor and an old-time pro-business, pro-growth, centrist Texas Democrat. He came from blue-collar, Depression-era roots and knew how to talk to people and make them like him. Lanier could throw a party on his lawn in River Oaks and invite all the disparate poltical factions in the city and they all left thinking what a great guy he was. He was the last politician of his kind Houston will ever see. I was not a Lanier supporter, but I understand why he was elected 3 times with an 88% voter margin.
The only real cure for a cesspool like DC is a 20 megaton detonation centered over Capitol Hill. This would put an end to one of the greatest frauds in history.
Reply to No. 2: Wasn’t it Lanier who gave us Lee. P. Brown?
#4 Robert 1
Yes, and I will never forgive him for that.
My favorite Parker quote is
“No good deed goes unpunished.”
#4 Robert
I think it would be more accurate to say that term limits gave us Lee Brown. Fortunatey, they also got rid of him.
Reply to No. 7: Term limits did not give us Lee. P. Brown, Mayor Lanier did. And term limits didn’t save us because I don’t think Lee. P. Brown would be covered under term limits. We could have been stuck with him for a long time if the next administration was as dumb as Lanier. Don’t forget some dimwit gave us Bradford. And if memory serves me correctly, he was just a Sargent when he jumped over a bunch of people to become police chief. You would have thought with all those minority police chiefs there would be a better relationship with the minorites but that doesn’t seem to be the case—-Quanell Dime doesn’t trust or like any of them. “Back at you” Quanell Ten!!!!!
Her Nibs, Kathy Whitmire brought Lee P. Brown to Houston as Chief of Police. She stole him from Atlanta. They still laugh about that one in Atlanta. Lanier made him mayor with the aid of the commicrat newspaper we call the Commical.
I never liked Lanier but then he never had the opportunity to meet me personally and win me over. Our Homeowners association used to fawn over Lee P. and he always showed up at the Neighbors night out bbq. Still didn’t like him either.