Sometimes you have to suffer for your art

Media Upset With DNC Restroom Facilities:

BOSTON - Media members, already perturbed by long security lines, may find themselves waiting in line for something nearly as important. As the majority of the print reporters arrived Saturday at the FleetCenter for the Democratic National Convention, tongues clucked when they saw the restroom facilities that they will be using for the next week.

Twenty portable restrooms, like those used on construction sites, are lined up in front of the media pavilion to service nearly 1,200 members of the print media who will be working around the clock. That's about 60 serious coffee-drinkers per toilet.

"That's absurd," said Jim Drinkard, a political reporter for USA Today, when he heard of the ratio of toilets per media member. "This is not the type of planning you'd expect out of someone trying to be a good host."

Drinkard, who is also the chairman of the Standing Committee of Correspondents, said he was told by the DNCC, the committee in charge of planning the convention, that the lack of toilets was a move aimed at cutting costs.

Democrats cutting costs! Must not be the taxpayers' money.

Drinkard also said the quality of the toilets was insufficient.

"We were led to believe there would be trailer units," Drinkard said, referring to the restrooms used at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Drinkard said that the trailers could get pretty unpleasant after a week of heavy use.

"But they are much better than Porta-Johns," he said.

Sheesh, they know the press is really full of it and the come up with the portacrapper plan. When the press ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

UPDATE: It occurs to me that the portacrapper plan is likely for print reporters and other members of the proletariat. I'm sure the network talking hairdos have their own executive crapper arrangements. If not - someone get a snap of Dan Rather standing in the PortaPotty line!

Besides needing an urgent Botox boost (click to supersize), the Lurch campaign has some other "issues" as they traipse towards the convention.

Mickey Kaus (July 22, 6:12 PM) spots a weird one:

Kerry was so soporific and frozen-featured in his Tom Brokaw interview last night (Wednesday) that while he was talking the network resorted to running moving photographs of a 9/11 poster, a candle, a child in a field of flags, a U.S. soldier on patrol, a flag-draped coffin, etc. --instead of the traditional head shot of the candidate answering the anchor's questions. ... Maybe next time they can show film of John Edwards on the stump or sneak in an update of the box scores.

Sheesh, when was the last time the newshawks had a "big interview" and did not focus on the subject? This guy's a real lead balloon.

Anyhow, the AP's Nedra Pickler entranced us all by running with the meme that Kerry to Show Soft Side Before Convention:

As John Kerry winds his way across the country and ultimately to Boston to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next week, he'll be talking more about something he hasn't discussed much in his campaign - John Kerry.

Nedra must not be keeping up with current events.

Many Democrats say he needs to reveal more of himself if he's going to win over voters. Besides, they say, his biography may be his best asset - particularly his lauded service in the Vietnam War.

Hey, did you know he served in Vietnam? And stabbed his fellow soldiers in the back when he returned after his four month resume-enhancing drive by? Hmm, they may skip the last part.

During the convention, Kerry hopes to move beyond his Senate voting record to define himself as a husband, father, combat veteran, tough prosecutor, national security expert, outdoorsman and man of faith, according to a campaign message document.

They left out lying crapsack, but that's OK. We'll help him out. Follow the link for more heartstring tugging, but here's a sample:

This is an emotional side of Kerry that he rarely shows publicly. At campaign stops he often asks voters personal questions about their health, their age and even their income, but he doesn't reveal much about his own feelings or share personal stories. He usually leaves that duty to people who campaign with him, including his children, his wife and his former Navy crewmates from the Vietnam.

Sounds real warm to me!

Kerry communications director Stephanie Cutter said the convention and the events leading up to it give Kerry a chance to tell the voters "what's in his heart."

Gosh, he's going to share!

"By the end of the week, they'll have a sense of who the man is," Cutter said.

Then the campaign's in real trouble!

Nedra also has another high sugar update from Friday which reveals:

After the rally, the Massachusetts senator headed to Fitzsimons Army Hospital in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where he was born 61 years ago in December and lived for his first three months.

"I started making noise in here and I'm still making noise," Kerry said as he looked around the former nursery, which is now just an empty room.

Similar sounds too. And to reinforce the multifaceted John Kerry riff:

On Friday, his campaign unveiled a new television ad meant to do just that. In the ad, Edwards talks about "somethings about John Kerry you may not know."

Maybe they'll cover him meeting with the North Vietnamese in Paris for a songfest?

Closing the barn door after the horse's ass has got out

Archives Installed Cameras After Berger Took Papers

It's déjà vu!

The fat-faced punk in April:



And the fat-faced punk now.

On the other hand, his mother is probably overjoyed that he'll be out of the basement for a while so she can hose it down and air it out.

Statecraft's loss could be couture's gain!

The NY Times' tendentious coverage of Sandy "Hotpants" Berger has had many low points, but I liked the observation that "some Democrats suggested on Tuesday that the episode could severely hurt his chances of becoming secretary of state."

Click for a closeup of high fashion!

More National Archives Fun! (But not in Sandy Berger's pants)

In today's WSJ, Jonathan Last tours the National Archives Shop:

Most of what you find in the Archives Shop is what you would expect in a kitschy modern museum store. Reproductions of Confederate currency are on sale next to Lewis and Clark action figures (the set includes a bonus figure--Sacagawea!) and snow globes with a picture of Nixon greeting Elvis. There are T-shirts and posters and, of course, books.

Lots and lots of books, from "The Story of the Civil War Coloring Book" to Michael Beschloss's "The Conquerors," John Keegan's "Intelligence War" and solid biographies of Jefferson, Lincoln and LBJ.

And then there are the books on George W. Bush.

And here's a surprise, they are all anti-Bush whines by the most scrofulous of the usual suspects. The 3 volumes by Chomsky might be useful in case of a toilet paper shortage, but how about Michael Mann?

"I analyze and pick apart their 'new imperialism,' armed with my general comparative knowledge of power and empires, militaries and clerics, and fanatics of all stripes."

He knows something about fanatics. Discussing America, he solemnly warns: "For the sake of the world, it must be stopped."

Much more by following the link including a chat with the shop clerk who undoubtedly aspires to an IQ rising to room temperature. Jonathan asks:

Maybe the books at the National Archives really are just telling it like it is. After all, it's possible that George W. Bush is an illegitimately installed fascist monster leading America's military-industrial complex on a nuclear crusade for world domination. But what kind of dime-store dictator can't even crush dissent at his own bookstore?

Quite true. But I want to know why the government funded National Archives has a book store in the first place.

How can you tell the players without a scorecard?

Not to worry! The Media Research Center has your Convention Media scorecard right here. Because the real players are in the booth, not on the floor.

Asymmetric warfare

As with all good bureaucratic endeavors, the 9/11 Commission report has something for everyone. The Democrat members like Richard "Hatchet Man" Ben-Veniste, Bob "Poor Impulse Control" Kerrey and Jamie "My Ass is Covered" Gorelick managed to avoid an indictment of the Clinton administration's vacuous National Security policy. The Bush administration got an acknowledgement that just maybe when some foreign nutjobs attack your country, kicking their asses is the right thing to do, albeit with a strong dose of Kumbaya.

That may rate as a fair trade in some other galaxy, but doesn't impress me. What did the Commission do to honor the sacrifice of the ordinary citizens on Flight 93? Bureaucratic backrubs aren't going to do it, folks.

He's not just a pretty face!

John Edwards demonstrated his vast grasp of foreign policy on the Larry King show last night - Edwards: Foreign leaders want Bush out. I wonder if it hurts to have your head that far up your butt?

Today's Hoot!

Osama found in Sandy Berger's Pants:

War on Terror Over

The war on terror came to an unexpectedly abrupt end today as the al-Qaeda network kingpin Osama bin Laden was found hiding in the pants of former national security adviser Sandy Berger.

While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle celebrated the discovery of Mr. bin Laden in the former White House aide's trousers, this latest episode left Mr. Berger, once again, with much explaining to do.

The former adviser to President Clinton said that his lawyers would not permit him to divulge how, when, or why the world's most wanted man had found safe haven in his pants, but he did tell reporters, "It was an honest mistake."

More by following the link including Winona Ryder.