House members declared a Frank Sinatra Day --- but it was a week ago, May 13.
Lawmakers didn't get around to voting on a resolution until today, voting 402-3 to name the day after the late entertainer. That was the same day that a new stamp was unveiled to honor Sinatra, who died on May 14, 1998.
Doctors have diagnosed Sen. Edward Kennedy with a malignant brain tumor, after he suffered a seizure on Saturday.
President Bush was said to be "deeply saddened" by the news, per The Page.
"Laura and I are concerned to learn of our friend Senator Kennedy's diagnosis. Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit. Our thoughts are with Senator Kennedy and his family during this difficult period. We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."
John McCain released this statement: "We hope and pray his doctors will be able to effectively treat his condition and that he will experience a full recovery. I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate, and I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate.”
Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama was followed by an aggressive schedule of campaigning for the candidate, including this appearance in East Los Angeles on Feb. 1.
But his campaign for the presidency in 1980, where he nearly toppled incumbent Jimmy Carter, is still a fabled moment in recent political history, topped by his speech at the Democratic National Convention that year.
Here's a clip of that campaign, from a documentary called "The Made-for-TV Presidency."
An exclusive to W&W: A well-placed source says that embattled CBS anchor Katie Couric will be attending the White House Correspondents dinner on Saturday.
A "CBS Evening News" spokeswoman says she hasn't been able to confirm or deny it.
Couric, who’s been the subject of news reports saying she is likely to relinquish her chair due to poor ratings, has not yet appeared on anyone’s list of Hollywood or media celebs planning to attend the annual bash, one of D.C.’s biggest.
Just about every dinner comes with a B-story --- drama beyond the dais. Could this be it? Last year, you may remember, it was Laurie David's run-in with Karl Rove.
---William Triplett
Just a few months after retiring Tony Soprano, James Gandolfini marked the return of his HBO roots in Washington on Wednesday with the premiere of a new documentary on wounded war vets.
Gandolfini is executive producer on "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq," which follows the aftermath of 10 veterans from the day they almost died to the present. The invitation only screening avoided the politics of the war and instead focused on the life-altering sacrifices some soldiers and Marines are enduring.
The evening was full of alternately surreal and moving moments, starting with one blind and battle-scarred vet laughing and joking during the pre-screening reception as if this were a typical premiere.The film depicts graphic onscreen images of mutilated flesh, intercut with dispassionate recountings of the various 
attacks. After it was shown, eight of the 10 vets ascended the stage --- some with great difficulty --- to a standing ovation.
Members of Congress and the Washington press corps turned out, but the guest who turned the most heads, and prompted the most curiosity, was Paul Wolfowitz, one of the Iraq war's chief architects. No doubt wanting the keep the focus on the vets, Gandolfini did not speak and kept as low a profile as he could. Wolfowitz did the same.
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Wireimage photos: Top, Cpl. Michael Jernigan and James Gandolfini; bottom, Sheila Casey, Army Chief of Staff George Casey and HBO's Richard Plepler.
At Jack Valenti's Hollywood memorial service on Thursday, his daughter Alexandra delivered a very personal eulogy, one that belied the public image of her father who died earlier this year.
The New York Times' David Halbfinger reports that the eulogy "not only pulled back the curtain on Mr. Valenti, a consummately prepared and famously discreet man, but also took some shots at his colleagues, the news media and the current administration in Washington."
Among other things, she recounted getting a call from Warren Beatty, who she said told her that her father's stroke "had been really inconvenient for me."
"Ms. Valenti said she had retorted that Mr. Beatty had some nerve: 'You got two pages in his book, and I got two paragraphs.'"
Halbfinger also writes that Valenti, according to his daughter, was no fan of President Bush. "'Saying her father had “more energy than me and all of you,' Ms. Valenti lamented what her father would miss: movies, elections and 'the conversations about how incompetent the president is.'"
Yes, everyone knows the late Jack Valenti not only reached across party lines but also brought political opponents together. Still, his gentlemanly spirit of unity may have outdone itself last night at MPAA offices in D.C., where many gathered in his name at a party in honor of his recently published memoir.
Spied across the room: XM satellite radio chief Hugh Panero embracing Recording Industry Assn. of America top lobbyist Mitch Bainwol.
XM and RIAA are locked in a bitter legal battle over an iPod-like device XM sells, which the music industry claims cheats labels and performers out of certain royalties. (Not true, XM has countered.)
Better yet: National Assn. of Broadcasters topper David Rehr jovially said he’d like to meet Panero. NAB is almost apoplectic over the planned merger of XM and rival satcaster Sirius and has been letting everyone know it.
But as Rehr observed, “It’s not personal.”
Jack would have been proud.
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Say it ain't so! How could a young woman whose only apparent talent is to carry on multiple affairs with congressional types who gave her cash and post sophomoric details of the trysts on the Internet go broke?
After all, didn't her slutty blog get her a book deal and a naked spread in Playboy, even? Why isn't she tittering all the way to the bank now??
Monica Lewinsky could answer that question. Not even the world's most famous former intern, whose name was once internationally synonymous with a certain sex act, elicits more than an, "Oh, yeah, whatever happened to her?" when mentioned these days.
Why should the mention of Jessica Cutler -- once known as "Washingtonienne" on the Web -- merit anything at all?
Alas, she's the latest sad example of media attention having nothing to do with whether you actually have something to offer the world. Can't really blame Cutler for thinking she was on her way: hounded by the press, a book contract from a legit publisher thrown at her, a guarantee of at least a million men seeing her in the buff. What 20-something wouldn't think, "Hey, I'm hitting it big!"
But in an age of shrinking attention spans, when anyone is lucky to be famous for even 15 seconds, the blinding spotlight of publicity doesn't validate anything other than one's fleeting value as eye candy. Did anybody really think that "Saturday Night Live" booked Lewinsky as a guest host at the peak of her notoriety because she had comedic talent?
This kind of thing happens in Hollywood all the time. But as politics and politicians increasingly entwine themselves with the power of celebrity, expect to see more of it in the nation's capital.
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Yes, the press and the government should always have an adversarial relationship, but who would’ve expected it in the form of battling bands?
On Monday night, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer and his group went note-for-note against chief White House spokesman Tony Snow and his motley crew, and if the flowing drinks, cheering crowd and shaking booty were any indication, a good time was had by all.
And in the National Press Club’s ballroom, no less – the same historic place where some five decades ago, an NPC official said, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev promised he would “bury” us.
Well, Snow and Schieffer had people dancing on Khrushchev’s grave, so to speak, all for a couple good causes.
The event – kickoff of a fundraising campaign for the NPC library – originated as a chance for Schieffer to bring in Honky Tonk Confidential, a D.C. band for which he’d written some tunes on their latest CD. “But it was my idea to bring in Tony’s band,” said Schieffer, who was looking to put a spotlight on more than just the NPC library.
“Tony and I are members of a non-exclusive club,” he continued during a conversation shortly before hitting the stage. “We’re both cancer survivors. And we thought by doing this, we could get focus some attention on the need for people to get physicals and not think of ‘cancer’ as an automatic death sentence.”
Schieffer had bladder cancer. Snow is once again fighting colon cancer, which recently returned, but he is back at work and continues to live as fully as he can.
“You’ve got to have some fun,” Snow said, adding with a wry smile, “I now pop chemo pills in senior staff meetings and wash it down with coffee. Weird taste.”
In jeans, boots and a cowboy hat, Schieffer twanged his way through all the originals he wrote for HTC and then some of theirs. Snow’s band – which featured a ringer, his friend and former guitarist for Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter – rocked their way through a mix of covers ranging from Willie Nelson to James Brown to Van Morrison to Chuck Berry and Jethro Tull.
Schieffer’s vocals (example below) resembled talking more than singing, but hey, he doesn’t sing the news at work. And Snow may be the only flute player who’s ever done – or ever will – an Ian Anderson imitation in white sneakers and a White House-logo T-shirt.
Based on the highly scientific measurer of applause known as the human ear, Snow’s band won by a semi-decibel.
Neither is advised to quit his day job soon, but the house was definitely rockin’ – even as Snow and Schieffer urged people between songs to get physicals.
---William Triplett in Washington.
Rep. Ed Markey is calling on the Pentagon to reverse its ban on YouTube and MySpace, noting that the sites are popular among troops and a key component of morale.
The Pentagon cited security and bandwith concerns in their decision to block the sites, along with about a dozen others.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Markey says that he does not "see how the selective blocking of these sites...will achieve the goal of ensuring operational security, as countless other sites have not been blocked." He notes that if "network congestion were an issue, for instance, it is surprising that no bandwith intensive gaming sites are on the list of prohibited sites."
Also critical of the move was Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, who told The Politico, “Believe me, I am going to jump on that like a June bug right now. I’ve got a call into the Pentagon saying, ‘Hey guys, what is the rationale?’”
The Creative Coalition has stepped in to defend the industry against regulation of TV violence. They released a statement this afternoon responding the FCC's report this week that recommended violence be regulated as it does indecency.
"We fundamentally disagree with the FCC’s notion that Congress must cleanup the airwaves. The FCC suggests that lawmakers could become Big Brother, and that's a scary reality," said Robin Bronk, Executive Director of The Creative Coalition. "We are not China. We are not Cuba. The FCC seems to have forgotten that the United States of America was founded on the principles of free speech and open expression."
"This is the first generation of children bombarded with hundreds of television channels and nearly unlimited amounts of online content, some of which is child-friendly and some decidedly inappropriate. There is no doubt that we all need to be vigilant about exposing our children to violent content, but there are better ways than censorship, which is un-American. We need to become a media literate society, not a censored one."
Speaking in D.C. on Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that environmentalism has reached a "tipping point" and that it has to become "sexy" in order to go mainstream.
His speech at a Newsweek-sponsored policy conference in Washington was aimed at burnishing his image as the leading environmentalist of the GOP. Many Republicans have either been global warming doubters or reluctant to take draconian approaches that would be onerous to the business climate.
Commentators in print and on the radio today have cast Schwarzenegger as everything from a bridge-builder who can unite the environmental movement with the conservative right to a man intent on making the issue his lasting legacy.
From the AP: ''Successful movements are built on passion. They aren't built on guilt,'' Schwarzenegger said, predicting that environmentalism was reaching a ''tipping point'' where it will move into the mainstream.
''I don't know when the tipping point occurs, but I know where – in California,'' he said.
Schwarzenegger likened environmentalism to bodybuilding, his first arena of success, which he said was once considered a marginal sport for weirdoes.
''It became mainstream, it became sexy, attractive, and this is exactly what has to happen with the environmental movement,'' he said.
Looking extremely unhappy to be pulled out of the audience, approaching the stage as if under duress, presidential adviser Karl Rove in the end got down. Big time.
And why not? It was the Radio & Television Correspondents Dinner, an annual schmooze-fest second only in style and glam to the White House Correspondents Dinner. A-list pols and electronic journos mingle in a friendly, quote-me-only-with-consent atmosphere.
Following dinner comes entertainment, provided this year by Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of the improv-driven "Whose Line is It Anyway?" The duo tapped Rove, one of CNN's many guests, to join them for a rap number they were going to do --- featuring him.
First they needed grist for their rhymes and asked Rove what his hobbies are. Stamp collecting, quail hunting and "tearing the tops off small animals," came the reply.
Dubbed "MC Rove," he was then told to shout out his name when asked. Cue heavy downbeat and turntable slides, then:
"He's all white from his head to his toes! What's his name?" "I'm MC ROVE!"
"When he's out quail-huntin' you'll find him down in the cove, but what's his name?" "I'm MC ROVE!"
And so on, as Rove even started bustin' some moves, which Mochrie and Sherwood had actually delegated to NBC Nightly News reporter David Gregory, whom they'd recruited for "back-up dancing," as they called it.
Both Gregory and Rove showed a lot more heart than rhythm, but by the end the thousand or so guests were laughing and applauding.
Even Rove's boss -- George W. himself -- got into the spirit of the evening, poking fun at himself and his administration. "We really blew the way we let those attorneys go," Bush observed humbly. "You know you've botched it when people sympathize with lawyers. Speaking of supbpoenas, it's good to see Speaker Pelosi tonight."
He reminisced: "Last year at this time, my approval rating was in the 30s, my Supreme Court nominee had been withdrawn, and my vice president had just shot somebody... ah, those were the good old days."
And he looked forward, noting that after leaving office, Bill Clinton had written a massive memoir. "I think mine will be a pop-up book."
By William Triplett in Washington.
President Bush poked fun at himself at the Radio and Television Correspondents' dinner tonight, quipping to a crowd of journalists and celebrities, "A year ago, my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone," he said. "Ah, those were the good old days."
The gathering is an annual D.C. ritual that mixes politicos, stars and journalists --- often with the President or Vice President using the occasion to prove that he can take a joke. Last year, Vice President Cheney presented a slideshow with pictures of him on a Segway with his dogs and a rifle. More famously, in 2004, Bush showed photos of himself looking around his office for weapons of mass destruction. That drew some criticism by Democrats, who accused Bush of making light of the war.
Other Bush one liners, according to the AP: On Cheney's absence: "He's had a rought few weeks. To be honest, his feelings were kind of hurt. He said he's going on vacation to Afghanistan where people like him."
And speaking of his plans after leaving office, Bush said he was thinking of writing a memoir. "I'm thinking of something really fun and creative for mine. You know, maybe a pop-up book."
Other highlights: Comics from "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" persuaded Karl Rove to do an improvised rap song.
Next month, in a larger gathering, Capitol elites will gather again for the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner, which made big waves last year by the sharp riffs that emcee Stephen Colbert made at Bush's expense, with the President on the dais to hear them. This time, the group has picked the much tamer Rich Little to host.
More from the dinner, including a tribute to Bob Woodruff and special words about Tony Snow, who was scheduled to attend. Also: CBS News video of Rove's rap. And Jib Jab Media unveiled its latest work at the event, a video titled "What We Call the News.:
Updated
With James Inhofe and other GOP senators blocking the July 7 Live Earth concert on U.S. Capitol gounds, organizers assure that they will still be holding a U.S component of the seven-continent show. They just indicate that it may not be on the steps of the Capitol.
"We have dozens of cities around the world competiting for the chance to hold a Live Earth concert, including major U.S. cities up and down the east coast," producer Kevin Wall said in a statement. "This will bring revenue and tremendous visibility to the host cities."
Chad Griffin, senior adviser to the event, said, "On July 7, 2007, Live Earth will unite over two billion people across all seven continents, and while it’s unfortunate for the American people that we are being blocked from staging the U.S. concert in our nation’s capital, the show must go on. Like music, the issue of global warming transcends all boundaries, even American political parties.”
Organizers already were rebuffed in staging the even on the Mall, because the National Park Service says it's already booked that day.
Inhofe clashed with Gore when the former vice president testified on global warming last week.
It goes without saying that this won't endear the music profession to Inhofe, who already came under criticism on Monday by Beach Boy Mike Love. According to the Washington Examiner, Love said at an appearance before the National Press Club, “Gore deserves a bit more respect than he was shown by a rancorous senator from Oklahoma. I was offended by the rancorous display of hostility. There’ll be a time in the not-too-distant future when no one will inhabit elective office unless they are environmentally conscious.”
Rep. Edward J. Markey, who chairs the House select committee on energy independent and global warming, blasted GOP attempts to prevent the concert.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, Markey referred to the 1983 incident in which Interior Secretary James Watt banned the Beach Boys from playing on the National Mall, saying that they attracted an "undesirable element." It proved an embarassment for the Reagan administration, and the group was allowed the following year.
"Not since former Interior Secretary James Watt tried to ban the Beach Boys from appearing on the National Mall has such a misguided effort at political censorship been undertaken by a Republican official," Markey said. "It's dangerous enough to deny science; it's sheer luacy to deny song."
That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.
You could almost script this one. The week after tussling with Al Gore at a Senate hearing, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has said he will block plans to stage the Live Earth concerts on Capitol grounds, according to the Hill. The concerts were announced with much fanfare last month by Gore and producer Kevin Wall, and benefit Gore's group Alliance for Climate Protection.
"There has never been a partisan political event at the Capitol, and this is a partisan political event," said Inhofe, a global warming skeptic who once called it "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." According the the Hill, Inhofe's parliamentary powers can block the concerts indefinitely, even if a majority support a resolution to allow the event. An attempt last week to pass a resolution was halted when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he wanted more time to study the proposal.
"There is no compromise," Inhofe said. "Either we change the rules or we don't."
Reagan Libe Debate: In addition to a GOP debate this May, the Reagan Library has planned another forum for Jan. 30, 2008. The twist is that the library aims to include only the top two or three Republican contenders at that point. The Politico and MSNBC are sponsoring the May 3 forum.
Digital Divide: The Los Angeles Times reports that one in five U.S. households depend on rabbit ears and the airwaves to get a TV signal, and therefore will be most vulnerable when those transmissions are turned off in February, 2009. That's when the nation switches from analog to digital, rendering those tube-driven sets obsolete. Although the government will hand out subsidies for converter boxes, civil rights groups worry about the transition.
Movie Madness: The Politico looks at the movie "September Dawn," a fictitious account of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which Mormons in southern Utah and southern Paiute Indians murdered members of an Arkansas pioneer wagon train en route to California. The issues is raised as to whether the indie pic, which stars Jon Voight, would have any impact on the campaign of Mitt Romney. His spokesman Kevin Madden says, "I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue that a film about Italian-Americans would make people more likely or less likely to vote for Rudy Giuliani or that a film about African-Americans would make people any more or less likely to vote for Barack Obama."
Hollywood's former chief lobbyist Jack Valenti suffered a stroke last week.
Valenti, 85, who was an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, is hospitalized at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, according to a statement to the Associated Press from longtime Valenti friend Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros.
"His family tells me that the doctors are encouraged by his progress to date," Meyer said.
No further information was released. Valenti was the president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America from 1966 to 2004, when he was succeeded by Dan Glickman.
Meyer said Valenti's wife Mary Margaret and their children asked him "to express their deep appreciation of the outpouring of love, support and prayers."
Two days after Al Gore testified, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rebuffed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) move to approve the Live Earth concert on July 7 on Capitol grounds.
But it is unclear how serious McConnell's objection to the concert is, although for now it is stuck in the Senate Rules Committee. According to the Politico, McConnell's objection covered "for the time being," essentially giving him time to review the request.
The plans are to stage the concerts on seven continents that day, with proceeds going to Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.
The Hill reports that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has told freshman members of Congress to steer clear of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," the satirical news show that has already made a mockery of many unwitting --- and some not so unwitting --- politicos.
For many members of Congress, the publicity that Colbert confers is too easy to resist, even with ample proof that they are not going to come through the experience looking any smarter. For example, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) got into a debate about the merits of throwing kittens in a wood chipper.
“He said don’t do it … it’s a risk and it’s probably safer not to do it,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, a freshman lawmaker from Tennessee who nevertheless taped a segment of Colbert's "Better Know a District" series. Colbert asked Cohen whether he was a black woman. He isn't.
As Variety's Michael Learmonth reported last September, Nancy Pelosi even warned of the pitfalls of the show: "I wouldn't recommend anyone going on that show. Don't subject yourself to a comic's edit unless you want to be made a fool of."
But it doesn't like Colbert will run out of willing participants anytime soon.
When Al Gore announced a worldwide series of concerts on July 7, speculation was that the U.S. venue would be in Washington D.C. and, naturally, on the National Mall.
But a week ago, they were turned down.
Instead, Live Earth organizers, led by producer Kevin Wall, are pursuing the west side of the Capitol, or the opposite end of the Mall, and are seeking congressional approval. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced a resolution to allow the concert event, with the sponsors assuming full responsibility and liability.
So were a bit of politics at play? Or maybe just a little bit of irony?
The National Park Service, which oversees the National Mall, cited logistical and bureaucratic reasons for turning down the request. But one source said that one of those reasons was that the Park Service "would not have enough time to secure enough Porta Potties" --- even though the event doesn't happen until July.
A spokesman for the Park Service could not be reached tonight. But before the concerts were even officially announced on Feb. 15, spokesman Bill Line warned in the Washington Post that the Mall may be unavailable. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is scheduled on the Mall from June 27 to July 1 and from July 4 to 8. Line told the Post that "it would be difficult if not impossible to reasonably accommodate any large-scale events."
Meanwhile, logistics are being worked out at the Capitol. Howard Gantman, staff director for the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, says that lawmakers have asked Live Earth organizers to work with the Kennedy Center on figuring out how to coordinate their schedules. The Kennedy Center has their annual "Capitol Fourth" concert there, but takes four to five days to break down.
The D.C. concert will be free, but other venues probably will charge a ticket price depending on where they are held. Proceeds from the concerts will go to a foundation led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, which Gore chairs. Board members include Brent Scowcroft and Carol Browner, as well as Theodore Roosevelt IV.
A Rules committee member still could hold up the resolution, but Live Earth senior adviser Chad Griffin says, "We're quite encouraged by the bipartisan support this has received."
Photo: Cameron Diaz, Al Gore and Kevin Wall announcing Live Earth in February.
Just in time for the DVD release of "Borat" comes an extra dose of publicity thanks to the State Department.
Its annual human rights report criticizes the real Kazakhstan for restrictions on freedom of speech. The reported cited the loss of Borat's Kazakh webpage www.borat.kz in late 2005 along with other restrictions on free speech, according to Reuters.
"The government deemed as offensive the content of a satirical site controlled by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and revoked the .kz domain," the report said.
Cohen later moved the site to www.borat.tv.
The report lists other abuses including military hazing, police torture, unhealthy prison conditions and arbitrary arrests.
The trial of Scooter Libby may have been just the ending that the producers of Warner Bros.' movie about Valerie Plame were looking for, but Endeavor's Ari Emanuel offers another coda to Libby's guilty verdict.
"My prediction about Dick Cheney is one step closer to becoming true," he writes on his blog on HuffingtonPost. "My clock gives it three weeks before his resignation letter lands on Bush's desk. What does your clock say?"
At least he's bold in his predictions.
On the other side of the spectrum, former Sen. Fred Thompson, now of "Law & Order," has agreed to hold another fund-raiser for Libby's legal defense.
It's so rare when official Washington goes off script, and always so interesting when it does.
The latest example was tonight at the Ronald Reagan Bldg. International Trade Center, where HBO held its D.C. premiere of the new doc,"Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," right, directed by Rory Kennedy.
A discussion-debate was planned for after the screening featuring Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). What ensued was a surprise slap-down --- and not between the two politicos.
When the lights came up, moderator and CNN legal expert Jeff Toobin asked Graham whether he agreed with the doc's thesis --- that the prisoner abuses at the notorious facility was the result of de facto policy, and not, as the administration portrayed it, the work of a few bad soldiers.
Sidestepping the question, Graham faulted the administration for poor planning and oversight, and then said that Gen. Janis Karpinski -- the lone senior officer disciplined for the abuses --- "should have been court-martialed" instead of merely demoted.
Following some brief, predicatable back-and-forth between senators Graham and Kennedy, Toobin noted that Karpinski just happened to be in the audience and asked if she'd like to respond to Graham's comment.
Audibly shaken, struggling with what sounded like mammoth indignation, Karpinski blasted Graham, accusing him of a dereliction of his own duty, noting that while he approved of disciplining her, he "pinned medals" on the several male officers implicated in the abuses as well as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
As for a court martial, Karpinski said the army "never wanted me in court because they know I would have told the truth," which, she alleged, has yet to fully come out, thanks in part to Graham.
"You were on the ground, Rumsfeld was in Washington!" the senator shot back.
Karpinski, however, was just warming up, charging Graham with bearing responsibility for "reservists and national guardsmen who you sent to war without the right equipment!"
"I'm from South Carolina, too," she continued. "And I intend to make your views known, senator. Even though your views don't matter."
Toobin finally interjected, saying both senators had to leave.
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Keeping to his image as a man of few but pithy words, Clint Eastwood spoke briefly in accepting an award from the Motion Picture Assn. of America following a posh dinner in D.C. attended by some high-powered industry types and politicos.
The evening capped a long day's journey into the full extent of piracy as well as Hollywood's importance to the U.S. economy. Not that anybody cared about that by dinner time.
Throngs of people just wanted to shake the star's hand and have a cell phone-pic taken with him. Eastwood graciously obliged pretty much everyone. "I'm glad the MPAA is here and that the political community gets to learn about motion pictures," a dapper Eastwood later said after receiving the award.
Using no notes or teleprompter, he thanked the org for presenting him with the first Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award, intended to honor those in the industry whose work reaches out "positively and respectfully" to other cultures, creeds and countries.
Although Eastwood has had conservative views in the past, on publicity tours for "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," he's not shied away from expressing his opposition to the war in Iraq.
Awards like this tend to come late in life, a fact Eastwood slyly acknowledged by remarking to his longtime pal Valenti, "If I precede you, I promise I'll give it back."
The large number of guests in the newly rehabbed National Portrait Gallery -- closed off for the event -- included a bipartisan Who's-Who of Congress: Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Max Baucus, John Sununu, Arlen Specter, Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer along with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Henry Waxman, John Conyers, Howard Berman, John Dingell, Vince Fascella, Ed Markey, Diane Watson and James Sensenbrenner, among others.
Also in attendance: Brad Grey of Paramount, Peter Chernin of News Corp. and Ron Meyer of NBC Universal. Noting the late hour, Eastwood wrapped by saying, "Thank you again very much, and always support your local motion picture theater."
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Even though the likes of Sony's Michael Lynton and Warner Bros.' Barry Meyer were in Washington today to make the entertainment industry's case on issues ranging from piracy to runaway production, there was time for a bit of politicking.
Paramount CEO Brad Grey was to meet with presidential hopeful Barack Obama, adding further mystery to the question of who Grey ultimately will endorse. Last week, Grey attended a fund raiser for Rudolph Giuliani at the Pacific Palisades home of Bill Simon. That, of course, raised speculation that he would support the former New York mayor. When Grey led Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, they repped Giuliani in media deals. But with a wide open field for 2008, endorsements are in demand, and many in Hollywood are giving to multiple candidates or taking a wait and see approach.
Grey was in D.C. along with other execs, celebrities and directors as the MPAA hosted a daylong symposium called "The Business of Show Business." The event was designed to show there's substance to a business often dismissed for its stars and style. An example of the figures being tossed around: The industry contributes 1.3 million jobs and more than $30 billion in wages to the U.S. economy.
Oscar-nominated actor Will Smith kicked off the day, comparing movie piracy to stealing and pointing out that it's not just stars who are hurt, but "wonderful Americans that are out there working very hard to create these wonderful products."
But as abuzz as D.C. was with the day's celebrity quotient, Smith admitted that his star power only goes so far.
According to ABC News.com, Smith said, "I was coming in [to D.C.]. And I saw an old man and an old woman, and they came up to me and said, 'oh listen, everything you do, we are so proud of you. Just keep doing what you do.'"
"And I said, 'thank you, thank you very much. God bless you.' And I walked away and the lady screamed, 'we're going to vote for you, we love you, Barack!'"
The Democrats are in control of Congress, but that doesn't necessarily mean the the feds are going to be any less lenient when it comes to broadcast indecency.
In fact, following a Senate grilling of FCC chairman Kevin Martin today, you'd think the networks should get ready for a big long chill.
At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Variety's William Triplett reports that Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) lamented that "junk, sex, scandal" was the majority of what aired on TV now. "Commercial television is in the worst state I have ever seen it," he said.
Martin, also a vocal critic of sexual and violent content on TV, nodded approvingly and seemed to even welcome Rockfeller's question of whether the industry's current attempt to regulate content was working.
"No," Martin said emphatically. Rockefeller is the author of a bill that would all the FCC to regulate violent content as well as indecency.
But Rockefeller criticized the FCC when he said that the commission had "abandoned its core responsiblity" by insisting on public interest requirements during TV stations' license renewal process.
Martin was hesitant to endorse that viewpoint.
Things got a bit rougher for Martin when he was questioned by other senators about other issues, like a growing "digital divide" in which upper-income homes benefit more from the explosion of new digital offerings than poorer, rural homes.
You know something's afoot in D.C. when you see:
A. House bigwig Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) planting a peck on the cheek of Morgan Fairchild or...
B. Ex-"Sopranos" regular Joe Pantoliano --- a.k.a. Joey Pants --- getting a bear hug from CNN Washington correspondent Bob Franken or...
C. Heather Graham chatting with policy wonks, or...
D. All of the above, and much more.
The Creative Coalition, the artists' non-profit for public interest advocacy, threw a bash Wednesday night to welcome the 110th Congress. The Hollywood glitz brightened the darkening sky over the Capitol, with thesps like Fran Drescher, Alan Cumming, Giancarlo Esposito, Ernie Hudson, Wendie Malick, Rachel Shelley and Tim Daly joining their colleagues sipping wine and enjoying southern-style gnosh in a stylish restaurant at Union Station.
Led by elder statesman John Dingell (D-Mich.), who has been in the House since 1955, numerous pols were the honored guests.
Earlier in the day, members of the Creative Coalition met with members of Congress for a briefing on energy independence.
"We're non partisan so we look for non partisan issues," said Pantoliano, who took a bit of ribbing for his "Sopranos" persona. "This is also a very important issue for our children."
Drescher was more blunt: "Five years ago, this wouldn't have even been a topic among our elected officials. It's great that people are finally waking up to the fact that if we screw up our planet, we screw ourselves."
Drescher is a veteran when it comes to lobbying, having helped pass an educational bill last year on the subject of gynecological cancer, of which she is a survivor.
Asked if she felt the pols had taken the posse of celebs seriously on this visit, Malick said, "I listened more than I spoke, but yes, I think they took us seriously. People seem open to the possiblity of change."
---By William Triplett in Washington.
Update: The Politico surveys the celebs and gets their 2008 picks.
Marking what she said was her first anti-war rally in 34 years, Jane Fonda returned to her activist roots today as one of a handful of actors leading a protest at the Capitol against the continued U.S. presence in Iraq.
"Thank you so much for the courage to stand up behind this mean-spirited, vengeful adminstration," Fonda said before a crowd that numbered in the tens of thousands in the January chill. Admitting that she had been afraid that her appearances at anti-war rallies would used by her critics "spread lies" and hurt the movement, Fonda said that "silence is no longer an option."
The rally organized by the group United for Peace and Justice was designed to re-energize a protest movement around the country. Although polls show Americans now oppose the war, it has been difficult for anti-war activists to rally masses to the streets. But as opposition builds in Congress to President Bush's plan to add some 21,000 troops to Iraq, organizers were hoping to spur a new wave of marches.
"I'm so sad that we still have to do this," said Fonda, at times making comparisons to the Vietnam war, for which she was the most visible and controversial activist. At one point she held up her hand and waved the peace sign at people in the crowd.
Joining her were a half-dozen members of Congress, including House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, as well as a handful of other celebrities including Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.
Penn called on Congress to take steps to stop Bush, rather than passing non-binding resolutions.
"If they don't stand up and they don't make a resolution as binding as the death toll, we're not going to be behind these politicians," Penn said.
Robbins drew loud cheers from the crowd --- and a few chants --- when he called for Bush's impeachment.
Alluding to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pre-midterm declaration that impeachment of Bush would be "off the table," Robbins said, "21,500 more troops will risk their lives for this misguided war. Is impeachment still off the table? Let's get him out of office for this misguided war."
His wife, actress Susan Sarandon, noted the toll that the war was taking on returning soldiers, with increased rates of divorce and suicide.
She said, "the war is being fought here, in the hearts and minds of those who are returning."
The Washington Post details Fonda's history of activism.
Above AP photos: Jane Fonda at rally, Sean Penn. Video below: Promo for United for Peace and Justice.
Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin may be the one government official whose views media giants ignore at their own peril, but on Thursday it was his wife, Catherine, who held the elite Washington press corps rapt with rapt attention.
She testified at the perjury trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former senior aide, I. "Scooter" Libby. Previously a member of Cheney's communications team and now working for the President, Catherine Martin, right, offered a rare, detailed glimpse into Cheney-style spin, which included an implicit belief that using NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning talker was a useful way to "control the message," apparently without fear of challenge or contradiction from host Tim Russert.
The message Cheney wanted to get out, of course, was that the public should be suspect of reports of that the administration abused intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion. One means Martin said she advised was that "we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format."
As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post noted, Martin graphically confirmed many in the press has already suspected: That White House image control and news management rivals anything out of Hollywood: "Relatively junior White House aides run roughshod over members of the president's Cabinet. Bush aides charged with speaking to the public and the media are kept out of the loop on some of the most important issues. And bad news is dumped before the weekend for the sole purpose of burying it."
---William Triplett in Washington.
Updated: The Libby trial got a dose of celebrity when notes were introduced that showed that Libby met in June 2004 with actor Tom Cruise and then-girlfriend Penelope Cruz to talk about the tretatment of Scientologists in Germany. Of the meeting, Libby's briefer, Craig Schmall, testified: "He was a little excited about it. I was a little excited about it."
In a story that recently moved on its wire service, the Associated Press interviews past and present FCC employees who believe that the agency altered and even supressed research studies to reflect a more favorable environment for lifting media ownership caps.
An inspector general's investigation is still underway, but at the heart of the controversy is whether a report from economist Keith Brown was supressed because it offered what he calls "inconvenient facts." Among other things, it revealed that TV stations with local owners aired 5 1/2 minutes more of local news per half hour than stations owned by conglomerates. That's not too surprising a conclusion, but the report was never made public, at the same time in 2003 that the agency was being lobbied heavily by the broadcast industry to ease restrictions on media ownership. The FCC voted to eace ownership rules, but is now reconsidering the issue following a court challenge.
All of this came under the watch of FCC chairman Michael Powell, who left in 2005. Later that year, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) revealed the existence of the study during confirmation hearings for new FCC chairman Kevin Martin. Martin then called for an investigation of the whole matter. In any case, it is likely to add to media reformers fire on the dangers of media consolidation.
Will he or won't he?
The big question on D.C. minds is whether President Bush will announce any major change of policy regarding global warming in his State of the Union speech on Monday night.
In an interview with Variety just before Christmas, former Bush speechwriter David Frum --- author of the "axis of evil" line in the President's 2002 address --- said that Bush was going to do an "about face" on global warming. The only question was how he would present it, as a complete change of mind or as "merely the evolution" of a consistent position?
"This is a very difficult maneuver to execute," said Frum, who compares presidential speechwriting to screenwriting. "He's got to do it without losing his party, while appealing to the broad middle ground of American public opinion that's become worried about the issue."
But asked the next day about any forthcoming change in administration policy on global warming, a senior White House official said, "Not true. I wouldn't run with that one."
Issue closed. Yet soon after, various press reports stated a policy change on the subject was indeed in the works. White House spokesman Tony Snow made a point of denying them all.
So what does Frum now make of all the fuss?
"Like scripts, these things change form as they go," he says. "Remember 'Beverly Hills Cop' started as a thriller and morphed into a comedy? Same principle."
---William Triplett in Washington.
They might not have all been pals of the Almighty, but several hundred of Alexandra Pelosi's nearest and dearest turned out at D.C.'s Ritz-Carlton on Thursday night for the preem of her new HBO documentary, "Friends of God."
The look at evangelical Christians in America is the latest doc about the religious right's influence in American politics. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's "Jesus Camp," released last year, is on the short list of Oscar documentary contenders, with the final nominees set to be announced on Tuesday.
Present at the "Friends of God" event was her mother, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as a few unexpected attendees such as rocker Moby.
"I used to be a fundamentalist Christian," Moby said. "Then I saw the world was a little more complicated than the way they see it."
Also making an appearance: White House press corps doyonne Helen Thomas, who said she was looking forward to "more than the usual sound bytes" on a complex subject.
While excited about her mother's elevation to Speaker, "It also means I have to stay away from politics as a subject for a while," Alexandra sighed.
"That's okay," Nancy told Variety, "she really doesn't enjoy politics that much."
---William Triplett in Washington.
Above Photo: Ted Haggard in "Friends of God."
At the D.C. screening of their doc “A Journey to Darfur” on Wednesday, Nick Clooney, right, said he and son George wanted to use George’s clout to explore the realities behind claims of widespread devastation in the region.
“George told me right after he got his Oscar, ‘Well, Dad, I’m never going to have more juice than I do now, so let’s go find out.’”
With a camera crew, the duo spent nine days in-country last spring, witnessing what George said to the D.C. aud — via satellite from California — "is the first genocide of the 21st century.”
AmericanLife TV, a niche net that reaches 10 million Baby Boomer homes, will bow the pic Jan. 15. The pic was a natural fit for ALTV, says topper Larry Meli, because “ours was the generation that was going to change the world.”
The only way to change the Darfur situation, Nick says, is to create a groundswell of support —enlisting, say, a few million voters to press their congressional reps to do something.
Meli promised to air the doc repeatedly over the next month, and Martin Luther King III, who also attended the D.C. screening, pledged help to spread word.
“This is a big part of my life, and I’m going to ride it out ’til it’s finished,” says George Clooney. “Yes, celebrities sometimes do get nailed for self-aggrandizing causes. But what am I to do? Not get involved? I want to help shine a light on what’s going on.”
---William Triplett in Washington.
AP Photo: Nick Clooney, Lawrence Meli, Martin Luther King III.
The actor says in a new documentary, airing on Monday on the American Life TV Network, that he believes the humanitarian crisis in the Sudanese region could worsen, as the United Nations struggles through diplomatic channels to send a peacekeeping mission into the country.
"We met at the U.N. with a lot of very interesting people and every one of them says it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better," Clooney says in the documentary, "A Journey to Darfur." "Next year I am very pessimistic. I think it is going to get worse."
Clooney's father, Nick, who hosts the half hour program, screens it tonight at an evening in Washington along with Martin Luther King III. The program is a straightforward telling of the situation in the country. Much is devoted to Nick and George Clooney's visit last spring to the region, where 400,000 have died in violence and genocide, fallout from an ongoing Sudanese civil war. They visited the area's refugee camps for nine days before appearing at a Washington D.C. rally sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition, and later advocating for action on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Last fall George Clooney spoke before the U.N. Security Council at the invitation of then-Ambassador John Bolton. Pressing for UN action, Clooney said, "This genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy, your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz."
There was some hopeful news from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson today. On a visit to Sudan, he said that he had secured a commitment from Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al Bashir and from rebels to agree to a 60-day cease fire in the Darfur region so a peace framework could move forward.
The Internet Freedom Preservation Act would guarantee the equal accessibility and flow of content over the 'net.
The bill introduced on Tuesday by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is intended to stave off the threat of cable or telecom companies from creating special tiers where some websites get faster access to consumers than others. Snowe calls it the "creation of a toll road on the Internet superhighway." In the Republican-controlled Congress, Dems had failed in their efforts to get such a provision passed.
William Triplett notes that both the Motion Picture Assn. of America and the Recording Industry of America have declined to comment on the bill. Their member companies --- some of which are part of larger congloms with stakes in cable and telecom --- are split on whether it will help or hurt them.
Certainly the most notable celebrity presence in last week's festivities for Nancy Pelosi had to be the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir.
The guitarist, along with bandmate Mickey Hart, played a show in honor of the new Speaker of the House, a fellow San Franciscan.
On Jan. 3, the duo stopped into a D.C. fete hosted by California congressional sisters Linda and Loretta Sanchez. While standing next to the dessert table, which sported a vanilla cake replica of the Capitol Building, Weir responded to a dare, leaning over and taking a big bite out of the dome.
“Didn’t use any hands, either,” Weir said later.
Pelosi has known the band “a long time,” he added, “and like all politicians, she can use all the help she can get. But the band is behind her politics all the way.”
Of the Dems reclaiming control of Congress, drummer Hart said: “We feel proud. Well, maybe. We have to see what they do.”
After all, as he acknowledged about politics over the last few years: What a long, strange trip it’s been.
“Indeed," Hart said. “But it could get stranger.”
Which may be why Weir, asked how he was enjoying his visit, said, “Can’t wait to get out of here.”
---By William Triplett in Washington.
As the new Congress begins its session, the industry's chief lobbying arm, the MPAA, is hosting what is described as a first of its kind symposium designed to inform policy makers on the value of the movie business to the U.S. economy.
It's a pitch that the MPAA has made for years, but it hasn't always been easy for the org to get its voice heard. No word on which lawmakers will be there for the session, but it's an all day event
The panelists in "The Business of Show Business," slated for Feb. 6 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture:
"The Art and Economics of Show Business and Intellectual Property: How a Movie Gets Made": director Paris Barclay; producer Lindsay Doran; producer-director Lili Zanuck.
"The Impact of Show Business and Intellectual Property: America's Growth Engine": Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.); National Assn. of Manufacturers President John Engler; director Taylor Hackford; Economists Inc. Principal Stephen Siwek. Moderator: James Glassman, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute and editor in chief of The American Magazine.
"The Future of Show Business: Entertainment in the Digital Age": Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; National Assn. of Theater Owners President John Fithian; BitTorrent President Ashwin Navin; director Steven Soderbergh; Anschutz Film Group CEO David Weil. Moderator is Bob Dowling, former editor in chief and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and founder of the Bob Dowling Group.
During the late 1940s and early 50s, writer-director Norman Corwin was on the "gray list": "I was a self-acknowledged liberal, and liberal was almost as poisonous to attach to a person then as it was now."
Now 96, the radio legend, right, whose career was forged at CBS with many signature broadcasts from the golden age of broadcasting, called to share his thoughts on his friend Frank Stanton, the CBS president who died earlier this week at age 98.
Stanton's own career was colored in shades of gray, as he led CBS through the Red scare of the 1950s to Vietnam and Watergate in the 1960s and 70s. Although tributes and obituaries singled out his refusal in 1971 to comply with a government subpeona to turn over outtakes from a "CBS Reports" documentary, Stanton succumbed to pressure during the McCarthy era to impose a "loyalty oath" on CBS employees. Although he later expressed regret, many years later blacklisted writers and others expressed their disagreement when the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences gave him a First Amendment Award in 1999.
Corwin called the hubbub over Stanton's award "one of the saddest products of this political disquiet."
"It may have been in the matter of the loyalty oath," Corwin says. "But in those days, it was tough to stand up to the constant pressure."
Overall, Corwin said that it was "remarkable" that Stanton was able to stave off government intrusion into broadcasting, "and I think he contributed to CBS's reputation as a liberal network."
As a freshman writer at CBS in 1938, Corwin says Stanton gave his career a big boost when he ordered 1,000 copies of a book of Corwin's plays, called "13 by Corwin." With a special forward by Corwin, the book was given to clients, advertisers, and politicians, "people of influence," Corwin says.
"I thought that Frank went out of his way to encourage talent," Corwin says. "For this man to use his position to further a career of a young man from the provinces, I thought that was remarkable.
"I always had his support in ways I am not accustomed to. I am not the kind of guy who trusts or is trusted by stockholders. Yet he would invite me to meetings of stockholders to address them. He was that kind of fellow."
As Corwin's career rose at CBS, he enjoyed unusual artistic freedom, directing and writing a half-hour show called "26 by Corwin," in which he was essentially given a blank slate to do what he liked. After the start of World War II, President Roosevelt suggested to CBS founder William S. Paley that they do a series on the British and what they faced, and Corwin was chosen to write it. He did it on the condition that the government not interfere with its content, and FDR agreed. The result was "An American in England," which Corwin made while working in Britain alongside such legends as Edward R. Murrow, Howard K. Smith and Robert Trout.
After being put in charge of the first wartime radio series, "This Is War!," Corwin was assigned to create a program that would run on the day of victory in Europe. Again, he was given leeway to create what he wanted and freedom from interference by network executives. "On a Note of Triumph," which ran live on May 8, 1945, with a Bernard Herrmann score, is regarded as a radio classic.
"Not once did they say to me, 'How much will it cost? What will be your slant?'" Corwin said. "They first heard the program when it was on the air. That could not happen on another network then, and it couldn't even happen on CBS now."
Through it all, Stanton was a "class act. Never was there a sense of a kind of Germanic discipline. It was always flexible and open."
Corwin's career wound down at CBS in the late 1940s, as Paley believed that the new medium of television demanded more commercial entertainment. During the McCarthy era, Corwin found himself accused of participating in some "subversive" broadcasts --- some of them done during World War II at the request of the network and the government --- but he was part of the blacklist. Although he had left CBS in a contract dispute, Corwin maintained what he called a "cordial entente" with the network, and remained friends with Stanton and Murrow. The relationship between Stanton and Murrow often was strained, and Corwin was distressed by it.
In the wake of the quiz show scandals, when, in a puritanical effort to diffuse government inquiry, Stanton demanded that programming be everything it purported to be. He even included Murrow's "Person to Person" on the list, suggesting that some of the newsman's interviews with celebrities and politicians were rehearsed. Murrow was furious.
"There were bitter statements issues from both sides," Corwin says. "It distressed me because I like Frank and I was a warm and close friend of Murrow's."
Through the years, as he pursued a career in film, Corwin stayed in touch with Stanton. Once, when the Rand Corporation issued a calendar of famous people's quotes and prose, he noticed that among them was one of his own:
Freedom isn't something to be won and then forgotten.
It must be renewed, like soil after good crops;
It must be rewound, like a faithful clock;
Exercised like a healthy muscle.
Free men who forget that lose their freedom.
"That had to be the work of Frank Stanton, who was a trustee of the Rand Corporation," Corwin says.
He last saw Stanton in 2001, at a luncheon for him held at the Skirball Institute, where they shook hands and embraced one last time. And Corwin has kept letters he got from the former CBS chief, whose background was in psychology and audience research. He singles out one of his favorite lines, which read:
I will trade you a statistic for a sonnet anytime.
Note: The above artwork is a self-made Christmas card that Stanton sent to Corwin. Courtesy of Norman Corwin.
Gerald Ford, who died today, not only restored the presidency following the tumult of Watergate, but he almost immediately improved relations with the media, still stinging from the imperial years of Richard Nixon.
Declaring, famously, "our long national nightmare is over," Ford immediately opened up access to his office and often talked with reporters several times a day, a sharp contrast to the zeal with which his predecessor tried to protect his image. It may not have helped him in public opinion, particularly after he granted a pardon to Nixon, but it was in keeping with his desire to restore the office to a spirit of transparency.
"I believe it is always better to err on the side of more exposure and access rather than less," Ford wrote. "At that time, the media and the general public still resented any hint of 'imperial' trappings in connection with the presidency or the White House."
And while his tenure lasted just 2 1/2 years, the Vietnam war was over, and he presided over a more carefree era in American culture, marked by the Bicentennial, the ERA and disco. His wife, Betty, even made a highly publicized cameo appearance on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." His press secretary, Ron Nessen, hosted "Saturday Night Live," then one of the hottest new shows, and Ford taped the introduction, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"
Although a star athlete, Ford's occasional falls and tumbles on the ski hill, in addition to slices on the golf course, drew the attention of writers on "Saturday Night Live." The klutz image was reinforced by Chase in ongoing, pratfall filled skits, and Ford took it in stride. After his presidency he even invited Chase to the Gerald R. Ford Library in Grand Rapids, Mich., for a seminar on presidential humor, and Ford even wrote a book on it. He later admitted that the klutz image may actually have had an impact on the public's perception of him in the 1976 presidential race, which he lost to Jimmy Carter. "I enjoyed, up to a point, Chevy Chase's impersonations," Ford once said in an interview. "I have learned over the years in the political arena that you cannot be thin skinned. You have to take the good with the bad."
Ford did get back at Chase at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in 1975. As recounted in the Palm Springs Desert Sun:
When emcee Bob Hope introduced him, President Ford got up from the table, "accidentally" caught the tablecloth in his trousers and dumped silverware in Chase's lap. As he approached the podium, he pretended to trip, prompting the pages of the speech he was carrying to fly into the audience.
When he got to the microphone and the laughter began to diminish, President Ford reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the real script and said, "Good evening. I'm Gerald Ford and you're not."
In later years Ford was a mainstay in Rancho Mirage and the Palm Springs area, where he could be counted on to hobnob with the likes of Hope and other celebrities of his generation. Guided by William Morris' Norman Brokaw, he secured lucrative book contracts and speaking engagements. And he appeared, along with other ex-presidents, on a special episode of "The West Wing," and even made a cameo appearance on "Dynasty."
In a final note, it was Ford who was the subject of the last real moment of suspense at a political convention, when the Republicans met in Detroit in 1980. On the day before Ronald Reagan accepted the nomination, reporters scrambled as rumors spread that Ford would take his spot as No. 2 on the ticket, in a kind of "co-presidency." During the evening Walter Cronkite marvelled at the historic nature of the ticket --- a former president agreeing to the VP slot. But the deal eventually collapsed, and Reagan chose George Bush as his running mate.
A campaign ad from 1976:
Frank Stanton, who died Monday at age 98, not only was a pioneer in the development of television broadcasting but a key figure in defining and defending the First Amendment against government intrusion. As CBS founder William S. Paley's right-hand man from 1946 to 1973, he became the broadcast industry's chief spokesman in Congress, as federal watchdogs cast a wary eye on everything from violent content to news programming to the quiz show scandals.
In addition to clearing the way for television's first presidential debate in 1960, Stanton launched "CBS Reports" and, according to a memoir he gave to Minnesota Public Radio, "demanded a firewall between news and entertainment programs." It was, to say the least, a different era.
Stanton expressed some regret at his role in demanding that CBS employees take a loyalty oath during the blacklist era. When George Clooney made his movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," about Edward R. Murrow's face off with Sen. Joe McCarthy, Stanton was noticeably left out of those people who were depicted.
Perhaps his most courageous moment came in 1971, when CBS broadcast the documentary "The Selling of the Pentagon," which created a Congressional outcry. Stanton risked going to jail for contempt of Congress, when he refused a House committee's subpeona to protect the network's First Amendment right to withhold notes and outtakes of the broadcast from government scrutiny.
He told a Congressional hearing: "If newsmen are told that their notes, films, and tapes will be subject to compulsory process so that the government can determine whether the news has been satisfactorily edited, the scope, nature, and vigor of their news-gathering and reporting activities will inevitably be curtailed ... a fundamental principle of a free society is at stake."
The audio memoirs of Stanton are here.
Note: In earlier versions of this post, Warren Bell's quote below, "I think I got the idea from an episode of 'The West Wing'," was incorrectly written. For reasons that can only be blamed on pre-holiday haste, we cited the show as "Sesame Street," which actually makes no sense. W&W apologizes for the error.
Following his appointment to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, TV comedy-writer producer Warren Bell denied that he ever said that he wanted to "dismantle" public broadcasting. Rather, he tells W&W he wants to "keep public broadcasting as strong as it can be" and boost PBS's scripted-fare offerings with his contacts and experience in Hollywood.
President Bush slotted Bell, a self-avowed conservative, on the CPB board in a recess appointment on Wednesday. Attempts to confirm his nomination in the Senate were scuttled in September when Democratic members raised objections. They raised fears that he would be an idealogue along the lines with embattled former chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, who during his tenure sought to correct what he saw as a liberal bias in PBS and NPR programming.
Bell, executive producer of "According to Jim," believes that he ultimately got pegged as another Tomlinson, and got swept up in the rhetoric of a political season. He says that he intends to work in a nonpartisan fashion and "has a year to prove" critics wrong, given that the recess appointment lasts until the end of the next congressional term. A comedy writer by trade, he also writes an irreverent column and blog on National Review Online, and some of his humor has rubbed people the wrong way.
He says that the former "According to Jim" writers who say they heard him make the comment about "dismantling" PBS actually mischaracterized what he said. Bell says he was expressing an opinion that "Sesame Street' shouldn't get government funding because it can support itself through licensing and merchandising. "It is a widely held belief," Bell says. "I think I originally got it from an episode of 'The West Wing.'" He says he since learned that CPB does not provide funding to the long-running children's show, anyway.
Bell will be but one voice on the nine-member board, but he hopes to draw on Hollywood's creative community to develop PBS shows, especially projects that, for whatever reason, can't be done on commercial networks. He also will continue on "According to Jim," which It goes on hiatus in three weeks. Should it return, he's worked things out with ABC so he will have time to attend CPB meetings.
He downplays his political bent, pointing out that even his National Review postings are more humorous than partisan, and that he doesn't "follow politics that closely."
"I have been inside the Beltway exactly twice," he says. He's also met Bush twice, but only in brief photo op meet and greets.
What is certain is that he'll probably keep more careful tabs on his humor. Among one of the jokes that rattled D.C. insiders was a riff he made on incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He wrote on National Review Online in May 2005: "I could reach across the aisle and hug Nancy Pelosi, and I would, except this is a new shirt, and that sort of thing leaves a stain."
On his blog on Wednesday, he apologized for the joke, and said that it was "genuinely unfair" to make such quips of a personal nature.
He wrote: "Some pretty nasty things were written about me in the last few months, and I didn't like it one bit. I took a totally unprovoked swipe at Ms. Pelosi for no good reason, other than I thought it might be funny. Now that I know how it feels, I'm not going to do that again. I think I can be funny without it."
Of the whole confirmation process, he tells W&W: "The most enlightening thing that I have learned is that there is a wide gap between the humor in Washington and the humor in Hollywood. In Washington, they take themselves very seriously."
President Bush made a recess appointment of Warren Bell, writer and producer of "According to Jim," to fill the remaining vacant seat on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The move is raising hackles because Bell has reportedly said he'd like to "dismantle" public broadcasting, and his name actually was taken off the agenda when Bush tried to push his nomination through the Senate in September because some Democrats registered complaints.
Bell has said that he is "thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues.” But he also said that he has no intention of letting his personal political beliefs influence his role on the board, although he is a gifted comedy writer. When he was first nominated he wrote on his National Review Online blog that he I intends "to open my confirmation hearing thusly: 'Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, three words: No. More. Elmo.'"
The recess appointment means that his term will last until the new Congress adjourns. Bush did the same thing when he appointed John Bolton as U.N. ambassador. Bolton faced opposition in a standard Senate confirmation process, and resigned earlier this month.
The Center for Digital Democracy's Je
