This is fun. Parse through the archives of one of the most, uh, respected right-wing bloggers, namely Andrew Sullivan, for gems of wisdom from the past. Here's one I found last night:

My bet is that we soon have a breakthrough in WMD evidence in Iraq -- and that we are getting closer by the day to discovering Saddam himself. Bush and Blair will be vindicated more clearly than before; and this president will -- once again -- out-fox his mewling critics on the war. I have a feeling Kerry has just inflicted on himself a massive unforced error. Gephardt looks more promising by the day.

The date on that post? June 19, 2003.

If you wet yourself reading that particular Sullivanism, you are forgiven. There's no shame in that.

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Will Osama Bin Laden be found in time for the presidential election?

Although I'm not usually prone to singing on to conspiracy theories, I will admit to harboring concerns about this matter.

Why the U.S. military, under direction of the Bush administration, didn't catch Bin Laden years ago remains a question for the ages. I suppose we'll never know why nabbing Bin Laden fell so low on the list of our priorities in Afghanistan, but the question still exists.

I was thinking this as I plumbed the depths -- and I mean that -- of AndrewSullivan.com, where I found this precious observation about OBL:

THEY GOT HIM: Of course they have [sic]. Why did [sic] you think they timed the release of that tape the way they did?

The date of that Sullivanism? December 14, 2001. Nearly three years ago.

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More Polling: The Philadelphia Inquirer, which lately has been displaying an annoying (some might say lazy) fixation on polling numbers, today suggests Rep. Joe Hoeffel hasn't gained sufficient support from women and labor voters in his campaign against Sen. Arlen Specter. (That's according to the latest survey by the Inquirer and Temple University conducted over an eight-day period that ended Thursday, September 23.) Not the best news, but Hoeffel's advertising campaign isn't fully underway (at least as best I can tell) and 15 percent of those polled are still undecided, a figure that strikes me as high given Specter's name recognition throughout the state.

Cross-Voting: Inquirer columnist John Grogan today writes about Philadelphia-area voters planning to cross party lines in the presidential race in "Party Turncoats Have Their Say."

Gun Nuts and Nuts: Inquirer reporter Larry Eichel yesterday took a look at the situation in southwestern Pennsylvania (the greater Pittsburgh area) and said Republicans were doing better than in past elections. This, Eichel reports, is due to gun control or gun decontrol issues, with one area voter professing support for President Nut Gun with these words: "I'm terrified by Kerry. He doesn't have a clue. Sometimes, I think he'd rather fight the terrorists on the streets of Greensburg than Fallujah. And I worry that he thinks the Second Amendment is about deer hunting. It isn't. It's about defending yourself from the tyranny of government." Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's junior senator, Sen. Rick Santorum (R) chimes in with this: "It's an area of the state with traditional values, an area that feels like the national Democratic Party has left it behind. To these people, the idea that the Barbra Streisands of the world are going to set the values for them is anathema." Yep, that's our Johnny one note.

Abortion Rights: The Philadelphia Daily News editors, continuing their series, "The Case for Kerry," today weigh in on abortion and voting by students at local universities. The deadline for registration in Pennsylvania is Monday, October 4.

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Sorry for the late notice, but Rep. Joe Hoeffel the Democratic challenger in the November election for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), will be holding a rally in Philadelphia today at John F. Kennedy Plaza, a/k/a Love Park, at 2:30 p.m.

Hoeffel will be joined by Illinois state Rep. Barack Obama (D), who you will recall gave a great keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, and who is the clear favorite in the Illinois senate race. For more information click here. (For future reference the Hoeffel campaign's calendar may be viewed here.)

Another Vietnam? [*]
Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News, writing at his new blog Campaign Extra, today highlights that question with another, similar question, "History Repeating?" Bunch compares the timelines of conflict and politics surrounding the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Bonus: Cool graphic!

Our Banana Republic
Former President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center has supervised elections in such havens of fair-play democracy as Venezuela and Indonesia, expresses continued concerns about the situation in Guatemala Florida. In today's Washington Post ("Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote") President Carter writes:

[S]ome basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida. [...]

It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again, as we prepare for a presidential election, some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms.

The top election official [Glenda Hood] has . . . played a leading role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's name be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.

Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, naturally a strong supporter of his brother, has taken no steps to correct these departures from principles of fair and equal treatment or to prevent them in the future.

It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida.

I somehow doubt that by "maximum public scrutiny" President Carter means anything like the vicious hoards of crazed Republicans the party shipped to West Palm Beach four years ago.

Safire Again and Again
I tried to watch "Meet the Press" yesterday. I really did; I really wanted to see what the assembled panel of experts had to say about the presidential campaign. Imagine my disappointment when the panel was revealed to include William Safire and Robert Novak (still not in jail; still not questioned), and for "balance," David Broder and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Safire, that slippery sap of sycophancy, was as insufferable as ever, and he gives a repeat performance in today's New York Times with "The Kidnap Weapon," an essay in which Safire becomes his own 527:

John Kerry, who has evidently decided to replace Howard Dean as the antiwar candidate, last weekend helped to magnify the terrorists' kidnap weapon. In a scheduled commercial Kerry personally approved, just before charging that George Bush had no plan to get us out of Iraq, the Democratic campaign underscored the message Zarqawi has been sending: "Americans," said Kerry's announcer, "are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded."

Though undoubtedly accurate, that paid evocation of horror by a political candidate is a terrible blunder. That's the sort of emotional appeal you would expect from President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines who pulled 51 troops out of Iraq, caving to the demand of kidnappers, emboldening them to grab fresh victims.

It's bad enough for some thoughtless media outlets to become an echo chamber for scare propaganda; it's worse when the nominee of a major party approves its use to press his antiwar candidacy.

That Safire, he's so clever with words, you know. (See, for example, his latest "On Language" column in yesterday's Times: "Urge to Surge." Zzzzz.) He's all but charged Sen. Kerry with aiding and abetting terrorists, thereby dutifully following the vice president's recent droppings along the campaign trail.

Whatever happened to mandatory retirement ages?

Dick Cheney: Designated Dissembler
Yes, he's still at it. Vice President Dick Cheney continues to spread misinformation about the relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

Seeking an understanding of this brazen -- and long-running -- pattern of prevarication, James Gerstenzang of the Los Angeles Times quotes Paul Light, a professor at New York University (see "Cheney 'Pushes the Envelope' on Al Qaeda-Iraq Connection"): "It's a statement to the party faithful. He doesn't say Saddam Hussein planned 9/11 and funded it. There's no evidence of that. But he pushes the envelope, for sure." And, in Light's words, the "veneer of ligitimacy" Cheney acquired at the start of the Bush administration has lingered. That, he says, "allows him to say things that are outrageous." [Emphasis added.]

Slow Down, There Fella'
The New York Times today reports ("Agencies Postpone Issuing New Rules Until After Election," by Stephen Labaton): "In recent weeks, federal agencies across the vast Washington bureaucracy have delayed completion of a range of proposed regulations from food safety and the environment to corporate governance and telecommunications policy until after Election Day, when regulatory action may be more politically palatable."

I guess the Bush administration is too perplexed by these issues and wants the Kerry-Edwards team to handle them. Sounds good to me.

"Mr. Keyes, is there a problem at home?"
Gee whiz, I don't even know what to think about this.

[* Note: Additional items may be posted to “Political Notes” after initial publication but only on the day of publication, excluding post-publication addenda. Such items, when posted, are designated by an asterisk.]

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Would you like to help send Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) into a much-delayed retirement?

Of course you would. It's easy and fun, too!

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's group, Democracy for America, is looking for the "Grass Roots All-Stars" in the November Senate races.

According to Democracy for America's web site, "The incumbent and the challenger with the most votes at the end of balloting will win a national email appeal from Governor Dean and Democracy for America."

I'd like to ask you to take a minute and vote for Sen. Specter's opponent, Rep. Joe Hoeffel, in the "Grass Roots All-Star" campaign. (And I say that with all due respect to Nancy Farmer, who is running against Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and currently leading in the DFA's survey.)

Rep. Hoeffel could use the fundraising lift that a nod from Dean's group would generate.

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Pop culturalist Naomi Wolf obviously doesn't care much for Teresa Heinz Kerry, which is fine, I suppose, but she doesn't have to be so stupid about it. Here's an excerpt from Wolf's diatribe in New York Magazine ("Female Trouble," September 27):

Let's start with "Heinz." There is no genteel way to put this: Teresa is publicly, subliminally cuckolding Kerry with the power of a dead man.

(Predictably, the Princess of Provincetown throws up huzzahs for this particularly nasty tripe. Politics and bedfellows and all that.)

Wolf's crankiness leads me to present, not only for her benefit but for the edification of Republican pundits and voters who are also carrying around this bag of bile (Michelle Malkin, please call your office.), the following question: What do Midge Decter, Frances Lear, and Erica Jong have in common?

Give up?

Decter, Lear, and Jong each retained -- professionally, in the public sphere, if you will -- the surname of a previous husband from whom she was divorced (N.B.: Divorced, not widowed.), even after her subsequent remarriage to another man.

If you want to be the one to call Norman Podhoretz "cuckolded" -- and by a then still-living man at that -- be my guest. I think I'll pass.

[Post-publication addendum (September 30): A reader, J.T. of Kumamoto, Japan, writes (September 26): "You might already know this, but I thought I would pass it on. Though she [Michelle Malkin] has complained in print about Heinz (I assume you are talking about the Howard Dean in a dress column, but I think that she also has specifically complained about the name thing including Hillary [Rodham Clinton] and some other dems) her books are copywritten in her maiden name (Maglalang)."]

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Sen. John F. Kerry, the next president of the United States, will be in Philadelphia on Friday, this Friday, Friday, September 24, at the Hill Field at the University of Pennsylvania, at the corner of 34th and Walnut Streets.

Gates open at 10:30 a.m.

For more information, check with the Democratic National Committee. Or, I hope, click here.

I'll be there. I'm sure you will be too.

[Post-publication addendum (September 25): For local coverage of Kerry's visit to Philadelphia, see: "In Phila., Kerry Presses Hard Line," by Thomas Fitzgerald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, September 25. I don't know . . . 20,000 people show up and the story goes below the fold?

[The Kerry-Edwards blog has published photos from Philadelphia here.

[And for the latest snark from every Daily News reader's favorite crank (excluding regular columnists Michelle Malkin and Michael Smerconish), and habitual letter-to-the-editor writer Michael P. Kilhoffer, click here.

[Do you get it? See, Kilhoffer refers to Sen. Kerry as "John F. Simoes Ferierra Heinz Kennedy Kerry." Isn't that a riot? And get this: Kilhoffer's so proud of his gag line that this is at least the second time he's used it in a letter to the Daily News.

[Here's a tip, Mr. Kilhoffer: Sen. Kerry's first wife is named Julia Thorne. Add that to the mix next time, 'cause we know there's going to be a next time.]

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It looks like I'm back. After an extended delay and considerable complications, not one of which I could explain to you, the technician, a/k/a M.D., has the PC in operation again. Let's hope it sticks.

During the down time I've been looking for a job and catching up on some reading (about which you'll hear more later). Oh yeah, my birthday came and went. That was supposed to be a secret but Suburban Guerrilla blew my cover.

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You know, I really felt on Saturday that I was getting my momentum back after some disruptions to my normal routine, including but not limited to the Blogger.com problems I mentioned. I had even prepared a copy of posts for Sunday, including some information about the 427th Transportation Company.

Then it happened: Some kind of bizarre PC failure that has kept me offline until today.

Actually, I’m still not really back online. I’m posting from a PC at the Free Library of Philadelphia, where demand for the machines is so great that a user is lucky if he’s able take advantage of the library’s daily limit of one hour of use.

The technician, actually a friend of mine, is still working on the problem. I’ll be back soon.

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U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-Pa.), who is running against the all-too-incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter in this year’s Senate contest in Pennsylvania, is in the news today.

The funny things about this is that some time before Rep. Hoeffel declared his candidacy against Sen. Specter, a period during which no Democrat had the guts to step up to the plate, thereby encouraging my own exploratory efforts, I saw a small two-inch item in either the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Philadelphia Daily News, I forget which, in which Rep. Hoeffel raised serious questions about the Bush administration’s conduct in the war in Iraq.

As soon as I read that minor item, buried deep within the paper’s pages, I knew Rep. Hoeffel was going to challenge Sen. Specter. I just knew it.

And at that point I knew my quixotic, largely-having-gone-nowhere campaign, an effort based solely on the notion that Pennsylvania Democrats would not put forward anyone against Sen. Specter, came to an end. And I was glad of it. I can’t think of a better man or woman to take up this challenge.

I knew, just reading those two or three paragraphs, that Rep. Hoeffel, who had voted for what turned out to be treated as a blanket authorization for war in Iraq, would soon announce his campaign for the Senate seat occupied -- and I mean that -- by Sen. Specter.

And I knew he would be my candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Fittingly, in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, reporter Carrie Budoff writes, in “Hoeffel Rethinks Vote on Iraq War: “I voted for the war because I was convinced we needed to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction. I am now convinced we were lied to.”

It’s time to take Rep. Hoeffel, a man who speaks truth to error, seriously. Rep. Hoeffel can beat Sen. Specter. DONATE HERE.

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Welcome to “Friday Fun,” the much-anticipated and always-appreciated supposed-to-be-weekly feature of The Rittenhouse Review offering a roundup of just some of the searches that brought visitors to the blog during the past week. Today “Friday Fun” appears on Saturday because I just wasn’t feeling well yesterday. Nonetheless, enjoy.

plastic surgery rittenhouse square plaza
Arlen, I told you last time, or at least hinted to the effect: If you want to have still more plastic surgery, The Rittenhouse Review isn’t your best place to start searching for someone to work those jowls and your nose. Hell, around here, we don’t even support your reelection.

hairdresser philadelphia private
best facialists of pittsburgh
manicurist reading, pa
best hairdresser Houston
You know, for a guy who cuts his own hair and files his own nails, I get far too may search inquiries like these.

how many did young buck sold out da frist week
Yo mama! (What do I know?)

mary-kate olsen 92 pounds and gaining
Good for her! Right now I’m about 132 pounds and possibly gaining.

when was the colored tv first invited to the u.s.
“Colored”? I believe we call it “African American” now, and “they” weren’t invited, they were dragged over here against their will. It’s called slavery. Look it up.

medical drop things a lot
I believe the searcher’s interest is in either dropsy, Parkinson’s disease, or just plain clumsy doctors and nurses. With no more to go on, I’m stumped.

coalition of the willing countries dropping out
I believe the missing words here are “like flies.”

true religion corduroys for men
No clue. Try David Sedaris, author of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. (The book earned a “Highly Recommended” rating from The Rittenhouse Review on September 2.)

english bulldog vets in new york
There are English bulldog veterans? In New York? Anywhere? Judging by the three English bulldogs I’ve owned, the only wartime activity the breed is good for is sleeping through blackouts.

catholic churches near rittenhouse square philadelphia
Well, let’s see. Some of these are a hike given the historical preponderance of Protestants living in and around, if not occupying, Rittenhouse Square, so to visit some, you should expect a hike. Off the top of my head, there’s St. Patrick’s Church, 242 South 20th Street, (215) 735-9900; St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church, 902 South 20th Street, (215) 735-0600; and St. John the Evangelist Church, at 21 South 13th Street, (215) 563-4145. The latter is a terrific church, my first parish when I settled in Philadelphia. Run by the Franciscans, St. John’s intelligently mixes the modern with the traditional, holds two midday masses (12:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m.), and offers Eucharistic Adoration Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Then, of course, there’s the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, located at 17th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. An architectural and spiritual masterpiece, with multiple daily masses, and open every day for personal prayer, meditation, and reflection.

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What the hell took so long? Why do Disney shareholders have to wait so long? And why didn’t the board shove Eisner out of its own accord?

Questions for the ages.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times today reports, in “Eisner Decides to Leave Disney in Two Years,” by James Bates and Richard Verrier, that Michael Eisner, chief executive officer and former chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Co. will step down from the CEO position when his current contract expires in September 2006, two years from now.

As is customary for so many news articles, particularly those about the likes of Eisner, the Times reporters buried the lead. The real meat appears in paragraph six:

Industry insiders speculated that Eisner’s move may have been preemptive, giving him a chance to announce the departure, without the embarrassment of being pushed to do so by his bosses on the board, who have publicly supported him. A source close to the company said the board was not expected to renew Eisner’s contract and had not decided whether to cut him loose even sooner, should a successor be found before 2006.

No kidding.

I’m not sure if Eisner is or was the most overpaid CEO in America; I’ll let Graef Crystal answer that question. But just looking at the price chart for Disney’s common stock, accompanied by an examination of the company’s thoroughly inadequate business plan, if there even is one, it’s clear Eisner long ago had outlived his value and usefulness to Disney.

Good riddance, and bye-bye, Mike.

[Post-publication addendum: See also, “A Question of Succession,” by Sallie Hofmeister, the Los Angeles Times, September 11.]

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I was living in New York on September 11, 2001, and that morning and early afternoong, while standing on Sixth Avenue in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood, I saw much more than I would have liked.

I was too far away to see those who jumped from the Twin Towers’ upper levels, but as a learned through my brother’s brother-in-law, a firefighter brought in from Upstate New York, and another man who was on the scene, there were more jumpers than people initially thought or were led to believe.

In “Falling Bodies, a 9/11 Image Etched in Pain” by Kevin Flynn and Jim Dwyer (the New York Times, September 10), the reporters ask, “How many people jumped from the upper floors of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11?”

I’ve always wondered the answer to this question, in no small part because New York firefighter Daniel Suhr, mentioned in my memoriam post below, was hit and killed by a jumper in the early aftermath of the tragedy.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the number of jumpers, according to Flynn and Dwyer, remains unknown. They write:

Some researchers say more than 200 people most likely fell or jumped to their death. Others say the number is half that, or fewer. None have been officially identified.

Without knowing the physiology associated with death by jumping, particularly from so high, I don’t know that I would have made the same decision when faced with near certain death. Personally, I think I would have gone with intentional smoke inhalation. I hope I never -- I hope no one ever -- has to make that choice.

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Be sure to read “Convention of Hate,” by Sydney H. Schanberg, in the Village Voice, September 7. Pull quote, focusing on the Republican Party’s rabid dogs:

We have seen nastiness at both parties’ rallies before -- many will remember Pat Buchanan’s garbage-truckload of rhetoric at the 1992 Republican convention -- but in my time, which goes back to FDR, I can remember no oratory sanctioned by a major party that was more obviously a hate speech than Zell Miller’s.

In response to the unhinged but thankfully soon-to-be-unlamented-former-senator Miller’s slanderous “spitballs” comment, Schanberg writes:

That’s the kind of fear-inducing rhetoric that dictators use to keep their opponents cowed and submissive. Unfortunately it’s merely a ratcheted-up version of the message President George W. Bush has been regularly sending across this nation: If you don’t support the war in Iraq, you’re a bad American. If you view my tax cuts that favor the wealthy as reckless, you’re a bad American. When he needs to have this message magnified to scare enough people into voting him a second term, he of course turns to pit-bull surrogates like Miller and Dick Cheney, his super-hawkish vice president.

No button-sporting proponent of the Kerry campaign, Schanberg still offers this still-useful observation:

President Bush has allowed himself to become captivated by the ideology of a group of radical conservatives -- civilians with no military or combat experience, mostly alumni of the Reagan presidency, who now steer the Pentagon and work through the vice president’s office, where one of their number, I. Lewis Libby, serves as Cheney’s chief of staff.

We know who Schanberg is talking about here: the neoconservatives, the powerful and closely, often nepotistically, interconnected group of “intellectuals,” now thoroughly discredited by their hubris, loquaciousness, and misguided bravado. The same people who in the past bragged about their influence over various presidential administrations who now all but claim there’s no such thing as a “neoconservative movement,” that it’s all a figment of the “liberal media’s” imagination.

Here’s a hint to the neocons, including Richard “Can I Get My Hand in That?” Perle, forming yet another little committee isn’t the road to intellectual, political, or strategic redemption. You’ve bluffed and blustered your way to irrelevancy. And many of us are glad for it.

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I wonder if the person or persons responsible for replacing anyone’s-family-values man Jack Ryan with Alan Keyes on the ballot for the open seat of outgoing U.S. Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) still has a job.

The latest, and I mean just the latest of Keyes’s impolitic politics has been documented by, among other outlets, the Chicago Tribune (“ Jesus Wouldn’t Vote for Obama, Keyes Says,” by Liam Ford and David Mendell).

Quoting Keyes: “Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved.”

Keyes, we are to presume, has “the mind of Christ.” (I Cor., 2:16)

Funny thing, though, I recall from my reading of the scriptures that Jesus Christ cast out demons from the demented. Too bad he’s not wandering around Illinois these days. Or maybe that’s a good thing.

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James Joseph “Joe” Ferguson and Ann Judge, both of the National Geographic Society; David Charlebois, American Airlines; and Daniel Suhr, New York Fire Department.

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This week stumping for votes in Pennsylvania wasn’t reserved only for former Vice President Al Gore (see below), Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday was in Allentown, the heart of the Lehigh Valley, and crucial territory given the results of the 2000 campaign.

Local media coverage centered primarily on gun control, with Sen. Kerry lambasting the Bush administration for its failure to act to extend the assault weapons program. (Gun control is a brave topic for discussion in Pennsylvania, a state in which there are, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer more than a million hunters and who knows how many die-hard National Rifle Association [NRA] members.)

The Inquirer reports Sen. Kerry chastised President Beach Thongs in a shameful flip-flop (“Kerry, Bush Trade Charges on Assault Weapons, Iraq,” by James Kuhnhenn and William Douglas, September 11):

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush said he would support an extension of the ban. While he has been effective in pushing his own legislation through the Republican Congress, he has not actively encouraged congressional leaders to renew the 1994 law.

“George Bush, who said, ‘Oh, I’m for that,’ never asked the Congress to pass it, never pushed the Congress to pass it, never stood up, gives in to the NRA, gives in to the special interests, and America’s streets will not be as safe because of the choice George Bush has made,” Kerry said in Missouri.

Kerry portrayed the ban as a means to deter terrorism, thus trying to weaken Bush on turf where polls show the President is strong.

“If you’re going to make America safe . . . you have to stand up for homeland security, stand up for police officers, and keep those weapons off the streets of our country,” the Democratic nominee said in Allentown.

Teresa Heinz Kerry was in King of Prussia, located in suburban Philadelphia, Thursday addressing members and supporters of Women for Kerry-Edwards, where she discussed the Kerry-Edwards campaign’s healthcare proposals to an admiring audience (“Rapt Crowd Greets Heinz Kerry,” by Tina Moore, the Philadelphia Inquirer, September 10). Pull quote:

Heinz Kerry removed her glasses and spoke softly into a microphone about her father and her childhood in Africa, before she launched into an outline of her husband's plan that was laced with jabs at President Bush and other Republicans.

Audience members applauded when Heinz Kerry called Bush “flippant” about science.

“I regret that we have a president who has not been attracted by the beauty of science,” she said. “We can and must develop stem-cell research.”

Ah . . . Life in a battleground state.

[Post-publication addendum: For local coverage on Kerry’s visit to Allentown, Pa., from the Allentown Morning Call, see: “Kerry Lists ‘Wrong Choices’ by Bush,” Daryl Nerl, with photos here and video here. And from the Easton Express-Times: “Kerry Draws 12,000 to Valley Rally,” by Michael P. Buffer.]

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Through the good offices of the Joe Hoeffel for Senate campaign, I attended a Hoeffel fundraiser Thursday night at the Wynham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia.

Although the guest of honor and the recipient of the receipts from the fundraiser, Rep. Joe Hoffel (D-Pa.) could not attend due to an important vote in Washington -- on the Bush administration’s loony overtime rules -- attendees heard a rousing speech from Sen. Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, his very presence and his excellent speech emphasizing the importance the Democratic Party attaches to Rep. Hoeffel’s campaign against incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Sen. Corzine includes Rep. Hoeffel’s campaign as among those that could go the Democrats’ way.

Next up was the star of the evening: former Vice President Al Gore. Gore looks good: healthy, maybe a little grayer than before, energetic, and confident. After a sustained standing ovation, the vice president delivered an enthusiastic speech to an appreciative audience. Gore addressed every major issue facing the country today, criticizing, in rational and levelheaded language and manner, the faults and mistakes of the Bush administration. (One of his best lines: “I don’t want the Supreme Court choosing the next president and I don’t want George W. Bush choosing the next Supreme Court.”)

Sen. Specter wasn’t spared Vice President Gore’s criticism. His main contention, one with which I agree, is that the senior senator from Pennsylvania is no longer, to the extent he ever was (and on this point Vice President Gore is more generous than I), a “moderate” or an “independent voice,” let alone some kind of “maverick.” The audience, a partisan group of course, enjoyed every minute of it, interrupting the speech several times with long bouts of applause, a perfect accompaniment to the group’s consistent nodding of heads and whispers of “That’s right.”

Upon completing his speech, Vice President Gore received yet another, prolonged, and well-deserved standing ovation. He left the dais fairly quickly, making his way toward the ballroom exit, greeting future-senator Hoeffel’s supporters. After mispositioning myself not once, but twice, I briefly encountered blogger Duncan Black and his wife, and then moved to an excellent spot where I was able to meet Vice President Gore. Truth be told, we just shook hands and I offered a view words of thanks and encouragement. Black tried to get a picture, but the former vice president and I moved too quickly and Black was unable to capture the moment.

Rep. Hoeffel eventually made an appearance in the hotel lobby, but it was quite a while after the dinner had ended. The few of us still milling about at least managed to greet him with some display of our support, for which he seemed very appreciative.

It was a terrific evening: I met several very interesting people at my table, became even more enthusiastic about the Hoeffel campaign, and grew in my administration and respect for Al Gore. I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend.

Now, I know I’ve asked before, but allow me to do so (at least) once again. With fewer than 60 days until Election Day, Rep. Hoeffel needs your support. You can donate to the campaign by clicking here. Thanks for your help.

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I apologize for the lack of posts over the past day or so, but it wasn’t my fault. The software supporting Blogger.com and Blogspot.com failed all of us.

And the general political discourse failed accordingly, as I’m sure you didn’t fail to notice.

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I’m sort of jumping out of my skin at the moment because I’ve been invited to a fundraiser for Pennsylvania’s best choice for the U.S. Senate, Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-Pa.).

The event, to be held at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel, includes the appearance of former Vice President and shoulda-been-president Al Gore.

Allow me to say this isn’t exactly a free ride. I’ve been asked to turn on the fundraising charm for Rep. Hoeffel. I don’t mind at all.

Please justify my attendance at tomorrow’s dinner by contributing whatever you can to Rep. Hoeffel’s campaign against the all too incumbent Sen. Arlen “I hate Anita Hill but I love Ira Einhorn” Specter (R - Pa.).

You, my readers, would make me very happy if we, together, raised even just $100. Imagine only 10 readers donating only $10 to defeat Sen. Weathervane! We can do it. Please help.

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In the September 6 issue of Newsweek, in “The Road to Resolve,” by Evan Thomas, Tamara Lipper, and Rebecca Sinderbrand, we read:

It is easy to mark the turning point in George Bush’s life. It was the morning of July 28, 1986, when he woke up, wretchedly hung over after a night of celebrating his 40th birthday at the Broadmoor, a resort in Colorado, and decided to quit drinking. He did not seek therapy or join Alcoholics Anonymous. He just quit, and joined a regular Bible group. Before Bush gave up the bottle, his life was more feckless than accomplished. After that day, he moved from success to success. [Ed.: With more than a little help from family and friends, and friends of family, and family of friends, and family of family, and friends of friends.] Bush has been sober for 18 years (less time than John Kerry has spent in the U.S. Senate); for 12 of those years, he has been running for office or governing.

I challenge anyone who buys this story -- and accepts the president’s blanket refusal to discuss his use of cocaine -- to explain the behavior of President Scotch & Soda captured on videotape at the August 29, 1992, wedding of Bush family friend Jamie Weiss, which can be found at The Smoking Gun.

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Welcome to “Friday Fun,” the much-anticipated and always-appreciated supposed-to-be-weekly feature of The Rittenhouse Review offering a roundup of just some of the searches that brought visitors to the blog during the past week. Enjoy.

why filipino wants to become a U.S. citizen
Michelle Malkin, please call your office. Michelle?

zell miller lyndon johnson sold his soul
I’m betting the soul the searcher thought was sold was that of barking-mad Sen. Zell Miller (Unhinged-Ga.).

rittenhouse review
There have been an extraordinary number of searches lately based solely on the name of the blog. The only explanation I can muster for this anomaly is that a new group of readers is coming to the site based on an active, somewhat subterranean round of e-mails circulating around the world about an issue recently discussed here.

427th transportation company
See above.

john moore jr rittenhouse hotel plastic surgeon
Isn’t this the guy who did Sen. Arlen Specter’s “makeover”?

new kind of face lift in conshohocken pa
Please, Arlen, it’s too close to the election for another operation.

who is the best hairdresser in doylestown, pa
Must be Specter again. I know he really respects the recommendations of The Rittenhouse Review.

30th street station floor plan philadelphia
Terrorists, no doubt.

drink coffee can cause memory gap
“Coffee”? I think the searcher meant to enter “alcohol.” At least to the best of my recollection.

philadelphia flyers knitting patterns
Maybe it’s not such a bad idea if the Flyers took up knitting, individually or as a team project. Knitting seems to be helping kids who have taken up the craft. Anything would help over last season. And just don’t get me started about the Phillies.

what lady gets blamed for the philadelphia phillies always not winning
A wild guess: Mrs. Larry Bowa?

best salon for long hair cuts in pittsburgh
Are mullets still in style in Pittsburgh?

pretty chickens
Why be redundant?

someone to help with packing in reading, pa
Hey, call me! I’m still unemployed. Actually, yesterday marked 11 months of unemployment.

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This post marks installment two of the series “Late Summer Reading,” the first batch of brief reviews resulting from my guilt-free pasttime having been published here on August 23.

For your consideration on the second go-around:

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Joe Trippi. Although I was not a supporter of former Vermont governor Howard Dean preceding or during the Democratic presidential primaries (readers may recall I first back Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D-Ohio] but soon moved on, practically if not ideologically, to the eventual nominee, Sen. John F. Kerry), Trippi’s book, recounting just about everything known and unknown about the Dean campaign, at least through his involvement in the effort, made me feel like I missed something truly extraordinary. (The book brought back the excitement I felt as a young kid going door-to-door in the sixth ward of Oneonta, N.Y., on behalf of former President Jimmy Carter’s 1976 primary campaign. A long shot in the district, Carter clobbered his opponents in the precinct in which we wore out our shoe leather.) I emphasize The Revolution isn’t just for “Deaniacs.” It’s an authoritative and tightly reasoned treatise on the most powerful changes affecting politics today: technology, the internet, and, ahem, weblogs.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind. I’m a little late in getting to this one, but I’m pleased I picked it up at the library recently. I completed this fascinating book in just two sittings. It’s a shame that upon publication Suskind’s book was too often cast as an act of treachery by former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill and that most pundits and some reviewers kept their “analysis” of the work to the juicy bits, of which there are plenty I assure you. What Suskind, with the help of O’Neill, outlines is an administration hell-bent on a destructive, fringey, and completely thoughtless ideological crusade, at home and abroad, no matter the cost to anyone but themselves and their supporters and friends. My only question for O’Neill, regarding his departure, is: “What took you so long?”

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris. (A gift from reader L.H. from my Amazon.com Wish List.) As one who has not been a Sedaris fan from way back, as so many of his readers are proud to classify themselves, I have to admit the writer has really hit his stride in Dress Your Family. Some of Sedaris’s observations hit a little close to home, personally speaking, more so than his previous works, and I admit that likely has affected my judgment a little. With wit both obvious and subtle, Sedaris’s prose, drawn from his not-so-everyday life, is sure to keep you entertained. Just one question: Can I meet his mother?

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This week’s New York Observer includes an interesting article about retired Lt.-Gen. Brent Scowcroft (“Brent Scowcroft Calls Iraq War ‘Overreaction,’” by Andrew Rice), one in which the former national security advisor and early opponent of the war on Iraq, chooses his words carefully.

For example, here’s Scowcroft talking about the current Bush administration and his relationship with former President George H.W. Bush:

Look, I’m a friend of this administration. I love the father. So do I want to do things which complicate [matters for] them? No. But do I feel that there are some things that it’s important to get out? Yes.

Note Scowcroft’s narrow distribution of his affection: “I love the father.” But what about the son? And what of the nasty wife, Barbara Bush Sr.?

With that in mind, here’s a quote from Scowcroft that is vulnerable to misinterpretation, if such were one’s wont:

Do I know what the father thinks about most things? Yeah, I think so. If I don’t, I’ve been sleeping for 30 years, because we’ve been together a long, long time. We talk about a lot of things, and we talk about a lot of them very quietly. We have a wonderful relationship, and I have to be very careful about the appearance of speaking for him out of turn.

As for the delusions President Doesn’t Go To Church entertains of God-given grandeur and destiny, Scowcroft says:

It’s possible that the transformation came with 9/11, and that the current President, who is a very religious person, thought that there was something unique, if not divine, about a catastrophe like 9/11 happening when he was President. That somehow that was meant to be, and his mission is to deal with the war on terrorism. Now that’s a perfectly rational explanation -- but there were signs of a change even before 9/11.

“Pefectly rational explanation”? I take back what I said about Scowcroft choosing his words carefully.

As for National Security Advisor Condoleezza “Mushroom Cloud” Rice, a Scowcroft protégé, we learn (or at least I did), that their once warm relationship frayed some time ago, though they have since repaired the damage. Rice, the Observer reporter, not the lying White House tool sharing the surname, writes:

Mr. Scowcroft and Ms. Rice had bitter words after Mr. Scowcroft went public with his criticism of the Iraq war. Mr. Scowcroft says that he and Ms. Rice have since made up and now talk regularly, but associates say that Ms. Rice has bitterly disappointed her mentor. In public, Mr. Scowcroft takes care to praise Ms. Rice for her “brilliant mind,” but when asked to assess her job performance, he said he would prefer not to comment. “Each National Security Advisor sees his or her job in slightly different ways,” he said.

Finally, having studied liberal anti-Communism for years, in graduate school and since then, I have to say this comment from Scowcroft rings anti-historical to me:

It’s curious. I think back to my days of graduate school during the Cold War: I was attacked by many of my friends -- probably primarily Democratic -- for being a hard-liner, a hawk, so on and so forth. I think I have maintained a pretty consistent philosophy. Now I’m being attacked from the right for being a wussy liberal.

Scowcroft seems to have forgotten that not only were most leading Democrats hard-line anti-Soviet hawks during the Cold War years, at least until the debacle in Vietnam, certain aspects of the Cold War, including the battle for the hearts and minds of European intellectucals, were the very -- indeed, almost exclusive -- province of men and women who were then liberal Democrats.

Some of these same people, or at least their admirers and their progeny, both genetic and intellectual, in their effort to rewrite history, are now doing so by rote: When in doubt, create a committee.

Thus we have the recent, third incarnation of the Committee on the Present Danger. In its current formation, the CPD is a very small and entirely predictable group of mostly neoconservative Republicans, including honorary co-chairman Sen. Joseph M. Lieberman (?-Conn.).

It will come as no surprise that former Commentary editor Norman Podhoretz and his wife, Midge Decter (note not Midge Decter Podhoretz), are both members of CPD III, just as they were of CPD II.

Always happy to pick up a cudgel to whack enemies both real and imagined, Podhoretz takes to the pages of Commentary this month with a patently disturbed and needlessly and unsubstantiatedly alarmist screed, “World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win.”

I encourage you to read the essay. Unless you’ve read some of Podhoretz’s polemics over the last, say, 35 years or so, in which case, it’s all-too familiar ground. Podhoretz himself, in “A Note to the Reader” preceding the essay, alerts readers to the rehashing ahead: “I have drawn freely from my own past writings on the subject, and especially from three articles that appeared in these pages two or more years ago. In some instances, I have woven sections of these articles into a new setting; other passages I have adapted and updated.” (A Hint to the Reader: Watch for another repackaging of these four interwoven articles coming soon to a bookstore near you.)

Another enemy. Another “war.” Another committee. Another article. Another little book.

It’s just the same old thing.

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Linda Allison, wife of the late Jimmy Allison, the man who gave President No Show a job on an Alabama senate campaign in 1972:

“After about a month I asked Jimmy what was Georgie’s job, because I couldn’t figure it out. I never saw him do anything. He told me it basically consisted of him contacting people who were impressed by his name and asking for contributions and support.”

From “George W. Bush’s Missing Year,” by Mary Jacoby at Salon.com.

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Poster Child
Actress and conservative Republican Angie Harmon (“Law & Order,” “Baywatch”) addressed the party’s national convention in New York this week and attended a gathering to promote the “Rock the Vote” campaign. It turns out Harmon is the type of perpetual non-voter the activist group has been targeting for years. The New York Post reports: “. . . Harmon sheepishly admitted to partygoers at French Connection’s SoHo store, ‘I’m 32-years-old, and I have to register to vote when I get back to Texas.’” She’d better get her act together quickly if she plans to vote for President Hasselhoff; Harmon, according to the Post has just 30 days to register in Texas.

Wanted Poster
Odd, isn’t it, how über-neocon Richard N. Perle’s name keeps turning up in the most ethically compromised and suspicious of circumstances? The New York Times today reports (“Hollinger’s Board: Most Irresponsible Ever?” by Floyd Norris):

A special report of a committee of [the] board [of Hollinger International] . . . released yesterday, harshly criticizes some [Hollinger] directors but essentially clears others, saying they were entitled to assume that others were paying attention to what was going on.

The Hollinger board was studded with political heavyweights chosen by Lord [Conrad] Black, a Canadian who became a British peer after Hollinger took control of the Telegraph newspapers in London.

Among them were Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Richard N. Perle, who was assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan and is the former chairman of a Pentagon advisory board. […]

The report lets most of the directors off with little more than a mild rebuke for not having shown much curiosity in how the business was run. The members of the audit committee during the years when Lord Black was taking out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash draw harsher criticism for their passiveness, but the director who is excoriated in the strongest terms is Mr. Perle. [Emphasis added.]

His many and varied roles at Hollinger seem to have aroused questions even from Lord Black -- a man who knew conflicts of interest if anyone did. In one case, Lord Black is said to have sent a letter to Mr. Perle, questioning the conflicts. There is no record of whether Mr. Perle answered the letter, the report says, and nothing seems to have been done about the issue.

Mr. Perle was chairman of Hollinger’s Internet investing subsidiary, which lost lots of money. But he and other insiders had an unusual deal that gave them a share of profits from good investments without requiring those amounts to be offset by losses from bad investments.

Mr. Perle collected $3.1 million through that deal -- payments that the committee said were not fully disclosed to shareholders, as they should have been. By the committee’s account, Mr. Perle was responsible for $63.6 million in Hollinger investments, on which the company lost a net $49 million. […]

Mr. Perle was one of three members of Hollinger’s executive committee, and the closest thing to an outsider on that committee. The other two members were Lord Black and F. David Radler, Hollinger’s chief operating officer at the time.

“Perle’s own description of his performance on the executive committee was stunning,” the report states. For example, he said the committee never met but that from time to time he would get a package of documents to sign. He also said he never discussed the documents with the other committee members and often did not bother to read them before signing. [Emphasis added.]

“It is difficult to imagine a more flagrant abdication of duty than a director rubber-stamping transactions that directly benefit a controlling shareholder without any thought, comprehension or analysis,” the committee report says. “In fact, many of the consents that Perle signed as an executive committee member approved related-party transactions that unfairly benefited Black and Radler, and cost Hollinger millions.”

Why the eerie ring of familiarity to all that?

Oh, I remember now, nearly 1,000 Americans killed in Iraq.

[Note: Additional items may be posted to “Political Notes” after initial publication but only on the day of publication, excluding post-publication addenda. Such items, when posted, are designated by an asterisk.]

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I have a couple of appointments and job-hunting-related items to attend to today.

I’ll be back either late tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, try a new blog from the recommended list in the sidebar at right.

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