S/FJ

"NO, NO, THAT'S FINE. WE'LL RUN IT JUST THE WAY IT IS."

I don't know what foolish thing I was doing on March 27th, but I managed to miss this Genuine Crazy Person piece published in The New York "Super Duper" Times. (I guess the whole "We're not scared of blogs" point has been proven.) And though Waldman's piece is so nutso that you feel like you've already read the parody piece by the time you've finished the original, you still need to read this.

(POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK CLARIFICATION: I can't fault Waldman's narcissism—all bloggers have it bad like that. And as for thinking selfishly, I will not throw the first stone. My reaction was something like what I felt about the Lewinsky blow job: "Damn, do your dirt, Mr. President, but wait until check-in at the Motel 6!" Waldman's decision to publish her particular set of statements in such a ginormous publication simply struck me as a really good way to get everyone mad at you, quick fast. A whopper of a puzzler, I am saying. And when the Times is still running perfect little pieces of straight reporting, all this flesh and first person stuff feels a little like Dad with the lampshade. No shame in being the Grey Lady, guys. You're not gonna trump Belle de Jour. And. That's. O.K.

Branching off, was Lewinsky the beginning of the Bush presidency? Not just as the moment when Gore lost (ask any sane Republicans you know—it just was, hands down) but when Bush conceived the No Shame strategy? "If Bubba can get blown, then impeached, and still carry on tra-la with his bad self, think of what we can do!" The Waldman piece feels of a piece with the No Shame ideology.)

Posted by Sasha at April 6, 2005 04:11 PM | TrackBack