Liz Cheney: My Dad Is Just Like Al GoreThe former vice-president’s daughter says that by speaking his mind as much as he likes, Dick Cheney is following a tradition begun by his predecessor.
Chris Smith: Why Obama’s Right on TortureDespite the growing maelstrom of posturing and commentary, Obama has drawn — and held — the proper line over Bush-era interrogation tactics.
Who Defends ‘Torture’?The political commentators and former Bush officials who don’t have a problem with the interrogation techniques that many think constitute torture.
ByDan Amira
early and often
Cheney, Everyone, Want to See More Torture MemosThe former vice-president is seeking the release of memos he says report the successes of controversial interrogation techniques like waterboarding.
Let Ashley Olsen Be a Little Girl and Lick Her FingersShe’s getting flack for not washing her hands after the movies, but maybe she likes to lick the butter taste like us! Related: We wish we could’ve soothed the Cuddle Guv’s stage fright. In the I’m-Fried Day gossip roundup.
Ryan Seacrest Is Casting for BoysThe ‘American Idol’ and E! host has yet another job, Ethan Hawke gets one step closer to making his nanny his second wife, plus new ‘Gossip Girl’ gossip, all in our daily roundup of the day’s gossip columns.
early and often
Dick Cheney Hates Your LoveThe vice-president would really like the little people to get back to their goddamn jobs and stop making googly eyes at one another.
in other news
Dick Cheney Gives Al Sharpton Something to Talk AboutOne got the feeling that noted marksman Dick Cheney’s hunting trip upstate this week was organized for the express purpose of reminding us that even in our cherished blue states, there is often red-state behavior. Although maybe even Cheney didn’t know how much? A photo by the Daily News that captured a Confederate flag hanging in the window in front of Clove Valley Gun and Rod Club has prompted everyone and Al Sharpton to rip into Cheney, who claims he didn’t actually know it was there. “The vice president did not see a flag, nor did anyone on his staff traveling with him in New York,” White House spokeswoman Megan M. Mitchell told the Times. Well, he did have a hood over his eyes and everything. Just kidding! Look, let’s be honest. There’s no way Cheney’s staff would have noticed that flag. It’s not like they have a team who go to unsecure locations to scout them out in advance or something. Plus, even if he did know it was there, it wouldn’t mean anything. Some of Cheney’s closest eighth cousins are black!
Al Sharpton Chides Dick Cheney Over Confederate Flag [NYDN]
white men with money
Cheney to Metaphorically Shoot N.Y. Schoolkids in the FaceLet’s dispense with the obvious first: Hide your doddering lawyer friends! Wear bright colors! Stay indoors! Yes, Dick Cheney is going hunting in upstate New York, and he’s going to shoot you in the face. But what else? Beyond a pile of animal (if we’re lucky) corpses, what effect will the vice-president’s day out at the Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club, planned for next Monday, have on Dutchess County? The Poughkeepsie Journal provides awesomely detailed, and no less awesomely deadpan, local color.
in other news
Suburban Moms Sound the Death Knell of the MBA
You know once affluent, middle-aged moms get into something, it’s over. We mean, no offense to the ladies, but look what happened with, say, Juicy Couture, Norah Jones, and La Esquina. Now, apparently, this crowd has set its sights on the MBA. In a shrewd new step in their ongoing effort to ensure that no one ever goes to b-school again, the Times business section today has a trend story about Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business “Back in Business” program, which caters to mommies who want to muscle their way back into the workforce. Simultaneously, the Brazen Careerist has a column listing all the reasons why the MBA has become obsolete. Coincidence? We think not. Also, it’s kind of funny how it’s called the Tuck School, which reminds us a little bit of plastic surgery. MBAs! They’re the new Botox.
M.B.A. Programs Pay Off for Women Seeking a Return to Wall Street[NYT]
B-School Confidential: MBAs May Be Obsolete [The Brazen Careerist]
company town
Greg Larkin Was the Al Gore of the Subprime MessFINANCE
• Alan Greenspan was giddy when old buds Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney took over the White House. But it turned out they were bad boys and not his friends at all. Check out this and more in Greenspan’s new bio. [
gossipmonger
Diddy DissedDiddy’s longtime girlfriend Kim Porter has finally moved out (and on). Henry Kissinger is bummed he isn’t portrayed in Frost/Nixon. Chris Tucker impersonates Bill Clinton, and the former president can’t get enough. At Bergdorf Goodman last week, Beyoncé was barefoot and Katherine Heigl was hot. André Balasz has taken over the Chelsea Hotel and is setting his sights on the Pacific. White House in Hampton Bays paid Diddy $200,000 to host his Independence Day Party there. Ashlee Simpson might be at the Blackbook party in the Hamptons tomorrow. Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s on crutches, blames running into furniture for her injury; Helen Hunt, also on crutches, won’t say why.
gossipmonger
Since U Been Making Him MoneySony BMG chief Clive Davis doesn’t like Kelly Clarkson’s music, even though it makes his label a lot of money. Barbara Corcoran dropped trou for a bunch of people who commented that she’d lost weight. Ellen Barkin returned some diamonds she was loaned to wear to a Darfur benefit at Cannes at 3 a.m. Usher has taken to calling in radio stations to complain about hosts who make fun of his fiancée. President Bush promised a bunch of Vietnam vets that he’d read a book that alleges that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, were responsible for keeping soldiers in Southeast Asia even after the U.S. withdrew from the region. In her new book, former venture capitalist Christine Comaford-Lynch compares Barbara Walters to a small action figure.
in other news
Dick Cheney Will Outlive Us All
Above CNN.com’s top headline right now. It raises the question: Are investors balking because Cheney was attacked? Or because he wasn’t hurt?
Global Worries Slam Wall Street [CNN.com]
gossipmonger
Spicoli Isn’t a Big Bush FanSean Penn wants Bush and Cheney to be impeached, he said while accepting an award at a Creative Coalition dinner. Josh Hartnett may have been texting could-be girlfriend Scarlett Johansson from a movie screening. Sharon Elghanayan, girlfriend of Jon Corzine, wants to marry the New Jersey governor, but he’s not biting. Fabiola Beracasa gave her boyfriend and her fellow socialites a little strip show at a Lower East Side club on Saturday. Reese Witherspoon and her kids moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where they attend public school. (The kids, not Reese.) Diane Kruger and boyfriend Joshua Jackson (yes, Pacey from Dawson’s Creek) hung out in Dubai. Fat Joe spent $20K over three nights on strippers and booze at Sin City near Yankee Stadium. Canadian heiress Lisa Belberg says she and Harold Ford Jr. are “great friends” not “boyfriend and girlfriend.” Mayor Bloomberg, Senators Clinton and Schumer, Eliot Spitzer, and others schmooze the media tonight at the New York Press Club’s holiday party. Oprah, Jude Law, Damon Dash, and others are turning their humanitarian efforts to South Africa. Former Miami club king and Madonna pal Chris Paciello is out of jail after eight years and back on the town. Barnard alum Joan Rivers instructed fellow graduates to “go through your husband’s wallet and give everything in it” to the school. Nas claims he was drunk on Hennessy during many of his early recording sessions. Lewis Black admired a painting of a naked woman. Mischa Barton drank a beer in Hoboken.
gossipmonger
Anna TV!Anna Wintour has agreed to let filmmakers shoot a documentary about life at Vogue as they put out their huge “Fashion Bible” September issue. (And Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley marched with the Reverend Al Sharpton at the Sean Bell demonstration.) A dead deer was found on the lawn of Dick Cheney’s residence, the U.S. Naval Observatory, though the veep probably didn’t shoot it. A woman who had an affair (and a kid) with Knicks legend Willis Reed in 1990 claims he is a deadbeat dad. (And New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has an adultery scandal of his own.) The girls at Scores East Side say Lindsay Lohan was awkward working the pole when she came in with Kate Moss one night, express surprise that she got a movie role as a stripper. A 29-year-old woman is claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of Mel Gibson. “Page Six” prints a nasty item about Keith Olbermann, mentions his one-night stand with a fan, notes that his audience is smaller than Bill O’Reilly’s. Shocking. Former Secretary of State James Baker, Democrat Warren Beatty, and Republican Merv Griffin all got along in Iraq for one night, though it was probably the booze. Tennis great Chris Evert is dating golf great Greg Norman. Bruce Springsteen got some lovin’ from Nick Lachey so he could go home and brag to his daughter. Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant tried to get flowers sent to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, but the receptionist he talked to didn’t know who Ertegun was. “Page Six” asks, “Which ‘socialite’ has high-society circles buzzing that she originally joined their inner circle as a high-class hooker?” (Really, who is it?) A woman popped Valium on a transatlantic flight to London with Courtney Love.
