Obama’s Iraq Trip: Political Quagmire?John McCain is making hay of Barack Obama not having been to Iraq since 2006, when the Democrat made his only visit. (Can you blame him? It’s last on our list of places to go.)
in other news
Duncan Hunter Just Can’t Let Ahmadinejad Thing GoCalifornia state representative Duncan Hunter was on Fox last night, and he’s still got his knickers all in a twist about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia last week. Late last week, he introduced legislation that proposes cutting Columbia’s access to federal funding (the university received $458 million in ‘05) in order to punish them for hosting an adversary of America. Basically, Hunter postulates that Ahmadinejad’s appearance at Columbia, and the attention surrounding it — the discussion, the blogs, the numerous tabloid covers — might have given the wee Iranian Heidi Montag Disease, the recently identified condition in which a minor character is plucked from obscurity and elevated by a bored and restless culture to a level of fame far greater than their original stature ever warranted. Except, you know, Hunter doesn’t exactly mention the condition by name (maybe because Heidi is a constituent?) Anyway! Hunter’s bill does not, unfortunately, call for an end to The Hills.
gossipmonger
Tony Bennett Marries Down … in AgeRenée Zellweger bought an employee at Saks Fifth Avenue in Southampton a pair of Manolos the two had been eyeing together. Top Chef gay-bashing victim Josie Smith-Malave spoke at a fund-raiser for potential mayoral candidate and current city comptroller William Thompson. Kaz Bayati, the owner of Persian eatery Persepolis, claims his quote in support of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in AM New York was taken out of context. Anna Anisimova finds it strange that people care how much money she spends on Hamptons rentals. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has scheduled a meeting with Angelia Jolie to discuss “global diplomacy,” and he’ll write about it on his blog. Tony Bennett officially ended his marriage to Sandra Grant Bennett and married the younger Susan Crow, though Grant is still bitter she didn’t marry Joe DiMaggio instead.