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.
Jeremy Sullivan of Kobe Club Gets $5,000 Tips From Rush LimbaughWith some wondering whether threats of a recession will bring restaurant prices down, we asked him for insight into a place where businessmen don’t think twice about ordering the $700 pour of cognac for dessert.
gossipmonger
S.J.P. and M.B. Have a Spat on the C/EMatthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker got into a fight on the platform of the downtown C/E train at 23rd Street. Alpha Media head Kent Brownridge married Hearst publicity head Alexandra Carlin at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant. Artie Lange tried unsuccessfully to get four Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to disrobe on the Howard Stern show. A lot of foodies showed up at the preview of Alain Ducasse’s wine-themed restaurant, Adour, in the St. Regis. Bruce Springsteen waited a half hour for a lunch table at the Turning Point in Long Branch. Cindy Adams says Heath Ledger once tried to avoid her by saying, “You people from the press are not nice to me,” but that he smiled while saying it. Liz Smith approves of the fact that Jenna Bush is getting married in Crawford, Texas, and not the White House.
early and often
Huckabee Is Inside Our Heads, Vice VersaEverybody seems to have Mike Huckabee on the brain today. As he pulls up nearly even with John McCain in South Carolina leading up to the primary there tomorrow, political writers are trying to understand what voters are thinking about the Baptist bass player. Do the Evangelicals matter? Don’t they? Will they even vote for him? It’s a Huckanundrum!
• David Brooks reminds us that it can be looked at pretty simply: “It is no accident that the major candidates in the Republican field are a pastor, a businessman and a war hero. These are the three most evocative Republican leadership models.” [NYT]
• But Rich Lowry says that this appeal as a pastor has begun cooling with non-Evangelicals. And now that it’s becoming clearer that he lacks the planning to impress voters with his policy ideas. [NYP]
gossipmonger
Breakups and the CityFormer Sex and the City partners Candace Bushnell and Darren Star are no longer speaking after Star sold a show similar to the one Bushnell was working on to a different network. Matt Lauer once had an awkward bathroom experience with Tom Brokaw. Kate Moss will launch her clothing line at Barneys on May 8. Alt Coffee on Avenue A is being turned into a stroller shop. Britney Spears may give Allure a tell-all regarding her family infighting. Lesley Stahl denies being the source of anti-Katie Couric rumors. On her way back to New York City, real-estate queen Barbara Corcoran boarded the wrong flight and ended up in Syracuse. Tyra Banks ate with Clay Aiken at Jean Georges. Andy Dick accosted two employees at a Chelsea club.
intel
Don Imus and Other Great Moments in Bigoted Slurs
And so the “nappy-headed hos” remark has cost Don Imus his job. The final denouement, which came with CBS Radio’s canning the I-Man last night, a day after MSNBC dropped the simulcast of his show, has seemed inevitable for most of the week, as protests had intensified, advertisers had balked, and the great and august Ana Marie Cox had announced she would never again deign to appear on such a juvenile broadcast. (Cox first gained fame as the editor of Wonkette, where she was known for her anal-sex jokes.) But it has not always been thus; many, many public figures have uttered bigoted slurs and lived to tell the tale. After the jump, a look back at some Great Moments in Bigoted Slurs.
Back of the House
Do Not Come Between Limbaugh and His Trans FatsSubway time-killer L Magazine comes up with a pretty good year-end restaurant retrospective. [L Magazine]
Health food so green you can eat the container. Or something like that. [New York Press]
Brett Thorn rallies to the defense of Varietal and their weird ingredients. [Nations’s Restaurant News]
Special Trans-Fat Updates:
In the trans-fat ban, Rush Limbaugh sees everything bad about … yes, you guessed it, liberals. [Rush Limbaugh]
Connecticut gets on board the trans-fat banned wagon. [Stamford Advocate]
Good trans fat under development by pie-loving scientists. [UPI]