Cleavage, Obama, etc.

The Clinton Cleavage Clamor

As everyone knows, THE SCRAPBOOK is a dedicated chronicler of the wayward press, and faithful student of journalistic tropes and tics.

Case in point: The curious habit of left-wing columnists--females, in particular--to name a prominent Republican senator when in need of a generic name for any icky older male. For a long time their favorite was Trent Lott--probably because he was for some years GOP leader, and from Mississippi, too--but other names get used in this singular way.

We thought of this last week when Ruth Marcus, a rookie columnist at the Washington Post, wrote a most peculiar essay in reaction to an earlier Post feature (by fashion editor Robin Givhan) that had analyzed the appearance of Hillary Clinton's décolletage on C-SPAN. (Yes, it was a front-page story.)

In defending Senator Clinton's choice of wardrobe, Marcus wrote the following: "If you're giving a speech on higher education, as Clinton was, you don't want Ted Stevens thinking about--and you certainly don't want to think about Ted Stevens thinking about--your cleavage."

Ted Stevens? So far as we are aware, the senior senator from Alaska is not famous for his leering comments, or roaming hands, or (since the name Clinton has come up) fooling around with interns. But he is 83 years old, and a Republican--and for Ruth Marcus, that's apparently enough.

Which is doubly mystifying, since there are, in fact, a handful of Senate personalities whose names would have been considerably more credible than Ted Stevens as creeps and lechers. But they're Democrats! Well, let's try it anyway: "If you're giving a speech on higher education, as Clinton was, you don't want Ted Kennedy thinking about--and you certainly don't want to think about Chris Dodd thinking about--your cleavage."

Obama Watch

At last week's Democratic debate, a YouTube questioner asked Barack Obama whether he was "authentically black." Said Obama: "You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan, in the past, I think I've given my credentials." It's a line Obama has used before, and the audience at the Citadel burst into applause at the candidate's caricature of New York City taxi drivers as racist.

When it comes to minorities and New York cabbies, however, things are a little more complicated than that. That's the lesson from Calvin Sims's October 15, 2006, New York Times article, "An Arm in the Air for that Cab Ride Home." Sims writes about a change he had been noticing: "In New York, it is much easier for me--a black male in my 40's--to get a cab." The experience of Sims's friends, it turns out, is similar. At first Sims speculates it may have something to do with getting older. But then he conducts some research that suggests a city program called "Operation Refusal" may be responsible. The program sends undercover policemen out to hail cabs. If the cabbies refuse to pick them up, they are fined. The compliance rate among cabbies in 2006, Sims says, was 96 percent. "It's a better climate today for everybody in the city to catch a taxi than it was back then, no matter what your race," New York City's taxi commissioner tells Sims. Maybe someone should tell Sen. Obama.

Oh, one more thing: The city began Operation Refusal in 1997. The mayor at the time? Rudy Giuliani.

What (Acting) President Cheney Did

Dick Cheney was acting president for about two hours on Saturday July 21 (while the president underwent a medical procedure). To the surprise of Cheney haters everywhere, he didn't seize the opportunity to start a war, pardon Scooter Libby, or ship Carl Levin to Gitmo for questioning.

So what was Dick Cheney up to during the two hours of his acting presidency? Our colleague Stephen F. Hayes, author of a terrific new Cheney biography (Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President), tells us that the man caricatured in the mainstream media as Darth Vader stayed home and wrote a letter to his grandchildren.

"Dear Kate, Elizabeth, Grace, Philip, Richard and Sam," he began. "As I write this, our nation is engaged in a war with terrorists of global reach. My principal focus as Vice President has been to help protect the American people and our way of life. The vigilance, diligence and unwavering commitment of those who protect our Nation has kept us safe from terrorist attacks of the kind we faced on September 11, 2001. We owe a special debt of gratitude to the members of our armed forces, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies and others who serve and sacrifice to keep us safe and free."

The letter is written on Cheney's official letterhead and it closes with a personal request.