Well, it’s not exactly “ein Berliner,” but it’s something.

Despite doing everything but … [Easy, boy.-ed.  You’re right.]… the media still evidently has not done enough for Barack Obama who, even after the dog and pony shows in the  Middle East, remains statistically tied in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll. The Gallup Poll shows the race tightening during Obama’s journey. [What if Keith Olbermann and Chris Mathews were to carry him around on a palanquin like Pharaoh?-ed. There goes the Jewish vote.]

I want to start by bragging to you about how discreet Pajamas Media is. Over six months ago, we had wind of the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter love affair and love child and did not run with it. Most of this information was hearsay from people here in Hollywood, people who know Rielle. She was a long time hanger on in Hollywood circles before heading East to do political promo videos… and, yes, I had met her myself on a couple of occasions at parties. She was not particularly notable, of the tedious sort that bore you to death about their yoga instructor.

But now that the cat is out the bag, I will say what I wanted to say then. John Edwards–he of constructing a 28,000 square foot home while preaching about the two Americas and remonstrating about the environment–is one of the most reprehensible schmucks to appear on the American political scene in some time. And that’s saying something. That he played this game while his wife had cancer makes it contemptible beyond words. Now we know why he was always primping in the mirror. It is narcissism unbounded.

But there is a moral to this story - and I think we all know it. I hate the use of caps, but I think in this instance I will use them. DO NOT BELIEVE THE HIGH FLOWN RHETORIC OF POLITICIANS - ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS HOLIER THAN THOU. THEY ARE LIKELY TO BE MASKING SOMETHING.

Oh, one last thing, for those of you who say it’s The National Enquirer, how do we know it’s true? I suggest you Google the “National Enquirer and OJ Simpson.” They broke most of the important stories on that case. In general, these days they’re vastly more reliable than The New York Times.

When I read this morning on the Drudge Report that the New York Times had rejected John McCain’s op-ed, I think I knew how he was feeling.  I too have been rejected by the paper.

In my case it came after having written for them successfully several times, notably a couple of humorous essays I did for the New York Times Book Review about my travels to the Soviet Union and Spain with International Association of Crime Writers, so I was particularly hurt by their rejection of an article the magazine section had commissioned from me in early 2003.

The subject of that article?  The burgeoning interest in political blogs. I took the position that such bloggers as Glenn Reynolds and Mickey Kaus were becoming more influential with readers than newspaper columnists and would soon be a serious alternative to (though not a full replacement for) mainstream media.  The Times turned it down. As with McCain, they asked me to “try again” and I did – but I soon realized I had a message they didn’t want to hear or promote.

So it came as no surprise to me that the paper nixed John McCain’s view on Iraq, wanting him to explain what “victory” meant.  (How risible is that after all this time!)  Despite its pretense of even-handedness, the Times is no more “fair and balanced” than Fox News or anybody else.  No media outlet is. They try to hide it by publishing select political opponents like David Brooks, but that is no more than smoke screen. Bias is as American as apple pie. (Come to think of it – bias is as human as breathing.)

Condi Rice has informed us that the recent attempt by the US to engage in talks with Iran was a failure.  From the AP:

At the meeting, Iran had been expected to respond to a package of incentives offered in exchange for halting enrichment of uranium, which can be used to fuel atomic weapons. The Bush administration broke with long-standing policy to send a top diplomat to support the offer.

However, Rice said that instead of a coherent answer, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili delivered a “meandering” monologue full of irrelevant “small talk about culture” that appeared to annoy many of the others present at the table in Geneva.

Can anybody be surprised?  Let’s review for a moment who Jalili is - a religious fanatic and close ally of Ahamdinejad whose PhD thesis is called “Paradigm of Political Thought of Islam in the Holy Quran”.  He is said to have written Ahmad’s nutsy and rambling letter to President Bush. Remember that? He is also the author of something called the “Foreign policy of (the) Prophet of Islam”.  According to Reuters, he “specializes in monologue” rather than debate and is a hardline veteran of the Iran-Iraq War who has almost no diplomatic experience.  We can safely assume Jalali is also a believer in all the psychotic end days nonsense about the Mahdi.

This is whom we were negotiating with.  John Bolton was quite upset about our engaging in these talks not more than a week ago, but John has gotten the last laugh quickly.  When asked if the US would return in two weeks to hear Iran’s reply to the Western proposal for a six week moratorium on nuclear enrichment (Iran hasn’t even deigned to address the issue), Rice was dismissive.  “I think we’ve done enough to demonstrate that the United States is serious and to assure our partners that we’re serious,” she said.

Barack Obama take note.

…. otherwise they never would have made these extreme statements.  Rats have lives too. Mr. Abbas, tear down your anti-rat prejudice.    (Also, just how do you think the Israelis are able to restrict these rats to the Arab Quarter and not have them infest the Jewish Quarter as well? Inquiring minds want to know.)

It has been generally agreed that Obama knows how to talk the talk - at least when no one is asking him any questions - and his people are evidently very aware of it.  Jenny Backus, who is working on convention preparations for Denver, spoke with the Rocky Mountain News:
On that other Obama convention speech, in 2004, that introduced him to the nation:

“No one more than Barack Obama understands how important it is to deliver a convention speech well,” Backus said. “He wouldn’t be where he is if he didn’t know how to deliver convention speeches.”

No kidding.

One indication that Iraq may actually be evolving into a democracy is that its Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seems to be emerging as a genuine “pol” of the type we are used to in the West.  His interview with Der Spiegel is right out of the conventional politician playbook, right up to the non-denial denial about taking sides in the US election.  This too sounds like a “talking point” from one of our Sunday morning “Sabbath gasbags”: “The Americans have found it difficult to agree on a concrete timetable for the exit because it seems like an admission of defeat to them. But it isn’t.”  Ah… democracy.  What did Churchill say about it?

While Barack Obama burnishes his foreign policy credentials in distant war zones, I will burnishing my “kickback”  credentials in two domestic locales in the next two weeks - Paradise Base I (Bainbridge Island, WA) and Paradise Base II (Hanalei Bay, Kauai). So far I am not being accompanied by any media.  I will let you know if this changes. Blog reports to follow. 

Before making our travel reservations, we lovers of Korean food await word on the restaurant plans at the finally-to-be-completed “Hotel of Doom” in Pyongyang.

For those in the Los Angeles area, where there is plenty of great Korean food, rogerlsimon.com gives its official three forks (or three chopsticks) to Park Restaurant (we like it even better than the LATimes does).