Personal Asides: Emanuel’s Troubles Began with Dean’s Run for National Democratic Chairman…Moderate Party Candidate Getting on the Ballot Should…Should…Elect McSweeney…A Film of No Redeeming Social Value is Still Fun to Watch: “The Devil Wears Prada”

Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel’s career as an expectant national Democratic leader may well be torpedoed by an event he had nothing to do with—the strategy devised by Howard Dean that led to his election as Democratic National Chairman, key Democrats told this Blog. Dean deduced that he could not get elected chairman without the support of Democrats in red states, since the blue-state regulars were on to his radical peace program which had been repudiated in the primaries. Therefore, Dean cut deals with Democrats in outlying states which never can score Democratic presidential victories i.e. Utah, Nebraska, states like that. He promised to bring funding to these outlying states to assist their campaigns, something canny Democrats know is a waste of money. These red states helped elect Dean and he’s bringing home the bacon, spending monies in all fifty. Emanuel, who is not beloved by this Blog, is nevertheless right in arguing that the money should be pooled for use in states the Democrats have a shot of winning. But Dean says no. Thereupon, Emanuel knows he can’t do very well without sufficient resources particularly for political organization. Therefore, wisely, he has said that he will not seek a second term as chairman of the House Democratic Congressional Committee. Good news for Republicans that the flaky Dean has stymied what ordinarily would be a good strategy…

Moderate

Liberals call him moderate but he’s anything but. Bill Scheurer is evidently going to stay on the ballot in the 8th district congressional race. An outspoken foe of the Iraq War, Scheurer has evidently weathered the storm and is the third choice for Congress, rating with Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean and Republican David McSweeney. Why state Democrats didn’t see that Scheurer got knocked off the ballot is anybody’s guess. It may well be a breakdown described in the above paragraph in the national Democratic party. This wouldn’t have happened if Rahm Emanuel were alive.

The Devil, You Say, Wears Prada

It’s a film that’s highly entertaining, granted it has a few deleterious scenes but even they are modulated: The Devil Wears Prada. Already feminists are weighing in, saying that the intrigue of high fashion world behind the scenes of what is meant to be Vogue magazine, makes the struggle for female dominance trivial. I say yes and the hell with it. Meryl Streep, my favorite actress, is memorable as the domineering editor who shows us that being sixty can also make a woman beautiful. But Streep does not command the film alone: I particularly liked her assistant, actress Anne Hathaway, who took the job as assistant at Vogue in order to build experience for a later post at The New Yorker. Probably the most engrossing act is put on (I hope it’s put on) by the resident gay swish, Streep’s second in command, Stanley Tucci, whose pungent observations are infallibly correct as he rescues Hathaway from frumpiness by scouring the magazine’s huge wardrobe room for a Chanel jacket and boots and a Kristina Ti skirt.

Understand the film means nothing but is a-swirl in mascara-running tears, clicking stiletto heels, silver and black Mercedes sports sedans and the spectacle of clawing feline cats scratching out their eyes over clothes by Bill Blass, Dolce & Gabanna as well as Prada. Lillian and I went on a boring July 3rd afternoon in which I devoured only one small box of unbuttered popcorn. We both enjoyed it but it had as much intellectual nutrient as the popcorn. But go see it and tell me what you think.