Every political scandal has its “drip” cycle during which facts drip out that keep reinforcing bad, unethical or questionable behavior by the “accused.”

Let’s take two random cases as examples. Let’s say, oh, well, Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and, hmmm who else? Ok, let’s just take Anthony Weiner who wants to be mayor of New York City and he is fast becoming a coalition of one in that
endeavor. I’m guessing even his wife is wavering, finally. Weiner, well, you know the drill: He took pictures of his private part, Tweeted them to apparently very good friends (not) on the web, got caught, lied, then admitted it and
apologized, then did it again. The one constant throughout the drip stage is that he is still running for mayor, though steadily sliding in the polls.

Down south, Gov. McDonnell and his family members took gifts from a wealthy supporter, said he did it all within Virginia law, more examples came out, more explanations that he followed the law, investigations, state and federal, continue, he started returning the, in his mind, perfectly acceptable gifts and, just yesterday, the governor said on the radio, and this is a quote according to the Washington Post,“I have made as sincere an apology as I can.” I guess, with work, he can be even more sincere. Maybe he should enroll in that incredibly intense, two-week therapy program that the mayor of San Diego is enrolled in, the one that will cure his sexual harassment habit in 14 days. Actually, it probably takes even fewer days if your habit is simply to accept gifts from wealthy donors – that should be an easy habit to kick. 
 
This therapy program clearly  is headed for late-night cable ads: “Cure your sexual harassment habit in just 14 days! End that unethical behavior of taking inappropriate gifts in eight days!! And, if you act in the next 10 minutes, we’ll throw in the cure for taking pictures of your Johnny Rocket and sending them to strangers!!! If the voters still aren't satisfied, tough, you're on your own. Call now, operators are waiting.”

McDonnell who has (had) visions of being elected to the White House someday, and Weiner, who has visions (and I’m hoping that vision is blurring by the minute) of living in Gracie Mansion, apparently aren’t yet through the Drip Cycle of the wash yet because they are the ones who control that on/off switch and they’ve shown little sign that they know where that button is.

It will hit them at some point that the dream is over. When their dream ends, our nightmare will end.

Self-importance seems to be the theme of the month. (Let me get this out of the way before you think it: I guess anyone who writes a blog considers him or herself important to some degree, so if that’s your measurement, guilty.) Now on with my points:

I read “This Town” over the weekend. The book by the snarky New York Times  reporter Mark Leibovich, who is the formerly snarky Washington Post reporter, is about the  self-importance of Washington and the players in this town play – how they suck up, kowtow, fawn, curry favor, lick boots, fall all over, pander to, etc. etc. and so forth. The book is funny enough that the New York Times Book Review had the equally snarky Christopher Buckley do the review.

In non-literary news,  we have the self-important former congressman Anthony Weiner who is running for mayor of New York City and now has been caught sexting after he was caught Twittering his private parts and apologized for it. And still he runs for mayor of the most important (after D.C., of course) city in the world.  

On the other side of the country lives the self-important Bob Filner, mayor of San Diego, who is a self-admitted serial harasser of women who announced he will heal himself by undergoing two (count ‘em two!) intense weeks of therapy. He will, of course, keep doing the city’s business while in this intense therapy and plans to continue to do the city’s business after he’s cured in two weeks. Uh, despite everyone wanting him to resign (Well, not everyone. A poll shows 67 percent of San Diego’s residents want him out. But it's only Monday).

How do you spell narcissist? 

Back to “This Town.” The snarky Mr. Leibovich, one could say, merely wrote a book about how Washington works – how the media play off the politicos who play off the lobbyists who play off the  event planners who play off the fund
raisers who play off the media and the circle goes round and round.

As you can see from the trials (well not – yet – in the legal sense) and tribulations of Messrs. Weiner and Filner, fact is pretty funny.  Or at least you have to take it that way otherwise you’d cry.

As to Weiner – he’s never gonna be mayor of Dogpatch let alone the Big Apple. And Filner, get the marmalade because he’s toast too. 

This town, though, will live on.  Thank goodness. Or something.


 

"San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, publicly accused of sexual harassment by seven women, says he will enter ‘a behavior
counseling clinic’ for two weeks of intensive therapy starting August 5." – CNN breaking news (underline added)
 
This is great! (soon to be ex-) Mayor Filner has set himself up for TWO WEEKS of therapy to cure himself of treating women badly!! I was happy to see this because I thought he’d go for one-from-column-B which is that 48-hour therapy program.  Forty-eight hours doesn’t seem enough to rid yourself of a lifetime of thinking women are to be treated differently (and less) than men. But two weeks should do it!!! 

Are you kidding me? This guy can dictate how much therapy he needs? I wish I’d known that before I went through therapy over the course of a few years to work out some issues I had. I didn’t know you could buy a specific program for a specific period of days.  

Someone should tip off Anthony Weiner…fast.

Twenty-six years ago today, the country lost a great public servant but, more importantly, his
family lost their husband and dad. I lost a tremendous friend and mentor.

Mac Baldrige, the former U.S. secretary of commerce, Connecticut industrialist and silent friend and donor to many, died in on July 25, 1987. He was doing what he was passionate about – roping in a rodeo competition. The clichés flew: he died with his boots on, died doing what he loved, etc. Cliché or not, it all was true.

Mac brought me to Washington to work for him when he joined President Reagan’s cabinet. I didn’t know it at the time, but that move changed my life. I think of him literally every day and think of things he taught me almost as often. Many of the friends I made at the
Commerce Department are still close friends today. Some of the integrity I hope have today is thanks to Mac Baldrige.

When Mac died there were memorials for him in Washington and Connecticut.  I knew a lot about him, but learned so
much more by listening to the heart felt eulogies. One woman in Waterbury, Conn., my hometown and where Mac’s company, Scovill Inc., was headquartered, told the story of one cold winter when the furnace in her storefront community center died. She didn’t know what to do because so many in the neighborhood depended on the services her non-profit offered. She called Mac. He gave her $10,000 on one condition – she didn’t tell anyone it came from him. I
subsequently learned that was just one example of his generosity and caring for his fellow human beings. He put that condition on many of his kind contributions.

My late father once said to me, “Baldrige is like a father to you.” I told my dad, “I only have one father.” But Mac was someone I looked up to (still do), learned from (still do) and cared deeply about (always will). I’m still friendly with his daughters, who he would be so proud of today –strong women, smart women, lovely women, and his widow, Midge – if you don’t’ know her, think Katharine Hepburn’s elegance, presence, voice and candor, that’s her but
with that “Midge angle.”

In my office I keep a picture of Baldrige and President Reagan. They are shot from the back walking toward Marine One, the president's helicopter. You don’t see their faces. Reagan is in his English riding gear, Baldrige in his jeans, cowboy hat and boots and  slightly stooped strut. If you didn’t know who they were, it’s a magnificent picture of contrasts. When you know who they are, it takes on whole other layer of fascination.

I miss him. But he lives on in my memory and, I hope, in how I live my life.

Reed Cherlin, a former assistant press secretary in the Obama White House, wrote a provocative piece for Slate (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113949/end-white-house-press-briefing#) proposing eliminating the daily White House press briefing. He argues, accurately, that the briefings have become a “preening” exercise for the media and a “first, make no news” goal for the Obama press office team.

If those two conditions were to be true and constant, I’d agree with Mr. Cherlin. But, they needn’t be. 

I worked in the White House press office in the late 80s, before the Internet and before the onslaught of cable news channels and their ubiquitous talking heads who typically take one extreme position or another and take it over and over all day. The briefings have become even more performance art than they were in my day. But, and I don’t mean to sound like my father but, “in my day,” they also served a purpose. News was committed many days. Why? I think that when my former boss Marin Fitzwater (Reagan and Bush 41) and folks like Mike McCurry (Clinton) conducted those press briefings they understood what the press needed to get their job done and what the President needed to get the White House’s job done. Sometimes, news was made. Or at least explanations were given. And there was nothing wrong with that. The citizenry wins when that happens.

Another key ingredient was that in those days we had “real”reporters covering the White House – Terry Hunt of AP, Sam Donaldson of ABC, Bill Plante of CBS, Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal” and others. Yes, there are real reporters among the White House press brigade today but far fewer than in those days. They have to do too many things – write blogs, write news stories, and sometimes take pictures -- to do their jobs. Their primary job should be to get the facts, confirm the facts and write the facts.

So the briefing is a performance art on both sides. 

But the solution isn’t to eliminate them; the solution is to fix them. Get whoever the President is to govern, and not campaign for re-election every day of his administration. The White House can be more candid than it is with what’s going on. Get the members of the press corps to focus on doing their jobs for the public, not to further their own careers and bank accounts.

Watch Gwen Ifill’s “Washington Week” on PBS if you want to see real reporters talking about the news, not preaching their views. Then watch CNN or Fox or MSNBC and see the difference when their “best political team(s) on television” get on air to talk about the news – you’d think they were spokesmen for the political left or right – and many of them are. 

This may be why many Americans are getting their news from Jon Stewart or Steve Colbert. It also may be why the White House Correspondents’Dinner is populated more by Hollywood bold-face names than reporters and their sources, as it used to be.

All of this contributes to the disapproval so many Americans have for our governing, or lack thereof, and the media.

Neither is servicing those Americans’ needs – they are servicing them own selfish needs.

Before I started my job in the White House press office, a veteran there warned me, "when you come in, at 6 or 7 a.m., Helen Thomas will be sitting on the credenza outside the press secretary's' office and will  ask you questions about overnight stories. Do not say a word, not even no comment. She will top her story with your quote before you even know what the facts are."
 
The first day I walked into the White House, at a time of day when few  yet were in their offices, the first person I saw was a guard and then I ran into Helen sitting on that credenza who asked, nonchalantly, something about an overnight story. I didn't even say good morning worried I'd be quoted.

Helen was the dean of the White House press corps, covered nine presidents from the front row in the briefing room and caused many a sleepless night for many a press office staffer, and for those nine presidents. Helen was a leader not just in journalism, but in making sure women had their proper place -- equal to men -- in journalism and journalism organizations. Thanks to Helen, the Press Club admitted women, for example.
 
For the two years I worked there, Helen was a presence in the front row, and in history. She was a pain to deal with most days, but other days she'd give you that charmingly sinister smile and you had to smile back.
 
Was she anti-Semitic? I don't know, but she certainly was pro-Lebanese and often anti-Israel. It was clear through her questions on the Middle East. But she also kept the White House honest in many ways. The first time I briefed the White House press,  my voice was shaking I was so nervous. Thankfully, they give a first-time briefer a break, knowing he or she isn't going to say anything newsworthy anyway. And, after that 15- or 20-minute briefing. I heard the sweetest two words I'd ever heard. And they came from Helen Thomas. She said, "thank you." Which was the clarion signaling the briefing was over and I was off the hook.
 
I like to think I got better at briefing after that first time, but thank goodness Helen, and her colleagues, were gentle with me the first time. It was well appreciated.
 
In my post-White House days, I saw Helen a few times at book parties or other events. She always was very nice to me. Frankly, I was surprised she remembered me, but she did. At my last briefing, I said thank you to all those who helped me or appointed me along the way. I saved my biggest praise and thanks for the late Malcolm Baldrige, the former secretary of commerce during President Reagan's terms and the man who brought me to Washington. Helen always remembered those words because she'd remind me of them when I'd see her, saying it was one of the nicest tributes she'd heard.
 
Helen died at 92 today. Rest in peace, Helen.

A headline in today’s Washington Post reads, “Reid-McConnell clash latest evidence that genteel Senate has turned into a fight club.”  It tells the tale of
how the formerly “chummiest club in America” has turned into a chamber where everyone is carrying at least a verbal club. The latest evidence being Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Utah) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) who, last week, traded personal barbs about each other’s (lack of) leadership and integrity.


Now, in the Senate to question a Member’s integrity is a slap in the face, worthy of settling in a duel.  Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested a shoot-out because it will become #mcconnellreidshoot’emup and will start “trending” on Twitter which means there could be a demand for it to happen. Then it would be promoted with a Facebook page and pay-per-view for $29.95. Sarah Palin will be the color analyst and Al Sharpton will whoop and holler on CNN or Fox or MSNBC or whoever has the fatter wallet.

There is another solution, of course, but the word “comity” doesn’t exist in the Senate anymore. To the late Ted Kennedy or the retired Howard Baker or the still-being-funny-and-wise-after-all-these-years Bob Dole … I quote Paul Simon, "where have you gone?" Is there no one in the Senate who can stand up and say, “knock it off, boys, we’ve got work to do?”

Sadly, I can’t think of anyone. If you can, please let me know. Sadly, too, with the way the Senate has gone, it doesn't seem that our best and brightest are aspiring to serve, so the future isn't looking brighter.

Former Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), who served 24 years in the Senate, is quoted in the Post story saying, “I miss it like an abscessed tooth.”  

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is quoted as saying, “The only way you get something is to become obnoxious  ... We have turned from a Senate to a theater, and I’m tired of being part of a theater. If I wanted to be part of a theater, I would have gone to New York.”

Problem is, a lot of us are wishing we could tell you all where to go because the comity has turned in a comedy – and it’s not funny.

No revelation here but Sarah Palin is one piece of work. A successful piece of work.

Here’s a person who became the first Republican woman named to a national ticket (and is the Number One Reason for some – me included – voting against that ticket). Then, she resigns the governorship of Alaska after serving just half the term to go make money – so much for dedication to public service. 

She proclaims all kinds of crazy positions. For example there was this:  "[W]hat a bizarre time we’re in…when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it.” Oh, wait, that was Michelle Bachman. Then there was: "I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax, because we need to fight back.” Damn, that was Bachman too.

How about: "They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan." Yeah, that was Palin. I guess she could see lungee (turbans) from her front
porch.

Now Palin is hinting she’ll run for the Senate from Alaska, a state where her poll numbers are not good. People don’t line up to support you when you already ran away from one job they elected you to do. Kind of hurts your
credibility.

One thing Sarah is very good at is “building her brand” as they say. We all are a brand, apparently. We used to be individuals. But with the InterWeb and Tweeting and blogging and Facebooking, speaking fees and talking head fees,  being a brand is far better than being a person, it seems. It pays better anyway.

Happy 4th of July!!! Or maybe not. Technically, the resolution of independence was passed, in closed session, by the Congress on the 2nd of July. The Declaration of Independence is dated July 4th. But, many historians say it really wasn’t signed until the 2nd of August. So, pick yer date to celebrate but we have the 4th of July off, so I’m going with that one.

Then again, let’s hope the weather holds out and it stays sunny. I’ve been on vacation all week and it’s done nothing but rain and be icky (A real word! And, it passed spell check, too!  Apologies for the exclamation points; apparently that’s an “in”  thing in emails and texts these days).
 
I also haven’t posted in a while and that’s because I’m on vacation and haven’t been moved by any issues (though the Supreme Court did toss out DOMA, so there was good news), nor enraged by any misuse of language.  

The other good  news is I’ve read a couple of good books, that I recommend: “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought him to Justice” by Boston Globe reporters Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy; and,
“Prisoners of the White House: The Isolation of America’s Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership” by U.S. News and World Report’s Ken Walsh, an olde friend.  Recommend them both and both are in the news since Whitey, finally, is on trial in Boston and President Obama is still a prisoner of the White House.

Happy 4th or 2nd.