Bush on Rove

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated > Mon, 3 Jan 2005 00:00:24 -0500,  Wilson Gray <
> wilson.gray at RCN.COM> writes:
>
> <snip >not the kind of
> language that one expects to see in a family-oriented roto-gravure,
> especially not from the mouth of *the* Republican family man, and
> published in a section edited by a man who has been nothing if not
> completely outspoken in expressing the disgust that he feels toward
> Clinton.
> <snip>
> > According to Walter Scott's Personality Parade in Parade for December
> > 26, 2004, "[President] Bush has several nicknames for [Karl] Rove, 54,
> > including ... 'Turd Blossom' ..."

FYI, "Walter Scott" is a house name, not a person.  My vague recollection is
that circa 1970 it was used by the editor of Parade who personally put
together the "Personality Parade" section.  I have no idea who, or what committee,
currently uses "Walter Scott".

The circa 1970 Walter Scott had an acid pen in a velvet glove, with
politely-written high-brow scorn for anyone who was not, as we now say, "politically
correct".  Just one example:  Martha Mitchell was "a menopausal woman" until she
happened to say something bad about Nixon, at which point she suddenly became
"heroic".

I assure you that whoever currently writes under the pseudonym "Walter Scott"
is much, much blander than the 1970's writer.  I haven't noticed any
anti-Clinton bias on the part of the current Walter Scott.  In fact, strong opinions
on the part of the current Scott are so rare that it was disconcerting to read
recently (I think Jan 2, 2005) his derogatory comments on "Desperate
Housewives".  Your phrase "completely outspoken" just doesn't fit.

At least the current Walter Scott believes that African-Americans are people
and writes about interesting African-Americans the same way he writes about
interesting whites.  The 1970's Walter Scott, in so far as I can trust my vague
recollections, had a very limousine-liberal view of African-Americans and
wrote about them only if they happened to publicly support his political and
social biases.  That, I hope, represents progress.

      - James A. Landau