Commander-in-Chief

Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and JCS Chairman Mike Mullen are carrying water to the Hill on behalf of the newly hawkish President before his strategy talk to the nation in the dramatic setting of West Point.

The country does not want this, but Barack Obama is stepping into his commander's boots, and perhaps that is a good thing.

What may not be such a good thing is that we could wind up on the wrong side, which is why the person who may be most important is Secty. Clinton who, after West Point, will probably be very clearly calling the shots for her subaltern, Amb. Holbrooke

Tiger, Tiger in the night...

He hit a fire hydrant going 30 mph right near his house. And a tree.

A fire hydrant. At 2:30 in the morning.

Going just where I wonder. And he was blacking out.

I just moved yesterday.

to Brooklyn.

From there, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

No Blood Drawn

Okay, there's no reason to worry about not understanding the vampire box office. It's a girl thing. As far from my old dude demographic as is imaginable.

It's a sure thing that New Moon will be followed by a lot of bloodsucking imitators. I wonder if I'll be tempted to go to even one of them? Doubtful. I didn't like vampire movies even before I out grew them. Not even Dracula.

Mrs. 60

It came down to Blanche Lincoln, Now debate can begin in earnest, with the public option still in peril, as Mary Landrieu added her somewhat lame voice to opposing it.

I don't know what they'll come up with, but I hope it's not some sort of ineffectual "trigger".

You really have to be way into this fight to have stayed with it this far, and there will be months more of it. And then it won't even go into effect until after the next presidential election!

But it does represent huge change. Maybe the country will learn from observing just how asinine the Republicans can be.

No Answer

I was suckered into it like most other Knicks fans.

And anybody wo thinks the win over Indiana or the brief appearance of Eddy Curry should have affected the decision on Allen Iverson is crazy, even if his name is Donnie Walsh.

A.I. is a superlative player, and the Knicks suck. If that were the whole story, this is a bad decision. One thing: we'll never really know.

My revised second guess is: good riddance to bad rubbish. Iverson is a great, Hall of Fame player, with a gaudy stat line, but he's also an ex-con and a really bad role model.

Walsh is going to have to rummage around for help somewhere else. In the short run, that probably means a point guard, 'cause Chris Duhon is really not cutting it.

The Don Nelson/Monta Ellis situation seems beyond repair, but the money on that one probably wouldnt work.

Patience is really a hard virtue for a sports fan.

The OWNer

From the Oprah Winfrey show to the Oprah Winfrey network. From broadcast to cable.

Ms. Winfrey has made a fortune in broadcast syndication, and sshe's made any number of other fortunes too: ABC, CBS, ABC local news, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and countless employees, plus a print magazine.

Drs. Phil and Oz seem good foundation stones, but Oprah will have to have some kind of on-camera presence. I've been involved in channel-building: it's not easy.

But I'd never bet against the Queen. I remember her modest audience show in Chicago. She's come a long way.

At the very least, this is a new, ringing endorsement of cable, and blow to broadcast TV. And I'm sure there'll eventually be a multimedia component.

An Answer?

Sorry, ye dudes and dudettes, I am obsessing on whether Allen Iverson is about to join the pathetic Knicks, thus perhaps giving them a shot in the arm, or on the other hand, further burying them in hoops oblivion.

And Eddy Curry will also provide some distraction tonight, as viewers guess his weight and put a watch on how long he manages to stay on the court.

This is what being a Knicks fan has come to.

Wrong Way Sulzberger

In his entry today for the Times's City Room Blog, Cub Reporter A.G. Sulzberger takes up the issue of legal restrictions on Fifth Avenue parades.

The Cub Reporter begins:

"Since the St. Patrick's day Parade first clomped down it in the 19th century, Fifth Avenue has become the most desirable parade venue in the city."

All of the other parades march down the Avenue. The paddy's day parade marches (not clomps) up from 44th St to 86th. Before that, it would march from parish churches all over the city ("venues?") to Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mott and Prince.

Moving On

John McCain on Palin's book: "Look. I'm just moving on. I've got too many other things on my mind except to say that I'm proud of my campaign." The Arizonan says he's read the book, and remains good friends with the Alaskan. McCain wouldn't talk about either Schmidt or Weaver. He called the book "great", and hopes she sells lots of them.

Smart.

Australian Guilt

I'm moving apartments so I haven't been here. Read something interesting: Australian PM Kevin Rudd's apology to the "forgotten children", hundreds of thousands of them, who were forcibly shipped down under only to be abused and neglected. History can be such a woeful tale.

Small Package

Reuters reports that Jeff Zucker will be the head of the new Comcast NBC Universal joint venture. This is the same Jeff Zucker that took NBC from first to last in the ratings, has no winning shows on primetime broadscast except for football, or cable networks, and only shows on USA as proof of success. Universal Pictures this year has been described as "an abysmal flop".

Also, MSNBC gets regularly clobbered by Fox News Channel.

Having seen Zucker in action I can say with some assurance that he is a) the most ambitious person in the world; b) the most gifted suck-up in the world; c) an interesting mix of competence and self-deception; and d) proof positive that nothing succeeds like failure.

Gawker did a great sarcastic piece along these lines.

http://gawker.com/5379939/jeff-zuckers-great-escapes

Millionaires Row

A report out today says that there are 237 millionaires in Congress. The Center for Responsive Politics lists John Kerry at more than $200 m., but surely that includes some of his wife's money.

Still, there are 5 over 200 mil -- 4 Democrats. There were 7 over $100m in 2008.

President Obama is worth %4 million, but Joe Biden is worth only $27 thousand. Rep. Alcee Hatings and five others are worth less than zero.

A mixed bag in sum. And there dosn't seem to be a clear connection between big wealth a policy.

The Wall+20

Twenty years ago today, I was in the newsroom at 30 Rock, where I was acting executive producer of Nightly News on the weekends Tom Brokaw and his field producer Joe Alicastro were in East Germany to do an exclusive interview with a propaganda officer named Gunter Schabowski. It turned out that Herr Schabowski was the one who inadvertently began the destruction of the inner German border, including the Berlin Wall. It was only the date he had wrong, however. The plan was already in place.

But as soon as Mr. Schabowski said that travel rules would be lifted immediately, the flood of young people thrugh the breached wall began.

Garrick Utley and I stopped to read the wires, which noted the movement of stuents. We shouted down the corridor to NBC News Executive VP Don Brown, who immediately ordered Alicastro and Brokaw to go back to Berlin, something I believe they were doing on their own.

There could be few moments as exciting as Tom broadcasting live from the Wall, but it was also thrilling to watch him on the live satellite feed. Of all my 35 years in TV News that was the one story that justified the technology, the communication and, above all, the talent.

All Hail Queen Nancy

Five votes = $1.1 trillion.

I deeply resent the compromise on abortions, which more than anything else violate the separation of church and state.

It is better than what we've got, adding 36 million people to the ranks of the insured, but it's not universal coverage, which is what we need and want.

39 Democrats voted nay, and I'd love some of them to lose at the ballot box.

And I hope the Senate bill's better.

King James

Went to the Garden to see LeBron James play tonight. He scored 33 ponts but he could have scored 50. He's just about unstoppable. Larry Hughes and Jared Jeffries were all over him like a postage stamp and it didn't matter.

King James has a decent supporting cast in Shaquille O'Neal, Andersonm Varejao and Mo Williams.

The Knicks closed to a nine point deficit. David Lee, the master of the double double, has 22 and 19. The Knicks missed their last 12 shots, probably demoralized. Sixth Man Al Harrington knocked down 22 points.

King James got a big cheer when he was introduced to the crod, a moment usually reserved for booss. But Knicks fans want James in a Knicks uniform, and they wanted him to know it. Of course he does.

A handful of New York Yankees, LeBron's pal Jay-Z, plus some ex-Knick favorites -- Larry Johnson, Anthony Mason -- were also on hand.

LeBron really pissed me off on one show off play where he put the ball under one leg then the other without traveling. Happily he missed the shot.

Of course, I hope he comes next year, but I hope he sheds some of the arrogance.

Damn Yankees

That's that.

Big Night For Fox

Mature spreader in a windstorm ...

That was Dan Rather's metaphor for cable coverage on election night. Maybe it was Larry King being joined by Jesse Ventura, Ben Stein and James Carville.

The beef was that too many guests were partisan, although that doesn't seem so new to me.

Fox News had a big night averaging 4.o4 million total viewers between 8pm and 11pm. They averaged 1.13 million in the A25-54 demo. CNN was down around 200 and MSNBC about 300. CNN, which used to dominate election coverage, finished behind HLN.

FOX ran an extra hour at 11pm and scored 2.6 million viewers to MSNBC's 500,000.

MSNBC, my former employer, may have to re-think its political coverage. Maybe Matthews is better than Olbermann and deserves to be the main guy.

Unfortunately, however, doing a better job may not make the difference. Fox seems entrenched, and they're likely to stay that way. Their big audience just feels that right-wing cant equals political coverage.

Jersey Snubs Prez

Chris Christie has defeated Jon Corzine, who was running for re-election as NJ governor, despite active campaigning by President Obama on Corzine's behalf. Polls show that the Obama factor was not crucial. What determined the outcome was New Jersey's high property taxes, as well as its 9.8 percent unemployment. But governors can't cut property taxes. They don't have that power

It's the first time a Republican has won in Jersey statewide in 12 years. Independents turned out for Christie. Corzine was not helped by outspending Christie 3 to 1. He may even have been hurt by his wealth in the eyes of voters who resent their own economic state.

Mike Bloomberg spend $100 million and won by only a close margin.

Not a great result for Obama.

Maine same-sex too close to call as I retire.

All the Sexes from Maine to Texas*

On Election Day tomorrow, Maine residents will decide whether to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage, a negative action that has been taken in every state where such a law has been put before voters. If, on the other hand, voters endorse the law by rejecting Question One, Maine will become the first state to back same sex marriage via the ballot box.

In the five other states -- Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire -- where gays are permitted to marry their partners, they were authorized by courts or legislatures. But Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have passed in all 30 states where they've been on the ballot.

The National Organization of Marriage, headquartered in New Jersey, has contribute $1.5 million to a campaign to repeal the law, which was passed last May, and signed by Democratic Governor John Baldacci.

The Maine vote is expected to be extremely close. A big boost to the opponents of Question 1 has been offered by an 86-year old World War II veteran and lifelong Republican who testified at a public hearing earlier this year. Philip Spooner raised four sons, one of whom is gay. In his address, heard on the Internet by 600,000 listeners, Spooner says it is unthinkable that one son be denied rights afforded the other three.' "The idea that we can be different and still be equal," Spooner said. "That's what we fought for on Omaha Beach."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrEbJBFWIPk

*From the Gershwins' "Love is Sweeping the Country".

Measuring the New Digs

Yesterday: In Brooklyn, taking measurements in my new apartment. Right directly across the street from the place I lived 15 years ago. I was very happy then, so I expect to be now.

Brunch at the River Cafe, with CB. Excellent food and company.

Came home to watch the end of the game. The Yankees are good. Very good.

Spooky Subway

I went to the Garden tonight. Knicks opening night. They lost, but an exciting come from behind and overtime, with Harrington having a career-high 42 points and Gallinari 30.

I came home on the A train and the L. With Fred Flintstone, Antony and Cleopatra, doctors and nurses, kitty kats, Wonder Woman, Superman, Dorothy from Oz, Sleeping Beauty, Little Bo Peep, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Life Guards, Apes, non-descript sexy somebodies, angels, devils, butterflies, bumblebees, Blues Brothers, Elvises, Mad Hatters, football referees, vampires, Greek goddesses, gladiators, Harley girls, Princess Leia, Wolverine, witches, Batman, Star Wars troopers, skeletons, sexy cops, jesters, Padme Amidala.

Plus one I didn't see, worn by my son, his girlfriend and a friend: Prince, Paris and Blanket.

A fun trip.