The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
News of the Tautological
“Massive Mining Deal on Rocks”–headline, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 8
Reliable Sources
New York Times blogger Jeremy Peters reports that Vanity Fair editor Michael Lewis agreed to “one major condition” in order to land an interview with President Obama for Vanity Fair:
During a discussion at Lincoln Center on Monday night with Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, Mr. Lewis volunteered to the audience that as a condition of cooperating with his story, the White House insisted on signing off on the quotes that would appear.
Mr. Lewis said that ultimately the White House disallowed very little of what he asked to use. And he described having access to the president that was unusually unfettered. About 95 percent of what he witnessed was on the record, he said.
What the White House asked to leave off the record, Mr. Lewis added, was usually of little relevance to his article anyway–like a discussion between Mr. Obama and his political strategists about their electoral strategy in Florida.
Mr. Lewis said there was one particularly moving exchange with the president that he wished he could have described in greater detail. But the White House nixed the idea, perhaps wary of having the commander in chief described as in tears.
Lucky for them they don’t have to worry about having the commander in chief described as in tears.
Fast Times at Palais de l’Élysée
“France’s first Socialist president in 17 years used his prime-time television slot to seek to counter criticism that he was moving too slowly to fix France’s problems and that he has failed to be decisive,” The Wall Street Journal reports from Paris:
“I’m not going to do in four months what my predecessors haven’t done in five or 10 years,” said Mr. Hollande. “I am in combat mode.”
He added that he was “accelerating things.”
Wow, it’s only going to take him four months not to do what it took his predecessor five or 10 years to fail at. Talk about accelerating things!
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
