Batman Is About Bush's Courage, No Really [Wtf]

"Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past." [WSJ]

McCain Considered Doomed Even By Conservative Editorialists [Wtf]

Hey, if John McCain, 71, had any hope of becoming the oldest person ever to ascend to the presidency next January, you know what would be important? The identity of the person who would replace the miracle of modern medical technology upon death. But all news outlets everywhere know McCain cannot possibly win this thing, since voters hate Republican candidates right now and besides Barack Obama is a tender angel of love and hope and also Change. This is why even the rabidly conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page just ran an opinion piece (headline pictured above) arguing that it just doesn't matter who McCain selects as his vice presidential candidate. The writer, senior Ronald Reagan adviser Ken Khachigian, concludes that talking about McCain's VP "is about boredom relief for opinion writers, political junkies and the media. It provides an escape from the fatigue of an 18-month nomination race — a new rabbit to chase" that soon "will be a distant memory." Harsh! [WSJ]

Lindsay Lohan And Girlfriend "Didn't Look Like A Couple" Last Night! [Train To Splitsville]

The last time we checked in with Lindsay Lohan and her lesbian lady friend Samantha Ronson, the couple was embroiled in a scandalous toe-stepping scandal that culminated in Lohan ditching Ronson and Ronson shouting "Are you leaving," scandalously. Fellow patrons at the Waverly Inn were, well, scandalized. Possibly shocked fans may also have been distraught that the relationship ended mere weeks after its explicitly acknowledgement in the tabloids and a mere year after they started cavorting in public together. Well, prepare to cry more tears of loss, LoRo lovers, because, according to an emailed stalker sighting, the couple are acting like they're just friends — no graphic make-out sessions or whatever we expect celebrity lesbian couples to do when we see them in a public place.

"I spotted Lindsay Lohan & Samantha Ronson in New York Penn Station on July 23 around 6:15 pm. No paparazzi or screaming fans or security. I believe they were trying to catch a train - problem was every train was cancelled due to a power outage. They didn't look like a couple and weren't carrying much luggage but Lohan did have a ticket/boarding pass for something

Boarding pass! Lohan DOES appear to be leaving, and not just the Waverly Inn, people.

Latest Anna Wintour Rival Hails From Russia [Vogue]

Keith Gessen Movie Features Not Quite All The Happyish Young Blogging People [Cultural Moments]

Here's Rex Sorgatz's video of various people reading from the de-Harvardized copy of tortured soul Keith Gessen's All The Sad Young Literary Men. It was shot largely in the Gawker offices! And it involves such noted internet personalities as Andrew Krucoff, Choire Sicha, Julia Allison, Alex Pareene, Rachel Sklar — the d-list goes on and on. You'll either find it entertaining and funny (I did!) or feel like you need a decoder ring. A cheat sheet to the best moments is after the jump, if you want all the surprises spoiled, along with an update on the status of the modified All The Sad Young Literary Men, now an official literary hot potato.

The cheat sheet, via Sorgatz:

Personal faves include Krucoff stumbling across Emily's name, Julia musing about Google hits, Sklar standing in front of Balthazar, and Choire closing the house. But all of you! All of you have made America (and perhaps Russia) a better place!

Also, we are told that the book copy in this video, the FSU Middlebrow Remix of All The Sad Young Literary Men, has passed from Andrew Krucoff, who bought it from us at $890 (proceeds to the homeless), to the blogger 99, who bought it at $275 (discounted by the bundling of a date) from Krucoff (proceeds to a soup kitchen).

We are all witness to something very special! Don't you already feel more literarified and shit??

Is The Press Turning On Obama? [Journalismism]

John McCain made a pair of not-bad ads mocking the schoolgirlish moments of pundits talking about Barack Obama. Sure, it was hypocritical since McCain's no stranger to favorable press — he famously joked that reporters constituted his "base." Also politically dangerous for the same reason. But if he gets away with tweaking the Fourth Estate it's because he offers the kind of access other pols don't. This is why Jonathan Chait and Jacob Weisberg may not vote for him but still kind of admire the guy. Obama, however, is the anointed presidential hopeful (if he doesn't say so himself), and he clearly has more to lose if the media's infatuation with him ends. Gabriel Sherman of the New Republic has a good piece explaining how the bloom's already gone off the rose. Obama's press liaison Robert Gibbs is a dick, and his other handlers are prickly and micromanagerial.

Key evidence: The Times' Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee wrote a story about how the candidate had failed to bridge the race gap. This precipitated a gentle question to Nagourney from the Obama campaign, which he answered. He then awoke the next morning to find himself attacked in an eight-point press release issued by Obama's team and leaked to Talking Points Memo and Marc Ambinder. "I've never had an experience like this with this campaign or others," Nagourney tells Sherman. "I thought they crossed the line. If you have a problem with a story I write, call me first. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. But they never called. They attacked me like I'm a political opponent."

So I guess Nagourney's less of a fan. True, McCain went out of his way to antagonize Elisabeth Bumiller of the Times for probing his red-meat conservative credentials (didn't Kerry offer him the VP slot?). But again, this wasn't schema-altering. Who didn't already know McCain could go from Mogwai to Gremlin when his status as a Maverick was either questioned or affirmed by the wrong inquiring mind? With his wafer-thin lead in the polls (don't email me, Gibbs!), Obama can scarcely afford to keep a reputation like this:

[A]s Obama ascended from underdog to front-runner to presumptive nominee, the flame seems to have dwindled. Reporters who cover Obama these days grouse that Obama's flacks shroud the campaign in secrecy and provide little to no access. "They're more disciplined than the Bush people," a reporter on the Obama trail gripes. "There was this idea of being transparent, but they're not. They're total tightwads with information."

[TNR]

Fox News Anchor Inadvertantly Reveals Knowledge of Drug Lingo [Gaffes]

Oh Snap! Christian Siriano Disses 'Girlicious' [Words]

So weird orange rutabaga Blayne, from the new season of Project Runway, likes to nance around the design room saying "girlicious," among other annoying things. He seems to be reeeeally pushing it as a catchphrase (though, he didn't coin it). This has incurred the wrath of last season's fitfully gay catchphrase machine Christian Siriano, who more organically wove "fierce," "tranny," "hot mess," and various combinations of the three into the fabric of the New York fashionista vernacular. Though, you know, "fierce" was there way before little mister monkey man Siriano came chimping along. As were the other two. I guess he just used them more effectively than people before him, or something. What fucking ever, he doesn't like Blayne's lame "forced" word and he's not afraid to say so. Watch a video, from Popwrap, of Christian doing just that after the jump. Oh, and that new collection of his? Already sold out. How rude, tranny. You got it, girlicious. Cowatranny! Or, um, Eat my hot mess. Ew. Wait. Um, one more. Life is like a box of trannies. Does that work?

Most Harmless Alessandra Stanley Correction Ever? [Stalney-watch]

Error-prone Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley made a mistake everyone!

Because of an editing error, the TV Watch Column on Wednesday, comparing coverage of Senator Barack Obama’s trip overseas with coverage of Senator John McCain, gave an incorrect title in some copies for a Frankie Valli song used in a video by the McCain campaign to mock reporters’ coverage of Mr. Obama’s trip. The song is “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” — not “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.”

Looks like her new dedication to caring enough to get things mostly right most of the time is paying off! (Oh, and the "forthcoming" correction was probably this one, which ran one day after that Stanley item. Hah.) [NYT]

Bloggers Might Say Something Offensive [Redskins]

The Washington Redskins Kill The Injuns Yee-Ha football team has somehow flexed its legal muscles and made it impossible for bloggers who care about racist football franchises to embed news videos of the team. How? I don't know, maybe with repeating rifles and relentless Westward expansion and blankets infected with smallpox! [WP via TBL]

Ask Haruki Murakami Anything [The Internets]

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