kf Gets Plugs

Midget Mickey Kaus is back to his usual pointless wanking.

1. He complains that the New York Times was "plug[ging] a band in which Howell Raines' son is a member. In truth, the article mentions the band -- but hardly promotes it -- in an article about numerous acts at a three-day music festival attended by 80,000 fans. Since the festival's promoters put the band on last year's "best of" CD, it's hardly surprising that the band merits a mention in the article. And since Kaus knew nothing about the band except its Raines connection, his bitching is admittedly based on ignorance. I'm certain Jeff is less of a disappointment to the Raines family than Mick is to the Kaus clan.

2. Kaus also notes a six percent drop in the value of New York Times stock Wednesday, and makes the idiotic (and purely speculative) claim that the stock's value dropped because of the Blair, et al. scandals. One could equally claim -- with the same lack of support -- that the stock dropped on word that the new editor, Joe Lelyvald, sold out readers in 1996 by cutting a deal with Dick Morris to promote Bill Clinton for re-election.

3. The low point (though the week is not done) is Kaus's latest comment: "Kerry: 'I might have been brainwashed!' ... Whoops, he said 'misled.' Sorry" Of course, if you click the link, Kerry said neither one. Rather, Kerry said that Bush "misled every one of us" with respect to Iraq's weapons capacity in order to justify his war. The sad part is not Kaus's pathological hatred of Kerry or his pathetic attempt at what he undoubtedly claims is a gag. No, the sad part is Kaus's lack of concern as to whether the Administration misled the public. Kaus is all over trivia such as Gary Condit and Greg Packer, but when a Senator asserts that the President has misled the country on matters of national security, all Kaus can manage is an incoherent crack aimed at the Senator who raised the issue.

P.S.: I'm not talking about hair plugs!