Yesterday, I wrote: “Clark’s previous remark that he’d be a Republican if Karl Rove had returned his calls is just a metaphor, or a fabrication, or a dream, or something.” Well, Clark claimed that “something” was a joke; and that he was misinterpreted. I take the point and should have mentioned this interpretation at the time. I was a little flip. But don’t get me wrong: I don’t believe Clark for a minute about this incident. One thing we know about him is that he’s phenomenally ambitious and extremely prickly. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that he might have wanted to join the Bush team and was pissed when they didn’t want him. Howard Fineman’s sources, moreover, didn’t just make their point by citing the “joke.” They say Clark went on at length about his sense of grievance with the Republican establishment. The point about Clark’s flakiness stands. And it’s not improbable. He’s not exactly a partisan Dem, is he? He voted for Reagan and Nixon. And he was dissed by the Clinton administration. What better revenge than returning in glory to help run a war? Look, he was a Rhodes Scholar. They suck upwards and kick downwards. The hilarious thing about all this is how eager otherwise sane people are to defend Clark. His record in public life is spotty and maverick. His campaign so far has been a complete mess. Maybe he’ll recover. Maybe under all this wild-eyed ego-centrism, there’s a future leader waiting to be born. I’m not going to write him off yet. But he strikes me as an obviously inferior candidate to several of the others. I’d go for Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman or Dean before this nut.
NIT-PICKING ARNOLD: Okay, so here’s a pathetic example of irrelevant gotcha journalism designed to infuriate all those public interest types who want us to focus on the ishoos. How tall is Arnold? Gregg Easterbrook joins the debate, following the Chicago Reader. The official website says AS is 6’2″. Others differ. Most think he’s much smaller. So do I. I met him once (it was at an event where a lot of young men were wearing make-up and dresses) and he was, if memory serves, shorter than me and I’m around 5’9″ in the mornings. But I don’t entirely trust my memory about all that. The other reason for thinking he’s shorter is that it’s very hard for someone at 6’2″ to have gotten as huge as the big guy back when he was lifting serious weights. It helps to be a little on the short, boxy side for bodybuilding. So is he fibbing? And if it’s kosher, by some luminaries, for women to euphemize their age, can men lie about their height?
The Dish 