My old friend, Rick Hertzberg, is a signed up member of the Kerry campaign, proud contributor and even wears Kerry-labeled shirts. He’s also a New Yorker writer:
The New Yorker commentator Hendrick Hertzberg, who has given $900 to John Kerry’s presidential bid — earning him a spot in a report on political donations by journalists released last week by a freelance watchdog and a mild scolding from one media ethicist — arrived at his pre-assigned spot wearing running sneakers, jeans, and a denim shirt embroidered with the Kerry campaign logo. After venturing onto the convention floor, he returned around 10:35, midway through Edwards’s address, looking slightly overheated but nonetheless elated, like a fan leaving a concert by his favorite band. He had taken off the Kerry button-down, revealing a nonpartisan T-shirt underneath, and was carrying two of the rectangular Edwards placards that had been distributed to delegates and assorted convention-goers. Hertzberg placed them on the writing stand and disappeared again into the crowd, presumably with plans to retrieve his booty before repairing to his hotel. (Conventioneer has heard that New Yorker staffers are staying at the Fairmont Copley Plaza’s new Gold Floor, which features its own concierge, a private lounge with working fireplace, and a butler’s pantry stocked with self-serve snacks. Conventioneer relishes this bit of gossip the way others might word of Ben Affleck’s rumored lodging at the Charles.)
Hertzberg, a former Carter speechwriter who makes no secret of his liberal leanings in his “Talk of the Town” commentaries, has defended his donations to Kerry as a perfectly reasonable extension of the positions he takes as an opinion writer. But to Conventioneer, the Kerry shirt seemed a bit much.
Look, he’s not Sid. Or Frum, on the other side.
The Dish 