In God They Trust
            

            Harry,

            Sorry, you've got the flu. The papers here are filled with stories about how
fast it's spreading and how everyone should get shots. You've inspired yours
truly to get one.

            The GOP debate was ugly, but in some ways so much more satisfying than the
Dems, who essentially agreed on everything but who's shrillness knew no bounds.
A few thoughts: As long as these guys have nothing to say about HMOs,
prescription drugs, and education (besides vouchers), they're going to have a
tough time winning back the White House. Second, I totally agree re Keyes. True
connoisseurs of Keyes noticed his constant reference to the Declaration of
Independence. Die-hard Straussians--followers of the late Leo Strauss, of whom
I gather Keyes is one--love the Declaration more than the Constitution because
it's got God in the lead. Normally, one might think that the Constitution
preempts the Declaration, but not for Alan. One tries to imagine what would
happen if an assistant secretary from the Carter administration kept running in
Democratic primaries. It would, of course, be a joke.

            McCain's edgy smile--clearly designed to make him look friendly, not
crazy--seemed a tad annoying, but the guy was the most impressive overall, I
thought. Bush did pretty well, but he never answered the heaven question
directly. Seemed to me he doesn't believe that non-Christians go to heaven. Not
that this matters especially.

            Have we gone over the Linda Tripp plastic surgery? My colleagues at
People have an exclusive today on how it was done. The doc says it was
tricky because she was built like a man, and men, I gather, are tougher to work
on. This makes the John Goodman impression on Saturday Night Live all
the better.

            I see the "tech-heavy" Nasdaq continues its New Year sell-off. I gather
inflation fears are still gripping the street. Please. Inflation's been pretty
much slayed, but the bond-holding class can't let go of their '70s-esque fears
of soaring prices. It ain't gonna happen for a lot of complicated reasons. None
of this would matter so much except it's keeping wages down. Whenever wages
start to go up a bit--God forbid, workers should see their salaries jump--Wall
Street gets jittery about inflation and the Fed pumps the brakes. Hey, guys, 3
percent growth is great, but on this one I'm a Forbes guy. I think we can grow
faster.

            Enough of that. Anything fun in the Los Angeles Times ?

            --Matt