From the Mouths of Babes
Heterogeneous leads anchor the fronts. The New York Times reveals that nonprofits, including
churches, pocketed millions in Federal grants that are designated to feed poor
children. The government nourishes 2.4 million day care kids by reimbursing
intermediary organizations, which oversee the doling out of meals. The CIA says
it cannot precisely track small-scale nuclear tests, according to the Washington Post's lead. After being informed of the
intelligence agency's assessment, Majority Leader Trent Lott decided to rush
the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to a ratification vote, in the hope of sinking it
by arguing that CIA uncertainty makes the test ban unenforceable. The Los Angeles
Times leads with a local story: Gov. Gray Davis is blocking the parole
of inmates sentenced to terms that carry life maximums.
An above-the-fold Post feature reviews Al Gore's family roots. The
vice president inherited his pedantic political style from his father, who rose
from poverty to become a teacher and politician. The senior Gore forced his son
to work the family farm, arguing that to achieve anything in life a boy "oughta
be able to run a hillside plow."
A NYT front-pager examines Bill Bradley's means of milking his past
in professional sports. Bradley raised $350,000 through Hoopla--a Chicago
fund-raiser where donors played with former All Stars. A similar event at
Madison Square Garden is expected to raise $1 million. The former Knick will
court votes by recruiting the endorsements of sports stars such as Michael
Jordan
Maureen Dowd's Liberties column provides a list of George W. Bush's
regular guy credentials. He digs Van Morrison's music and Jack Nicholson's
irreverence. His literary preferences run the gambit from John Le Carré spy
novels to Robert Parker's detective stories. W. doesn't do opera and he has
only been to one ballet. The troubling anomaly-the guy loved Cats .
The Times also reports that four Bush biographies are in the
publishing pipeline. First Son , Fortunate Son , and Shrub
are being written by independent authors. The Bush camp is putting out an
official version. Originally a sports writer and long-time Bush associate was
slated to author the book. The writer insinuates he was ousted for asking hard
questions. The Bush campaign's communications director is now penning the party
line.
A NYT article on Orrin Hatch's presidential run quotes the Republican
senator's quixotic argument for his candidacy: "[Bush is] a mile wide and an
inch deep. ... Orrin Hatch is 40 miles deep and 10 inches wide." Hatch
acknowledges that he has a rough row to hoe. Even some of his friends are
unaware that he is in the race.
The Post's "Outlook" section surveys candidate statements on campaign
finance reform. Al Gore advocates a soft money ban and free broadcast time for
candidates. Bill Bradley adds a calls for public financing of campaigns. George
W. Bush and Elizabeth Dole support raising the $1,000 contribution ceiling.
Bush backs banning soft money from corporations and labor unions. John McCain
and Pat Buchanan want to stop all soft money. Steve Forbes would like to lift
contribution limits. In a refered piece, the NYT projects that federal
candidates could spend $3 billion on campaign 2000.
All papers devote column space to the opening-day hoopla surrounding the
Brooklyn Museum's "Sensation" exhibit. Despite pans from art critics, record
crowds passed through newly-installed metal detectors to view the art that Rudy
Giuliani abhors. The Times's "Arts & Leisure" section caricatures
the carnival-like scene: Protesting Catholics prayed and handed out vomit bags.
Animal-righters waved posters of decapitated cows. The papers do not subject
the anti-Giuliani protesters to the same withering attention. The LAT
lets the sensation speak for itself: An above-the-fold photo pictures man
contemplating shark-in-formaldehyde.
A NYT piece reports that a 5 feet, 5 inches, 125-pound woman hopes to
strike a blow for feminism by fighting a male lightweight in boxing's
officially sanctioned first intergender bout. The pathbreaking pugilist is
partially driven by her experience with domestic violence.
The NYT's "Styles" section reports a new trend in parenting: the use
of kids as social stepping stones. The ex-headmistress of an elite all-girls
school indignantly argues that "education is not a country club" and
disdainfully describes mothers jockeying to make play dates with the offspring
of Katie Couric. The former educator allowed that social connections influenced
which kiddies were admitted to kindergarten under her reign. She graciously
explains, "It is one of the subtle ways we limit who applies."
