Washington, Dc | The New York Observer

McCain Wins, But Anti-McCain Voters Have Their Say

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:04:13 -0500

There were 116 total delegates at stake in the Republican presidential race tonight, and John McCain has apparently won all of them—terrific news for a candidate who began the day about 400 delegates shy of the magic number needed to clinch the nomination.

And two of his primary wins were by convincing margins—in Maryland, where he led Mike Huckabee by a two-to-one margin, and in the District of Columbia, where he was the overwhelming choice...

This Time, Obama Wins the Hillary Voters Too

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:29:57 -0500

The losing streak has hit eight for Hillary Clinton, but that's hardly the worst news to come out of Chesapeake Tuesday for the former first lady.

Nor is the fact that she now trails in most every independent delegate count—even the counts that include the non-binding pledges of superdelegates. And nor, for that matter, is the likelihood that her skid will reach double-digits a week from tonight, when Wisconsin and Hawaii vote.

No, the most troubling...

Celebrating Victories, McCain Mocks Obama

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:22:20 -0500

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—John McCain just rounded off his victory speech here by cheekily appropriating one of Barack Obama's signature lines.

"I promise you I am fired up and ready to go," he told a cheering crowd.

The Arizona senator's speech seemed to target Obama more than Clinton, in yet another sign of the shifting dynamics of the Democratic race.

At one point he suggested that Obama's candidacy offered "not a promise of hope but a platitude."

And in an...

Huckabee Makes Things Close, Hillary Doesn't

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:10:48 -0500

Signs point to a very long night for Hillary Clinton. Polls are still open in Maryland and in the District of Columbia, but they have just closed in Virginia—and news outlets have already declared Barack Obama the winner by a wide margin.

Virginia was Clinton's best chance of scoring an upset victory, or at least keeping the race close enough to declare a moral victory. If she has lost lopsidedly in Virginia, it points to...

The Potomac Stakes: Hillary Must Limit the Damage, McCain Can Put It Away

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:51:52 -0500

Here’s what’s at stake in today's primary contests:

Democrats

Barack Obama is supposed to go three-for-three on the day. Short of engineering an upset victory—which would represent a campaign-changing development—Hillary Clinton’s best hope lies in containing her opponent’s victory margins and keeping the delegate race close, possibly positioning her to declare some kind of moral victory. On the heels of her weekend drubbings—and the news that she is replacing her campaign manager—the risk for Clinton tomorrow...

Linda Tripp's Black Friday

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:42:08 -0500

OK, it's a rough day for New York society gossip. Park Avenue Peerage is off to India; A Socialite's Life has posted a Thanksgiving message that reminds us of a bad drag queen joke, and we've already visited David Patrick Columbia.

One thing that did sort of stop us in our tracks was Carol Joynt's account of her trip to Beltway exurb Middleburg, Va., a one-time stomping ground of the Captiol's horsey set. At this...

Judges Give Ammo to Gun Owners

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:00:00 -0400

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” —Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution And look at what just climbed out of its coffin—the Second Amendment, the orphan child of the Bill of Rights. The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia threw out a law in the nation’s capital that made outlaws of those...

Manhattan Housing Inventory Drops; L.A., San Fran, Not So Much

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:52:15 -0400

Need more proof the Manhattan housing market's unique? While inventory here dropped in the first quarter of 2007, inventory in markets like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., increased. In the quarter ending March 31 in Manhattan, the inventory of unsold homes on the market was down 0.2 percent from the quarter before, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. (It was also down more than 14 percent from the first quarter of 2006.) In other markets,...

Testifying Their Yankee Stadium Love

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:52:39 -0400

Two New York critics of the taxpayer-subsidized Yankee Stadium have been invited by Congressman (and presidential hopeful) Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, to appear before a House subcommittee on Thursday in Washington, D.C. The panel will hear testimony from Save Our Parks member Joyce Hogi and Village Voice writer Neil deMause. It's an oversight hearing, which means there is no pending legislation. The hearing is called: "Build It and They Will Come: Do Tax Payer-Financed Sports Stadiums,...

Events for March 21, 2007

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:15:00 -0400

10 a.m. Sen. Hillary Clinton attends a HELP Committee Hearing into 9/11 health effects in Washington, D.C. 11:30 a.m. The state's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions will hold a public hearing on cable franchise agreements at the State Education Building, 80 Washington Avenue, in Albany. 12:30 p.m. Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, will speak at "Labour Migration and Trafficking of Women and Girls: A Gender and Human Rights...

Events for March 20, 2007

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:00:00 -0400

5:30 a.m. Buses will be departing from the Staten Island Mall, the Brooklyn Museum and the Jamaica LIRR stop to reach Washington, D.C. by 11 a.m. to participate in the Climate Crisis Action Day rally. Some members of Congress will speak with constituents about global warming. 9:30 a.m. Sen. Hillary Clinton attends an Armed Services Committee Hearing to receive testimony on the U.S. Air Force in review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year...

Chuck Schumer, Militant Republican

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 07:00:00 -0500

Attendees at a raucous event organized by Irish advocates of immigration reform in Washington DC yesterday were treated to the unusual sight of Senator Charles Schumer leading a chant closely identified with the Irish Republican Army. "Tiocfaidh Ar La!" Mr. Schumer bellowed several times from the stage at the Washington Court Hotel, his right hand 'conducting' the crowd to join in. The Gaelic slogan (pronounced "Chucky Are Law") translates as "Our Day Will Come". Often...

Reports of Painting’s Death Grossly Exaggerated

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:00:00 -0500

You know something’s wrong when a work of art appeals solely on a prurient basis. In Body Collage (1967), a performance captured on 16-millimeter film, the artist Carolee Schneeman smears a milky liquid over her naked body and proceeds to roll around in a pile of torn paper scattered on the floor of an industrial loft. The paper sticks to Ms. Schneeman’s body; the camera pans over her glistening contours. Sleek, shapely and beautiful,...

Hillary on Health Care Cuts

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:25:21 -0500

"We face a real challenge on health care that we must confront head on. This is exactly the wrong...

Julian Charles Planck

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Oct. 24, 2006 9:55 p.m. 6 pounds, 13 ounces Pascack Valley Hospital Gourmet grommet! Nina Planck, 35, foxy founder of farmers’ markets in New York, Washington, D.C., and London, wanted to have a home birth in her Stuyvesant Town one-bedroom, but wound up delivering this brown-eyed, brown-haired sprout by C-section in New Jersey after 36 hours of unproductive labor. “It was very cold and bumpy, and I was shivering and having contractions every five minutes,” said Ms....

Events for January 27-29, 2007

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:00:00 -0500

Tomorrow, an anti-war rally will be held in Washington, DC, with several members of congress scheduled to attend. Screening Liberally, IAVA, and Focus Features host a screening of The Ground Truth. Rudy Giuliani delivers the keynote address to the New Hampshire Republican Convention in Manchester. Assemblyman Mike Gianaris will be featured...

City Tops for Foreign Commercial Real-Estate Investment, Survey Says

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:01:59 -0500

New York tops Washington, D.C., survey says! Well, at least among very rich foreign investors and their preference to invest in commercial real estate here. The survey was conducted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, based in--of all places--Madison, Wis. L.A., San Francisco and Seattle round out the top-five. The full release after the jump. - John Koblin FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Big Apple Bobs to Top Among Foreign Real Estate Investors Washington (January 24,...

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:27:56 -0500

Developer Herb Miller listed his Washington, D.C., home last spring for $28 million--the highest asking price in our nation's fair capital--and now he's sold the place. Is that as good as the Washingtonians can do? Manhattan can beat $28 million with its left arm tied behind its back. [WSJ] London is entirely another story. In hip neighborhoods like Knightsbridge, 77-square-foot storage rooms are $335,000 apartments. There's no electricity, which would cost another $59,000--bringing price...

As Conservative Blacks Own Inner-City Woes, Jews Must Own the Neocons, and Disgorge Their Ideology

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:10:14 -0500

Turn on the television today and you see conservative blacks talking about dealing with the problems in their community. Maryland's Lt. Gov., Republican Michael Steele, talks about 130 kids aged 13-16 in the Baltimore Detention Center, waiting to go to jail, when they should be waiting to go to school. We can fix this, Steele says, it doesn't have to be this way. He grew up with a single mother making $1.50 an hour...

It's Denver!

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:53:12 -0500

... for the Dems in 2008. Should we really be that surprised? Full release after the jump. - Matthew Schuerman Denver to Host 2008 Democratic National Convention Washington, DC - Citing the Denver host committee's strong bid and growing Democratic gains in the Rocky Mountain West, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today announced that Denver will host the 2008 Democratic National Convention Monday, August 25 to Thursday, August 28. The DNC will hold a conference call at...

The Yards Go to Washington

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 10:08:04 -0500

In some ways, the Yards, a $2 billion, 6-million-square foot development in southeastern Washington, D.C., sounds a lot like the all-too-familiar Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. Each is being undertaken by a branch of the same company, Forest City Enterprises, but in the District of Columbia, the Washington Post reports, Its plans call for preserving the historic buildings and turning a boilermaker shop into a retail area, creating apartments from a former carpentry building...

Atlantic Yards Fight Goes National

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:56:19 -0500

Two national Washington, D.C.-based organizations, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Scenic America, will announce on Tuesday that they are joining BrooklynSpeaks.Net in its opposition of Atlantic Yards. - Matthew...

Letters

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Joke’s on You

To the Editor: While I have to admit to laughing uncontrollably during a few sequences in Borat, I share some of Andrew Sarris’ concern [“Comedy, in Theory: The Good, Bad and Pitiable,” At the Movies, Nov. 20] that the film relies heavily on cheap shots and the willingness of some people to make fools of themselves in order to be in a movie. (Although I don’t think that makes...

Letters

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Joke’s on You To the Editor: While I have to admit to laughing uncontrollably during a few sequences in Borat, I share some of Andrew Sarris’ concern [“Comedy, in Theory: The Good, Bad and Pitiable,” At the Movies, Nov. 20] that the film relies heavily on cheap shots and the willingness of some people to make fools of themselves in order to be in a movie. (Although I don’t think that makes them any...

Letters

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Letters

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

I.M., I Said! The Medium Is The Instant Message

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 20:00:00 -0400

As anyone under the age of 52 can attest, the era of e-mail is over. It’s been supplanted by instant-messaging: a quicker, shorter and far more effective means of conducting interpersonal communications in our fast-paced 24/7 society. Of course, with this has come an entirely new lexicon of abbreviations and acronyms, along with a new set of social protocols. Herewith, then, are some annotated examples, decoded for your personal use, anywhere, at any time:...

Mark Green's Book

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:15:00 -0400

Mark Green has a new book entitled Losing Our Democracy: How Bush, the Far Right and Big Business Are Betraying Americans For Power and Profit. And even if Mark doesn't necessarily have John Kerry's endorsement in his campaign for attorney general, his book does. However, according to Sourcebooks, Inc., his publisher: This is not, however, just another Bush-bashing book, this is a call-to-arms to all the people in America who cherish our freedom and...

Getting Risky Teens Off Our Highway

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

America’s young drivers are a problem as old as the Christmas gift of a new La Salle given to an entitled tyke in Appointment in Samarra. “The kids knew he was going to get it all along,” John O’Hara wrote. “His mother told him beforehand. He smashed it up New Year’s Eve.”

A third of teenage deaths involve driving accidents—teen drivers are three times as likely as older ones to die in...

Getting Risky Teens Off Our Highway

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

America’s young drivers are a problem as old as the Christmas gift of a new La Salle given to an entitled tyke in Appointment in Samarra. “The kids knew he was going to get it all along,” John O’Hara wrote. “His mother told him beforehand. He smashed it up New Year’s Eve.” A third of teenage deaths involve driving accidents—teen drivers are three times as likely as older ones to die in a crash....

Events for June 16, 2006

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 13:45:00 -0400

The Council on Foreign Relations will hold a conversation with Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's minister of foreign affairs. John Jay College holds a forum on felon disenfranchisement. Ted Kennedy, joined by his dog, Splash, read from "My Senator and Me: A Dog's Eye View of Washington, D.C." at P.S. 11. Keith Wright and others hold a press conference urging JP Morgan Chase to keep local branches open on West 125th Street. Members of the black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican...

[em]The Atlantic[/em]'s D.C. Summer: Hot, Yes; Sultry, No

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 06:26:09 -0400

With the onset of the hot, gummy months in Washington, D.C., Atlantic staffers are apparently still adjusting to their new home. So on May 31, the magazine's human-resources department sent out a post-Memorial Day memo to remind everyone of the company's "neat and professional" dress code. "Our policy is intentionally vague and does not specifically exclude certain articles of clothing or types of shoes," Susan Lavigne, Atlantic director of benefits and compensation wrote. Lavigne...

Letters

Sun, 21 May 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Two Presidents Do Not Make a Right

To the Editor: Bruce Feirstein’s “Message From Mahmoud! Dear President Bush: We’ve Got Lots in Common” [New Yorker’s Diary, May 15] is truly trying to be funny, while comparing rotten apples with ripe California oranges. I read the letter from the President of Iran, and frankly, I didn’t think there were any people left with a measure of pure common sense and ordinary decency. But...

The Southern Peach Paper: Off to D.C.! Plus, Harvey Weinstein, Brian Grazer, Calvin Klein Talk Love; Plus, Mets' Gala!

Wed, 03 May 2006 04:30:08 -0400

Here's this years wall-to-wall, flood-the-zone Mets' Costume Gala coverage! And here's everyone talking love with Kathy Freston at the Core Club, which costs at least $100K to join. We do so enjoy a private club. Hey, have you ever been to this weird place called... "Washington, D.C."? We can explain it to you in three stages: the styles of their times, the houseparties of their post-Harvard neo-neo-cons; and the night that George Bush didn't have to...

Letters

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

The Affect Effect

To the Editor: Thank you to Jason Horowitz for writing this article [“City Girl Squawk: It’s Like So Bad—It. Really. Sucks?”, March 27]. For years, I have been cringing in the presence of what I call “‘Like?’ speech,” which includes not only the ubiquitous “like” but also the accompanying nasal reverb and the making of every sentence into a question. We spend billions to teach our children how...

Letters

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

The Affect Effect To the Editor: Thank you to Jason Horowitz for writing this article [“City Girl Squawk: It’s Like So Bad—It. Really. Sucks?”, March 27]. For years, I have been cringing in the presence of what I call “‘Like?’ speech,” which includes not only the ubiquitous “like” but also the accompanying nasal reverb and the making of every sentence into a question. We spend billions to teach our children how to read and...

New York's Immigration Silence

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:52:36 -0500

I don't have a really good explanation for this, but it's striking that New York City hasn't seen one of the massive immigration demonstrations that have swept Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities. People who follow these things say that New York's immigration politics are simply different: More fragnmented, fewer Mexicans, a Hispanic politics dominated by Puerto Ricans, who are citizens. We'll see if this changes Saturday, when Ruben Diaz, Sr. plans to lead...

Newcomer Pal Craves Semiotics of the Stoop; I Spill (Some) Secrets

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 19:00:00 -0500

A good friend just moved to New York from Washington, D.C. Her office has put her up in a one-bedroom in midtown, and she’s started apartment hunting in her slivers of free time—enlisting me, as someone who has endured this process half-a-dozen times over, to help. A few days after she got here, she phoned me from work. “I have to ask you something,” she said, lowering her voice to a near whisper....

Shelter Porn Junkie

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 07:54:54 -0500

"Epicene and intoxicating." Instead of another 20,000-word article on foreign policy, the new issue of the Atlantic Monthly includes a lengthy piece on the shelter-lit universe. Professor Terry Castle--herself an addict--rambles on for about 13 pages. Unfortunately, those Washington D.C. eggheads keep their articles for subscribers only. So here's what you're missing. Out of necessity my own decorating style has long been fairly downmarket and bourgeois: your standard...

David Lat: The New Wonkette Is A Man

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:39:00 -0500

David Lat, the blogger behind the dishy judicial gossip site Underneath Their Robes, is moving to Washington, D.C., to be a writer for Wonkette. Mr. Lat pens the Latin-laced blog under the pseudonym "Article III Groupie" (an homage to the section of the Constitution that established the federal judiciary). In November, in an article by Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker, the shoe-loving, diva-esque female narrator was unmasked as the cherubic, cardigan-wearing Filipino-American Mr....

Pirroism

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:30:00 -0400

On the lips of a graceful speaker, repetitive phrasing can create a strong chorus. Screw it up, however, and your meaning is hopelessly mangled. To wit, our President learned this lesson in rhtetoric last year, when he accidentally amplified the terror threat facing America: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." (President George W. Bush,...

The Stand? The Strand? Judy Won't Take Either One.

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 07:44:00 -0400

The New York Times keeps the staff updated on Judith Miller: *** August 17, 2005 Update on Judy Miller A visit with Judy last night found her in good spirits and looking pretty good, if a bit ethereal. What she most wanted was to thank you all for the wonderful mail you've been sending! It's been her lifeline. After long and monotonous days, guards come after "lock-down" and bring her the cards and letters. Every time, there are delightful...

Menschen Are From Mars

Sun, 31 Jul 2005 20:00:00 -0400

Having enchanted a growing list of celebrities and non-celebrities—and having shrugged off the objections of rabbis and scholars who say they are peddling a decidedly watered-down, quick-fix version of Jewish mysticism—modern-day Kabbalists haven’t wasted any time tackling one of the most pressing spiritual problems of the age: relationships. On a recent Sunday, the Kabbalah Centre on East 48th Street in Manhattan was bustling for one of its thrice-annual open houses. By mid-afternoon, the...

Up Mexico Way

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:00:00 -0400

The Mexican Cultural Institute has been making the rounds of various community boards this summer, seeking approval for a massive, Manhattan-wide temporary art installation, which will project different Mexican-themed art pieces on notable buildings throughout the city sometime in October. The project is an outgrowth of the award-winning ABCDF: Diccionario Grafico de la Ciudad de Mexico art book/CD-ROM that came out a couple of years ago, and several art shows held in Mexico City,...

Brazile for Fields

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 07:54:00 -0400

The first real test of Virginia's post-flap fund-raising ability comes Wednesday night at B. Smith's at Union Station in Washington, D.C., where former Clinton Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and former Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile host a $250-a-head fund-raiser for Fields. Special Guest: Charlie Rangel. No offense to those folks, but The Politicker will save on train fare and wait for Paul...

Steamy Summer on Capitol Hill: Interns Blog Their Brains Out

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 20:00:00 -0400

The Washingtonienne, by Jessica Cutler. Hyperion, 304 pages, $24.98

"Sex: in America, an obsession. In other parts of the world, a fact," said Marlene Dietrich. And in that vein, The Washingtonienne arrives this month, to celebrate the beginning of the summer-intern season and the fact that we've only managed to regress further into the abyss of American prurience. Jessica Cutler, the comely former envelope-stuffer, staffer to Senator Mike DeWine and Twilo aficionado now turned blogtastic...

¡Ay Caramba! The War Room's South American Sequel

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 19:00:00 -0500

"It's not about Bolivian politics," said Rachel Boynton sternly, speaking of her directorial debut, the documentary Our Brand Is Crisis. On a recent Thursday afternoon, the 31-year-old Greenwich Village resident was hovering over a just-finished plate of potato pancakes at Chelsea's Comfort Diner. She was fresh off having her film accepted to the 34th annual New Directors/New Films. The documentary, which screens at MoMA on Thursday, March 24, boasts Ms. Boynton's unfettered access to...

Inauguration and Secession

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 06:51:23 -0500

The secession meme is back, courtesy, we suspect, of the president they're inaugurating today down in Washington D.C. The idea takes various forms: that New York City secede from the state, or from the nation. Pro-slavery types pushed it in 1861; the Mailer-Breslin campaign embraced it in 1969. City Councilman Peter Vallone has been talking about it for a while, and is at it again. This summer, New York Magazine played around with it last...

Kaboom! Part II

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 17:22:17 -0500

One of the puzzlements of post-9/11 politics is that terrorism is a hot issue in the suburbs but not in the city. Before the election, for example, New Jersey voters told any reporter who'd listen, like noted Jersey expert Terry Golway, and even me, that this was because they were being afraid of being blown up, and that they'd vote for Bush as a result. The Bush campaign ran ad after ad reminding voters...

Scottish Drama Speaks From the Heart With Subtitles

Sun, 18 May 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen , from a screenplay by Paul Laverty, could be disparagingly described as an English-language film about the Scottish working class with English subtitles. But I am grateful to Mr. Loach and Mr. Laverty for offering translation for the almost incomprehensible Greenock and Port Glasgow dialect spoken by a cast made up mostly of virtual amateurs.

For a great many people, the prospect of watching a film with subtitles leads to one's...