Oprah has given Obama a powerful boost, and that provoked a memory. In September 2000, Governor Bush was trailing Vice President Gore, pretty significantly. A prominent political analyst declared Bush “toast.” And then Bush went on Oprah and Regis — had very good appearances. And his numbers rose. The Oprah appearance, in particular, was thought to be a real boost.

A second prominent political analyst, in a private remark, said, “What a stupid country.” I’ve never forgotten that.

‐You might have heard the statement that Bill Shaheen made, in resigning from the Hillary Clinton campaign. He had brought up Obama’s drug use. He said, “I would like to reiterate that I deeply regret my comments yesterday and say again that they were in no way authorized by Senator Clinton or the Clinton campaign. Senator Clinton has been running a positive campaign focused on the issues that matter to America’s families.”

The issues that matter to America’s families. Is there not something slightly Orwellian about Shaheen’s statement, overall? Something programmed, rote, forced — almost comical? It reminded me a little of a Maoist self-criticism. Have I mentioned lately that I don’t care for the Clintons and their operations — never have, never will?

‐This article was sort of interesting — and sort of weird. The AP asked the presidential candidates to name their “most prized possession.” Huckabee was folksy, of course, and he also might have helped himself with the Second Amendment crowd (which, of course, includes me): “Probably my Tobias bass guitar or maybe, I’ve got a handmade musket rifle that was made by a guy in Eureka Springs, Ark. I’ve hunted turkey with it. It’s really an amazing firearm. Probably one of those two as far as just real heirlooms.”

And what did Fred Thompson say? “Trophy wife.”

According to the article, he really did (“tongue in cheek”).

‐You may enjoy this: The ABA Journal — which is to say, the journal of the American Bar Association — named former attorney general Alberto Gonzales Lawyer of the Year. It also named the new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, the “top lawyer for 2008.” Those words come from the AP — and here’s some more of that article:

The monthly magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said editor and publisher Edward A. Adams. “Think about Time magazine’s Person of the Year,” Adams said in an interview. “In years past they’ve named people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. So we’re not suggesting by these awards that these are the best lawyers in any sense of the word.”

Hitler and Stalin, in a discussion of Bush’s attorneys general. They’re all class, the ABA — all class.

Years ago, when I was fairly young — 1987, the Bork nomination — I learned to despise the ABA. And, maybe worse than despising it, to have no respect for it. I wish something could change my mind, as the years roll on.

‐I thought of something, when reading this article on Bjorn Lomborg and other environmental scientists who aren’t squarely on the global-warming bandwagon. First, let me do a little quoting of the article:

As Al Gore shows off his Nobel Peace Prize and world policy-makers hammer out a new strategy for saving the planet, climate change contrarians say they have been elbowed out of the debate. They say mainstream scientists have stifled healthy intellectual discourse by demonizing dissenters as oil industry lobbyists or lunatics.
“I really think it reflects entirely on them,” said Lomborg, a mild-mannered Danish statistician who says global warming isn’t a big threat and that international treaties requiring sharp and immediate cuts in carbon emissions would cost a lot but do little good.
Angry words and table-pounding, he said, only show “that your argument is not that strong.”

And what I thought of is a story I learned from Tony Daniels. Sometime in the 1930s (I believe), 100 “Aryan” scientists signed a letter against Albert Einstein, declaring his Theory of Relativity to be a Jewish hoax (or something like that). Asked to respond to the letter, Einstein said, “If what they are saying were true, one signature would have been enough.”

Yes, truth is no respecter of majorities. And truth-seekers do not take comfort in, and are not overly impressed by, numbers.

‐Unwelcome Headline of the Week — or Month: “Iran Lauds Talks with UN Watchdog.” (The headline is over this article.)

Yeah, it would, wouldn’t it? And I cherish a term I learned from John Bolton’s book: The IAEA is not so much a “watchdog” as a “watchpuppy.”

I realize there’s nothing funny about the Iranian nuclear situation, but . . .

‐As longtime Impromptus readers know, Álvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia, is one of my favorite world leaders. He is certainly one of the most impressive statesmen I have ever met or interviewed. I started at this headline from last week: “Alleged Plot to Take Uribe’s Kids Foiled.” And the first sentence: “Colombia’s police chief said Thursday that his forces have foiled an alleged plot to kidnap President Alvaro Uribe’s two adult children after monitoring the cell phone calls of jailed guerrillas.” (For the article, go here.)

Uribe’s father was murdered by these same people — the terrorists, the FARC. Colombia’s al Qaeda. Uribe is under no illusion, and he stands foursquare with the hated Bush. Why wouldn’t he?

My admiration is large.

#JAYBOOK#

‐As I mentioned in a column last week, I’ve had fun inscribing this new book, and that fun continues. One man got the book for his father. He asked me to inscribe it, “Your son fears you’re turning into a hippie.” That’s kind of a reversal, isn’t it? Another man wanted me to inscribe his book with some kind of computer code. I’m an ignoramus, but his guidance allowed me to appear in-the-know.

And another reader wanted me to write, “To my #1,729 fan.” Why? Well, I found out, in a letter:

Mr. Nordlinger,
I know some people request books or other materials to be signed “To my #1 fan.” I could not honestly claim to be your #1 fan (I’d be a pitiful excuse for one, only now purchasing your book) [hey, no problem!], so I looked for a number that was more honest. In short order, I came up with the taxicab number 1729. The mathematician G. H. Hardy relates this tale of a visit to fellow mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan:
“I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.’” [Funny, I was thinking the same thing.]
It is also a Harshad number (divisible by the sum of its digits) and has a bunch of other interesting features. At least, they would be interesting to Derb.

Speaking of Derb and math: He writes so beautifully on the subject, he makes math look like Jane Seymour, or a Grecian urn.

‐I wanted to say a word about music — or rather, I wanted to let you know that David Pryce-Jones has said a word. In his blog, elsewhere on this site — here — he has an entry on Karlheinz Stockhausen and Petr Eben. Both men were composers, and both died recently. In their work, the two men took radically different courses. And one of those courses, says David, was better than the other. I couldn’t agree more.

Incidentally, you may think of Pryce-Jones as a specialist in Europe, in Russia, in World War II, in the Middle East, and in literature. But his knowledge runs a lot farther than that measly number of specialties (!). He knows vast amounts about art and music, and his judgment in these areas — as in all others — is impeccable.

Just so you know . . .

‐In Thursday’s column, I had a word about David Feherty, the former golfer and current golf commentator who had just visited Iraq. There are many Feherty fans among Impromptus readers — I learned this from the mail. And I wish to share a note with you:

Jay,
Several years ago, I was working part-time at a local golf course near Denver, and David was giving a group lesson to a bunch of us duffers. As he made his way down our line of swingers and approached me, I asked him how he liked my swing, etc. He said I had a swing made in heaven and it was a damned shame we weren’t playing there . . .

David Feherty brings delight to millions — certainly hundreds of thousands — and that should satisfy him, greatly.

‐Finally, I must share with you something that comes from our Richard Brookhiser. He was reading the Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon (translated and edited by Lucy Norton). And Rick says the following:

Saint-Simon, a courtier during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, is writing about a maneuver in 1694, in which some faction was trying to win a favorable verdict from the Parlement (not a legislature, more like a court). I quote only a phrase:
“. . . when you consider the care that was taken to seduce the most important members of the Parlement by means of their friends, relations, mistresses, confessors, and valets.”
The ancien régime in a nutshell. All the rest is names and dates.

Just fabulous.

See you.