When I first started working for Ben Wattenberg I attended a party (I believe for Rush Limbaugh) in New York with him (it was actually the first time I met Rick, but I cannot imagine he remembers). One of the guests of the party was Vladimir Posner, who most readers have probably forgotten. But he was a very prominent spokeswhore for the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and a buddy of Phil Donahue’s (imagine that). I was standing with Ben when we were introduced and I felt it wasn’t my place to cause a scene with my relatively new boss right there, so I shook Posner’s hand. I’ve regretted it ever since, but I think I’ve washed all the blood off.