Last December there were a bunch of rumors that Obama was going to give Anna Wiintour a plush reward for her support, namely an ambassadorship to either France or the UK. At the time, I pointed out that these rumors were manifestly ridiculous:
The source of this silly rumor (Why not David Geffen? one wonders) is a majestically cheat-sourced gossip piece from Bloomberg, an item lovingly crafted to dovetail with every possible permutation of conservatives' favorite Democratic Party caricature, that of the elitist limousine liberal: Jane Fonda, aglitter, emerging from her town car upon arrival at a premier for a multimillion dollar anti-poverty film. This Anna Wintour fake story is just so on the nose, isn't it?
LOL, she "may be" nominated. Other people who "may be" nominated, but also won't be: Guy Fieri, Marilyn Manson, Tom Cruise, Marie Osmond, the guy you used to play Barney the Dinosaur, etc.
And now it's happening again! This time it's –surprise!– The NY Post touching off the rumor with an item which is even less sourced than the old Bloomberg piece, and we're talking completely, utterly spun out of thin air.
And wouldn't you know it, Al Kamen in the Washington Post, who used to be savvy before he turned 200-years-old, totally fell for it and picked up on the rumor with utter credulity. This offers a great look at how stupid rumors (like our beloved Condi Veep Rumors) gather steam in Washington. Wintour, Kamen says, "had been talked about for either London or Paris early on." Technically this is true: it was talked about "early on" in gossip columns and the Drudge Report, but not by anybody serious and certainly not by the Obama administration. So, in other words, Kamen is using old rumors which turned out to be totally, completely false to lend credibility to the new rumors which also will turn out to be totally false.
By the end of today, these rumors will have jumped from the NY Post's total guess, to the Washington Post's starry-eyed and glamor-starved repeating of the story, to, no doubt, Fox News, where it will metastasize into a tale made-to-order for the conservative outrage machine.
So I'll repeat it once again: don't be ridiculous. Of course Anna Wintour isn't going to be named the next ambassador to Paris, to London, to anywhere. Come on, now!
10 comments:
Well, if using words like 'could be', 'may have', 'might have' or 'possibly' means a story isn't true then I'll have to stop believing in ancient aliens, Big Foot, and ghosts. Darn.
I don't understand why she'd ever want to become an Ambassador. She seems to have her dream job now.
Breaking on Washington Post:
Heidi Klum's "Project Ambassadorship" airing on Lifetime this Summer. Ten fasiion editors compete to become America's top diplomat to France. Challenges include negotiating a nuclear arms treaty in two days on a $100 budget, and an unconventional challenge of closing a bilateral trade agreement using scraps of treaty minnute doccuments from the lasest Doha Round talks.
On the other hand, Obama IS nominating Penny Pritzker, who inherited all her wealth and just happens to have been a major Obama fundraiser, to be Commerce Secretary. Because she's good at being born to rich parents and will pass on that knowledge to other commerce-related activities.
I busted my ass for Obama last fall in a battleground state. Can I please, please, please be ambassador to France?
Of course Anna Wintour isn't going to be named the next ambassador to Paris, to London, to anywhere.
I dare you to say those words to Steve Doucy's face!
Who is Anna Wintour?
I've never noticed it before, but why hasn't your tag "stupid news" not exploded yet from sheer applicability?
Next up, Betsy Johnson for National Security Advisor and Prouenza-Schouler for Secretary of the Interior.
Could we please go back to Tad?
Anonymous, your wish shall be granted.
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