DAVID GEFFEN SPEAKS FOR... ME? WELL, MAYBE JUST THIS ONCE

I'm still in NYC and I had lunch with an old friend-- a really smart one-- who told me he thinks Giuliani is even worse than Bush. Worse than Bush? Can you imagine? Unlike me, he lived here while Giuliani was mayor. He's agreed to write a blog for me on it... sometime. Bob Barr doesn't seem all that impressed either, accurately pointing out that Rudy's whole bullshit schtik, unveiled on the very schtiky Larry King Show, is "a sleight of hand. On issues that I consider extremely important to conservatives, such as respect for the Second Amendment, he is nowhere near even remotely in the ballpark of a conservative philosophy." And Barr's not the only conservative not buying the new Rudy. Today's New York Observer (no, no one reads it here either) kvetches that Rudy "now comes in a new package [but] social conservatives still aren't buying it. [The] famously resolute, plain-spoken and uncompromising [Giuliani has] unveiled new shades of nuance to go along with his historically liberal positions on abortion, gun control and gay marriage, which pose the major obstacles" to his pursuit of the Republicans' far right base.

Meanwhile, another ex-music business luminary sure was painting that same kind of ugl-ee picture today for our old friend-- and his old friend (for real)-- Hillary Clinton! It started with the Maureen Dowd column in today's New York Times and it's all over the TV now. First it was just a glitzy party that netted Obama $1.3 million and the TV spin was that only sitting presidents get that much at one event.

An aside: when Obama was running in the Democratic primary for Senate I helped throw a fundriaser for him in L.A. People filed in and deposited their checks and he spoke, just like all fundraisers. And then something happened that never happens-- and I mean never-- after Obama's speech everyone started scrambling for a flat surface so they could write a second check. That's was the moment I knew he would win.

Maybe Geffen had that kind of a moment yesterday. He sure burned some major bridges-- although, like he says, he doesn't need to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom again and, besides, his own bedroom is way nicer. Still, "Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling,” is... well, intemperate. Right on, David! And it didn't stop there. "Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq. And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television." This guy could be a populist!

The Clintons wigged out and all those Lieberman type Inside-the-Beltway monsters that claim to be Democrats but always make sure Republicans win and now work for Hillary, went to work on Geffen. Oh, that's going to do a lot of good! So is Hollywood going to desert Hillary and flip to Obama? I didn't get my instructions yet-- although maybe they're in the mailbox and I'll see 'em when I get home tomorrow. Hillary sure comes off kind of even creepier than usual in this episode, though. Gee, I hope someone else gets the nomination.


JOHN ARAVOSIS TOO

Yes, Geffen and Aravosis, they're both speakin' for me today. See? And you thought Hillary was the gays' candidate? Looks like Romney and Giuliani have all the closeted gays. The well-adjusted ones... Obama? Edwards? Waiting for Gore? Anyway, Aravosis is deploring all this Hillary viciousness today. Who could blame him? She sounds like a real nasty piece of work and she's trying to paint the rest of the Democrats-- everybody but her and Lieberman-- as a bunch of dangerous radical lefties who don't care about Bush's idiotically-named "War on Terror." You know what? I'm about ready to hope she loses the primary.