Desperate Non-Housewives

Just read the email exchange between Michael Kinsley & Susan Estrich and wowsa! Can you say "below the belt"? Using someone's Parkinson's disease against them? And here I thought Charlotte Allen's taking Estrich to task for grammatical errors was beside the point if not beyond the pale.

It's sort of hypmotizing to watch the left attack left. In an internal memo last year the L.A. Times confessed to having a left-leaning bias, hence it's odd to see Estrich trying to wheedle ur-lefty Kinsley. Editors of major newspapers certainly have a tough job these days - flak from both sides.

I re-wrote Estrich's piece replacing the word "women" with the word "Irish" or phrase "of Irish descent":

I am sending over my letter this morning. It is very, very temperate. It is signed by approximately 50 people of Irish descent, among them some of the most powerful movers and shakers, from Bill O'Shaugnessey to Sean McDonald to Katherine O'Hallahan...etc. etc. etc. ... Everyone is assuming it will be published on Sunday. I honestly think it will be a bigger deal if you don't publish it, and Drudge and Newsmax and the rest do, than if you simply publish it, and start adding more Irish from Southern California to your mix (today's tally, 3 Germans, 1 of British descent, but no Irish from Southern California...)

My friend Barbara McGowan told me she got a call yesterday from Martin McCourt about writing for the Sunday section and I was delighted. How easy can it be ... That's all. You want thoughtful Germans ... I have a great Irish former Harvard student who tells me she's been desperate to get a piece published and she gets consistently turned away. She lives in Pasadena ... I've got so many names for you of good Irish descent who live right here, care about this community; Carla O'Reilly, who created LA's CRAICK, tells me she can't get a piece in; I have Irishmen writing to me who have submitted four pieces and not gotten the courtesy of a call - and they teach Gaelic studies at UCLA!

I would like nothing better than to work with you to declare victory. Otherwise we'll have a new website, www.latimeshatestheirish.org up by tomorrow...