Liberal Talk Radio

Last week I noted Michael Crowley’s observation that when Parade magazine turns against you, you’re in serious trouble.

Well, yesterday the vicious partisan wags at Parade claimed their first scalp. Congress voted to abandon two costly Alaskan bridges that had become a symbol of congressional excess. The blistering exposé in the magazine otherwise known for silly celebrity interviews and the inimitable “smartest person in the world,” Marilyn Vos Savant, proved to be too much weight for congress to bear.

Alaska’s Sen. Ted Stevens is known as “the most powerful man in the senate,” for his seat on the Appropriations committee, where he doles out federal pork spending the way Tony Soprano hands out lap dances at the Bada Bing. Last week Stevens threatened to resign if congress singled out his state for what he called unfair discrimination and nixed the bridges.

But once the hard-hitting crack investigative team at Parade got involved, Stevens realized he was outmatched, and relented. And the crazy thing is, I’m not joking. Here’s Stevens yesterday:

“While I am not happy with it, I think that under the circumstance it was the best we could expect because of the publicity that came with the Sunday supplements and whatever,” he said. “Everybody is talking about what to do about our bridges.”

Which once again proves my theory: washington policy journals are meaningless compared to the soft media. How long will it be before a presidential candidate wises up and announces their candidacy in the pages of TV Guide??