We already knew Walter's mind wasn't exactly a steel trap. Speaking of dimwitted Dems, Hillary! was guest of honor at a cocktail party:
FORMER Ambassador to the Slovak Republic Karl Spielvogel and his wife, Barbaralee Diamonstein - their Park Avenue residence outdoes the Bratislava one - did cocktails for Hillary. "This is a light evening," Hillary told me. "I only have three stops."
Seventy-five people. Excepting one lady named Gail Maidman in yellow, almost every female wore black. Some so high-class it cuts down your conversation. Like I asked one elegant blonde, "So what do you do?" Said this Liz Newman: "I give away money." Former Mayor David Dinkins: "With the research this takes, that's a hard thing to do." Yeah? I'd have thought poverty was even harder, but what do I know.
Attorney General Spitzer's wife, Silda, piloting their three children: "We're meeting Eliot and heading upstate for two days." New York mag's former editor Caroline Miller: "Its new owners are excellent people with fine ideas. I like them a lot." And there was political pro Robert Zimmerman who's on so many talk shows it costs extra to get a TV set that comes without him.
Some Hillary niftyisms: "Look, I have nothing against the wealthy. Especially since my husband is now working" . . . "The current administration tried to undo everything my husband had done. It's been 'very challenging' for us" . . . "I called Kerry a serious man for a serious job and John said, 'Yes, but I'm trying to lighten up' " . . . "I know about winning and losing elections. In '92 we had a near-death experience. They said Bill's dead meat and we should get the carcass off the floor."
Added Ambassador Spielvogel: "John Kerry and [DNC chairman] Terry McAuliffe have agreed to unleash Bill in the coming campaign."
Then, exactly as Hillary mentioned our energy problems, the lights cut out for a second - as if Cheney was in the basement working the switches. At the piano in the Spielvogels' gallery, Hillary told me: "When I was 10 my mother made me take piano lessons. But I couldn't keep them up. I had to stop because of the Siamese cat. He didn't like my playing. In fact, he hated it. This cat was hard of hearing, and he sat on the piano and went crazy whenever I hit the keys. I just couldn't take that cat. When I started on 'Marche Militaire' he hissed at me."
What the hell, it's good practice for a political career. (Cindy Adams)