[summer]

I thought this was a good read. The author makes a lot of astute observations about the passing of an era, when Hollywood and the White House often seemed to be one and the same place.

[summer]

FYI.

[Neenah]

"FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, WE'RE FREE AT LAST !!"

[moyden]

Instead of lounge-lizard statesmen with personal keys to David Geffen's bachelor pad, what the public wants now are supercompetent technocrats with no discernible private lives who sublimate their libidos by plotting strategy instead of parading them on cable.

The liberal confuses promiscuity with maturity.

[looney tune]

If politicians were the new celebrities, then there was no shame in appearing on MTV to chat about your underwear preferences.

Oh thank goodness those days are over.

[Fred Mertz]

Sounds to me like the NYT writer misses the 'good ol' days'.

He makes a good point, but uses two shallow examples - Politically Incorrect and George magazine.

[x]

It's alright as far as it goes, but I don't trust the whole "end of an era" talk.

After 9/11 there was so much talk about the "end of an era" and a "new seriousness." We were supposed to be putting the "Survivor" era of reality TV behind us for the really and seriously real. Unfortunately, round the clock promos for "The Bachelor" convinced me that this wasn't true.

"Survivor" is on the way out because people are geting tired of it. Maher is out because he was inferior as a host or maybe just because people got tired of him. I don't think there's that much you can really get out of the rise and fall of Bill Maher.

[WIMom]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lawdude]

Is Markie Post a Lesbian?

[friendly]

"The End of the Affair [The break-up between: Hollywood and the White House]"

Affair?

The proper analogy is the hookers being chased out of the house by the new owners!

[Nick Danger]

I don't think we can call the era "over" until they cancel West Wing. Good riddance to bad rubbish when that one's gone.

[Clemenza]

You should have bumped me on this one! I read it on Sunday (my dad get the NY Times) and thought the author was dead on. Clinton attracted the type of people who vacationed in the Hamptons. Bush's crowd seem more likely to enjoy fishing in Idaho or riding horses in Texas.

BTW: Check out "The Hamptons" documentary next weekend on ABC.