McCain took his lumps on the View just like he did from Ellen, and Bill Clinton also faced the female firing squad of Whoopi, Joy, Elisabeth, Sherri and Babs. Though we all love to rag on Elisabeth, I think Sherri, whom Trasiter calls "increasingly radicalized," is perhaps the most interesting part of the View's particular alchemy. A Salon commenter articulates Sherri's growth during this election really well. "Although people over on the Huffington Post frequently deride Sherri Shepherd for some of her naive pronouncements, I find it fascinating to watch someone in the process of trying to work out a political worldview," writes a commenter named Benthead, "In particular, her attempt to negotiate her religious belief with a commitment to civil rights and pluralism."

Obviously, a huge part of the appeal of The View is that the women on the panel are much more accessible to the viewing public than a wonky news anchor on CNN or even the more partisan MSNBC and Fox News. The one danger — and this is a criticism I've heard aimed at satirical shows like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show — is the possibility that a show like The View is a person's only source of political news. However, I'd imagine that anyone who looks to Babs and the team for their sole political fix probably wouldn't be reading anything about the election otherwise, so perhaps it's better that they get information in a less than serious way than not at all.

How The Election Ate Daytime Television [Salon]

John McCain Goes Through A Gauntlet Of Tough Broads On The View
Sherri Shepherd Unleashes Rubber-Necking Rage On Elisabeth Hasselbeck

• A new poll shows that 55 percent of Americans think Obama cares more about people like them. No, they didn't show anyone this picture first. [CNN]
• They also didn't show it to the white women surveyed by Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics who helped show that Palin's nomination hasn't disrupted the traditional gender gap between Republicans and Democrats on a long-term basis. [Politico]
• And obviously no one showed it to the guy who accused Obama of treason at a Palin rally, because, really, even Norman Rockwell would throw up his hands and turn to abstract art if he saw this picture. [Huffington Post]
• But back to the whole accusing the other guy of your own missteps meme, Cindy McCain says that Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history." Riiiight. [Huffington Post]

• Fox News would like you to know that "facts are not irrefutable." Man, they really are just becoming the Ministry of Truth. [Huffington Post]
• The media would like you to know that they might get cussed out by Republicans at Palin rallies all the time, but it's much rarer that anyone uses racial slurs. Rare is good. It's just not as good as "not at all." [Politico]
• Oh, and if McCain would like to keep talking about Bill Ayers — and he does — he might want to check out the former lyncher and heroin trafficker, James Fowler, he used to be associated with. And then he might want to shut the fuck up. [The Anniston Star, via Andrew Sullivan]
• By the way, a federal judge ordered the release of 26 Chinese Uighurs from Gitmo because the evidence against them is unreliable and the government decided to hold onto them anyway. [Washington Post]
• Which is sort of the only good news because the Dow lost another 500 points today. [NY Times]
• Well, that and I'll be live-blogging tonight's Presidential debate. The thread starts at 7:30 ET, my liveblog starts just before 9:00 ET.

Sadie sadly got the short end of this particular stick, as I would suggest that platinum blonde is probably not her shade. But, she does get the most jewelry of any of us.

Actually, tangerine looks kind of good on Jessica, and the Hillary-do isn't completely terrible.

Dodai is much, much prettier than Palin and takes no photos of herself winking. She also doesn't need to tease up the back like that.

I'm just too fair to pull off the dark hair, I think, but I was about the right amount of happy to be up on stage next to Obama. [Hands off, lady. -Ed.]

Hollywood Hair Virtual Makeover [InStyle]

Speaking of YouTube, Meghan has been able to utilize new media, something her old-as-dirt daddy has pretty much avoided. Slate's Malone notes that after a gaffe on the Today Show, (Meghan said "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period.") Meghan went straight to her blog to qualify her words.

Meghan has obviously hit a nerve with more than a few women, and Malone parses Meghan's appeal quite accurately. Where I disagree with Malone is in her description of the "mini-generation gap" between 28-year-old Chelsea Clinton and 23-year-old Meghan. "At Stanford, Chelsea was largely able to escape from the press. Most of Meghan's time at Columbia took place in the Facebook era, when politician's children's pages were suddenly fair game. Seriousness was rewarded for Chelsea and her cohort," Malone writes. "But it's been attention-grabbing that has thus far been rewarded for younger women like Meghan—and me—who've grown up in a post-YouTube, post-Britney era. We've been shown that it pays to behave like permanent teenagers, and Meghan has slickly figured out a way to get the most out of this."

Indeed, by talking to the press, Meghan has received far more attention than the notoriously guarded Chelsea. But I'd argue that the difference between Meghan and Chelsea is more personality based, and less micro generational. In addition, the sort of "attention grabbing" that is allegedly being rewarded for Britney and her discontents has almost entirely negative results. Yes, Britney made a lot of money and was splashed over many headlines, but she also went batshit insane. And yes, Meghan McCain's oversharing gets her attention and a certain amount of stars-are-just-like-us acknowledgment, but is that really going to translate into votes for her dad? I know many non-Democrat women, definitely of my mother's age, but also of my own age, who were appalled at the way Bristol Palin has been thrust into the campaign spotlight, and I'd imagine they'd be similarly appalled by the awkward lunches between Meghan McCain and Hills doyenne Heidi Montag. But maybe I'm wrong, and Meghan's "haute-trashy" look, saccharine blogette and downplayed Columbia degree are exactly what will get her father votes. If that's the case we might as well pack it in and revive our livejournals.

Blogette Girl [Slate]
McCain Blogette [Meghan McCain]

Earlier: Meghan McCain Will Not Date Journalists
New Yorker Profile Shows Cindy McCain Is A Nouveau Betty Draper

• We've gotten a lot of emails this week whining about the excess of Palin coverage. But you know what Palin hates more than anything — whiners! If you whine, the terrorists win…Or something. Anyway, check out what Judge Judy thinks about Sarah Palin.
• Also check out what American Wife author Curtis Sittenfeld thinks about Sarah Palin!
• Don't forget about comparing her future potential reign to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale!
• With all of this nonsense, we almost forgot it was FASHION WEEK! Check out Dodai's Project Runway Bryant Park show live blog and the rest of our fashion week posts.

• And now for something completely different! Our ANTM girlcrush, Sheena.
• Check it: The 8 Worst Hairdos A Man Can Have.
• Are those more, or less offensive than the worst of the fall magazine ads?
• The worst of all: Teen Vogue's awesome new eating disorder.
• But you guys. It's Friday. So rock out those bad hairdos, shut off the CNN, and don't let anyone spike your drink with sexactivator.

John Max Johnson, a doctor-friend at the charity she started lost his medical license because of the prescriptions he wrote for her. The American Voluntary Medical Team (touted during her biographical video at the Republican National Convention) had to shut its doors. A former employee, Tom Gosinski, who got the DEA investigation started, moved to Kansas and nearly went broke trying to sue Cindy for wrongful termination, as he was terminated for talking — as everyone apparently was — about her drug addiction. They tried to have him prosecuted for extortion when his lawyer made a settlement offer in negotiations that sounds shady ("you don't want all this stuff coming out") but is apparently legal — and Gosinski remains so scared of their long legal arms that he couldn't decide whether he wanted to participate in the Washington Post story at all until he found pro bono legal counsel in case he does end up getting sued.

What's actually funny to me is that John McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal — the stress of which contributed to Cindy's drug abuse — received relative short shrift in the piece and in the press in general during this campaign. I mean, I feel like it's obvious that drug addiction and subsequent legal problems would take a toll on more than just the addict, and that the more people you involve in your addiction, as Cindy did, the more people you'll end up screwing over — that's why there's the apology stage of the 12 steps, after all. But is it relevant to McCain's ability to lead? I don't see it. The Keating Five thing, though, I wonder how many people know what went on there other than that it was a scandal — just a far less salacious one.

A Tangled Story of Addiction [Washington Post]

Related: Did Cindy McCain Take 80 Pills A Day? [Gawker]

So until then, I'd like to focus on the sucktitude of Cindy McCain, because even though the New Yorker painted a sad picture of her, I feel like she's still slipping under the radar, which I find problematic. Particularly because the fact that even she isn't sure what her flip-floppity husband's stances are on certain issues is surely troubling for us as a nation, should he be elected president.

During the RNC, Katie Couric sat down with Cindy and asked her questions about Sarah Palin, Creationism and Roe v. Wade. Cindy says that she's "on the record" as pro-life, although she believes that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. If you are for women being able to have the legal right to make a choice, doesn't that make you pro-choice, whether you would or would not personally consider the option of abortion for yourself? Cindy's answers were so confusing that Couric actually had to call John McCain's camp to clarify what she really believes. Here's the clip in case you missed it.

And then there's the problem of people blindly buying into the image that Cindy has so carefully cultivated her whole life. Like this asshole, View co-panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who gleefully took the opportunity — during a luncheon she hosted in honor of Cindy — to tell tales out of school, and bash Michelle Obama for supposedly having a list of things that couldn't be talked about when she appeared on The View, and proudly proclaiming that Cindy has nothing to hide.

The only "view" of Ms. McCain that Hasselbeck has is of McCain's lower back, since she has her nose crammed so far up Cindy's ass. Cindy has plenty to hide. Like the fact that she claims to be an only child, even though she has a half sister. Or that she essentially stole the husband of a crippled woman.

The irony in all of this is that Cindy McCain seems like my kind of girl: a pro-choice, pill-poppin' sharp dresser. But the fact that she tries to present herself to be as flawless as her ensembles is dishonest. And the fact that she can't even memorize what she's supposed to believe is stupid. And I don't like liars.

What attracted you to Laura as a fictional construct in the first place? In the Times you've declared your love for her and I've read the Salon essay in which you first mention your admiration for her. You call her "a mastermind of stealth independence."
Basically I read these various articles about her, and realized that she was more complicated than I would have imagined. She and George Bush got married at the age of 31, and she was a democrat until she married him. She actually has some very liberal close friends, including a woman who’s a midwife in Berkeley. I think a lot of people, most people, are primarily friends with people who are of the same political persuasion as you are. I think it’s notable to be First Lady to a super conservative President and friends with midwife. She would invite people over when she was First Lady of Texas and when she was at the White House. Because she was such a great reader, she would invite writers to events, and they would have been on record as disagreeing with her husband. They just assumed that Laura had never read their books, but then they would show up and have realized she had read everything they'd ever written.

I’ve read all of your novels, and while Lee (from Prep) and Hannah (from The Man of My Dreams) are more cynical, all three heroines are quite shy and introverted. It seems like these sorts of introverted characters are not usually protagonists. What makes you gravitate towards them?
Well I think that the all the protagonists of my books are observant, because I can’t really imagine writing a novel that didn’t have an observant protagonist. What would be the point? I also think that I’m interested in social awkwardness, because it seems to illustrate or magnify these aspects of human behavior. So I would say that’s a lot of it: the things that interest me as a person.

Alice's shyness makes her incredibly ambivalent about her husband, Charlie's, ascendence to the Presidency. I was particularly taken with the observation she makes as narrator: "We did everything we could to get as many people as possible to pay attention to us, and it worked, and now we complain. Leave us alone, we say. Just like you, we’re entitled to privacy."
I feel like most people who are famous have actively pursued their fame, but some people are famous as a result of their relationship to someone else, and that’s always true for political families. For example, Sasha and Malia Obama didn’t choose to be famous, but now they are. It's the outsider question. To me it’s always more interesting to hear a story told from the perspective of an outsider, because an outsider notices things more, whereas an insider takes things for granted.

I read the Cindy McCain profile in this week's New Yorker as I was reading the American Wife, and it struck me that very few women really revel in being First Ladies. What sort of person does enjoy being a political spouse? Do you think Hillary liked it?
I think Hillary Clinton is a really interesting person because people have very strong reactions to her in terms of admiring her or disliking her. I think she was a good First Lady, but I think she’d actually be a better President than First Lady.

Ok, now I need to ask the obligatory question about what you think of our potential First Ladies, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.
There was an article on Cindy in the New York Times on August 23rd. It was the same day Biden was announced as Obama's VP pick so it didn't get as much press as it should have. I really urge anyone to read it, it raises a lot of questions about her professional involvement with her family’s company (ed. note: the article basically says that Cindy, "a private person" is an absentee chairwoman who cashes the checks from the beer distributorship she inherited but "has left scarcely a mark on the company.") Michelle Obama seems like a much more regular person. I just watched her on Ellen and I think she’s a good sport. You see her dance with Ellen, which Barack did too. It is interesting. Obviously because everything in politics is so scripted it makes us even hungrier to know people’s real selves, which we kind of can’t do.

Speaking of real and fictional selves, one thing I thought was really interesting, and one thing I’ve been thinking about with Sarah Palin, is how these details come out about you and become your “official biography” that everyone refers to. Like with Alice in American Wife, her father being a postal worker, which wasn’t even true, was seized upon by her husband's campaign. Do you ever wonder what details would emerge about you and become those sorts of talking points?
I’m not planning to run for office, but there are definitely certain details. This is a different kind of book than Prep or the Man of my Dreams. So there are different questions that come up over and over. There’s a set of questions with this book and a set that comes up with other books. There’s a tidbit that Prep was turned down by 14 out of 15 publishers, which is true, but misleading because it was sold within two weeks. It makes it sound like I struggled more than I did. Anyone who is writing about fiction writing likes stories about long odds.

Long odds makes me think of Sarah Palin. What's your take on her?
I wish she were a fictional construct. I’m not a fan of hers. But I certainly admit that she’s got a compelling life story.

American Wife [Amazon]
Curtis Sittenfeld [Official Website]
Imaginary First Lady Tells All [NYT]
Why I Love Laura Bush [Salon]
For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth [NYT]
Michelle Obama On Ellen [YouTube]

Earlier: Pussy, Parents And Puppies: A Q&A With Comedian Margaret Cho
This Is Not Chick Lit: A Q&A With Writer Janelle Brown
New Yorker Profile Shows Cindy McCain Is A Nouveau Betty Draper

If you've been following the campaign closely, you're familiar with Cindy's biography. Born Cindy Hensley, heiress to the largest beer distributorship in Arizona. She met John in the late 70s while on vacation in Hawaii, and after a whirlwind romance, the two were married in 1980. Levy makes reference to the mini-scandal surrounding the McCain's initial courtship, (John was still married to his first wife, who had been crippled in a car accident); she discusses Cindy's involvement with Operation Smile and Mrs. McCain's lil' painkiller addiction that involved her stealing money from a medical charity she ran.

But at the beginning of their relationship, a McCain friend told the New Yorker, "Cindy stood for everything he didn't have in prison. This was the sweet, innocent, pure American dream." And it seems that in someways, their marriage is set up to preserve John's idealized notions of Cindy, since he barely deals with her in reality. Cindy often brags about how she adopted a daughter from Bangladesh without telling John. She has said, "For most of the twenty years we've been married, he's been in Washington all week while I'm in Arizona with the kids. I've never spent this much time with my husband." Levy observes: "John McCain seems to gravitate toward women who endure pain in silence."

Like her husband, who seems to gloss over the familial reality to paint a pretty, loving picture, Cindy McCain has covered over all those unhappy circumstances of her past. When speaking at her father's funeral, her half-sister was in the audience, and Cindy referred to herself, quite callously, as an "only child." Perhaps her painkiller addiction, which was uncovered by her parents (John McCain only found out his wife was a pillhead when he was informed that the DEA was investigating her charity), helped her blot out all the nastiness so her internal image was the same as her plucked and groomed exterior.

There's a passage towards the beginning of Levy's profile that essentially explains Cindy's entire persona, and I'll repeat it here to save you the trouble of reading those many thousand words. "Since childhood, McCain has been expected to embody certain pillars of conventional femininity; beauty, refinement, altruism, and an inclination to encourage the ambitious men in her life," Levy writes. "She is probably better suited to this particular formulation of public wifehood than the outspoken, muscular, and frankly powerful Michelle Obama. But if you watch her closely, from time to time you can see Cindy McCain slip out of character." It's like Cindy is going through her own personal 60s revolution, like Betty Draper. She's realizing that keeping up appearances is untenable in a modern political world.

The Lonesome Trail [New Yorker]

Earlier: Cindy McCain's Marriage Is Not Exactly A Straight Talk Express
Oh, About That First Wife

• Poor Rachel Zoe! "I thought: I've done blood, sweat and tears for 15 years — why am I the victim here? I have had the nastiest things said about me! I don't understand." [NY Post]
• Shockingly, the CFDA's "Health Booth" (which educates fashionistas about eating) is deserted. [NY Mag]
• You already knew Sean Lennon was an ass: Spotted at Fashion Week, the modelizer "wore a magisterial women's coat with gold buttons and a top hat decorated with Native American bands. His girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, wore a coyote headdress." [NY Mag]
• Justin Timberlake brings pissy back at his William Rast show. [WWD]
• Punk legend Malcolm McLaren accuses son and Agent Provocateur founder Joe Corre of counterfeiting punk duds. "I think my son actually used – maybe – the original labels, because we didn't use them all up...There'd be a roll of ribbon around in the workroom and maybe my son got a hold of those. I think he did this before he set up Agent Provocateur. Or in order to set up Agent Provocateur and fund it, he made a number of these fake clothes and sold them to dealers in Japan." [Independent]

• Speaking of Agent Provocateur: there's a new ad campaign! "Chanelling the gothic decadence of Hogarth, Caravaggio, Rubens and Delaroche’s Execution of Lady Jane Grey, it is a seething orgiastic scene of girls on top, girls on girls and boys and beasts. Peaches (Geldof) and Daisy Lowe, the bad girls du jour, both star, as does the flame-haired American actress Paz de la Huerta, who holds court over a sacrifice of a topless virgin, accompanied by two male cohorts — David Bailey’s Byronesque son, Fenton, and a 21-year-old albino boy named Alex." [Times of London]
• Intrepid fashionistas weather the storm at Fashion Week; Tory Burch even went barefoot! [NY Mag]
• Um, ex-squeeze us? Lifetime, the Project Runway-stealer, is delaying the premiere of the show's sixth season until January 2009. Resentment mounting. [Yahoo]
• Are we the only ones who are totally sick of hockey player/budding fashionista Sean Avery? Now he's decorated some booth at hot spot Beatrice Inn with sunflowers. [Style.com]
• Apparently lacking creativity, designers start predicting trends via computer programs. [NY Times]
• Knockoff jeans even bigger than knockoff bags! [UPI]
• The political tee market is also booming. Yes, Obama's outselling Mac. [NPR]
• The Mulleavy sisters keep their Rodarte label personal and awesome. "In 2005, to introduce themselves to the fashion world, the Mulleavy sisters sent out 30 handmade paper dolls, each with a paper armoire containing seven paper dresses. 'I was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald’s paper dolls,' explains Kate, who, like Fitzgerald, drew extensively accessorized wardrobes." [NY Times]
• Dolce and Gabbana take their inspiration from Queen Elizabeth: "In place of riotous floral and animal prints, hour-glass corsetry and itsy-bitsy skirts came Argyle knits, oversized kilts that fall to mid-calf, printed silk headscarves and sensible footwear." We are not amused. [The Independent]
• Almost all the shoes we wear are imported, "yet the U.S. still imposes a tax on imported shoes that can reach as high as 67%." [WSJ]
• More PR for Ivory Coast fashion, as Patricia De Medeiros reinvents traditional motifs in her line, Tradition Mode. [Reuters]
• Pat Field's collaboration with British frump-monger Marks and Spencer is a gamble. [Independent]
• Iconic model Veruschka releases coffee table tome: “'I can’t say that I have any favorite photographs,' she said. 'Though I do have some favorite memories of the days they were taken. Working with Avedon, for example, was always a joy. But then it was all joy because that was a joyous time.'” [Style.com]
• Scandal-plagued model Jodie Kidd comes by it naturally: her grandfather tried to bribe Winston Churchill. [This Is London]
• PETA crashes DKNY, does nothing. [NY Mag]
• Following a lackluster start, Halston feels the heat. [WSJ]
• YSL has reformulated (we're guessing this means butch packaging) its Touche Eclat concealer for the metrosexual set. Zac Efron rejoices! [Telegraph]
• The fashionistas heave a sigh of relief that both potential first ladies dig clothes. [Reuters]
• DKNY, CK, battle it out at their runway shows for "most New York" designer. Doesn't Karan automatically win by having "New York" in her name? [Guardian]
• Struggling to define itself, Old Navy shops ad agencies. Remember how cool it was when it opened? Can't they just rehire whoever did that? [AdWeek]

• Holy underminer, Batman! Whitney Port on her clothing line: "I'm developing a clothing line. It won't be like Lauren's stuff, which I loved. Mine will be a little more high-end." [Radar]
• "Fashion Victims: The Catty Catalogue of Stylish Casualties From A to Z" by Michael Roberts, fashion director of Vanity Fair, sounds like it will be fascinating to the fashionistas he skewers and completely stultifying to everyone else. "Roberts has written a poem for each letter of the alphabet, for instance P for "photographer": "Why am I so fabulous? What makes me truly great? What would life be without me? It's hard to contemplate . . . No billboards straddling city streets with body parts gigantic/Nor me with glass in premiere class crisscrossing the Atlantic." The accompanying illustration is a caricature of Mario Testino. " Sounds like a gas. [NY Post]
• Early estimates place the price of Cindy McCain's RNC outfit at $300,000. Well, in fairness $280,000 goes towards her three-karat diamond earrings. [US News]

• We love how thoughtfully celebrities consider the challenges of starting a small business! Jamie-Lynn Sigler on her new jewelry line: “We just started beading these gold bracelets with all different types of gold one day and started playing with different charms, and we thought, Hey, let’s do it,” [NY Mag]
• Word on the street is that Cole Mahr, the dude who wore a dress in the Marc Jacobs print ads, will be doing it again on the runway. Does this bode well for Isis?! [Fashionista]
• Lancome adds Dominican model Arlenis Sosa to its "stable." Says Lancome's prez, “Arlenis possesses beauty, intelligence, charm and compassion...All of our brand ambassadors share these attributes, so we knew she would be a wonderful addition. We are very proud to welcome her to the Lancôme family.” [WWD]
• You'll be relieved to know that Fashion Week is civic-minded. A fashion week press release tells us, "In the spirit of the election season and theme at this year’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, unique, fashion inspired election slogan pins will be given out in small quantities each day. Fashionistas can vote for their favorite slogan at www.votembfashionweek.com."
• "Furrier to the stars" Dennis Basso owes the IRS. "The baritone-voiced minkmeister is singing the blues now that the feds have imposed a $200,000 lien on his swanky Central Park West apartment, according to public records." Basso says it's all a misunderstanding because his "accountant's mother had a heart attack." [NY Post]
• ANTM judge and "top fashion photographer" Nigel Barker and his wife are having a baby girl. "We found out it’s going to be a little girl," Barker, 36, told Us Thursday at the Saks Fifth Avenue Ruby Slippers Collection party in NYC. "We’re going to look at her, and when we see her, we’re going to come up with a name." They already have a 2-year-old son. [US Weekly]
• Men's Heath EIC and titanic douche David Zinczenko is psyched about the new Women's Health. Quoth he, "We've pulled into the passing lane, and we're poised to surpass a lot of women's magazines now. We can see Glamour just up ahead. There are a lot of opportunities for Women's Health because of the size of the market." [WWD]
• We wouldn't normally think much of the fact that AOL is relaunching its style and beauty site, StyleList.com, except that they've tapped Carmindy as their beauty expert, and we love What Not to Wear. [WWD]
• A Saks Fifth Avenue employee has been charged with $680K in theft. [NY Post]
• Wait, has Rachel Bilson been on any worst-dressed lists? “I think it’s cool to be on the worst-dressed list,” she says. “If people aren’t accepting, that’s OK. Bring it on, I don’t care!” [People]
• Fern Mallis basically runs Fashion Week. Here's why she's psyched: "First of all, September shows always feel like school is starting. This particular season there's different kind of buzz in the air, especially with the elections. We are all wondering how the outcome will affect our industry, especially with two first ladies who wear clothes particularly well." [Huffington Post]
• Behold fall's least flattering fashion trend: the pegged trouser. "They usually have two front pleats at the waistband that are designed to add volume in the hip area, then balloon out in the thigh before tapering in again at the ankle. They can also be cropped on the ankle and high-waisted. Admittedly, they sound alarm bells for most of us - extra volume around the thighs is always a hard sell." Thanks a lot, YSL! [The Guardian]
• Speaking of the 90s: LA Gear is back, baby! In what The Cut describes as the requisite "in Saved by the Bell shapes and neon colors." [The Cut]
• Italian designer Mila Schon has died at 92. [Reuters]
• Kate Betts, Joel Stein and Isaac Mizrahi will all be blogging fashion week for Style & Design. Says Betts, "I wanted to offer readers the same kind of inside, up-to-the-minute, offbeat look at fashion week as opposed to straightforward reviews...Joel and Isaac, I hope, will add a lot of humor." [WWD]
• Model Lily Cole is leaving modeling to pursue acting, was inspired by Heath Ledger. But more to the point, she's starting Cambridge, where she'll be studying history! Says the 20-year-old, "modelling can get a little lonely sometimes, especially when you are travelling on your own. That's what I'm looking forward to about going to university to meet lots of new people." [Telegraph]
• Not profiting by Lily Cole's example, former internet phenom/partygirl and wannabe-Lezark Cory Kennedy has been signed to One Model Management. [Fashionista]
• Domino really understands the needs of its readers; they've done the important work of making a "fashion week survival guide." "The survival guide includes recommendations from designers, editors and fashion insiders, including Francisco Costa, Bloomingdale's fashion director Stephanie Solomon, Simon Doonan, Anya Hindmarch, Vera Wang, Lela Rose and Peter Som. Musings include recommendations on what to do for an hour in between shows — Humberto Leon, from Opening Ceremony, suggested Wu Lim Qi Gong Master Massage." [WWD]
• Raise your hand if you want the new KISS Vans! Wait...no one? "To celebrate that fateful day in 1978 when all four members of the band released solo albums, the skatewear brand (and main sponsor of the Warped Tour) is releasing the Vans x Kiss Sk8-Hi commemorative T-shirt and shoe pack sometime in the "late fall" of this year." [AdAge]
• As previously reported, designer Heather Thomson has tapped New York's pool of exotic dancing talent for her upcoming lingerie show. "She held a competition of dancers who perform gymnastics-like routines on brass poles at some of Manhattan's poshest strip clubs and picked eight to model her Yummie Tummie Shapewear." [Reuters]
• The Rag&Bone designers are refreshingly enthusiastic! "We are big fans of Radiohead. Actually, seeing them perform at Glastonbury head-to-toe in Rag & Bone would be pretty magic." [Fashion Week Daily]
• In addition to a ludicrous rock-themed fashion mag and a fashion-themed rock concert, Fashion Rocks sponsors a charity auction. "Among the items up for auction: A leather jacket autographed by Keith Urban and seats at Kimora Lee Simmons and Diane Von Furstenberg's coveted runway shows." [People]
• We love Daphne Guinness largely because of her connection to the Mitfords, but on any terms her upcoming shoot for Vogue Italia sounds rad! [Fashionista]

11:16 ET: There is still a fuckload of balloons in the rafters. They're recycling songs now, and I still need to leave the secure area to get some goddamned liquor, so I'll let the delegates play with balloons while I try to find the bus to my party. I'll see you all in Crappy Hour tomorrow and promise to be appropriately hung over.

11:12 ET: Gold confetti streamers shoot at the crowd. I realize that the system dropped the post for a few seconds.

11:08 ET: Balloons and confetti continue dropping to "Barracuda."

11:07 ET: Balloon drop! Its the real moment everyone's been waiting for, except for the janitors that will have to clean those and the confetti up in a couple of hours.

11:04 ET: "Raising McCain" starts playing (again). Cindy comes out. They stand and wave. The out come Sarah and Todd Palin. Cindy walks to stand on the other side of John so he's next to Sarah Palin for the photo op and he puts his hands on Cindy's waist and moves her back again. She smiles embarrassed.

11:02 ET: He invites the crowd to fight with him and they stand up to cheer, and he talks through the cheers because prime time is over. I don't really know what he said because I couldn't here.

11:00 ET: He's not running for President because he thinks he was annointed by God or anything like Obama supposedly thinks. Please see time stamp 10:10 to recall the point where the narrator said that he was American's good fortune.

10:58 ET: Tortured so bad he broke, but Bob Kramer helped him get over it.

10:57 ET: Really Tortured, yo.

10:56 ET: Did you know John McCain was really tortured? And he served in Vietnam.

10:55 ET: John McCain's an imperfect servant.

10:53 ET: Did you know John McCain was tortured? "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" Also, some people are shouting "zero, zero" about Obama. Laaame.

10:52 ET: America is great and perfect, we just need to change everything about it. You know, if he were a woman talking about the man she planned on marrying, I'd be warning them not to go through with it. Don't go through with it America!

10:50 ET: He hates war. He doesn't want other families to suffer the way his did, unless their kids are in Iraq right now, in which case, you know, it'll be ok, he'll totes pull out by 2013.

10:49 ET: Eeeeevil exists! John McCain knows how to fight it! Flashlight under the bed, for real.

10:48 ET: Iran, Russia and Georgia. Believe that Randy Scheunemann wrote this part since, um, he just ignored the part where Georgia crossed into non-Georgian territory first. Ahem.

10:46 ET: "It's time to show the world again how Americans lead." You can't really lead at the point of the gun, though, 'cause technically for it to work you have to be behind the other person.

10:45 ET: Drilling gets big cheers and they break out into "Drill, baby, drill!" People applaud new nuclear power plants.

10:43 ET: School choice is not a big applause line. Six people applaud charter schools. I think this issue isn't that exciting anymore.

10:40 ET: He's going to change the unemployment system. But I'm sure in a way that will be totes better for the unemployed.

10:39 ET: Obama's plan with make it so a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor. People boo. Show me a private insurance plan where a bureaucrat doesn't stand between me and my doctor, John McCain. Oh, wait, right, you've never had private health insurance. Never mind. But I'm sure having government bureaucrats doing it has been so very tough on you.

10:38 ET: They see nothing ironic in a minute later McCain saying that government shouldn't make your choices for you.

10:37 ET: Abortion mention!

10:36 ET: "[From random white people] to the Latina daughter of migrant workers, we're all God's children and we're all Americans." Except for maybe that Latina's parents.

10:36 ET: "The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics." I don't really know what that means.

10:33 ET: Shout out to "real" people.

10:32 ET: Did you know he was tortured?

10:31 ET: He was right about The Surge, and would rather have lost an election than the war, blah blah blah.

10:29 ET: He's been called a maverick. About 100 times tonight. It's because he doesn't work for the party, "it's because I work for you," he tells a room full of Republicans.

10:27 ET: Change is coming to Washington because Palin is coming to Washington. Or something.

10:24 ET: It's all about Sarah. People are seemingly more enthusiastic about her than McCain.

10:23 ET: Another protestor made it in and gets shouted down again. She's up in the stands on the other side of the stadium. McCain tells people "Please don't get distracted by the ground noise and the static. I'm going to talk about it some more because Americans want us to stop yelling at each other." People cheer. He starts up again, the yeller keeps yelling, and the cheers start up again.

10:21 ET: "We are dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Nice Gettysburg/Lincoln shout out. It's the first subtle reference of the night. Also, when he says that "we are going to win this elections," the cheers are legit loud.

10:20 ET: He loves his mama, and she's 96 years old. Also, he won't let down the supporters who stood by him when the odds were down. Ahem. Well, that's not that many people in this room, probably.

10:18 ET: Protester led away. John thinks Cindy's awesome and will make a great first lady.

10:17 ET: The sign got yanked out of his hands. The protestor shouts again. The crowd starts cheering to drown him out. John McCain starts up to be nice ato GWB, Laura, GHWB and Barbara. The protester guy is still there 3 minutes later.

10:15 ET: Cheers end. Now's a good time to point out that he's standing at a podium and I can see his ass. It's the first ass of the night. A protester begins yelling above my head. The crowd drowns him out. Republicans around him try to grab his sign. Security still not there a minute later.

10:14 ET: "U.S.A.! U.S.A!"

10:13 ET: Palin got much louder cheers last night, but John McCain is probably just a little deaf so he can't tell.

10:12 ET: Tortured in a Box. "When you live in a box, you spend your life trying to make sure that other people don't have to." Unless they are brown and from the Middle East. Then, fuck those guys. Torture away.

10:11 ET: Really, really tortured.

10:10 ET: "What a life, what a faith, what a family. What good fortune than America will choose this leader at this time." What good fortune that I didn't throw my coffee cup away so that I have something to vom in.

10:08 ET: No, really, he was tortured. Really, really tortured.

10:07 ET: Did you know John McCain was tortured a lot?

10:06 ET: Did you know John McCain was tortured?

10:06 ET: They show a picture of a young Roberta. Yowza. She was a total hottie!

10:04 ET: The movie starts! It's the "Dallas" music again. Who shot J.R.? Some people call John McCain an asshole, but his mama calls him a mama's boy. More Roberta, Steve Schmidt, you asshole.

10:02 ET: "Rock This Town" plays, I'm 90 percent certain it's the Brian Setzer version (again) but feel free to correct me in the comments. Nah, it's definitely Brian Setzer and not the original.

9:59 ET: Kool and The Gang "Celebrate" good times with the Republican convention. People shout "Whoo-hoo!" off-key.

9:56 ET: Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Less inspired dancing than "Rock Around The Clock" got last night, but some people are catching the significance of the chorus and singing along "Go, Johnny, go, go!"

9:55 ET: Bye, Cindy Lou Who! We'll see you at the end of John's interminable speech...

9:55 ET: She's gonna protect our freedom, too! Just not our reproductive freedom.

9:52 ET: Cindy makes the audience applaud Earnestine from Kigali. Least authentic applause all night even though Earnestine seems awfully worth applauding — more so than insults about community organizers anyway.

9:50 ET: Another report leans over and asks, "So do you think that Bridget represents 10 percent of the diversity here tonight?" Cindy says "Viet-namn" again.

9:50 ET: You know, I always sort of wondered why she only kept Bridget. Was the other Bangladeshi girl not good enough? Okay the smirking way she mentioned Bridget made me cringe.

9:46 ET: Did you know John McCain was tortured? (Also... she called it "Viet-namn" instead of "Viet-nahm.")

9:45 ET: Hockey mom! Pistol packin' mother of 5! International experience? Pshaw. Bitch hunts meese.

9:44 ET: Shouts out Sarah Palin: "I've always thought it's a good idea to have a woman's hand on the wheel as well." What is "wheel" code for? Penis?

9:42 ET: She hit a home run by marrying John McCain. Really?

9:41 ET: She's kind of a stiff speaker. She would be better with a platform than a wireless mike, even though you'd see less of the suit.

9:36 ET: She sort of makes low-income America sound like a third world country. Also, her solution is to get government out of the way of people trying to help... like community organizers, perhaps?

9:35 ET: You gotta give Cindy props on that suit. She looks fucking excellent. They also got even his first kids on stage.

9:34 ET: The also skip the drug addiction part when showing her with the medical supplies and stuff.

9:32 ET: Cindy does good things! And had short hair! I liked short-haired Cindy, actually.

9:31 ET: The skip over the part where he was married when they met. Also, they call him "handsome." They showed pictures, and we in the snark section beg to differ.

9:30 ET: "Cindy Lou Hensley got all the attention of her father." Totes true — just ask her half sister.

9:28 ET: Cindy McCain's real middle name? Lou. I didn't know that when I titled this post! Also, Cindy's dad was shot down, like JOHN MCCAIN, only he wasn't tortured. I do believe they are eliding over her dad's first wife. Whoops.

• Punk queen Vivienne Westwood is releasing her first album! Well, sort of. "Conceptualised, compiled and art-directed by the designer personally, the album - which is being released by Mercury Records - features 16 of the favourite songs of fashion's grande dame, which, in typical Westwood style, are anything but predicable; think Last Night Was Made For Love by Billy Fury alongside Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers." [VogueUK]
• The fact that Christina Aguilera seems so totally stable these days doesn't bode well for her new fragrance, "Inspire." Aguilera says the scent "is a natural extension of herself." But who wants to smell like happily-married mom without a substance abuse problem these days? [USA Today]
• It's official! Debbie Phelps has signed an endorsement deal with Chico's! [WSJ]
• Kate Moss returns to the catwalk after four years! Again: Well, sorta. "Kate grabbed a top hat and cane to join Beth Ditto of The Gossip in the show which was hosted by Scissor Sisters' singer Ana Matronic, and attended by a cheering posse of the model's friends including boyfriend Jamie Hince." [This Is London]

• "Even as you read this, New York Fashion Week, debuting the spring 2009 collections, is unfurling on the Bryant Park runways, all but oblivious to the fact that most Americans are too busy choosing between food and fuel to worry about foulards versus fan pleats." [Village Voice]
• Menswear designer takes a page from Italian Vogue: "Carlos Campos is showing his first women's collection Monday during Fashion Week, and he's just announced he'll use only black models in the runway show at the Altman Building." Great, but ultimately can't using a mix of models just become standard? [NY Mag]
• Does footwear herald changes in Republicanland? "Mrs. Bush opted for comfortable, unexciting slingbacks while Mrs. McCain went with considerably higher, coquettish black peep-toe pumps." Palin, of course, favors Ferrari-red heels. [Observer]
• In other sartorial convention news, conservatives, unsurprisingly, dress conservatively. "No untamed hair, no rumpled, loose-fitting skirts and trousers made from varying blends of linen, hemp and flax. On men, no shirttails hanging out or low-slung, baggy shorts and pants." [StarTribune]
• In Britain, meanwhile, female politicians stay resolutely dowdy. [Telegraph]
• Lauren Conrad: down but not out! The plucky polymath has some fall designs back up on her site. [OhNoTheyDidn't]
• Designer Yigral Azrouel branches into condoms: “Having grown up with five sisters, causes related to women’s health and wellness are close to my heart. I love being able to apply my passion for design to raise awareness for Planned Parenthood®. My business is largely founded on designing for women, so it is really about taking that mindset and applying it to a product like PROPER ATTIRE® to figure out what appeals to a woman." I guess they've given up on condoms appealing to men. [NY Mag]
• We're mad at Target for dropping Isaac Mizrahi, but maybe he'll jazz up Liz Claiborne? [WWD]
• Ethically-produced jeans have made the leap from worthy to wearable. [Guardian]
• Yet another college comes to its senses: UNC drops out of Victoria's Secret college line. [USNews]
• Check it: the Gisele for Max Factor ads. [People]
• More deets on the Vena Cava/Via Spiga collab! [Sassybella]
• We bring peace to the Middle East! And by "peace" I mean "Payless Shoes." [WSJ]
• Calvin Klein's successor Francisco Costa: “I never thought of filling anybody’s shoes...That was never a consideration. Calvin did what he did. Am I Calvin? Absolutely not. Am I respecting the label? Yes. Am I doing what I am supposed to do? I think I am. Am I respecting myself? Yes. Am I having fun? Yes. Do I like being here? I love being here." [WWD]
• Is he responsible for CK's astronomical growth? [WWD]
• We all know how designers love playing editor! (see: Tom Ford.) "For Elle's October issue, The London Issue, four British designers have created their ultimate Elle covers." They include Luella Bartley, Giles Deacon, Gareth Pugh, and Matthew Williamson. [ElleUK]

• Snoop Dogg takes cross-marketing to a whole new level: He's promoting his clothing line, Rich and Infamous, via his reality TV series Snoop Dogg's Father Hood, on his concert tour, through placement in movies and videos, on iTunes, through a Web series, and, natch, on the packaging of his new CD. [Variety]
• It's easy to believe Kate Moss is a crappy neighbor, but it does seem like this would be the least of the problems: "Neighbors at her Oxfordshire summer home have complained to the local planning authority about Moss’ two 15 feet teepees erected in her backyard. Their complaints are that the tents are an eye sore on the 17th Centrury home... and also obscure the view of the Cotswold hills." [Sassybella]
• Albert Hammond, Jr. is going into menswear. The Strokes guitarist, solo artist and Agyness Deyn fiance explains: “A lot of people hate suits, because when they fit terribly, they feel strange inside, like they’re going to a bar mitzvah and they’re 30,” [NY]
• Rememeber those Russian faux-lesbian school girl sorta-pop singers who were big for like two seconds five years ago, t.A.T.u ? Yeah. For some reason Marc Jacobs is featuring them in an ad. [Perez Hilton]

• Screw the conventions: it's official. Obama and McCain are now paper dolls. They've been drawn by renowned artist Tom Tierney, "who casts the candidates and their spouses as ready-to-dress paper people, each with about half a dozen wardrobe changes (oddly, Barack Obama's daughters Malia and Natasha are included — each with a single cold-weather outfit — but John McCain's brood of seven is absent)." And yes, they're in undies. [LAT]
• New Rachel Zoe line will, apparently, contain everything plus kitchen sink: "We're doing accessories, clothes, everything — we're going across the board. I always have a lot I want to say, and I think there's a gap in certain areas [of the fashion market]. I'm thinking it will launch sometime in 2009. It will be very accessible. I want people to have access to fashion fantasy all the time. I also want the person who's spending $500 on a purse to want to buy it. It will be a mix of lower-tier and midrange prices — maybe with some limited-edition items." [LAT]
• "Nike Sportswear" opens its first boutique. [WWD]
• Heidi Klum has designed a butterfly/tennis ball tee shirt that we wouldn't wear if our lives depended on it. [Sassybella]
• Why do celebs think hawking T-shirts is the answer to all the world's problems? Elettra Wiedemann. Isabella Rossellini's moddle daughter, "is more than just a pretty face - she's trying to save the world one T-shirt at a time. The Italian stunner is working with the Solar Electric Life Fund to equip a failing hospital in Kigutu, Burundi, with solar power. To raise $450,000, Wiedemann enlisted the help of fashion-industry friends to design limited-edition, Africa-inspired T-shirts to be sold via JOFD.org." [Page Six]
• New J. Crew accessories catalogue is ridiculously high-end. And no mittens! [WWD]
• You can thank this woman for Rachel Zoe: "Founder of the Margaret Maldonado Agency, one of a dozen or so offices that place stylists with high-profile clients, she's the image maker behind the image makers." [LAT]
• Honeymoon's over: more fast fashion condemnation. [Guardian]
• "Brazilian design and designers are spearheading a new look that is increasingly taking over in Europe and the US." The nature of "the look" is vague. [Independent]
• Is Madonna going to pioneer a "hosiery trend?" We're gonna go with "Winter" on that one. [The Sun]
• Rumor has it that American Apparel is extending its evil, vertically-integrated empire to shoes. [Fashionista]
• Tyra claims she was Kimora's modeling mentor: "She didn't have rhythm … I'd teach her how to roll her hips sexy," says the modeling mogul. [NY Mag]
• Horseshoe boots, anyone? The top five strangest Japanese fashion trends. Just look at it, okay? [Inventor Spot]

First of all, Mme. Sarkozy wears couture — a lot of it. There's no fear of looking elitist or spending too much...Bruni is customarily seen in Dior, sporting Galliano's creations with the comfort of, well, a model. Whereas a first lady expert speaks approvingly of the naturalness of both Obama and McCain's looks — ""these aren't costumes" — Bruni seems to revel in her first lady costumes. This is a woman who's posed nude and walked the runway in swimwear and now — pillbox hats?! And that's why it's so appealing, probably; it feels like she's having fun. She does suits, sure, but they're retro-styled, deliberate twists on "first lady," more elegant and expensive than businesslike. She's demure in the way Mad Men is demure: it's obviously hypocritical fantasy that everyone's in on. She could obviously rock anything - the woman's a model! — so when she chooses to go demure, it's fun.

And everyone loves it. Apparently chic little suits and pink coats like the one Bruni wore on her state visit to London have flooded the high street, as has her downtime uniform: "Wide jeans, loose-fitting shirt, wide-lapelled coat and scarf." If you tried, it would be hard to come up with a personage less well-cut to the pattern of American political wife than Carla Bruni: model! Pop singer! Lovers! Tell-alls! Nudity! And yet (the
popularity of Michelle's View dress notwithstanding) it's hard to imagine one of our picture-perfect first mates becoming a fashion icon in this day and age. Ironically, it's in Europe that a woman has been more able to reinvent herself, and in America where we demand feminine convention in this regard.

Cut It Like Carla[Daily Mail]
Potential First Ladies Walk The Fashion Tightrope [NPR]

MEGAN: Are you ready for another morning of crap?

DAVID: Whoo-hoo!

MEGAN: I text messaged with Moe last night when we were both drunk and now I'm a little hungover, so I'm feeling very nostalgic.

DAVID: Aw, I'm not nearly as pretty as she is.

MEGAN: Neither am I, but it's okay because I made an entire bar of straight men stare at Michael Phelps' cock and thus made every single guy uncomfortably consider his sexuality for a brief moment. I should strive for volume control when I'm drinking, but it was late, the bar was empty and the Olympics were on, so when I went "Oh my God, look at how big his penis is!" everyone in the bar looked at the TV. The bartender might still be laughing. It's a good thing I'm a regular.

DAVID: I would have led the assembled bar patrons in the national anthem if I'd been there. So, does Phelps dress to the left or to the right?

MEGAN: Apparently, according to the embarrassed friend I was with, there's a penis-and-nut restraining strap in competitive swimwear, so it was sort of sticking straight up.

DAVID: Well, then I hope you and everyone there at least saluted or put your hands over your hearts.

MEGAN: I mostly dissolved into drunken giggling because I was drunk and I made a bar of dudes stare at another dude's penis.

DAVID: And you weren't even drinking on P Street were you?

MEGAN: Nope! But all of this was a roundabout way of saying to you "Hey! Look at these shirtless Obama pictures!. I'll wait for a minute while you do.

DAVID: While I do, have you downloaded your own .pdf of "Unfit for Publication" yet? All the cool kids are doing it.

MEGAN: No, I meant to but then I heard it is 40 pages long. And since I wasn't planning on reading the Corsi book unless someone paid me to do so for the purpose of ripping it to shreds, I don't need to read 40 pages about why it sucks and is inaccurate. I already assume that it sucks and is inaccurate. I watched Hillary: The Movie (because someone paid me) and that sucks and was inaccurate.

DAVID: Aw, look at Barry in the ocean. You know, I've really been trying to avoid the Candidate-as-Pin-Up phenomenon, but sometimes it's, um, hard.

MEGAN: I like penis jokes!

DAVID: Who doesn't?

MEGAN: John McCain probably doesn't. He just likes to call his wife a cunt for plastering on her make-up like a trollop.

DAVID: Has anyone seen video of the overenthusiastic handshake that did Cindy's wrist in? A friend of mine who has worked at the local battered women's shelter says that she's heard that kind of excuse for wrist injuries a million times. She thinks McCain was roughing her up. And given his temper and issues with women, I believe it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

MEGAN: Whoa. I never even thought about that. I just thought Cindy was so thin that with her little bird-like wrists it was too easy to sprain but you're right, just pumping a hand up and down, it would be hard to sprain a wrist and even the most enthusiastic hand-shakers usually temper it for a woman.

DAVID: Also in the Telegraph, John Bolton on what we should do about Russia and Georgia. I haven't read the piece yet, but what do you bet his answer involves sending a bunch of other people's kids over there to fight?

MEGAN: No, I don't think there's any oil in Georgia and, like North Korea, the Russians have nukes. I would assume that this would be one of the rare occasions where the neocons talk about the importance of diplomacy and try not to look like the actual foreign policy cowards they are since they only like invading places they're sure they can topple in under a week and where the press isn't going to be able to get good footage of the casualties.

DAVID: How much longer before we can stop calling the neocons "neo-" anything? They've been around for a few years now.

MEGAN: Well, I don't think it's how long they've been around, I think it's to distinguish them from the brand of conservative that isn't quite as reprehensible when it comes to foreign policy. Since we're talking politics, can we please discuss the utter non-brilliance of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, which far too many Americans think would be a good idea? Because that shit burns me.

DAVID: Oh, you know, this is your chance to educate me on why bringing back the Fairness Doctrine is a bad idea. I can see both sides of the issue and as with any issue where I haven't formed a solid opinion, I think I must not know enough about it yet.

MEGAN: The A Number One Reason it is a bad idea is that it relies on a government agency to decide fairness. And who runs government agencies? Politicians. And what changes periodically? Which party is in power. The Fairness doctrine is a stupid, outdated bullshit concept that government can mandate political speech appropriately. See also: Ken Tomlinson. Want another one of those dudes around telling you what you ought to be hearing?

DAVID: I dunno, at this point I'm willing to cling to anything that means less air-time for Limbaugh. I see your point, though, and I do find it a bit sinister that 30% of the people polled by Rasmussen favor enforced "fairness" in blogging, which is more than I think I could manage. How do they propose to enforce that?

MEGAN: Also, just so's you know, you know who also loves the concept of the fairness doctrine? Right-wing conservatives.

DAVID: But you know, Megan, there's something I want to discuss with you. Remember last year when you guys had a "Jezegay", Ryan? I was, like, so jealous. Can I call myself a Jezegay now?

MEGAN: I don't think you can dub yourself a Jezegay, you must be dubbed as such and that, my friend, is up to the commenters.

DAVID: Tell them that if they'll make me a Jezegay I'll be handing out foot-rubs and free beer all weekend.

• Hey, did you forget, Barack is on vacation? In a "foreign, exotic place," according to some, where he does wacky, un-American things like visit his grandmother, his sister and take very cute walks on the beach with his daughter Malia. Totally un-American of him. [HuffPo, Crooks&Liars]
• A McCain supporter shook Cindy McCain's hand so hard today that he sprained it. Even when they like you, fervent Republicans can still hurt you! [The Atlantic]
• Speaking of, some of them are using Bill Kristol to spread a rumor that former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell will endorse Obama. Kristol's not sure why (pssst, Bill, you're supposed to say it's because they're both black), but we're pretty sure it has to do with the fact that the Republicans just want to smear Powell. [Fox News]

• In other Krazy Konsertive news, one of them went into the offices of the Arkansas Democratic Party today and assassinated its Chairman, Bill Gwatney. He was later killed by police after a chase. [NY Times]
• The Taliban today ambushed another group of aid workers, killing 3 women (including one American). If the whole of the Taliban can't provide medical relief to the Afghan people, they'll be damned if they'll let a couple of women do it for them. [Washington Post]
• And the Unabomber objects to having his cabin displayed in the Newseum in Washington. I object to a museum that's supposed to be dedicated to the study of the world of journalism turning itself into a disaster porn exhibit to justify its $20 entrance fee, but that's just me. [Washington Post]

• Between expanding his "empire," hosting Mad Men parties, judging Project Runway, and, presumably, tanning, Michael Kors is guesting on Gossip Girl. "I love the clothes, everyone is good-looking, the plot line is a riot," Kors says. "I love the show. They called and said, 'You are very Gossip Girl.' I thought, 'Finally, I am a teenager.'" Question: When does this guy have time to actually design? [WWD]
• Perennial fashion critic Mr. Blackwell hospitalized! [AP]
• Just try and get rid of Heatherette! Rumors to the contrary, the glitzy design duo ain't going anywhere. [The Cut]
• NYC Boutique Opening Ceremony staying open for a marathon 72 hours. Cause that's what Olympic athletes would want them to do. [New York Times]

• July was a rough one for retailers; even Wal-Mart tanked. [WWD]
• Tyra/Michelle may have a lock on Bazaar, but Cindy McCain's got mag connections too, albeit crummy ones: "News of Tyra Banks' homage to Michelle Obama in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar broke Tuesday, but that didn't stop Cindy McCain from stopping by the Hearst Tower that afternoon to have lunch with Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black, Cosmopolitan's Kate White, Joanna Coles of Marie Claire and Rosemary Ellis of Good Housekeeping. During the lunch, McCain's daughter, Bridget, sent her mother a picture via BlackBerry of a new dress, seeking approval before leaving the house. The potential first lady approved." [WWD]
• The battle 0f the vibrating mascaras! [New York Times]
• The "work to flirt" dress: slutty for both day and evening! [Telegraph]
• Tara Subkoff capitalizes on the perennial power of faux lesbianism to sell clothes. Also, looks silly in today's GBU. [The Cut]
• The Nike equestrian boot is controversial. "One rider opined on a Web site that it looks like "the stripper boot of the horse world." U.S. Olympic rider Gina Miles wonders if wearing a swoosh might lead to lower scores in a sport that prides itself on centuries-old traditions. And Nike archrival Adidas, which is also creating new shoes for the Games, said no to riding boots. "We didn't feel we could come in with some meaningful innovation," says James Carnes, Adidas' creative director." [Business Week]
• More immediate, community-fostering webzines giving fashion mags a run for their big money. [New York Times]
• Behind-the-scenes vid of Nelly for Sean Jo