Brazile: She’s just like us
ABC’S POLITICAL strategist Donna Brazile, former campaign manager and DNC chairman, she ever eff up?
“Yes. Something happens to a big shot: They go after the little shots. After 10 presidential, 55 congressional, 19 state campaigns, I thought my mouth was a megaphone. Talk enough you make mistakes.
“I managed Al Gore for president’s campaign. With 537 votes short, the Supreme Court shut us down. Florida’s good for Vitamin D — not Democratic candidates for president. You got to grab as many as you can to the polls.
And I don’t cheat. Nobody can say I cheated. Maybe because I’ve never been married.
“And, look, we’ve had one black president in over 240 years. Now a vice president. Maybe another 240 years we’ll get the first Hispanic, first disabled, first gay. Listen, we people of color come in all shapes and sizes.
“Politics has a B.S. quotient because we rely on spin. Sound bites. Not substance. What you hear on TV is stinky.”
Speaking of stinky, what about Biden?
“Dealt a bad hand and made it worse. But he’s my president and I got to stick with him.” . . . QUESTION: Besides tinkling on Cuomo, anyone know what else might be local yokel Kathy Hochul’s focal?
Welched that deal
SUNDAY, 8 p.m., on Showtime, is the third episode of “Gossip,” executive producer Ron Howard’s four-part documentary series on me.
To know what’s gossip, here’s some I’ve lived to tell:
Long back on TV’s talk show “A Current Affair,” Raquel Welch was then somebody. One star
called her the “most difficult person I ever met.” She demanded a chauffeured limo for three blocks to the studio. She insisted upon special lighting, cameraman, positioning, angle of each take and argued about my questions.
This three-minute sit-down was A FAVOR. To plug something of hers. I finally asked, on camera, if she was “difficult.” She snapped, “No, but you are a barracuda” then unplugged her lapel mike, stood up and walked out, leaving me, on camera, on a live shot, staring at an empty chair.
Mayor de Blasio in my home. Petting my dog. To warm up an audience pols often feature pets. I said I’d personally buy him a Yorkshire terrier from my breeder so he could then announce: “This is my new Yorkie.” He said, “Great idea.” Later he called to say: “No. Can’t. My wife doesn’t want it.”
Or me flying to the Philippines because its then-First Lady Imelda Marcos was giving a huge party in my honor in Manila. Long flight. Me, long gown, accessories to the eyeballs, big makeup, seated right next to then-President Ferdinand Marcos — fell fast asleep on his shoulder. . . . JUST to say I’m taking off Monday. Labor Day. And I hope to be bothering you again Tuesday.
EAST Hampton. One actress wouldn’t acknowledge her recent plastic surgery at some hotshot party. A nearby guy sniffed: “How do you like that? She’s lifting my new nose at me.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.