More on Michiko Kakutani: her review of Clinton's book contains one rather ridiculous part I neglected to mention in my previous post on the topic. Kakutani writes,

...the former president's account of his life, read in this post-9/11 day, feels strangely like an artifact from a distant, more innocent era.

Lies about sex and real estate, partisan rancor over "character issues" (not over weapons of mass destruction or pre-emptive war), psychobabble mea culpas, and tabloid wrangles over stained dresses all seem like pressing matters from another galaxy, far, far away.

Right. A sex scandal could never happen in this serious post-9/11 era.

Today's Times includes an article about Illinois Republican candidate for the Senate, Jack Ryan. It begins:

When Jack Ryan, a wealthy investment banker, and his wife, the actress Jeri Ryan, faced off four years ago over custody of their young son, they evidently thought the steamy accusations in their court papers would remain private.

This week, however, disclosure of Ms. Ryan's claims that her ex-husband took her to sex clubs over her objections have filled the front pages of Illinois newspapers, throwing his campaign for a United States Senate seat here into prurient turmoil.

According to court depositions unsealed Monday, Mr. Ryan, a Republican ... took his wife to sex clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris in the late 1990's. The documents suggest that Mr. Ryan insisted that they have public sex but that Ms. Ryan angrily refused, and the issue led to the breakup of their marriage.

Republican leaders here have been stunned by the claims. Some have called on Mr. Ryan to drop out of the race.

By the way: All the nerds in high school had crushes on Jeri Ryan after she played the borg in the skintight suit in Star Trek:Voyager. Not me, though. All the women in Voyager looked too 1950's for my taste.