A blurb on Ben Wattenberg’s book Values Matter Most reads: “It is a lucid look at the major ‘hot button’ issues, including welfare, and constructively breaks out of the usual liberal-conservative mindset.” Who wrote that? E. J. Dionne? One of the Beyond Left and Right thinkers from the Democratic Leadership Council? Actually, it was Steve Forbes, who bills himself as a “Conservative for President,” not as a Beyondist.
This might be of interest to Forbes’s donors. He has raked in nearly $ 1.5 million in contributions, including a cool thou’ from Ann Landers, a thou’ each from Bob and Georgette Mosbacher, and a surprising thou’ apiece from Jackson and Warren Stephens — Arkansas bankers widely thought of as Bill Clinton’s political godfathers. Forbes also pulled in $ 500 from Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and, amazingly, another five bills from none other than Olivia Newton-John — even though Forbes has, we would guess, never really been mellow.
