Friend of Dish color coordinates with VP candidate

Which salmon-clad beauty is which?

The Dishes used to be newspaper reporters in Connecticut. There, Mr. Dish, for a time, covered the machinations of Milford city hall. The li'l town between New Haven and Bridgeport was run by Republicans. One of these GOPers was Jack Fowler, a member of the Milford Board of Aldermen.

Fowler's a mensch.

He's also a high-level functionary in the right-press, carrying the water for the late William F. Buckley's saucy periodical, the National Review. In his duties as publisher, Fowler has helped organize sea cruises featuring such luminaries as Bill Bennett, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney. He also assembled some kind of children's book. Dish thinks it was called, "Dick Cheney Wants a Hug: A National Review Bedtime Story."

Mr. Dish recalls that on election day 2000, Fowler nearly wept when early announcements called for Al Gore winning Florida. Mr. Dish will leave it at that.

Regarding the above photo, Fowler writes to Dish:

"It was taken in August 2007 ­ she had a reception at the Governor's Mansion for visiting National Review editors (in Alaska on one of our famous cruises). We have been big Palin fans since meeting her.

"OK, I watch that Project Runway show sometimes with Sharon and my daughter Elizabeth, but that doesn¹t make me a fashion policeman. As you can tell, my style is Sears Schlubb. Still, that thing the Governor was wearing was tres cool. Leather. Intricately cut. As striking as she is, I think, upon first meeting her, the duds were even more striking. That lady can put herself together. You had to be there, and don¹t you wish you were?!

"Can I make that assessment without it being right-wing conspiratorial? Heck, I think Nancy Pelosi is . . . OK, let¹s not get carried away."

Dish suspects that Fowler is simply parroting the company line established by his colleague Rich Lowry, who stated, on the National Review Online:

"A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."

Fowler reports that, "No one razzed Rich" about his Palin crush. "There was no inter-office giggling, tom foolery, or jackfoolery. Rich was right re the effect of debate winkery. That didn¹t stop him from taking a lot of crap from the usual suspects."

Dish has to side with "the usual suspects" here, but extends a warm "thank you" to Fowler for sharing and hopes that Fowler's fashion twin is cured of her nictitating spasms sometime soon.

(Mrs. Dish asks: Is peach the new red this November?)