{"id":367,"date":"2004-02-22T10:27:46","date_gmt":"2004-02-22T15:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp\/2004\/02\/we_got_mail_dorfman_weighs_in\/"},"modified":"2004-02-22T10:27:46","modified_gmt":"2004-02-22T15:27:46","slug":"we_got_mail_dorfman_weighs_in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/2004\/02\/we_got_mail_dorfman_weighs_in\/","title":{"rendered":"WE GOT MAIL: Dorfman Weighs In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim:


\nMichael Wolff has written a notably fatuous piece<\/A>.\u00a0 To equate Martha Stewart with the victims of McCarthyism; to make the case that the celebrity rich comprise an aggrieved class; to state, in other words, that the state’s jackboot is crushing her without cause–this is rubbish, pure and simple, and an obscene line of argument.\u00a0 If you’d never heard of Michael Woolf, you’d assume this piece is a parody.\u00a0\u00a0 But Wolff, who failed in his attempt to buy New York magazine, aspires no longer to be a mere journalist, but to join the ranks of media tycoon–to be, in that phrase of Gordon Gekko from the movie,\u00a0 a player.\u00a0\u00a0 He is a pathetic figure, sort of like a street urchin with his nose pressed against the bakery window, too eager to court the people, were he content to be a journalist, he should be skewering.\u00a0 The man is too self-important and bloated to write parody.


\nHere is the heart of the Martha Stewart case: she got caught trading on inside information, plain and simple.\u00a0 For sure: the monetary stakes were small; and there are graver sins for the government to prosecute.\u00a0 She could have avoided this trial by saying, contritely: Yes, I heard Waksall was selling, and I did something stupid. \u00a0I sold, too.\u00a0 As a former stockbroker, I should have realized that even the appearance of acting upon inside information is wrong,\u00a0 I am sorry, and I would like to make amends.\u00a0


\nBut instead Stewart lied, and treated the prosecutors like stooges who aren’t worthy of her time.\u00a0 She lied.\u00a0 She dissembled.\u00a0 She dodged.\u00a0 She tried to humiliate public servants.\u00a0 She is getting her due, and the government is right to nail her and nail her good.
\n


\nI hear it said that the government is going after her because she is a woman, or because she’s rich; and in any case, why isn’t the government going after the malefactors from Enron?\u00a0 Nonsense.\u00a0 Complete nonsense.\u00a0 The Enron folks–from Fastow to Fastow’s wife to now Jeffrey Skilling–are getting hammered for their arrogance, for their criminality, for their belief that rules are for the other suckers to follow,\u00a0not the guys who count,\u00a0not the players.\u00a0 Funny thing, isn’t that just what Stewart is in trouble for–and isn’t this just what Michael Wolff, lackey to the lunch set at the Four Seasons,\u00a0wants to excuse?

–Jon Dorfman
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim: Michael Wolff has written a notably fatuous piece.\u00a0 To equate Martha Stewart with the victims of McCarthyism; to make the case that the celebrity rich comprise an aggrieved class; to state, in other words, that the state’s jackboot is crushing her without cause–this is rubbish, pure and simple, and an obscene line of argument.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}