Revenge? Ellen Barkin? Never!Neither the auction she held to sell off the gifts her ex gave her or her new TV pilot were motivated by revenge against ex Ron Perelman. Also: Guess who Michelle Tractenberg is dating?
While the Rest of Us Flounder, Tony Kushner Ponders: What Would Lincoln Do? Jann Wenner isn’t the only one who finds Barack Obama “Lincolnesque in his own origins, his sobriety and what history now demands.” Tony Kushner is working on a screenplay for Steven Spielberg based on Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about Lincoln’s last two years as president before he was assassinated. “He could bring together people of wildly disparate ideological bents and remind them of the moral core of their visions,” gushed Kushner about Honest Abe last night at a benefit dinner for Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “He brought into his Cabinet people who hated each other.” Would Lincoln, that original Log Cabin Republican, be a GOPer today? “Absolutely not,” the Kush assured. “He was a deeply progressive man and a deep believer in the Constitution. Any party that could make George Bush, who has raped the Constitution, is not one that Abe Lincoln would want anything to do with.” Well! So, uh, WWAD (that’s Who Would Abe Endorse?) in ‘08? Kushner: OHB, of course! “They’re both from Illinois. You can really trace a line from the politics of Lincoln through American pragmatism to the politics of Barack Obama.” Okay. And how would he weigh in on the Spitzer flame-out?
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‘Journal’ Takes Beef with Mariane Pearl PublicMariane Pearl, the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl, and the Journal are no longer on friendly terms. Naomi Campbell told a crowd at a dinner for the Black Action Retail Group that she was done with throwing cellphones. (Her visit to Hugo Chavez also garnered praise from terrorist groups.) Former Giant Tiki Barber will attend the book party of NFL Network host Rich Eisen tonight at the Time Warner Center. Tyra Banks made out with a “gorgeous model type” at Thor in Hotel Rivington. Hilary Duff gave lap dances to a Joel Madden look-alike at Tenjune. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg ran into her aunt Lee Radziwill at City Center.