WRITER CARLSON OUT OF TIME

NY Post | 8-9-02 | KEITH J. KELLY

[Temple Owl]

WRITER CARLSON OUT OF TIME

By KEITH J. KELLY

ON THE OUTS:

Columnist Margaret Carlson (above) is apparently leaving Time, with friends blaming Time Inc. editorial director John Huey.

Getty/Alex Wong

August 9, 2002 -- MARGARET Carlson, the first female columnist in the history of Time magazine and a fixture on CNN's "Capitol Gang," is about to sever her ties to the magazine, Media Ink has learned.

Carlson, a well-connected Beltway insider, had been a regularly appearing weekly columnist until the Sept. 11 attacks, but she's been all but invisible in the magazine's lineup since then.

Carlson's columns were getting spiked on a regular basis late last year and earlier this year, and the columnist was growing increasingly frustrated, friends said.

Friends said she was particularly stung when she was left out of a cover package that the magazine did earlier this year on the sex and pedophilia scandal that is rocking the American arm of the Roman Catholic Church. She had been seen by many as the "resident Catholic" who'd frequently weigh in with opinion pieces on crucial issues facing the church, said an insider.

Time managing editor Jim Kelly said that priorities had shifted after the Sept. 11 attacks and that he needed the space for more news-oriented stories and features. He has also stopped running humor columnist Joel Stein on a regular basis.

Kelly was on vacation this week and could not be reached, but in the past he has insisted that the decision not to use Carlson was his alone.

But others close to Carlson said it was not a Kelly decision at all. Rather, they said, she had had a falling out with Time Inc. editorial director John Huey - whom insiders have dubbed "the radioactive man of Time Inc." - and the situation unraveled from there.

"This is totally and purely Huey," said one source who is friends with Carlson. "It is not Kelly. It is Huey who did not like her, disrespected her column and brought this on."

Huey disputes that. "This is a bum rap. I don't know where it came from. I had nothing to do with Margaret Carlson leaving Time."

Huey said he met her only twice. One of those meetings was a lunch the two had some time after Sept. 11. But the luncheon appears to have rattled Carlson further, convincing her that Huey was killing the column.

Carlson is technically on book leave. She is writing "Anybody Can Grow Up To Be President, a Pundit or a Pill" for Simon & Schuster, where editorial director Alice Mayhew is overseeing the project.

Calls to Carlson's home and to her Washington, D.C., office voicemail - which was still operative - were not returned by press time.

A Time spokeswoman said, "The facts that I know are she will be back at her office after Labor Day."

But our sources say that's just a temporary face-saver. Sources said Carlson has retained high-powered attorney David Boies, the antitrust lawyer who prosecuted the government's case against Microsoft, to negotiate her severance. He's already worked out a "retirement package" with Time Inc. legal counsel Marcie Ja

[Temple Owl]

Goodbye Margaret! Good Riddance! Don't let the door hit you in the@$$.

[1L]

She's a ditz. That's all this post needed to say.

[My2Cents]

She is writing "Anybody Can Grow Up To Be President, a Pundit or a Pill".

She's living proof of the latter.

[Paul Atreides]

Amen! You would have thought that when Time was choosing their first female columnist, they would have chosen someone better. What a hack!

[NorCoGOP]

...retained high-powered attorney David Boies, the antitrust lawyer who prosecuted the government's case against Microsoft, to negotiate her severance.

Anyone notice a DELIBERATE omission of fact here from the Post?

[Wright is right!]

Why yes, now that you mention that huge elephant in my living room, YES, yes, I DO notice that the article has been very "selective" about items on Boies' resume. Yes, why, it seems like only yesterday that one David Boies was hack Gore's hack attorney trying to hack apart the FL vote. Yes, now that you mention it, they DID manage to leave that out.

Michael

[UB355]

Maybe she can move to Florida where all the military escape to to save from paying any state income taxes.

[Paul Atreides]

She can be near Janet, as well. Maggie has always reminded me of a lesbian coach for a girl's basketball team.

[NorCoGOP]

Yes, why, it seems like only yesterday that one David Boies was hack Gore's hack attorney trying to hack apart the FL vote

- Don't forget the FINER details - that he LOST, and, Gore lost so much confidence in him after Supreme Court challenge #1, that he benched Boies on the second, and final, sequel.....

Just wanted to make sure EVERYONE was reminded about Boies "stellar" legal career......snicker snicker.....

[aristeides]

Wasn't Carlson one of the most vociferous Clinton-defenders in the press?

[b4its2late]

What took them so long?

[aristeides]

Are you sure? My recollection is that Larry Tribe, of Harvard Law School, did the oral argument for the Gore side in the first round, and was replaced by Boies in the second. Have I got it wrong?

[DoughtyOne]

Margaret Carlson is an empty headed simpleton.  Watch her inane comments on the Capital Gang for any amount of time and you'll wonder how she ever managed to elevate herself to the positions she inhabits.  That impish smile broadens the more ghastly her pronouncements become.  It's as if she finds the ultimate achievement to be delivering up comments only an ignoramus would believe.  Some talking heads you wish you could pat on the back.  Margart instills an urge to leave a knuckle-print from her chin to the middle of her forehead.  I find that using the mute botton and watching her laugh at herself as she talks, to be the only way I can stomach her appearances.  I long ago gave up the hope that at some point in time she might offer up anything that instilled the thought that she might possibly be trying to achieve an intelligent offering.  Why the producers of the program keep her on the pannel is beyond me.  It must have something to do with filling a quote of some sort.  Do the mentally imbalanced have a lobby within the media?

[swheats]

The same David Bois that took a beating against brilliant attorney Phil Beck during the Election 2000 travesty. I guess that would be something to leave off the resume.

[Temple Owl]

Aw Cmon Doughty, tell us how you really feel. I love it. LOL

[swheats]

What! you mean our military have to pay income taxes? It should be a given, if you sign your life away to serve you should be exempt where-ever you live.

[small voice in the wilderness]

Poor Maggie. She finally reached the glass ceiling only to find no one wanted to look up her skirt. Maybe she can go into business for herself. Margaret's Think Tank/Acrylic Nails Studio.

[DoughtyOne]

I find these rants to be very therapeutic. It's almost as if watching her on the show was worth it. Almost... (like he--, it'd never be even close to worth it, lol) Thanks for the comments.

[Digger]

She about as Catholic as Robert Rubin.

[DoughtyOne]

Actually I'm very surprised they didn't use her to take pots shots at Catholics at every opportunity. "Anything that tarnishes one religion slanders them all", seems to be the opperative mode these days.