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Getting started with Backbone
How to bring model-view-controller structure to Ajax web applications
Increasingly, web applications focus on the front end, using client-side scripting and Ajax interactions. As the complexity of JavaScript applications increases, writing efficient, non-repetitive, and maintainable JavaScript code can be challenging without the right tools and patterns. Model-View-Controller (MVC) is a common pattern used in server-side development to produce code that is organized and easy to maintain. MVC, which allows the separation of data (such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) objects, often used in Ajax interactions) from the presentation layer, or document object model (DOM) of a page, is also applicable to client-side development.
Backbone (also known as Backbone.js), a lightweight library created by Jeremy Ashkenas, is useful for creating MVC-like applications. Backbone:
- Has a hard dependency with Underscore.js, a utility-belt library
- Has soft dependencies with jQuery/Zepto
- Updates the HTML of your application automatically, depending upon how the model changes, favoring code maintainability
- Promotes the use of client-side templating, making it unnecessary to embed HTML code inside JavaScript
Models, views, collections, and routers are the main components inside the Backbone framework. In Backbone, models store data retrieved from the server over a RESTful JSON interface. Models are associated with the views, which are in charge of rendering the HTML for a specific UI component and handling events triggered on elements that are part of the view itself.
In this article, learn about the different components of the Backbone.js framework. Explore how MVC applies to Backbone. Through examples, see how useful Backbone can be when creating Ajax applications or single page interfaces (SPIs).
Download the source code used in this article.
SPI applications:
Backbone.Router and
Applications that have a lot of Ajax interactions are becoming more like applications in which no page refresh occurs. These applications often try to limit interaction to a single page. This SPI approach increases efficiency and speed and the overall application becomes more responsive. The concept of state replaces the concept of pages. Hash fragments are used to identify a specific state. A hash fragment is the part of a URL following the hash tag (#) and is the key element for this type of application. Listing 1 shows two different states inside an SPI application using two different hash fragments.
Listing 1. Two different states inside an SPI or Ajax application
http://www.example.com/#/state1 http://www.example.com/#/state2
Backbone offers a component called a router (named controller prior to
version 0.5) to route client-side states. A router extends the
Backbone.Router function and contains a hash map
routes attribute) that associates a state with an action. A
specific action is triggered when the application reaches a correlated
state. Listing 2 shows an example of a Backbone
Listing 2.
Backbone.Router example:
App.Routers.Main = Backbone.Router.extend({ // Hash maps for routes routes : { "" : "index", "/teams" : "getTeams", "/teams/:country" : "getTeamsCountry", "/teams/:country/:name : "getTeam" "*error" : "fourOfour" }, index: function(){ // Homepage }, getTeams: function() { // List all teams }, getTeamsCountry: function(country) { // Get list of teams for specific country }, getTeam: function(country, name) { // Get the teams for a specific country and with a specific name }, fourOfour: function(error) { // 404 page } });
Each state created can be bookmarked. The five actions (
getTeamCountry, and
fourOfour) are called when
the URLs are similar to the following.
country1as a parameter
team1as parameters
fourOfour()as an
*(asterisk) was used.
To start Backbone, instantiate the router on page load and monitor any
change on the hash fragment through the instruction
Backbone.history.start() method, as in Listing 3.
Listing 3. Application initialization (using jQuery)
$(function(){ var router = new App.Routers.Main(); Backbone.history.start({pushState : true}); })
Backbone.history object is generated when the router is
instantiated; it is an automatic reference to the
Backbone.History function.
takes care of matching a route to the action defined in the
router object. After the
start() method is
triggered, the
fragment attribute inside
Backbone.history is created. It contains the value of the
hash fragment. This sequence is helpful in managing the browser history
according to the sequence of states. To direct the user to the previous
state, click the back button of the browser.
In the example in Listing 3, the
method is invoked with a configuration enabling the HTML5 feature
pushState. For a browser supporting
Backbone will monitor the popstate event to trigger a new state. If the
browser doesn't support that HTML5 feature, the
event is monitored. If the browser does not support this event, a polling
technique monitors any change on the hash fragment of the URL.
Models and collections
Models and collections are important components of Backbone.js. Models hold
the data (often coming from the server) in key-value pairs. To create a
model, extend
Backbone.Model, as in Listing
Listing 4.
App.Models.Team = Backbone.Model.extend({ defaults : { // default attributes } // Domain-specific methods go here });
App.Models.Team function is a new model function, but an
instance of it must be created to use a specific model in an application,
as in Listing 5.
Listing 5. Model instantiation
var team1 = new App.Models.Team();
The variable
team1 now has the field named cid, which is a
client identifier in the form of "c" plus a number (for example, c0, c1,
c2). Models are defined by attributes that are stored in a hash map.
Attributes can be set at instantiation time or with the
method. Attribute values are retrievable through the
method. Listing 6 shows how to set and get attributes
through instantiation or
Listing 6. Model instantiation and get/set methods
// "name" attribute is set into the model var team1 = new App.Models.Team({ name : "name1" }); console.log(team1.get("name")); // prints "name1" // "name" attribute is set with a new value team1.set({ name : "name2" }); console.log(team1.get("name")); //prints "name2"
When working with JavaScript objects, the reason for using the
set() method to create or set the value of an attribute might
not be obvious. One reason is for updating the value, as in Listing 7.
Listing 7. Updating attributes in a wrong way
team1.attributes.name = "name2";
Avoid using the code in Listing 7. Using
set() is the only way to change the state of the model and to
trigger the change event on it. Using
set() promotes the
principle of encapsulation. Listing 8 below shows how
to bind an event handler to the change event. The event handler contains
an alert that is triggered when the
set() method is called,
as in Listing 6, but is not triggered using the code
in Listing 7.
Listing 8. Change event handler in the App.Models.Team model
App.Models.Team = Backbone.Model.extend({ initialize : function(){ this.bind("change", this.changed); }, changed : function(){ alert("changed"); } });
Another benefit of Backbone is the ease of communicating with the server
through Ajax interactions. Invoking a
save() method on a
model will asynchronously save the current state (characterized by the
hash map of attributes) to the server through REST JSON APIs. Listing 9 shows an example.
Listing 9.
save method invoked on a model
In the background, the
save() function delegates to
Backbone.sync, which is the component in charge of making
RESTful requests, using the jQuery function
$.ajax() by
default. Because REST style architecture is involved, each Create, Read,
Update, or Delete (CRUD) action is associated with a different type of
HTTP request (
DELETE). The first time the model object is saved, a
POST request is used and an identifier ID is created. For
subsequent attempts to send the object to the server, a
request is used.
When a model needs to be retrieved from the server, a Read action is
requested and an Ajax
GET request is used. This type of
request uses the
fetch() method. To determine the location on
the server where the model data is pushed or pulled from:
- If the model belongs to a collection, the
urlattribute from a collection object will be the base of the location and the model ID (not the cid) will be appended to complete the full URL
- If the model is not inside a collection, the
urlrootattribute of the model is used as the base of the location
Listing 10 shows how to fetch a model.
Listing 10.
Fetch() method for a model
var teamNew = new App.Models.Team({ urlRoot : '/specialTeams' }); teamNew.save(); // returns model's ID equal to '222' teamNew.fetch(); // Ajax request to '/specialTeams/222'
validate() method can be used to validate a model, as in
Listing 11. The
validate() method,
which is triggered when the
set() method is called, needs to
be overridden to contain the validation logic for the model. The only
parameter passed to this function is a JavaScript object containing the
attributes updated by the
set() method so conditions on those
attributes can be verified. If nothing is returned from the
validate() method, the validation is successful. If an error
message is returned, the validation fails and the
method will not execute.
Listing 11. Validate method for a model
App.Models.Team = Backbone.Model.extend({ validate : function(attributes){ if (!!attributes && attributes.name === "teamX") { // Error message returned if the value of the "name" // attribute is equal to "teamX" return "Error!"; } } }
Sets of models are grouped into collections that extend the function
Backbone.Collection. Collections are characterized by a model
attribute defining the type of models composing the collection. Add and
remove models to a collection using the
remove() method. Listing
12 shows how to create and populate a collection.
Listing 12. Backbone collection
App.Collections.Teams = Backbone.Collection.extend({ model : App.Models.Team }); var teams = new App.Collections.Teams(); // Add e model to the collection object "teams" teams.add(team1); teams.add(new App.Models.Team({ name : "Team B" })); teams.add(new App.Models.Team()); teams.remove(team1); console.log(teams.length) // prints 2
teams collection that is created contains an array of two
models stored in the models attribute. In a typical Ajax application,
though, the collection will be populated dynamically (not manually) from
the server. The
fetch() method helps accomplish the task, as
in Listing 13, and stores data into the array of
Listing 13.
Collections in Backbone have a
url attribute that defines the
location on the server from which JSON data is pulled with an Ajax GET
request, as in Listing 14.
Listing 14.
url attribute and
method for a
teams.url = '/getTeams'; teams.fetch(); //Ajax GET Request to '/getTeams'
Fetch() method is an asynchronous call, so the application
does not hang while waiting for the response from the server. In some
cases, to manipulate the raw data returned from the server, the
parse() method of a collection can be used, as in Listing 15.
Listing 15.
App.Collections.Teams = Backbone.Collection.extend({ model : App.Models.Team, parse : function(data) { // 'data' contains the raw JSON object console.log(data); } });
Another interesting method available for collections is
reset(), which allows several models to be set into a
collection. The
reset() method is very handy for
bootstrapping data into a collection, such as on page load, to avoid the
user waiting for asynchronous calls to return.
Views and client-side templating
Views in Backbone are not the same as views in a classic MVC approach. A
Backbone view extends the
Backbone.View function and displays
data stored in models. A view supplies an HTML element defined by the
el attribute. This attribute can be made by combining the
values of the
className, and
id attributes, or by the value of
el itself. Listing 16 shows two different views with different
ways of composing the
el attribute.
Listing 16. Backbone view samples
// In the following view, el value is 'UL.team-element' App.Views.Teams = Backbone.View.extend({ el : 'UL.team-list' }); // In the following view, el value is 'div.team-element' App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ className : '.team-element', tagName : 'div' });
If the
className and
id attributes are empty, an empty DIV is assigned to
el by default.
As mentioned, a view must be associated with a model. The model attributes
come in handy, as in Listing 17. The
App.View.Team view is tied with an instance of the
App.Models.Team model.
Listing 17. Model attribute in a Backbone view
// In the following view, el value is 'UL.team-element' App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ ... model : new App.Models.Team });
To render data, which is the main purpose of a view, override the
render() method with the logic for displaying attributes of a
model inside the DOM element referred by the
el attribute. Listing 18 shows a sample of how the render method
will update the user interface.
Listing 18.
App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ className : '.team-element', tagName : 'div', model : new App.Models.Team render : function() { // Render the 'name' attribute of the model associated // inside the DOM element referred by 'el' $(this.el).html("<span>" + this.model.get("name") + "</span>"); } });
Listing 19. HTML containing the template
<script id="teamTemplate" type="text/template"> <%= name %> </script>
Listing 20 shows another sample using the underscore.js HTML template.
Listing 20. View using
App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ className : '.team-element', tagName : 'div', model : new App.Models.Team render : function() { // Compile the template var compiledTemplate = _.template($('#teamTemplate').html()); // Model attributes loaded into the template. Template is // appended to the DOM element referred by the el attribute $(this.el).html(compiledTemplate(this.model.toJSON())); } });
One of the most useful and interesting features in Backbone is the ability
to bind the
render() method to the change event of a model,
as in Listing 21.
Listing 21.
Render() method bound to the change event of
// In the following view, el value is 'div.team-element' App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ model : new App.Models.Team, initialize : function() { this.model.bind("change", this.render, this); } })
The code binds the
render() method to the change event of a
model. When the model changes, the
render() method is
triggered automatically—thereby saving many lines of code. Starting
with Backbone 0.5.2, the
bind() method accepts a third
parameter to define the object of the callback function. (In the previous
example, the current view will be the object inside the callback
render()). Prior to Backbone 0.5.2, it was necessary to
leverage the
bindAll function from underscore.js, as in Listing 22.
Listing 22.
// In the following view, el value is 'div.team-element' App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ initialize : function() { _.bindAll(this, "render"); this.model.bind("change", this.render); } })
In a Backbone view, it is easy to listen to the events thrown by DOM
elements inside the view. The
events attribute becomes very
handy for achieving this, as in Listing 23.
Listing 23. Events attribute
App.Views.Team = Backbone.View.extend({ className : '.team-element', tagName : 'div', events : { "click a.more" : "moreInfo" }, moreInfo : function(e){ // Logic here } })
Each item in the
events attributes has two parts:
- The left part indicates the event type and the selector triggering the event.
- The right part defines the event handler function.
In Listing 23, when the user clicks on the links
with class
more inside the DIV with class
team-element, the function
moreInfo is
MVC patterns can provide the organized code that large JavaScript applications need. Backbone is a JavaScript MVC framework that is lightweight and has a small learning curve. Models, views, collections, and routers divide an application in different layers and take care of several specific matters. Backbone can be the right solution when dealing with Ajax applications or SPI applications.
Downloadable resources
- PDF of this content
- Article source code (IBM_Backbone.zip | 45KB)
Related topics
- Getting Started with Backbone.js: Get an introduction to Backbone.js with this short tutorial.
- Test-Driving Backbone Views With JQuery Templates, The Jasmine Gem, and Jasmine-JQuery (Derick Bailey, September 2011): Find out more about testing your Backbone views.
- SPI Manifesto: Learn more about Single Page Interface.
- Model-view-controller: Get an overview of the MVC software architecture from Wikipedia.
- W3C DOM Level 2 Core Specification: Read the Document Object Model Core specification.
- Using the Document Object Model from JavaScript: Read more about using the JavaScript DOM.
- W3C DOM Level 3 Events Specification: Read the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification.
- XML area on developerWorks: Find resources for advancing skills in the XML arena, including DTDs, schemas, and XSLT. See the XML technical library for a wide range of technical articles and tips, tutorials, standards, and IBM Redbooks.
- developerWorks on Twitter: Join today to follow developerWorks tweets.


text: Our mission is to create and manage superior living environments that exceed expectations and enhance your quality of life. Our dedication to providing residents with satisfaction and pride of home through our industry leading customer service is the foundation of the Holland Residential culture. When you live at a Holland Residential Community you are not just a resident, you are part of the Holland Family. This is our dedication to making your Holland experience memorable.

subset: commoncrawl


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PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama's IOUs start coming due
Presidential campaigns are long in the making, quick to be forgotten. But one part of them lives on for years: the victor's promises.
President Barack Obama paved his path to re-election with fewer promises than in 2008. The ones he did lay down, though, are meaty, legacy-shaping for him and consequential to ordinary lives today and for generations to come, for better or worse.
They also are extraordinarily difficult to achieve in a time of gridlock grief and budgets that are tight when they are not paralyzed.
He's promised to set a course in law against global warming, stop Iran from gaining the ability to make nuclear weapons, slash America's use of foreign oil, restrain college costs, take a big bite out of the national debt even while protecting the heart of the big entitlement programs and overhaul immigration law.
He's promised to make health insurance not only universally accessible, but "affordable," through a 2010 health care law that is finally entering prime time and will be tested soon.
It's a sure bet that many who voted Republican want some of Obama's promises to fail. They didn't sign up for tax increases on the wealthy or a path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally.
But as closely divided as the country is, most Americans support Obama's ends, if not the means. Who doesn't want a lighter national debt or better health care for less?
In that sense, everyone's got a stake in seeing him make good on his broad-brush promises.
Whatever a candidate's promises, legacies are made by how a president manages matters of war and peace, economic growth and weakness, social change and traditional values, and whatever crises come out of the blue.
If this decade somehow becomes the Roaring Teens, history may not care much about a big broken promise or two. If jobs are demolished, that's what will be remembered, not that 9 out of 10 promises might have been kept.
But Obama made a pact with voters, not historians, and he's got IOUs outstanding.
Republican lawmakers do, too.
They don't inherit the promises of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and did not campaign with one voice. But they presented themselves unmistakably as the party of smaller government, low taxes, a strong military capability and fiscal restraint. They have to answer to voters in 2014 for what they deliver and fail to do.
So must Democrats.
Voters can't throw Obama out of office if he botches his job this term. But the president still has skin in the game.
With a chunk of the Senate and all of the House up for grabs in 2014, Obama would have an easier time making good on his promises if Democrats were able to hang on to the Senate, win back control of the House or both. That's a tall order, given that the party holding the White House historically has lost seats in the sixth year of a presidency.
In this series, Associated Press writers who cover subjects key to Obama's agenda and that of the GOP examine his main campaign promises, their chances of being kept and their likely impact on people.


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CAO Black
CAO is a brand that makes a ton of great cigars, has accrued a lion's share of 90+ ratings, and developed a devoted fan base of die-hard CAO nuts. Their cigars are definitely some of the best on the market today. A personal favorite of mine has always been the CAO Black. This is the unequivocal "everybody" or "anytime" cigar. It's mild and smooth enough to …Read More


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Iannetta's homer helps Weaver to double-digit wins
Backstop goes deep for second straight night to even series vs. Astros
HOUSTON -- Chris Iannetta homered and drove in two runs, while Jered Weaver went six innings to pick up his 10th win of the year as the Angels won, 6-2, Saturday night in front of 21,903 at Minute Maid Park.
The Halos evened the series at a game apiece with a three-run fourth inning after Iannetta made the Angels' first hit of the game count. His 11th homer of the season, a towering blast to left-center field that led off the third inning, gave the Angels a 1-0 lead.
Iannetta also went deep in Friday's series opener, the second time this season the Angels' catcher homered in consecutive games.
Howie Kendrick and Kole Calhoun laced back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth inning, and Iannetta followed with an RBI single for a 4-0 lead and his third RBI of the series.
Houston first baseman Brett Wallace cut that lead in half with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. It was only the second hit off Weaver (10-8) and first since a first-inning single by Jose Altuve.
"It wasn't necessarily a bad pitch," Weaver said. "I probably could have gotten it in a little bit more, but going into it, we felt that fastballs in, four-seamers would be good on his hands.
"Sometimes you've got to tip your cap. He hit a pretty good pitcher's pitch and put it in the stands."
Weaver worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning by striking out Trevor Crowe to end the frame. It was Houston's 1,388th strikeout of the season, breaking the American League single-season strikeout record set last year by the A's. The Astros finished the night with nine in the game and 1,393 on the season.
Weaver set a milestone of his own with his 1,234th strikeout -- and fifth of the game -- to end the sixth inning. He passes Frank Tanana for fourth all-time in Angels' history. Only Nolan Ryan, Chuck Finley and Mike Witt are ahead of him.
"It's cool, but overall, my main goal is to win a championship," Weaver said. "So all the personal accolades are great, but at the same time, I'm more of a guy that wants to win a championship."
Weaver received defensive help a play earlier, when third baseman Andrew Romine turned and raced toward shallow left field to make a diving snag on a Carlos Corporan blooper.
"I had no idea off the bat," Romine said. "As I got out there, I only took one last look at it. And that's when I caught it out of the corner of my eye. I just kind of threw my glove out there and it ended up going in.
"We surprise ourselves sometimes. We don't expect to catch all those bloopers, but every once in a while, you get caught off-guard and get a surprise catch like that."
Weaver showed no ill effects from minor soreness in his right forearm that forced him from his last outing, a six-inning stint in Minnesota. He threw 89 pitches in that game, but 108 in this one, yielding two runs on six hits and a walk. He recorded double-digit wins for the eighth time in as many big league seasons.
"I've been pretty fortunate to play on some good teams early in my career and had some great teams over the past two or three years," Weaver said. "A lot of guys have had my back.
"I'm not a guy that really reflects on personal stuff. But it's a cool milestone. And it's cool to be mentioned with Finley. He had some pretty good years here."
Angels manager Mike Scioscia wasn't quite so modest in reflecting on the achievement.
"It speaks volumes to the quality of pitcher that Weave is," Scioscia said. "He's one of the top pitchers in our league, and even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he's given us chances to win."
Praise also came from the other dugout.
"He's got five pitches, he'll throw them in any count, he can plus and minus a fastball," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "He's a guy that you definitely don't want to expand your zone [against]. He's a guy that can throw some breaking stuff, even when he's behind in the count. He has a lot of confidence in all his pitches."


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DARE 1/11 – Thailand's First Mixed Martial Arts Championship: As It HappenedKevin (เควิน) Khaosan
Walking into Club Insomnia on Sukhumvit Soi 12 (on Saturday 25 June 2011) for the first DARE mixed martial arts tournament, I couldn't help but think I might be walking into some sort of underground illegal fight club. Yet instead of seeing seedy businessmen betting over fights in a dingy basement (as seen in many Hollywood movies), I was treated to one of the most upmarket venues I've frequented in Thailand. The 1500 baht ticket was testament to DARE being an exclusive affair, but value for money was left in the ring. New York and Las Vegas were two cities that came to mind, yet Bangkok seemed more than apt, regarding its Muay Thai boxing heritage and that it has often been dubbed "the fight capital of South East Asia".
More speakers and lighting than a rock concert, made the event loud and energetic and in your face. To be honest, the idea of watching fights had never really appealed to me, but the production was immense, exciting and entertaining; a show like no other.
Fights were three rounds of five minutes and within the rules set by the "Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts". According to Jussi Saloranta, organizer of the event, the rules are "designed to protect the fighters. Basically, all techniques that seriously injure an opponent are prohibited. For example, techniques like hitting the back of an opponent's head or his spine are not allowed. Kicking the head of an opponent who is on the ground or trying to attack the groin, eyes, and fingers of an opponent are also strictly against the rules".
It was clear DARE made safety its highest priority. Whereas in other promotions fighters are allowed to continue with some injuries, the slightest hint of a fighter not being able to defend himself brought a fight to an abrupt halt. In one instance it appeared that although the ring doctor had given one fighter the OK to continue, the referee stopped the bout. Impressive and admirable – there was a lot of respect shown this evening.
Fighters who won fights advanced to the next stage of DARE, which is one of the first of its kind for Thailand. From what I observed usually the fighter who was well versed in many martial art styles came up as the victor. This seemed to be most evident in the fight against Black Diamond, from South Africa and Ngoo Ditty from Thailand who used various techniques to pin his opponent to the ground and pound him in the face. The South African showed great determination nevertheless and even though he was clearly outmatched his courage showed through as he managed to last 3 rounds whilst some fighters only lasted a few minutes, even seconds!
The announcer for the evening kept saying "this is the best sport in the world" and it was an absolute spectacle to watch. The last few fights were epic and some of the fighters showed such determination that within minutes paramedics were called into the cage to attend to wounds and check for injuries. Throughout the event, fighters showed each other the upmost respect and sportsmanship. Victors often prostrated themselves at the feet of their beaten opponents as a sign of respect.
For a comprehensive review of all the fights and information on the next DARE event check out the official post fight press release.
For more background information on DARE events read the KhaoSanRoad.com interview with Jussi Saloranta, one of the organizers of DARE.
KhaoSanRoad.com will provide updates of when the next DARE events take place and how you can attend them. They are thoroughly recommended!
Matt Wilson is a South African journalist living and working in Bangkok, Thailand. While he's in the Kingdom, he's sharing his insights and experiences with KhaoSanRoad.com. He is available for all types of writing and journalism projects and can be contacted by email here.


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The UMLS, or Unified Medical Language System, is a set of files and software that brings together many health and biomedical vocabularies and standards to enable interoperability between computer systems. One powerful use of the UMLS is linking health information, medical terms, drug names, and billing codes across different computer systems. Some examples of this are:
– Linking terms and codes between your doctor, your pharmacy, and your insurance company
– Patient care coordination among several departments within a hospital
The UMLS has many other uses, including search engine retrieval, data mining, public health statistics reporting, and terminology research.
The UMLS has three tools (Knowledge Sources):
– Metathesaurus: Terms and codes from many vocabularies, including CPT, ICD-10-CM, LOINC, MeSH, RxNorm, and SNOMED CT
– Semantic Network: Broad categories (semantic types) and their relationships (semantic relations)
– SPECIALIST Lexicon and Lexical Tools: Natural language processing tools
The 2018AB Metathesaurus contains approximately 3.44 million concepts and 13.7 million unique concept names from 199 source vocabularies. The Metathesaurus is a very large, multi-purpose, and multi-lingual vocabulary database that contains information about biomedical and health related concepts, their various names, and the relationships among them. It is built from the electronic versions of many different thesauri, classifications, code sets, and lists of controlled terms used in patient care, health services billing, public health statistics, indexing and cataloging biomedical literature, and /or basic, clinical, and health services research. In this documentation, these are referred to as the ""source vocabularies"" of the Metathesaurus. In the Metathesaurus, all the source vocabularies are available in a single, fully-specified database format.
The Metathesaurus is organized by concept or meaning. In essence, its purpose is to link alternative names and views of the same concept together and to identify useful relationships between different concepts. All concepts in the Metathesaurus are assigned to at least one semantic type from the Semantic Network. This provides consistent categorization of all concepts in the Metathesaurus at the relatively general level represented in the Semantic Network.
The purpose of the Semantic Network is to provide a consistent categorization of all concepts represented in the UMLS Metathesaurus and to provide a set of useful relationships between these concepts. All information about specific concepts is found in the Metathesaurus; the Network provides information about the set of basic semantic types, or categories, which may be assigned to these concepts, and it defines the set of relationships that may hold between the semantic types. The current release of the Semantic Network contains 125 semantic types and 54 relationships. The Semantic Network serves as an authority for the semantic types that are assigned to concepts in the Metathesaurus. The Network defines these types, both with textual descriptions and by means of the information inherent in its hierarchies.
Of the fifty-four semantic relationships, the primary link between most of the semantic types is the 'isa' (is a) relationship. These semantic relationships may or may not hold at the concept level. One of the more important relationships within the Semantic Network is the Parent-Child, or Broader-Narrower, relationship. This relationship illustrates the hierarchies that exist between biomedical concepts. Child (narrower) relationships can be thought of as a subtype. For example, the semantic type Biologic Function is the parent of, or broader than, the semantic type Physiologic Function.


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Guests: Michael Isikoff, Julia Boorstin, Joe Wilson, Tom DeFrank, David Corn, Anthony Weiner, Zach Wamp, Chris Cillizza, Bob Kabel
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Bush's exit strategy.
Let's play HARDBALL.
Good evening. I'm Chris Matthews in Washington.
Leading off tonight: Bushed. Ambassador Joseph Wilson blew the whistle on the bogus intel that the Bush people used to push the war with Iraq. A new movie, "Fair Game," tells the story of what happened to him and his wife, Valerie, directly thereafter. Is this what you get when you stand up for truth against the White House operatives, war hawks, neo-cons and political hacks who gleefully beat the drum for war with Iraq?
Our top guest tonight, Joe Wilson himself to talk about the former president who's out there now defending his war and his self-described "sickening feeling" when he learned that those nuclear weapons did not exist, the ones he swore were there, the ones he used to sell the war. Also aboard tonight and right up front, investigative reporter Mike Isikoff, who reports that Bush didn't so much as burp when he heard those weapons weren't there.
And will Democrats stick with Nancy Pelosi and her team as their leaders when their party slips into the minority, or will there be a Democratic mutiny? The fight over who's in charge in the House tonight.
There's also a leadership fight be among Republicans, some of whom want to replace Michael Steele and find someone else to take the reins of the party, despite the fact they kept winning under Steele.
And a look at Hillary Clinton that might make—well, let's put it this way. Had you seen this Hillary Clinton back in 2008, I think a lot of people would have made her president. We're going to show you a taste right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In your role now as secretary of state, you—you know, you have such high-level meetings. Have you ever said the phrase, "You've just made a very powerful enemy"?
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: No, but I've thought it.
MATTHEWS: Much more of that in the HARDBALL "Sideshow" tonight.
Let's start with ambassador Joe Wilson. He joins us from Santa FE, New Mexico. And also with us, an MSNBC News—well, our top investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff.
Joe Wilson, Ambassador Wilson, thank you for joining us. I saw the film last night. It was inspired. It is a great film. I'm going to talk about it later tonight. I thought it was so well scripted, so well acted by Naomi Watts, perfect as your wife. I thought Sean Penn, my friend, was you. I tell you, those people were great.
Let me show right now something much more important, that's the issues behind the film. On WMD, the president is writing is now, quote, "No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had this sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do."
What's your reaction to hearing the president say that, Ambassador Wilson?
JOE WILSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: Well, I think Mike Isikoff, who has reported on this for more extensively than I do, probably has a better take. But it was very clear to me and also to Valerie—it has been for a long time—that whether there were weapons of mass destruction or not, that was not the rationale for going to war. That was the excuse they used to mobilize support.
They wanted to go to war because—for whatever reason they wanted, whether it was to redo the politics of the Middle East, as Bill Kristol has said publicly, or to bring democracy to the Middle East or to overthrow Saddam, whatever it is, it had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction.
I was in Europe at the military command when we were doing the no-fly zone over the north. At that time, our generals were saying—this was in the mid-'90s—that it wasn't worth the amount of time and money we were spending on it because there was no threat coming from there. That threat level didn't change from that time until the time we went to war.
MATTHEWS: Right. Mr. Ambassador, that is my view entirely. But you're the reporter on this case. What did the president do when he heard there was no weapons? Did he act as if that wasn't the reason he went to war because it wasn't all that important to him? How'd he act?
MICHAEL ISIKOFF, NBC NEWS INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Look, that—that
quote, which is probably the biggest news bite in the book, did leap out at me because David Corn and I reported on this when we wrote the book "Hubris," and I think you've got the quote, but—
MATTHEWS: Right.
ISIKOFF: -- David Kay, who was—
MATTHEWS: Well, here he is, David Kay, weapons inspector David Kay, describes the meeting in which he told President Bush about WMDs not being there. Quote, "There was no sign of disappointment from Bush. He was at peace with his decision to go war. I don't think he ever lost 10 minutes of sleep over the failure to find WMDs."
So this book is not an honest recounting of what happened.
ISIKOFF: Well—
MATTHEWS: He didn't—Ambassador Wilson says he didn't go to war over the WMD, so he wasn't shocked that they weren't there. Your reporting?
ISIKOFF: All right, just to flesh out that quote, that comes from a passage in "Hubris" when we're describing David Kay briefing Bush for the first time in July of 2003. The guy, David Kay, had been sent there to find the WMD, and he's for the first time telling Bush, I don't think we're going to find what you told the country we're going to find. He's trying to be gentle about it, but he's being complete. And he says—
MATTHEWS: And it didn't really bother Bush.
ISIKOFF: It leapt out at David Kay that Bush hardly reacted at all.
He showed not—
ISIKOFF: -- the least bit of concern. He—we—
MATTHEWS: -- Ambassador Wilson says that this was really a sales pitch, it wasn't the real reason for the war.
Let's take a look at a clip from the film, as I said, a fine film, whatever your view of the war. Though if you were against the war and were suspicious about the reasons given for fighting it, you will particularly enjoy the way it's laid out. Here is a—a clip from the film, "Fair Game," where Valerie Plame—this is the part where she learns she's been outed as a CIA agent. Let's listen.
NAOMI WATTS, "FAIR GAME": "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife is"—
SEAN PENN, "FAIR GAME": "Is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." He just went ahead and did it.
WATTS: Did this run overseas?
PENN: It's in the newspaper, Valerie. It's on the—
WATTS: No, no, that column. Does he—is he syndicated overseas?
PENN: Everywhere.
MATTHEWS: Well, the number of people that had a hand in outing her, you could argue in terms of reporting to the press, were, as you know, Michael—you are one of the reporters that knows all about this—
Fleischer said something to Pincus. Rove said something to Novak. Libby said something to Judy Miller. Everybody—and of course, Armitage said something to Novak and Woodward. So there were a lot of people out there talking.
ISIKOFF: Right. Yes, I mean, it was, it was—look, Dick Armitage at the State Department was the first one to disclose Valerie Plame's name to Novak, but the White House jumped on it very quickly on their own. Before Novak wrote his column, Rove was confirming it to Novak. And Ari Fleischer got out there and called Walter Pincus out of the blue and dumped this information on him. So there was definitely—and Judy Miller got it from Scooter Libby. So there was definitely a White House effort to use this information for whatever—
MATTHEWS: To destroy Joe Wilson's wife.
ISIKOFF: To discredit, to try to discredit (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEWS: Ambassador Wilson, your view watching the film and putting it all together, what's the historic importance of this to the country? I mean, 20 years from now, a kid in high school, a boy or a girl, trying to understand how we got to war with Iraq, a country that never attacked us, after we'd been attacked by al Qaeda, which had been comprised basically of thugs from Saudi Arabia and some sharpies from around the world, but nobody from Iraq—how do you explain we went to war with Iraq?
WILSON: Well, I think you've asked two questions. One is about the film, which I think is a timeless story of power, the abuse of power and how one stands up to limit power. And it goes back to the time of the drafters of the Constitution, at least in our country, when power and what to do with it was the central question and led—
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WILSON: -- to separation of powers, led to co-equal branches of government, and the enshrining of the 1st Amendment.
With respect to the war in Iraq, I think it's very clear, and I think in the president's own memoir it becomes very clear that they were absolutely committed to overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and any—any piece of spaghetti they could get to stick up against a wall, they were going to use to justify it.
And the easy case to make that everybody—that was going to put the fear of God into everybody was this whole idea that we could not afford to wait for a mushroom cloud to come—or smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud. And that is the whole nuclear case, all of which was built on—on—out of whole cloth. And I think you see that in the movie in both the yellowcake story and in the aluminum tube story—
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WILSON: -- which Valerie was involved in.
MATTHEWS: Here's some more of the president in his book. Quote, "Inaction would have had consequences to imagine—too. Imagine what the world would look like today with Saddam Hussein still ruling Iraq. The chance of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists would have increased. Instead, as a result of our actions in Iraq, one of America's most committed and dangerous enemies stopped threatening us"—
Well, the weapons he described—chemical, biological, nuclear—hadn't fallen into the hands of Saddam Hussein yet. I mean, this is—this is the outrageous part of this. Sure, we have to worry about weapons all over the world. I'm worried about former members of the Soviet Union, those engineers over there that actually have weapons. They exist—about one of those guys selling one. I worry about people in al Qaeda who have money and educations that are floating all around the world that could do this kind of thing.
ISIKOFF: Well, look, Saddam did have a chemical and biological weapons program years earlier—
MATTHEWS: Right. That's in the movie.
ISIKOFF: -- and it was—and it was discontinued, you know, during -
in the early to mid-1990s and never resumed. The concern—and talk about evidence that was fabricated—the idea that Saddam was transferring weapons or sharing chemical and biological weapons with al Qaeda terrorists -- that ranks right up there with the nuclear program—
MATTHEWS: That's—
ISIKOFF: -- as something that was based on the flimsiest—
MATTHEWS: The meeting in Prague—
ISIKOFF: -- intelligence reports—
MATTHEWS: -- that never happened.
ISIKOFF: That—yes. That was—
MATTHEWS: Let's take another look—
ISIKOFF: -- never substantiated.
MATTHEWS: Michael, let's take another look at the movie and then we're going to quit this because I think this is—this is an attempt by President Bush now in this new book to try to play the game that he really cared about weapons of mass destruction, that that was really the reason we went to war in Iraq, and he was so flabbergasted when he heard there weren't any weapons (INAUDIBLE) pointed out because of evidence there from David Kay, he was never flabbergasted. He was never disappointed because by all evidence—and as Ambassador Wilson just said—that's not the reason we went to war in Iraq. It wasn't the weapons of mass destruction. And in fact, he read during the time—anybody who followed this story, that was the sales pitch to Europe, to try to them to get in our side. That's why we ended up with the "coalition of the willing" because Europe looked at us and thought we were nuts.
In this clip, by the way—let's take a look at Valerie Plame, played by Naomi Watts. She's fabulous in this—after she's left the CIA. Let's watch this great scene.
WATTS: I went to the agency and I requested security to protect my family. I was declined because, quote, "my circumstances fall outside budget protocol." If this is a knife fight, sir, right now, we're fighting it alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Wilson versus the White House, huh? But I feel as a friend I should tell you that those men, those few men in that building over there, are the most powerful men in the history of the world. How much of a stretch do you think it would be for them to take on Joe Wilson? Joe is out there on his own, Valerie.
MATTHEWS: Ambassador Wilson, I watched that movie. I was so stirred by it last night with my wife and my son. And I have to tell you that I did think, going back over the minor part I had in covering this and being involved to a very slight extent, trying to figure out exactly what it was like to be on your side of this thing, to know that you had the White House, the smartest people in the political caravan of the president, spending day and night figuring how to screw you. What did that feel like?
WILSON: Well, yes, it was all about survival. I don't—I frankly don't know how else one should respond. I suppose you'd go underground. But it was very clear as you hear from the movie, one of the quotes was, "We're moving earth movers over Joe Wilson." So it was very clear what they were doing, and it was either—either fight or flee, I suppose. And at the end of the day, if you don't have your reputation, you have nothing. So you might as well fight for it.
But I really think that if I was to sort of offer a lesson out of this movie, it really is that if Joe Wilson can stand up to power, then anybody can. And it doesn't have to be at the federal level. But it's what makes our republic strong is the willingness of its citizens to stand up and be counted and to hold their government to account. And you know, I've been saying that now nor several years. The one group that seems to have taken notice and done that, of course, is the Tea Party movement.
MATTHEWS: You know what? I have to say that after watching the movie, I'm not inspired to join the Tea Party. But I have to wonder if my daughter or my sons or anybody their age, in their 20s now, must be inspired to join the CIA and say, Here's a way to fight for your country under very frightening conditions. The heroic portrayal of your wife in that film—and maybe the movie did make some—some—some what do you call them—they built it up a bit beyond her role in terms of going around the world. I don't know. But the role that she played in that film was so stirring and so patriotic and so gutsy, I can't imagine any young woman walking out of that theater who has American blood in her veins not wanting to be one of the people like her.
Anyway, thank you. Congratulations on being married to Valerie Plame. What a part in life you've got to play, sir! Thank you. And hell of a movie here.
WILSON: Thanks, Chris.
MATTHEWS: A hell of a movie and a hell of a person that Naomi Watts plays so wonderfully.
Up next—coming up next—much—thank you, Michael, as always. You broke the story, as always. You broke every story I've been living through my whole life, my friend!
Former President Bush from his book and his big interview with Matt Lauer, let's crack this case. Let's talk about the book. Well, it's the Bush exit strategy, and I guess it's the book. We'll get to his answers on the dark spots of his presidency—Katrina, torture, the collapse on Wall Street all on his watch. You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Forget the idea that a senator like Joe Manchin of West Virginia is planning to switch parties. Fox News and the others on the right speculated that Manchin could jump ship and become a Republican after winning a close race in which he ran away from President Obama and Washington on many issues. But Manchin's spokesman says the popular governor is a lifelong Democrat and he's not switching.
HARDBALL back after this.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm comfortable knowing that I gave it my all, that I love America, and that—and I know it was an honor to serve.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. That's former president George W. Bush has kicked off, of course, his campaign to sell his presidential legacy with his new memoir, "Decision Points." He's done a series of TV interviews, of course, and he attempts to explain in some of them the controversial elements that still hang over his presidency, including the realization that there were on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Here's what he told Matt Lauer of NBC about that discovery.
MATT LAUER, "TODAY": "No one was more sickened or angry than I was when we didn't find weapons of mass destruction." You still have a sickening feeling—
BUSH: I do.
LAUER: -- when you think about it.
BUSH: I do.
LAUER: Was there ever any consideration of apologizing to the American people?
BUSH: I mean, apologizing would basically say the decision was the wrong decision, and I don't believe it was the wrong decision.
LAUER: If you knew then what you know now—
BUSH: That's right.
LAUER: -- you would still go to war in Iraq.
BUSH: I, first of all, didn't have that luxury. You just don't have the luxury when you're president. You know, I will say definitely the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power, as are 25 million people who now have a chance to live in freedom.
MATTHEWS: Well, despite the little smile crinkling across his face there, that's not true because the Congress would have never approved the war if all he had said was, I'm going to go over there and knock off a dictator I don't like. He needed the WMD argument. He needed the threat of mushroom cloud.
Tom DeFrank's the Washington bureau chief for "The New York Daily News," and of course, David Corn is the White House bureau chief for "Mother Jones" magazine and a contributor to PoliticsDaily.com, and most importantly in this regard, the author of the book "Hubris" about the whole effort to build up that WMD.
Tom DeFrank, we're looking at the president of the United States out on a rebuilding campaign. He's rebuilding his image. He's building the case now that the war of Iraq made sense, even though there was no WMD. And the proof of the pudding was that he was sickened in his stomach when he found out there wasn't any. But we have the evidence from people who were there in the room that he showed no signs of disappointment.
TOM DEFRANK, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": Well, even, Chris, on background, when you talk to White House officials at the time, nobody ever suggested to reporters that the president was remorseful or angry. There are lots of times when Ari Fleischer and others would say, He's angry about this or this didn't work out and they'd talk about his emotion. But on this one, there was nothing that suggested what the president said in that interview.
MATTHEWS: Does that square with your reporting, David, that the president never made even a pretense that he had an emotional upset or breakdown or anything, as I said earlier, so much as a burp, when he found out the weapons weren't there because they were always the sales piece, and once we got into war, they didn't really matter. We were there.
DAVID CORN, "MOTHER JONES": There's no public evidence, none of the reporting that Mike Isikoff and I did or any of the other great books on the time period in which Bush got angry, said anything publicly, privately about this. And while he's rewriting those days, he's also engaging in a whole 'nother spin operation now. He's gone on—on the interview with Matt, in an interview with Oprah today. He has said that, well, we had to take Saddam Hussein out. It was good we took him out because Saddam had a capacity to build WMDs.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CORN: Not that he had them. He had a capacity.
Well, his own inspectors—Charles Duelfer led the Iraq Survey Group that went in after the invasion. And they produced a report in 2004 saying there was nothing, no capacity, that Saddam Hussein had shut—and Iraq had shut everything down years earlier.
So Saddam was in no position to pursue, develop, create, produce any sort of weapons of mass destruction. So, he's still trying to make the case that there was a WMD argument for the war because Saddam could have developed these and could have --
MATTHEWS: Yes. Well, here he is out late this afternoon on "Oprah." Let's take a look at him on "Oprah" here talking about how he was still right, whether we should have gone to war if he knew there was no weapons of mass destruction. He's still making a case. Check out this exchange. It's with Oprah. Let's listen.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And when we didn't find weapons, I felt terrible about it and sick about it and still do, because a lot of the case in removing Saddam Hussein was based upon weapons of mass destruction.
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": Right. We wouldn't have gone to war had there not been a case for weapons of mass destruction.
BUSH: Well, he was a threat. The interesting thing that happened after he was removed is they sent—we had a team of inspectors go in, who reported that he was equally dangerous. We may not have found the vials, but he had the capacity to make weapons.
OPRAH: But yet you would not have made the decision?
BUSH: Well, I don't think—that's a question I cannot answer, because I didn't have that luxury. In other words, the decision I made was based upon what everybody thought was solid intelligence.
MATTHEWS: This is screwy, David.
Let's back get to reality, because there's such a shell game going on here. Oprah Winfrey asks a very smart question. What would—have done if you didn't have the nuclear weapons, they weren't there? Then he switches to there were vials, which has something to do with biological. And then he never quite answers her when she says—she said it just right, I think, when she said, you didn't have the case. If you didn't have the case, you couldn't have had the war, but you had a case that seemed real, and that's how you sold the war.
It turns out it wasn't real, so there was no real moral case to go to war, in fact, which is the key to this whole war argument. It wasn't fact. It was fiction. And when he realized it was fiction or his whole game was overturned, it didn't bother him because he always knew it was fiction, because he had another reason to go to war. This is what gets you—well, people like me so passionate, because it's murky as hell why we did go to war.
My question to you.
CORN: Well, Chris, this is false with a capital F. He said that the inspectors went in and found that he was equally threatening.
No, they didn't. Does he not know? Did he not read the report? Did he not read "The Washington Post," "New York Times" stories at the time? I wrote about this yesterday, and I'm happy to put up a link in my Twitter feed so people can see the evidence.
What he's saying is 100 percent wrong. And he's getting away with it, at least to the degree that he's creating this spin story that, well, Saddam still posed something of a threat, even if we didn't find those WMDs.
He posed no threat. And at the time, there was a debate. There were
a lot of analysts who said he wasn't the WMD threat—this is at the time
that the administration was making out to be.
And the thing that he leaves out in all of this is, at the time, there were inspectors in Iraq. They were coming up with answers that there were no WMDs. And the process was ongoing. So, if he really cared at the time, he could have kept that process going and we would have gotten—finally found the answer that we know now, that there was nothing, no capacity. It was kaput. He's just making things up.
MATTHEWS: Let's remember something else. The enormous amount of manpower and supplies and cost that went into trying to find the WMD, when we could have been doing other things when we got into this country, like winning the hearts and minds and helping to build a government.
Instead, we deployed enormous resources, so that he could prove he was right, only to find out he was wrong. And then he says, well, nice try, or whatever. He didn't say anything.
DEFRANK: No, Chris, this is Bush trying to take his best shot with history. As his father might say, this dog won't hunt. But you can't—
MATTHEWS: Oprah is not buying it.
DEFRANK: Yes, but you can't begrudge him, because this is what presidents do.
MATTHEWS: I know.
MATTHEWS: I know. And it's not just about him. It's about our history. And we broke with our history of not being the aggressor in this case.
And you can argue it's old-time thinking, but we used to say the aggressors were the bad guys. The ones who invaded were the bad guys. The ones who defended were the good guys. Well, nobody's going to say Saddam is a good guy.
But invading other countries because we think they might, could have, should have some day, some day be a problem, that is not a justification for war.
Here's President Bush again—quote—"Dick"—of course, there's only one of those—"gave a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Controversy in which he said—quote -- 'A return of inspectors would provide false comfort that Saddam was somehow back in his box.' That made it sound like my decision had been made. But I was still considering my options. I asked Condi"—that's Condi Rice—"to make clear to Dick that he had gotten out in front of my position."
Now, not to go after Dick Cheney here again, but the question is, the president seems to be offering up Dick Cheney as the super-hawk, the one who was out front, if you will, here, and it was just him following along in this case.
Why is he doing this?
DEFRANK: Well, because—I don't know. It diminishes President Bush to make that argument.
But it also—it—the dirty little secret of the last couple of years of the Bush administration was that there was distance between Bush and Cheney.
MATTHEWS: Yes. He downgraded him, didn't he?
DEFRANK: He did, indeed, and not publicly, but privately.
MATTHEWS: And why did he downgrade him?
MATTHEWS: Because he felt he had been given a bum steer.
CORN: Yes.
DEFRANK: He felt like that he—that Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld had given him bad advice on Iraq.
DEFRANK: And, also, he felt like that, maybe, while their agenda coincided with his for the most part, sometimes, their agenda was—
MATTHEWS: I want to make a point here. George Bush Sr. picked Dan Quayle. And he wrote in his diary: I made a terrible mistake, but I can't admit it.
Maybe George W. should have said: I made a terrible mistake about the war in Iraq, buying Cheney's argument. I should have—but I can't admit it.
Because I think that's what we're hearing here. Your thoughts.
CORN: It seems really clear right now that what he's trying to do is portray himself as the guy who dealt with a hard problem, thought about it long and hard, and finally erred on the side of being more cautious than not.
But our book "Hubris" that I did with Mike Isikoff opens months before that Cheney speech, in which Bush is saying—Bush is telling Ari Fleischer: I am going to kick Saddam Hussein's mother-bleeping backside all over Iraq.
MATTHEWS: The guy was in over his head. Let's move on. He's in over his head. That's the real problem here. He's surrounded by ideologues that thought more about the Middle East than he ever thought about it for five minutes. He didn't understand all the various motives. He didn't even have a motive himself, except maybe the old man. They tried to kill him.
I wish somebody would do—maybe you got to put this guy in a lie-detector. I don't think you would find, sodium pentathol, he doesn't know why he went to war.
Anyway, thank you, Tom DeFrank.
Thank you, David Corn.
Up next: the lighter side.
I'm serious. I don't know why I'm being sarcastic. This is fabulous.
Wait until you see Hillary Clinton down there with these funny comedians. I think they're Brits, but they're in Australia interviewing her. This Hillary Clinton is one you get to see once in a while. I say if you had seen more of this, history might have been different.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Back to HARDBALL. Now to the "Sideshow."
Tonight, we have got something for you that is really different. The interview you're about to see was conducted by a pair of Australian comedians. Their guest is the American secretary of state, our own Hillary Clinton.
For those of you who haven't seen this side of her, this will be a real eye-opener, maybe even a wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We start with a gift. It's potato chips or crisps.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's potato chips—or crisps, I think—
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a flavor that the people of Australia invented. It's the gravy chip.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I am thrilled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you should be, Madam Secretary.
CLINTON: I cannot tell you how much this means to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you a collector of chips? Is this your first
CLINTON: I am an eater of chips.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We recommend not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not those.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use by—well, it was use by two years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you try to eat them, technically that's an assassination attempt by us.
CLINTON: Shall I wait until I am out of Australian airspace?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your role great negotiation skills. Your husband also possesses those qualities. When you two can't agree on what to get for takeaway dinner, who wins out in that type of negotiation?
CLINTON: You know, we practice different models of negotiation around important issues like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CLINTON: If I were to say to him, what shall we have for dinner tonight, if he says to me, oh, I don't care, you choose, I know that's a really bad answer.
CLINTON: Because then I'm stuck with the responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CLINTON: So I will come back and I will say, all right. Well, so how do you feel about Chinese—
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, good.
CLINTON: -- or Mexican or Italian?
And if he says a second time, you know, I really, really don't care—then I will go choose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to make sure people don't know that overhear half of the conversation, because you've got former a president talking to the current secretary of state, how do you feel about Chinese, Mexican?
CLINTON: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I don't really like Chinese.
CLINTON: Yes. No, no, no, that's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That could be catastrophic.
CLINTON: Well, that's why we have our rooms swept every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In your role now as secretary of state, you have such high-level meetings. Have you ever said the phrase, you have just made a very powerful enemy?
CLINTON: No, but I have thought it.
MATTHEWS: Wow. I don't know the political significance of all that. What I do have a strong sense of is this. Had more people seen that side of the former first lady and senator from New York, history might have gone down differently back in 2008.
Up next: Take me to your leaders. After last week's drubbing, should the Democrats keep Nancy Pelosi and her team as their leaders in the House of Representatives? That's a good question. It always is. The knives are out. They usually are.
You're watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
JULIA BOORSTIN, CNBC CORRESPONDENT: I'm Julia Boorstin with your CNBC "Market Wrap."
A significant sell-off accelerating towards the close, the Dow Jones industrials tumbling at 60 points, the S&P falling almost 10 points, and the Nasdaq giving up 17 points.
We're seeing that correlation between the dollar and stocks again today, the dollar up about 1 percent against a basket of foreign currencies. Meanwhile, gold prices hitting another record before falling ahead of the close, moving in an astounding $35 range in today's session.
Financials were the biggest drag on the market. Bank of America giving back 2.5 percent after a solid run-up last week. In M&A news, Yahoo! shares surged 3 percent on a rumor it could be a target of a buyout bid from a group of private investors. Chevron shares are down slightly on plans to buy natural gas producer Atlas Energy for $4.3 billion.
And Sara Lee has agreed to sell its North American bakery business to Grupo Bimbo for $959 million.
That's it from CNBC, first in business worldwide—now back to
MATTHEWS: Congressman Altmire, would you think that Nancy Pelosi would make a great leader for the Democrats in the next Congress?
REP. JASON ALTMIRE (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I don't. I represent Middle America. You know Pennsylvania well, Chris. And if you look at the results in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, that's Middle America. That's the Industrial Midwest.
And we didn't fare so well last Tuesday. And I do think it's time for a change in direction. If you gauge effectiveness by a willingness to push forward legislation that's not popular with the American people and have literally multiple dozens of members cast politically suicidal votes, then, yes, Speaker Pelosi was effective.
But I don't think that's the direction we want to keep going.
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL.
That was Pennsylvania Congressman Jason Altmire on HARDBALL Monday. That's yesterday. It looks like Speaker Pelosi will stay on as the House Democratic leader without a formal challenge so far. The fight is for the number-two spot between Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn. But no matter who wins, is it good for Democrats to move forward with the same team?
And that's my question to Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York.
Sir, is it smart to stay with the same team after you have been battered?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: Well, it is the same team that took us from the wilderness of the minority in 2006 and 2008 and built a winning coalition.
Look, she was a speaker that was—
MATTHEWS: But you lost all the seats you won in 2006 and 2008, and more.
WEINER: Yes, but she did—yes, but you can make a list as long as your arm about why that would happen.
It certainly isn't because our speaker did the bidding of the caucus and passed health care reform, financial regulation, and help bail out the economy.
Look, the speaker acts on behalf of the body. And, overwhelmingly, Democrats were saying we want to try to solve these problems. I mean, of all the people that deserve blame here, I think Nancy is the last of them. The president didn't do a good job. The health care took too long. The Senate jacked us up more times than I can imagine.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WEINER: It certainly wasn't Nancy Pelosi.
MATTHEWS: Well, why are the Republicans jumping on her everywhere? Even in Philly, when I went home a couple weekends ago, all it was, was ads attacking—Republican ads or outside ads attacking Pelosi.
Even against candidates who were not even incumbents, they were blaming—blaming her—or blaming them for her. What do you make of this target practice on her? What is it all about?
WEINER: It's about what it always is.
Speakers get caricatured, your former boss Tip O'Neill the same exact way, Newt Gingrich. It kind of goes with the territory.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WEINER: But the one thing we don't want to let happen is, we don't want to let the Republicans choose our leadership.
Yes, they may say that they're going to target her. And you watch. I mean, we're going to go after John Boehner. He's going to be the face of an unpopular Republican majority for the next couple of years. That's just the way it goes.
WEINER: But if you want to think about you and I would be sitting here a year ago saying that she was the most powerful speaker since Sam Rayburn. And I think that's still true today, as minority leader.
MATTHEWS: I think, if you ask my political analysis, Congressman, I think she's been the strongest speaker I can think of in terms of internal discipline. I've never seen this kind of discipline by a party, a Democratic Party in my lifetime.
Let's take a look at this comment by Michael Capuano up in the "Boston Globe," quote, 'If the Red Sox came in and lost every game of the year and they keep the manager at the end of the year, that's a problem. That's what we seem to be on the verge of doing. The thing that amazes"—this is Capuano—"is the hubris that no one has stepped aside voluntarily.
Now, Michael Capuano is a progressive. He's a liberal, the old school. He's got Tip O'Neill's old seat, Cambridge and surrounding areas. He's not one of these Southern guys. What do you think he's speaking out?
WEINER: Well, first of all, Michael Capuano is one of the smartest guys in the House and he'd make a great speaker at some point as well. But, look, there is this sense that Nancy does have the opportunity, that she should have an opportunity to decide what the terms are that she leaves on.
But I just want to make sure it's very clear and I don't think Mike Capuano would say this either, to say that litany of losses was because of Nancy Pelosi, you could put anyone in that speaker's chair, if they had to deal with the tough hand that she had to deal with these past two years, she'd get roughed up pretty good, too.
And I have to tell you something: she did the will of not only the Congress, but a lot of members of the American people who say the things that were necessary.
MATTHEWS: OK. One last question, yes or no. Is she staying primarily to keep Steny Hoyer out of that leadership?
WEINER: No, I don't believe that's the motivation.
MATTHEWS: --but you don't believe that's the real—if she had somebody that she'd like, would she get out of the way?
WEINER: She's trying to box out Weiner. It's pretty clear.
MATTHEWS: You're—this is dodging.
WEINER: I'm sorry. I don't want to dodge your question.
MATTHEWS: You know, the inside, is it primarily she doesn't think Steny Hoyer should be the Democratic leader of the House? Is that primarily why she's hanging in there?
WEINER: No, I don't believe that. I believe that she knows the path getting back to being the speaker. I believe she thinks she can do it and I think she can, too.
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you, sir. Thank you for joining us, Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York.
Let's go now to Republican Zach Wamp of Tennessee.
Congressman Wamp, let me ask you about this whole question. You've got a colleague down there, Spencer Bachus of Alabama who says that Sarah Palin cost you guys the Senate. Quote, "The Senate would be Republican today except for states in which Palin endorsed candidates like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. Sarah Palin costs us control of the Senate."
Is that an honest, solid charge by your lights?
REP. ZACH WAMP ®, TENNESSEE: Well, normally, House members don't comment on what the Senate ends up like. So, I think that's—
MATTHEWS: He did.
WAMP: Yes, I know he did, but I don't really think it speaks for other House members. And certainly, Sarah Palin picked like 70 percent winners and I, obviously, don't think that's the case anymore than you could say Jim DeMint did and I don't think that's the case. Obviously, it was a big cycle.
MATTHEWS: Do you think she would be a great president?
WAMP: Well, she is like Newt Gingrich. She's got an unbelievable base. She's electric. But I don't think either one will ever be president.
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you about this woman, Kristi Noem. Let's take a look at her ad. This is a woman who there's a lot of talk, in fact, she wants it. She's from South Dakota, out west. She would like to be—even though she's just got elected to become a member of your party's leadership, I want to know if you think somebody of the Tea Party crowd should essentially be a member of the leadership, so Tea Party people be represented in the leadership of your party, to bring in so many members of the House.
Let's listen.
KRISTI NOEM ®, SOUTH DAKOTA: Here on the ranch in South Dakota, we don't take a lot of polls or hold many caucuses. We do what needs to be done. That's what I'll do in Washington. Unlike my opponent, I'll vote to lower the national debt, vote against wasteful spending, repeal government-mandated health care and work every day to create jobs. Oh, and one more thing, my first vote won't be to make Nancy Pelosi speaker.
I'm Kristi Noem, and I approve this message.
Sorry, Nancy.
MATTHEWS: So, what do you think of Kristi Noem? The new look of the Republican Party?
WAMP: Well, this is an eclectic class and I came in an eclectic class in 1994. But we need to remember ,Chris, that 13 members of my class lost two years later. And just based on the sheer size, you can look for the same kind of thing, but I think that some of these members may actually lose to Republicans because of redistricting, because the communities really got involved in taking out incumbents this year.
But these guys are going to have to get together. It's going to be an interesting thing. The Tea Party will pull our party to the right like the progressive pulled the Democratic Party to the left, but the country is still right of center. So, really, the country has a way of bringing everyone back to where they are.
MATTHEWS: Yes. Is the country—let me ask you about Michael Steele, speaking of the country. He's had a pretty good winning streak starting with New Jersey and Virginia and in, of course, to this past week. He's got a heck—if you give him credit as party chair for just the most amazing streak starting when he took over, a lot of pressure. He's almost like Joe Biden. He gets hit a lot for comments he makes not for success, one way or the other.
Do you think he should get re-elected as chairman of your party?
WAMP: He's been exciting. He's been electric. That's going to be up to the Republican National Committee themselves. There's a certain amount of fatigue, though, that goes with that job. That is a hard job.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
WAMP: I think people ought to do it once and then maybe step aside.
MATTHEWS: OK. You're a smart guy. Thank you, Congressman Zach Wamp.
I see why you're a congressman. You know how to talk.
Up next, much more of Michael Steele and whether he should stay on as party chairman. There's a movement afoot, I'm told, to find an alternative to the often outspoken Mr. Michael Steele. Personally, I like him.
This is HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Who's the next Senate Republican that Tea Party people are hoping to take down? How about Utah's Orrin Hatch? Hatch will be going for his seventh term in 2012 and a new poll out today shows a plurality of likely voters in Utah say they'd vote him out of office, 48 percent say they would vote for somebody other than Hatch, just 41 want him back.
Wow. The time has come. Whoa! The (INAUDIBLE) is heading after this guy.
Tea Party activists say Hatch is too entrenched in the Washington establishment. Hatch's fellow Utah senator, Robert Bennett, lost his bid for renomination this year to a Tea Party candidate and Hatch could be next. I think he's thinking about it.
HARDBALL will be right back.
MATTHEWS: We're back.
One of the stars of last week's midterm blowout, you might say, is RNC Chairman Michael Steele. So, after an impressive record of wins, why is the GOP looking for possible candidates to run against him?
Joining me right now is Chris Cillizza, the managing editor of the PostPolitics.com. And Bob Kabel, he's the Republican Party chairman here in the District of Columbia.
First of all, I want to go to you, Mr. Chairman. Congratulations on being a true minority in Washington, D.C.
BOB KABEL, DC REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Chris.
MATTHEWS: You are a minority.
KABEL: We are. We are.
MATTHEWS: The Republican Party in this town.
Why are you folks, or anybody, talking about dumping a guy—look at the record of success. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bo McDonnell in Virginia, Scott Brown in Massachusetts, then picking up six Senate seats, more than 60 House seats, more than six governorships, and then you're talking about getting rid of him. This guy was coaching a football team, you wouldn't even think about it.
KABEL: No. I mean, he is—Michael, I hope he runs. I think—I know he is still thinking about it. I have been a supporter—
MATTHEWS: Who is out to get him?
KABEL: There's—from day one, there has always been a group of people who didn't think Michael Steele should be the chairman of the RNC and some of them are still members of the RNC, some of them are off the committee. But I think the facts speak for themselves. I think with Michael's election victories and starting last year and then this year, I think he has a very excellent—an excellent chance of being re-elected.
MATTHEWS: What are—Chris, what are you reporting on this? What can you tell me about the story? Is there an actual move to dump him if he tries again?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, WASHINGTON POST: Yes, there is. Now, how coordinated that is, Chris, I think is you can leave that up a little bit. But, yes, I would say most people I talked to, there are 168 members of the RNC. These are the committee people who vote.
I think Michael Steele was probably between 50 and 60 pretty solid votes. He needs 85, just a simple majority to win. I don't know that he's going to get there. He may and he starts out ahead of anyone else. I think there is a desire among kind of the professional political class, consultants, strategists, people who are devising 2012.
MATTHEWS: Where is Karl Rove?
CILLIZZA: Well, I have not—let me say this, I haven't talked to Karl Rove. I don't think he is behind Michael Steele. But I don't know that for a fact.
MATTHEWS: Isn't he trying to create a separate Republican Party structure? Isn't Rove out there trying to free boot and raise money and create a network of people that he can call the Republican Party as opposed to the RNC?
CILLIZZA: Well, Chris, he certainly—look, he was involved in the founding of American Crossroads as well as Ed Gillespie, former RNC chairman. So, yes, in that way.
I would say thought, I'm not sure that Karl Rove necessarily helps a candidate running against Michael Steele. I think the RNC, the committee people at least, are resistant to the idea of having sort of the big wigs, White House types tell them who it should be.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
CILLIZZA: So, I don't know being Rove's candidate necessarily helps. I do think, though, there is a concern that Michael Steele for the fact you ran through his resume, he did have some wins, I think some people would say that Republicans won in spite of him, not because of him. I think there is a desire to have some—
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me go back to the party professional here.
Mr. Chairman—
KABEL: No, I totally disagree with that. I mean, Michael—look where we were when he was elected office. We'd lost the presidency. We'd lost the Congress. We didn't have a president in the White House to basically tell us who the RNC chairman was going to be, that occurred for eight years. That's the way it always works.
So, the chairmanship is up for grabs. There were several people interested in it. Michael was very competitive from the beginning and he won. And he's done a superb job and the RNC has actually raised $175 million. They've spent $175 million.
But that's what party committees do—they raise money, and they spend money and he won election after election after election. I think—
CILLIZZA: And I think—
KABEL: -- that the "Fire Pelosi" bus trip that he—that he organized and scheduled was one of the best things that happened in bringing the 60-plus Republican House members in.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
KABEL: And it also, I think, endeared Michael Steele to a lot of the RNC members who maybe he had not gotten enough because he spent time with them and also the tremendous things for their parties.
MATTHEWS: You think nailing—nailing the target on Nancy Pelosi worked?
KABEL: Yes.
MATTHEWS: Why?
KABEL: I think she was, first of all, she was a major target to begin with.
MATTHEWS: But a lot of people never heard of her, did they? All these people hear of her?
KABEL: Chris, I think she was known very well.
CILLIZZA: People I think—Chris, I think over the last four years on the Pelosi subject, I think between '06 when she became speaker, all the attention she got as the historic first woman in '10, if you look at the polling, it would suggest, you're looking at 90-plus percent of people who knew she was, and in a lot of these districts, remember, these are swing moderate to conservative districts, she was deeply unpopular, just as a sidebar. But I do think people knew her.
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you for that I need to be corrected. I'm just amazed to see in local election that she becomes the key issue which she seemed to become.
Thank you, Chris Cillizza. Thank you, Chairman Bob Kabel of the Republican Party of Washington, D.C., intrepid as it is.
When we return, let me finish with some thoughts about Joe and Valerie Wilson and the fantastic new movie. And I mean it's first-rate movie, "Fair Game."
You're you are watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with a stirring movie I saw last night.
I had heard of the first-rate script, the masterful performances by the leads, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. What I was not prepared for in "Fair Game" was the story itself, the wondrous dramatic courage of it all. The movie opens with this actually gutsy CIA agent out in the war of terror, trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons from getting into dangerous hands.
I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer guts of Naomi Watts' character, anyone would be, especially in America, and especially someone who has children like we do, young adults and thinking how inspiring this must to be them, to have this pull to go out there and risk all for your country, like this young woman did.
The real-life Valerie Plame Wilson is the true hero of this saga. Her career fighting the dangers facing us, her discipline in keeping it secret, her readiness to honor a loving marriage in the face of it all, and then the crushing waterfall of betrayal, the decision by war hawks in this country, the neocon crowd holed up in the White House bunker who wanted to protect a case they'd built for the Iraq war, that whole PR campaign that ramrodded out of the White House and the country's op-ed pages that ran roughshod over good journalism and all the other obstacles we need if skepticism and eventually truth is ever to survive the onslaught of propaganda, especially the war-whooping kind that was embraced by this country's establishment after 9/11.
This is one fine movie. While it will never be another "Casablanca," "Fair Game" is perfect for our murky time. It's a great story of two people caught up in a dirty, ruthless campaign to justify a war that most Americans can see now was never justified either by fact or the fiction ordered up to sell it.
Want to understand Iraq and how we got there? Want a real look at the Bush White House and how they got us there? Want to see on the big screen what our nightly fights here are all about? Go see this movie.
That's HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.
Right now, it's time for "THE ED SHOW" with Ed Schultz.
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From new boutiques to fresh eats, visitors to Paris during couture week have plenty of extracurricular pursuits calling between shows.
A slew of new stores awaits visitors to Paris this season. On the Right Bank, Tom Ford has opened his second boutique, on Rue Saint-Honoré at the corner of Rue Cambon. Unlike his first store, which was dedicated to men's wear, the 5,800-square-foot emporium sells men's and women's ready-to-wear in addition to accessories, jewelry, eyewear, fragrances and made-to-measure pieces.
French contemporary brand April, May, known for its rock-chick-meets-Parisienne aesthetic, has opened its first store in the Marais. The brainchild of the label's cofounder and designer, Diane Goldstein, the 800-square-foot space has taken its design cues from the area's art galleries, with wooden floorboards contrasting with sections of raw concrete wall. Across the river, Rue de Grenelle boasts two boutiques dedicated to women's wear, a stone's throw from department store Le Bon Marché. Paul Smith has unveiled its fifth shop in the French capital, with distinctive features including walls lined with photographs by Irving Penn and Henry II antique furniture. A few steps down lies Surface to Air's second Paris boutique. Like its previous stores in Paris, New York and São Paulo, it is designed by architect Federico Masotto, who has decked out display units with opulent red and blue marble.
Tom Ford, 376-378 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-60-40-26. Open Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
April, May, 51 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75003 Paris. Tel.: +33-9-67-25-78-60. Open Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
Paul Smith, 32 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-44-39-00-40. Open Mon.-Sat. 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
Surface to Air, 22 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris. Tel: +33-1-42-22-48-40. Open Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
— Joelle Diderich
NEXT: Nobu Alights >>
The Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris hotel is expanding its culinary roster with guest chefs from all horizons. Through next month, celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa joins house chef Laurent André in the kitchens of La Cuisine for a dinner-only appearance featuring Nobu signatures such as tuna sashimi salad and blackened cod as well as South American-inspired dishes, such as Chilean bass with jalapeno sauce. In addition to an à la carte menu, there is a seven-course Omakase, or chef's choice tasting menu (for 150 euros, or $199 at current exchange). Then on Feb. 12, guest chef Renato Piccolotto of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice will join chef Roberto Rispoli at the Royal Monceau-Raffles' Italian restaurant Il Carpaccio for a four-day stint, featuring his signature risotto and taglierini. The chefs have also designed a collaborative tasting menu (for 135 euros, or $179). "We try to make it surprising for guests every time," commented Omer Acar, general manager of the hotel. "Cultivating a dialogue between chefs is key to the creative process."
Royal Monceau Raffles Paris, 37 Avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris. Tel: +33-1-42-99-88-00 or email@example.com.
— Tina Isaac
Parisian foodies are getting a soft spot for la pascade, a rustic dish from France's Aveyron region. It's gaining popularity again after chef Alexandre Bordas opened an inn-style restaurant on Rue Daunou (between the opera and Place Vendôme) dedicated to that specialty of his native area.
The thick, yellow-to-brown crêpe, with a crisp and fluffy texture, is a vector for the chef's creations, which also take inspiration from the dishes served in his two Michelin-starred restaurant in Honfleur, France, called SaQuaNa.
Like a nest, the pascade holds seafood such as cod with spinach, coriander and a coco emulsion.
The restaurant, which seats 44, has walnut tables on which stainless-steel tubes hold the cutlery, napkins and menu.
On offer are five savory and four sweet pascades, with prices ranging from 18 euros to 23 euros, or $24 to $30 at current exchange, for the savory ones and from 9 euros to 18 euros, or $12 to $24, for the sweet versions. Dessert lovers go for the "coffee shot" pascade, with coffee-flavored Italian ice cream, chocolate mousse and hazelnut croquants. The wine list is chosen by sommelier Sébastien Pradal, also an Aveyron native.
Pascade, 14 Rue Daunou 75002 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-60-11-00. Open weekdays for lunch starting at noon and dinner beginning at 7 p.m.
— Laure Guilbault
There is more to Ladurée than macarons. Nestled under the archways of Rue de Castiglione, off Place Vendôme, is a boutique dedicated to the pastry shop's new brand, Les Marquis de Ladurée, which is entirely devoted to chocolate. Under Murano glass chandeliers, the marble counter, dotted with 18th century-style medallion portraits, holds an array of cocoa-flavored delights, from pastry (with recipes exclusive to the store) to pralines and chocolate bonbons. Of course there is the signature macaron, in a variety of chocolate flavors. Coming shortly are chocolate-making classes and tasting sessions in the store.
Les Marquis de Ladurée, 14 Rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-60-86-92. Open Mon.-Wed. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Thurs.-Fri. 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Sat. 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
— Anne-Aymone Gheerbrant
Atelier Cologne has just opened its first boutique in the City of Light. The 666-square-foot location in central Paris, tucked away just off the Rue Saint-Honoré in a space that used to be two stores — an art gallery and a postcard seller, is its second freestanding shop (after one in New York's NoLIta neighborhood). Sylvie Ganter, a cofounder of the fragrance brand, explained Atelier Cologne is 100 percent French. "So it was about time we opened in Paris," she said. As the space was being renovated this fall some original details were uncovered, such as a brick wall, pillars and decorative molding. Wood from Brazil lines the floor and much of the shop's furniture is reconstituted from antique pieces. "All those things have so much soul and history that we were glad to bring them back to life in our own world with a different type of use," added Ganter. On site along with the full range of Atelier Cologne products is an engraving atelier, where customers' names or initials can be put on the scents' leather caps and travel pouches. Most recently, Atelier Cologne opened in Harvey Nichols in Kuwait, and up next could be a presence in Dubai and Shanghai, according to Ganter.
Atelier Cologne, 8 Rue Saint-Florentin, 75001 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-60-00-31. Open Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
— Jennifer Weil
NEXT: R&R Reprieve >>
Paris hotel Le Meurice recently renovated its spa with the help of designer Charles Jouffre. The bright space, which measures about 3,780 square feet, boasts three treatment rooms (one of which can accommodate two people simultaneously), a couple of rest lounges, space for manicures and makeup sessions, an area for pedicures, hammams, a sauna, fitness room (available to hotel guests and visitors with a monthly pass) and terrace. A fountain made of ice is a striking visual detail in the spa tinged in bronze, green and beige hues. Brands used here include Valmont, By Terry and OPI. Since its revamp, some offers have been added to the spa's menu, including the Bulle Émotionnelle Treatment, a facial with a focus on the eye area that lasts for one hour and costs 150 euros, or $199.60 at current exchange. There's also a new body-slimming treatment. Other possibilities for some rest and relaxation include the hour-long Hydration Ritual, which is 140 euros, or $186.30; the half-hour Leg Toning Treatment for 90 euros, or $119.75, and the hour-long Relaxing Massage with Essential Oils for 150 euros, or $199.60. With easy access from the spa or from 8 Rue de Castiglione is a 277-square-foot Valmont boutique.
Le Meurice, 228 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-44-58-10-10. For non-hotel guests, the spa is open daily 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris is hosting "Fashioning Fashion," an exhibition tracing two centuries of fashion in Europe from the 18th century to the early 20th century. It showcases a major collection of European men's, women's and children's garments and accessories, which was acquired in 2009 by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (where the exhibit originated).
Curated by the Arts Décoratifs' Véronique Belloir and Denis Bruna, the show takes a chronological approach, examining evolutions in tailoring techniques, technical development and fashion trends from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I.
The first floor is dedicated to the 18th century, while on the upper level visitors can gaze at 19th-century fashion, including luxurious dresses in plain weave silk and pantaloons in silk cut velvet.
There's a section on the bustle, which replaced crinolines in around 1870, for instance. The bustle came in different shapes, supporting a sort of cushion called a "pouf," which assumed the shape of a crayfish tail. But fashion changed fast, and in 1880 the bustle disappeared and was replaced by elongated silhouettes.
Also at Les Arts Décoratifs, in its nave, is the "Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art of High Jewelry" exhibit.
"Fashioning Fashion," through April 14. "Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art of High Jewelry," through Feb. 10. Les Arts Décoratifs, 107 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris. Tel. : +33-1-44-55-57-50. Open Tues.-Sun. 11 a.m.- 6 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m.- 9 p.m.
— Laure Guilbault
NEXT: Follow Your Art >>
Paris museums are percolating.
The "Michael Werner Collection" is a tribute to the second-largest donor ever to Paris' Museum of Modern Art. Consisting of some 900 pieces set in atypical juxtapositions, the show reunites the works of 40 artists, ranging from postwar painters such as Sigmar Polke to more conceptual artists like Joseph Beuys.
The museum also showcases "Art At War, France 1938-1947, from Picasso to Dubuffet," an exhibit that highlights more than 100 artists' works on loan from around the world. The oeuvres reflect and help define how artistic creation carried on despite the war but how art was forever changed by it. Fast forward to today and its urban codes. Les Arts Décoratifs explores the ways graphic designers and DJs interacted to create record sleeves, flyers and videos in the Nineties in its show called "French Touch. Graphisme/Video/Electro."
Another reaction to post-Modernism is on display at the Musée de la Poste, which is hosting "Beyond Street Art," which brings indoors the graffiti and stencil creations of 11 artists from four nations.
Two modern art masters are the subject of Paris shows. An exhibit at the Centre Pompidou focused on Salvador Dalí is organized both chronologically and thematically, featuring pieces in different media. It finishes in a labyrinth-shaped room evocative of the artist's brain.
The Pinacothèque presents "Van Gogh, Dreaming of Japan," the first exhibit in decades devoted exclusively to the artist. The paintings on display — mostly landscapes — provide a rare opportunity to examine the Japanese influence on his treatment of works focused on his beloved South of France. An exhibition featuring Hiroshige is being held simultaneously in the museum's second building. Though long overlooked in France, this master of ukiyo-e, or Japanese woodblock prints, was an obsession of Van Gogh.
The Grand Palais has extended its retrospective on Edward Hopper after it attracted more than a half-a-million visitors already. Here, the American painter's career is investigated, from his formative years, which included a few trips to Paris, to the establishment of his emblematic realistic style. An entire room focuses on Hopper's etchings.
Photography's in focus at the Bourdelle museum, which has put on a show called "Dans l'atelier du photographe." This charts the medium's history since its founding in the middle of the 19th century and examines its basic techniques. The exhibit is divided into 14 sections, each devoted to a particular photographic process.
For those feeling blue from gray January days, the Fondation Cartier's exhibit can bring on a smile. Exclusive to Europe is the retrospective of Chinese artist Yue Minjun, which documents cynic realism through the artist's paintings of ecstatically laughing figures and ironic parodies of classic masters' works. Also on display are about 100 of his drawings that have never before been shown publicly.
Something fishy is going on at the Gagosian Gallery. As an ode to his leitmotiv, Frank Gehry created a spectacular collection of lamps, varying in scale, all in fish form. The Canadian-American architect transformed a simple accident into an artistic creation: While working on another project, he shattered a piece of plastic laminate and gleaned inspiration from the shards, which reminded him of scales.
"The Michael Werner Collection," through March 3. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 11 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-53-67-40-00. Open Tues.-Wed., Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
"Art in War, France 1938-1947," through Feb. 17. Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 11 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-53-67-40-00. Open Tues.-Wed., Fri.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
"French Touch. Graphisme/Video/Electro," through March 31. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 107 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-44-55-57-50. Open Tues.-Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
"Beyond Street Art," through March 30. Musée de la Poste, 34 Boulevard de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-79-24-24. Open Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
"Dalí," through March 25. Centre Pompidou, Place Georges Pompidou, 75004 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-44-78-12-33. Open Wed.-Mon. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
"Van Gogh, Dreaming of Japan," through March 17. Pinacothèque de Paris, Pinacothèque 2, 8 Rue Vignon, 75009 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-44-56-88-80. Open Mon.-Sun. 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Wed. and Fri. 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
"Hiroshige, the Art of Travel," through March 17. Pinacothèque de Paris, Pinacothèque 1, 28 Place de la Madeleine, 75009 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-68-02-01. Open Mon.-Sun. 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Wed. and Fri. 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
"Edward Hopper," through Feb. 3. Grand Palais, Galeries Nationales, 3 Avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-40-13-48-00. Open Wed.-Fri. 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. and Sun. 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Mon. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (From Jan. 26-31 open 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Open from Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. to Feb. 3 at 11 p.m.)
"Dans l'atelier du photographe," through Feb. 10. Musée Bourdelle, 16 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-49-54-73-73. Open Tues. to Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
"Yue Minjun, the Shadow of Giggles," through March 17. Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, 261 Boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-42-18-56-50. Open Tues. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
"Frank Gehry: Fish Lamps," through March 9. Gagosian Gallery, 4 Rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris. Tel.: +33-1-75-00-05-92. Open Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.