The myna bird call of Barbara Amiel

Barbara Amiel’s latest pensée in the pages of Maclean’s—besides perfunctory references to her new dog and the shortcomings of Barack Obama—contains a sentence that reminded me of something I’d read before. Now, usually when my memory is jogged like this, it means Amiel is repeating something penned earlier by her own good self, since doctrinal and rhetorical inconsistency aren’t among Lady Black’s more evident sins. Not this time, however. The recollection bothered me enough that I followed my nose—and voila!

The campaign to be the next president after the candidate elected this year will start before Inauguration Day in January, and will cost over $1 billion. —Conrad Black, The New York Sun, February 12, 2008

The next presidential campaign will start before the next president is inaugurated and will likely cost more than $1 billion. —Barbara Amiel, Maclean’s, April 2, 2008

What’s that old proverb? Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ.

• ‘The politics of change’? That takes the biscuit [Maclean’s]