"What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick!" said Sarah Palin, famously, as she embarked on winning the vice presidency.

This is one of the newest and latest entries in "The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations." Novelist Fay Weldon has been added with her "Guilt is to motherhood as grapes are to wine." And then there is a "new" one from Thomas Jefferson: "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

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Looking back on it, the best-looking guy at Walter Cronkite’s memorial was George Clooney’s newsman father, Nick. He was sitting in the front row and made a very good speech as an old friend of Cronkite’s.

When he hugged me, I said, "Well, Nick, whatever happened to that large sum of money I donated to your political career?" He laughed: "I’m afraid I was the worst political candidate ever to run for office. But I have a wonderful wife" – and he presented his Mrs., the attractive Nina, for my approval. I approved. The Clooneys added a nice touch and they have been wed for 50 years, unlike George who says he is missing "the marrying gene."

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Speaking of George Clooney, which I am delighted to do – this big star, ever seeking to expand his professional horizons – has already created what we ink-stained and web-stung wretches call "Oscar buzz." This is over his prickly new movie "Up in the Air." Clooney is said to give one of his strongest outings to date, about an executive "killer" who goes around firing people.

Director/producer/writer Jason Reitman could be stepping up there with Clooney to accept the Academy Award for this one.

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For nine weeks, our friends Suzy and Jack Welch have been battling a painful illness that beset the former head of General Electric and NBC and all but worried to death his brilliant wife, who became caregiver extraordinaire.

Thank heaven, Jack is now out of danger and will soon be leaving Columbia Presbyterian in New York to return to his home in Boston. Here’s what happened. Jack was getting his usual cortisone treatments for his back but, while in Florida, he found the shots were not helping and he grew to have intractable pain.

Doctors there recommended Columbia Presbyterian, where Jack was diagnosed as having something rare called "discitis," a staph infection of the spine. So he has battled endlessly against this and is now moving out of the woods.

Meantime, Suzy held down the fort, looked after their mutual children and worried about Jack. Theirs is a fabulous love story and we are on their side. I used to kid Mr. Tycoon Jack that I was the only person who worked for him at NBC who he had not fired. And I added that this was because he didn’t really know who I was. He always denied this with such loving vehemence that I found the guy irresistible. I am sure you have read his books that tell you how to be an executive success.

We wish Suzy and Jack all the best!

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Hollywood is chattering over that very attractive, talented TV and movie star who spends what appears to be an inordinate amount of time drinking on set with … her mother. Everybody likes this young actress but people are concerned.

P.S. It’s not Lindsay Lohan, before you start clucking.