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Like Election 2008, Christmas Arrives Early
Tweet Share on Facebook October 26, 2007 Comment (21)
It's a good media party, the Heritage Foundation's Christmas fete, so it's something Whispers looks to be invited to. But before Halloween? Yup, the invite, seen above, arrived Friday for the December 3 shindig. I guess it's a sign of the times: In a season where the presidential race started a year early, it only makes sense for Christmas invitations to arrive about the same time Home Depot and Target offer their fake Christmas trees.
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They're Loving Bob Gates
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2007 CommentOn the job for less than a year, Defense Secretary Bob Gates is winning widespread praise for building a bipartisan approach to handling the war and military issues. "It's a breath of fresh air," said Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "He's far more open minded. He welcomes other ideas, he solicits ideas."
Levin said that Gates's approach is much different from those of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney. For example, he sited Gates's recent comments on Iran and missile defense.
"It's a much more cautious thoughtful approach," said Levin. "You compare his statements to Cheney's statements. Cheney has the same old ideological rigidity and rashness and lack of any kind if nuance, cockiness. In Gates, you've got a nuanced thing."
Specifically on the war in Iraq, Levin said that Gates has made substantive proposals to Democrats, especially on the issue of troop reductions. "I honestly feel that there is at least a subtle shift here which is aimed at bipartisanship, aimed at getting the troops out of Iraq faster rather than this open-ended approach that the president has been taking."
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Bubba Reveals 'Enduring Humiliation'
Tweet Share on Facebook October 24, 2007 CommentIf it seems like we're writing a lot about Bill Clinton's golf game, well, the chatty putter just won't stop talking about it.
You might recall that we recently wrote that Clinton pal Terry McAuliffe has been bragging about how he can now beat the ex-president on the links. Something about how having fewer Secret Service agents on the course means Bubba's errant balls don't miraculously show up on the fairway anymore.
Anyway, Clinton was in Little Rock this week dedicating a new wetlands project when he revealed that its namesake, William Clark, never lost to the president.
"In all the times we played golf, even with my handicap, I never beat him once, not one single solitary time. It was one of the enduring humiliations of my life," tells Clinton. "And yet I never could wait to try again."
Word is that Clark, whose company built Clinton's library and museum, was a straight-talking guy who just didn't cater to power. The duo played most times Clinton returned home, even in the rain. Once, we're told, Clark sought to stop after nine holes because of heavy rain. But Clinton said they had to play through, and even that didn't help him win.
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Rudy’s Running Mate Dating Game
Tweet Share on Facebook October 23, 2007 CommentIf former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani stays at No. 1 in the polls, he’ll need a running mate next year. Who looks best with the Yankees fan? Click here to take the poll...
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A Bipartisan Ticket? Now That's Funny!
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2007 CommentLast week's media star-studded debut of XM Satellite Radio's new POTUS '08 presidential politics station featured comic Lewis Black in his inimitable, profanity-laced manner. Our Liz Halloran ambled up to get his views on the current Republican and Democratic presidential front-runners. No surprise: Black said everybody stinks.
"There's a void in leadership in the Democratic Party," the Grammy winner and regular ranter on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart told her. "How does not one of them stop and become the voice of the party?" Here's Black on the candidates, with expletives deleted:
—Republican Rudy Giuliani: "And you thought that Bush was arrogant? Giuliani is the most arrogant man I've ever seen."
—Democrat Hillary Clinton: "Don't tell me she's really nice as a person."
—Democrat Barack Obama: "Even Obama's not talking to me. I don't need to hear about the white house on the hill; I needed him to be there in the past year."
Is there anyone he could see himself voting for in '08? "I'd like to see a Democrat and Republican run together," Black said. Who? "Chuck Hagel with anyone."
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Bubba Plays It Straight
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2007 CommentOops, we didn't mean in our item - below - about Terry McAuliffe's golf tale about his best pal former President Clinton to suggest that Bubba plays anything but a clean game. All he joked about in a speech at the Clinton Center in Little Rock last week was how, when president, Clinton's errant balls that fell near U.S. Secret Service agents had a remarkable way of finding their way back to the fairway. As a former president, Clinton now has far fewer Secret Service agents with him and McAuliffe jokes that he can actually beat him every once in awhile.
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Meet the Bobbles
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2007 Comment
Welcome to our new Washington Whispers feature, Capitol Bobbles. (To view the bobble videos, click on the video player to the right.)
Yes, we're using bobbleheads to tell the political story of the day. We've got bobbles of the major presidential candidates (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. Joe Biden, John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney) and the congressional leadership (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader John Boehner).
The Bobbles are caricatures even in their props and attire. Huckabee, for example, is famous for his rock band so he's posed with a guitar. Richardson loves to ride horses so he's dressed in a cowboy hat and sporting a toy horse.
But we're not just putting on a show. We also plan to have the Capitol Bobbles, with your help, answer significant political questions, such as: Has the media already crowned Sen. Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential nominee? Would a Giuliani-McCain presidential ticket look better than a Giuliani-Huckabee team?
To check out previous posts featuring the Capitol Bobbles, including videos and user polls, click on the links below:
Nov. 30: That Buzzing Sound Is Mike Huckabee
Nov. 21: Happy Capitol Bobble Thanksgiving
Nov. 14: Will the Real Reagan Bobble Step Forward?
Nov. 5: Did the Boys Go Too Far?
Oct: 30: A Capitol Bobble Halloween
Oct. 23: Rudy’s Running Mate Dating Game
Oct: 16: Hillary's Running-Mate Dating Game
Oct. 11: A New Bobble Joins the Debate
If you've got ideas for Capitol Bobble skits, send them to me at pbedard@usnews.com.
Bobbles provided by and available at:
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Hey Congress: Stop Pilfering U.S. History
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2007 Comment (2)It's been a rule in the House of Representatives since 1953, but very few lawmakers have given a hoot about--or even knew of--a ban on taking committee documents when they retire. Some, especially prominent committee chairmen, give them to local colleges. Others just store them in their basements.
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WRConsider former Rep. Peter Rodino, who chaired the Watergate panel that sought to impeach former President Nixon. He kept some and donated others to Seton Hall University. Two of the most important letters Nixon sent Rodino, those in which the ex-prez snubbed a subpoena for more Watergate tapes, he gave to a historian pal years ago.
Well, when that historian offered them for auction to help pay some medical bills, the feds moved in and for the first time cited the House rule to recover the papers after Bill Panagopulos, president of Alexander Autographs, verified their authenticity. And now, say those involved, House officials are hunting for other awol papers. "The law being what it is, I was obliged to surrender the letters. I just hope they don't end up in a dust-covered box," says Panagopulos, who valued the letters signed by Nixon at $500,000. The historian's lawyer says there's a double standard at play. Congressmen aren't targeted, only private citizens or groups who have the papers. "It's not fair," says lawyer Robert Goldman.
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Out Loud: October 19, 2007
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2007 Comment (44)"Matt, I use bathrooms for bathrooms' sake."
Sen. Larry Craig, discussing his bid to overturn a guilty plea in a men's room sex sting with NBC's Matt Lauer
"I'm still adjusting because I don't like going to church for three hours every Sunday."
Ann Romney, wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on her long-ago conversion to Mormonism
"I've got all sorts of rogues in my background."
Sen. Barack Obama, Democratic presidential hopeful, on his genealogical link to Dick Cheney, revealed by the vice president's wife, Lynne
"Occasionally my age comes up. And that's why I have to take her with me wherever I go."
Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, joking on having his 95-year-old mother accompany him
"This one cost me $9."
John Edwards, Democratic candidate for president, on the price of his last haircut
Sources: MSNBC, NBC/National Journal, Tonight Show, Charlotte Observer, New York Times
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And Now, the Real 2008 Debates
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2007 Comment (103)They're a year away, but the upcoming 2008 presidential debates are drawing heated competition between cities and colleges eager to host one of the four planned events. Frank Fahrenkopf, cochair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, says that unlike in some past years, every region of the nation is well represented on the final list of 12 applicants, and some of the regular venues, like Washington University in St. Louis and North Carolina's Wake Forest University, might not win by default this time. Really putting on the "heat," he says, is a collection of facilities and schools in New Orleans. Fahrenkopf says he hopes to announce the winners within weeks. "We are down to the short strokes now."
