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Ginger Spice Makes a Stop on Capitol Hill
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2008 Comment
Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice of the Spice Girls added a dash of spice and a bit of girl power to the hallways of the Capitol building yesterday, when she visited with Congress as a goodwill ambassador for the UNFPA—the United Nations Population Fund. Wearing a cream-colored vintage suit, Ginger Spice looked, well, posh, as she discussed her travels to Zambia and the Philippines and the work she's done as a spokesSpice for the organization, which provides women around the world with healthcare and family planning. Halliwell is in town for a Spice Girls show at the Verizon Center but decided to spend her day illuminating the work of the agency for which she's advocated for almost a decade.
"When I was first asked to be an ambassador I was 26 and I had a certain amount of life experience, but now I've had a child of my own," Halliwell says. "In a way it highlighted it even more, the privileges that I have living in the western world."
After witnessing firsthand the horrific conditions for women in Zambia living with AIDS, she came to Capitol Hill because the United States is unique in not funding the agency. That stopped in 2002, when the Bush administration withheld funds to the UNFPA for its work in China with the Chinese one-child policy. "I find this absolutely heartbreaking because it was America that started it in the 1960s, that was so forward thinking to set up the UNFPA," she says.
And America started something else very dear to this Spice Girl's heart:
"I feel like girl power originated in America," she says. "It's not a British thing; the British are very much about staying in your box."
"The Americans are saying no matter where you're from you can speak out and achieve things," she continues.
Rep. Jim Moran, who accompanied Halliwell around Capitol Hill, tells Whispers that Halliwell's visit was especially well timed because the administration plans to slash this year's budget for international family planning. "It's the deepest cut we've seen thus far," Moran says.
But new leadership could bring a brighter future for the agency's funding. Halliwell's been closely monitoring the presidential election but hasn't gotten a chance yet to talk to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or John McCain.
"I haven't, but that would be amazing," the Brit tells our Nikki Schwab. "I'd love to have tea with them—all three of them together."
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A Slow Day Sends Judge Scalia to Lunch
Tweet Share on Facebook February 21, 2008 CommentEven United States Supreme Court justices get a break during the busy season, and Thursday found Justice Antonin Scalia noshing at what's said to be one of his favorite Italian restaurants. Near the far wall in the fab Ristorante Tosca sat Scalia and a pal taking in a leisurely 90-minute lunch. We couldn't tell what he was eating or what was in the bottle on his table, but he appeared to be having a good time and was gracious to the staff, giving thank-yous on the way out. Nobody approached Scalia, probably one of the most famous court members, but that's probably because many of the lobbyists and former administration officials sitting at nearby tables in the power restaurant think they're nearly as important in their own fields. In fact, the restaurant, No. 20 on Washingtonian's 100 Best Restaurants list, is regularly home to cabinet officials, senators, House members, and their staffs. It's also huge with the law firms in the neighborhood: We overheard two lawyers calling it their "firm cafeteria."
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With Help From Clinton, More Obama Copycat Words
Tweet Share on Facebook February 21, 2008 CommentFor the few in the media today not chewing over the titillating New York Times story about John McCain's favorite female lobbyist, there remains the story about Sen. Barack Obama's use of other people's words in his campaign speech. And now the Clinton campaign is getting in the act, sending around a YouTube video comparing Obama's words to former rival John Edwards's:
It's pretty good, though this one put to music and sent around via non-Clinton channels this week is more entertaining.
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Where's Howard Dean?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 21, 2008 CommentPromises from the Democratic National Committee that it plans to focus hard on Sen. John McCain as the likely GOP presidential nominee have folks over at the Republican National Committee asking, where is Chairman Howard Dean? "If they are going to take McCain on, why are they using surrogates? Where's the chairman?" asks a GOP official. Good question. As the DNC anti-McCain campaign has unfolded, Dean has been kind of absent, even bailing from a media roundtable last Friday because of "a scheduling issue which will have him out of Washington that day," according to the organizer.
Hold on, says the DNC. It notes that the former 2004 presidential candidate has actually been on the road organizing his troops for the general election and, thus, not available to press McCain in person. He has used E-mail, though. One went to 3.5 million people the day after McCain's Super Tuesday victories, explaining how the Democrats will beat McCain. "I don't just want to beat John McCain — I want it to be a landslide," Dean E-mailed. The DNC also E-mailed a list of Dean's efforts, seen here. Here's what DNC Communications Director Karen Finney told us today: "Just like John McCain, the RNC is simply wrong. Rather than sitting in an office in D.C., Chairman Dean is on the road working hard to help energize Democrats and ensure that we elect a Democrat in November. The RNC should worry less about Howard Dean and more about electing John McCain who has clearly sold out his principles to secure the Republican nomination."
Some outside the DNC, however, have a thought on why Dean has been staying out of the TV lights' glare: While he would love to take on McCain, he wants to stay out of the fight between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over superdelegates, an issue reporters want a comment on.
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Girl Power Via Ginger Spice
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2008 CommentThe British are coming! The British are coming! Well, at least one famous Brit is coming to Capitol Hill Thursday to use a little "Girl Power" of persuasion on the members of Congress. Geri Halliwell aka Ginger Spice of the Spice Girls is visiting as a goodwill ambassador for the UNFPA—the United Nations Population Fund—a development agency that focuses on women's reproductive health worldwide. Halliwell's in town with the whole set of Spices to perform at Washington's Verizon Center.
As a spokesSpice for UNFPA, Halliwell will most likely be encouraging members of Congress to allocate funds to the organization, which had its funding rescinded by the Bush administration for its work with China's one-child policy. It's up to the next occupant of the White House to decide if the organization gets U.S. money the next budget go-round. The only problem is that Congress isn't in session. Ginger Spice is scheduled to have lunch with Reps. Jim Moran and Jim McGovern. And if she has to talk to staffers, that's fine, too, a source tells Whispers. Unfortunately, this advocate of "Girl Power" won't be talking to the most powerful girl on Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi, since she is in California while Congress is in recess.
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Blinged Out for Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2008 CommentWashington power women love their Ann Hand rhinestone and pearl Federal-style jewelry, and they seem to dig Sen. Barack Obama, too. We know because Hand's tasteful Georgetown store is running a display in its M Street NW window revealing the daily winner in the presidential rhinestone pin poll. See, Hand designed $45 pins with the names of each candidate, and Washingtonians and tourists are gobbling them up. As you can see in the picture, Obama is the runaway favorite, with 286 sold, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 144 and Sen. John McCain at 80. We'll keep you updated as the numbers change.
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Kids Say 'No Thanks' to Being President
Tweet Share on Facebook February 20, 2008 CommentAre today's students smart or what? After watching the bruising presidential campaign and beleaguered President Bush in action over the past year, a majority of them say the job stinks and is not worth having. Scholastic News tells Whispers that its latest poll of 30,000 students in first through eighth grades finds that 55 percent don't want the job. But when the results are broken down by sex, boys overwhelmingly would like to be president, 66 percent saying yes to 34 percent saying no, compared with girls, who reject the post 81 to 19 percent.
It's not all bad news for the future of the nation, however. Just two years ago, 81 percent of the kids polled by Scholastic did not want to be president. Current historical figures might also influence kids. In New York, home to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, 82 percent said they wanted to be president. But in Texas, home to poll cellar-dweller President Bush, only 19 percent want to be president.
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Human Events for McCain? Never mind.
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2008 Comment (1)
The following is a paid political advertisement.
Please note, it does not necessarily reflect the editorial positions of Human Events.
Former President George H. W. Bush, American Values President Gary Bauer, and now Human Events for GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain? It certainly looked that way to the huge group of Republicans who recently received an E-mail from the McCain team under the Human Events.com logo. Underneath was a letter from the candidate, asking for donations with this promise: "I intend to fight as hard as I can to ensure that our shared conservative principles prevail."
Well, says Editor Jed Babbin, there was in fact no endorsement from the paper that has helped lead the conservative cause against McCain, notably when it endorsed Fred Thompson.
"We are not endorsing McCain," he says. "To the contrary, we want him to take actions between now and the convention to prove he's on board with conservative principles." So what's up?
Seems that McCain used the Human Events E-mail list to solicit money, that's all. The E-mail clearly says that it is "a paid political advertisement," but that tiny copy is washed out by the blaze of color on the Human Events.com logo and the other headline underneath: "From The Desk Of John McCain." Still, Babbin welcomed McCain's rental of his list. "We're hoping that this is one of the ways that he's beginning to reach out to conservatives."
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Love Happens
Tweet Share on Facebook February 15, 2008 Comment (1)
Onetime Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth, are still speaking out for peace and love. Look at this E-mail he sent around and also check out Elizabeth's video.
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Don't Sweat It, Mac, Reagan Had It Worse
Tweet Share on Facebook February 15, 2008 Comment
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WRWhen it comes to titanic conservative battles, today's tussle over Sen. John McCain's roots is a mere blip compared with the feud between the movement's giants, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Three major conservatives—editor William F. Buckley Jr., publisher Alfred Regnery, and author Craig Shirley—reveal in new books that Reagan, McCain's mentor, suffered snubs from conservatism's Big Daddy and smiled through it all.
Buckley kicks it off in Flying High, a Goldwater tribute, when he says Barry never properly thanked the Gipper for his famous speech that bolstered Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign, angering Nancy Reagan."There was the making of bad blood there." In Upstream, the Ascendance of American Conservatism, Regnery details a nasty scene when Goldwater almost spiked the confirmation of a Reagan judge. "Goldwater was always jealous of Reagan because he waltzed into politics at the top," he tells us.
Shirley, whose Rendezvous With Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America is out in August, says Goldwater regularly dissed Reagan "out of spite" or when policy strayed off the reservation. But Reagan stuck to his guns and normally succeeded. And that's a lesson for McCain, says Shirley. "Reagan won because he stuck to his principles, and that's what McCain has done."
