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Chief Teacher's Jeopardy! Lesson
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 CommentIt takes more than just smarts to win at Jeopardy! Just ask Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. She recently came in second during a Celebrity Jeopardy! match, and she thinks she knows why first place eluded her: the clicker. Mastering the switch that indicates you know the question to Alex Trebek's answer is key to winning, she says. "It's all about the buzzer." Spellings's Jeopardy! tutorial came during a recent appearance on npr's Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me, which she won by correctly guessing the answers to questions about the popular computer game Dungeons and Dragons. It was her latest appearance on popular shows, including the Daily Show and in the audience at American Idol. "I love this stuff," she says. "I'm a little nutty about this stuff."
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The Apocalypse Presidency
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 CommentA lot of people were creeped out when Mike Huckabee, the likable gop presidential contender and onetime preacher, seemed to suggest that his campaign was backed by Jesus Christ. But not former White House and Pentagon adviser Douglas MacKinnon, bestselling author of America's Last Days. MacKinnon just added it to the fodder for his new Washington thriller, The Apocalypse Directive. As luck would have it, Huckabee's Christian-influenced campaign came along as MacKinnon was working on his latest, a novel about a Christian conspiracy including the president and the Pentagon's "Christian Ambassadors" to take out the world's radical Muslims and other "sinners" with sub- and land-based nukes. It was the idea of friends in the Pentagon concerned about the influence of the "Christian Embassy," a prayer and Bible study group praised by a top Air Force general in 2006 for being devoted first to God, then family and country. "They said, 'Doug, you should pay attention to this,' " he tells us. Other characters in the book out in early July are based on real-life people, like Karl Rove. It ought to sell. His last Washington-based book sold over 80,000.
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Out Loud: March 13, 2008
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 Comment"I don't think he's difficult. I mean it's just kind of like...whatever...I'm here for a purpose."
Ashley Alexandra Dupré, known as Kristen, describing in a text message detailed in a federal affidavit that she did not find her sex client, allegedly New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, to be a problem
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position....He happens to be very lucky to be who he is."
Geraldine Ferraro, a former vice presidential nominee, in comments Sen. Barack Obama's campaign called offensive and that prompted her to cut ties with the Clinton campaign
"If we're going to talk about Star Wars, we might as well invite Darth Vader. I'm happy to accept."
Vice President Cheney, at a Heritage Foundation event to mark the 25th anniversary of President Reagan's antimissile initiative
"When you're not writing your stories, you're really not half bad."
President Bush, joking at the annual Gridiron Club dinner
"I wish the election was being held tomorrow. I'm bored!"
Tom Hanks, actor and supporter of Sen. Barack Obama
Sources: The Smoking Gun, New York Times, Examiner, USA Today
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Cartoon: March 13, 2008
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 Comment (1) -
John McCain's Math Lesson
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 CommentAs a lifelong Arizonan who has pushed moderate immigration issues, Sen. John McCain more than any of the other GOP presidential candidates has a chance of winning enough Latino votes to overcome the Democrats' huge advantage among African-Americans, pollster Bill McInturff tells us. But first, he adds, McCain must win back the loyalty of the Republican Party, especially what he calls "rehab Republicans" who don't like the president and the war in Iraq. He says that the Latino vote will be critical for McCain since either Democrat will dominate the black vote. "Why Latinos? Just to do a quick math lesson: If McCain runs against Hillary Clinton, he'll beat her among white men by 25 points. I think he'll win white women by 5. That means you're 12 points ahead with 80 percent of the electorate. He's going to lose African-Americans by 90-10. So guess what, that's 8 points for the Democrats. Now there's 4 points left. Ten percent of the country is Latino. If you lose 75 to 25, which I think any other Republican nominee but McCain would of, you lose. You lose 70 to 30, it's too close to call. If you can lose 60 to 40, you win. That's two points. You win by 2 points," he says. McInturff, who has worked for McCain in the past, says that the senator has deep roots in the Latino community and owns what is now dubbed the Big Four: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. Other pollsters say that section is more of a battleground than Ohio.
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Ex-NASA Boss Back in D.C.
Tweet Share on Facebook March 13, 2008 CommentSean O'Keefe, former Navy and NASA chief, is returning to Washington after a few years running Louisiana State University to take over General Electric Aviation's Washington office. Effective June 2, he'll replace outgoing chief Thomas Cooper, who is retiring after 21 years as the head of the shop responsible for selling engines, including the new Marine One propulsion systems. O'Keefe recently resigned as chancellor of LSU amid a power grab by a new board president. That resignation is effective June 1. For O'Keefe, it's a return to the familiar. He made his name as the staff director of the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee in the 1980s, clearing the way for his appointment by former President George H. W. Bush as comptroller of the Pentagon. He later served as a Bush Navy secretary. During the Clinton years, he ran management departments at Penn State and Syracuse universities before being tagged by President George Bush as the No. 2 OMB official. He later served as NASA director. He has been rumored to be in the running for a top job in a McCain administration, but this new job very likely ends that speculation. "Sean brings a wealth of experience involving complex public policy issues as well as advanced technology," says Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of GE Aviation. "He takes over the helm of our Washington office at a very dynamic period in aviation history."
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Abramoff Scandal Is Back
Tweet Share on Facebook March 12, 2008 CommentIt hardly seems as though Jack Abramoff—the notorious Washington lobbyist now in jail—could get in more trouble. But a 10-count indictment filed yesterday by Guam's attorney general charges Abramoff and his former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, as well as a Guam official, with theft, deception, and conspiring to unlawfully influence government officials. According to a copy of the indictment obtained by U.S. News's Emma Schwartz, the case centers on a secret lobbying contract Abramoff and his firm allegedly entered into with the Superior Court of Guam. In the deal, allegedly cut by court administrator Anthony Sanchez, Abramoff's team was supposed to lobby against a court reform bill before Congress. Not necessarily a big deal there. But in order to allegedly hide the $300,000 deal from Guam authorities, a dummy client named Howard Hills was listed as Abramoff's client, a violation of lobbying laws. In a series of $9,000 checks, the indictment alleges, Sanchez sent Abramoff and his firm $300,000 between January 2001 and February 2003. The indictment further alleges that even when the discrepancy in the listing was brought to Abramoff's attention, he and his firm failed to make changes to the lobbying forms required by Congress. A previous investigation into the deal was cut short when President Bush removed the prosecutor. The firm declined to comment on the specific indictment but said in a statement to U.S. News: "Greenberg Traurig was a victim of Abramoff's actions." Abramoff's lawyer could not be reached for comment.
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GM Boss: Gibbs Should Have Stayed a Redskin
Tweet Share on Facebook March 11, 2008 Comment
Kyle Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 (John Bazemore/AP)General Motors CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner has really big issues to deal with every day, but that doesn't mean he doesn't sneak a little time every weekend to check out NASCAR to see how well his Chevys are doing. So it should be expected that he most likely wasn't too happy when Kyle Busch's No. 18 Toyota won last weekend's Kobalt Tools 500, becoming the first import to win a major NASCAR race. And don't even get him going about Tony Stewart's No. 20 Toyota coming in second, besting Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevy. Asked over a breakfast fruit plate Tuesday morning how two imports could beat the homegrown cars, Wagoner kiddingly took aim at the Washington Redskins and Joe Gibbs Racing, which Busch and Stewart drive for. "It must be something to do with you giving your football coach up and letting him run a racing team," he said, a reference to Gibbs leaving the Redskins this year to rejoin his racing outfit. "I just look forward to next week," he said.
He also talked about a couple of other non-auto issues.
On the Eliot Spitzer scandal, he made a joke about his hotel accommodations in Washington last night, a reference to the New York guv allegedly hooking up with a call girl at the posh Mayflower Hotel. After arriving at the airport, he asked his driver: "Where am I staying tonight? I hope it's not the Mayflower."
On a possible Michigan do-over primary for Democrats, he indicated that his Motown workers would like a second chance to weigh in. "I think it's fair to say our people would want to feel like they have a voice in the process, so sort of disallowing the votes would probably rumple the feathers," he said of the party's action. "It doesn't seem like where we are today is a very good final solution," he said.
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Spellings to Rove: Let's Just Be Friends
Tweet Share on Facebook March 10, 2008 CommentHe can be blunt when addressing his enemies, but there was a time that former Bush political adviser Karl Rove had difficulty expressing himself. Just ask Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. She appeared on NPR's popular Wait, Wait. Don't Tell Me and was grilled about the time 25 or 30 years ago that Rove asked her out on a date. Asked if she rejected him, she deadpanned: "Well, have you met Karl Rove?" Then Spellings explained that it wasn't until Rove later talked about being rejected that she even knew he'd asked her out. To host Peter Sagal, she said, "It was a little bit awkward all the way around, and I wasn't even sure that that was what he was asking." Rove has since joked that it took a decade to get over the rejection. "He tells the story after the fact," says Spellings. "I'm like: Is that what's going on here?" She once even called his approach "inept." She summed up their relationship this way: "We're very good friends and both happily married." As for the show, Spellings won, answering two of three multiple-choice questions about Dungeons and Dragons correctly even though she confessed, "I don't know anything about that."
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White House Moving Day Tab: $8.9 Million
Tweet Share on Facebook March 6, 2008 CommentCorrected on 3/14/08: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the date of the next inauguration. It is Jan. 20, 2009.
ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WRWhen the U-Haul pulls up to the North Portico of the White House on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009, that ringing sound from the neighboring Treasury Department will be the national cash register keying up the whopping tab for swapping out presidents. Some $8.9 million to be exact, not to mention the additional costs of the soon-to-be former President Bush, like U.S. Secret Service protection. "Democracy ain't cheap," says a federal budget official.
The Feds have set aside $8.52 million for the transition, and it breaks down this way: $1 million to brief and orient the incoming president's top team members; $5.3 million for the new president to spend on his transition; and $2.22 million to move Bush's team out. Plus, as a new retiree, Bush will get $366,000 in pay and benefits, including a $191,300 pension.
While Bush will be the newest member of the former presidents club, he won't be the most expensive when he arrives in Texas. Bill Clinton should keep that title, even if he goes through with a rumored move of his offices from Harlem to Georgetown. Bubba gets $1.19 million annually, including $201,000 in retirement pay and health bennies, $544,000 for office rent, and $79,000 for his phone bill. Bush's dad, headquartered in Houston, gets $786,000.
