1/30/03
Bush author still a little touchy
Former Bush speechwriter David Frum, who wrote The Right Man, The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush, has had it with attacks that he broke the president's trust to write a kiss-and-tell memoir just to make money. "It's not a kiss-and-tell memoir," he begged at a breakfast Thursday with reporters. He also brushed aside questions that he had broken unspoken rules by squealing on the president. In fact, he says, aides as far back as Abraham Lincoln have written books on their boss. And, he added, every time the media acts as if it's a cardinal sin. "One of the things that is charming about the press," he said, "is its ability to go on being astounded at regular eight-month intervals by exactly the same thing. And presume everyone will be astounded when [former Bush aide] Karen Hughes comes out and writes her book."

In defense of Frum, most of his book reveals a smart president, though the press focused on a passage where he writes that Bush "has many faults. He is impatient and quick to anger; sometimes glib, even dogmatic; often uncurious and as a result ill informed; more conventional in his thinking than a leader probably should be."

As for those who think Frum is a money-grubber, he admits that "writers have to eat, too." But, Frum said, he isn't taking advantage of his association with the White House like others have. Like, say, ex-White House congressional liaison Nicholas Calio, a former lobbyist who recently left to become Citigroup's senior vice president for global government affairs. "There are more effective ways to make money out of your association [with] the administration than writing about it," says Frum, a regular contributor to National Review Online. "I'm not going to equal in the next 10 years what Nick Calio's going to make next year." He further explains that he's just doing now for NRO what he did before joining the White House. "Just as someone who was a lobbyist before who entered the administration returns to lobbying afterward–with his lobbying presumably enriched by his new knowledge–someone who's a writer before comes out and goes back to being a writer. I wasn't going to go and be a lobbyist." We get it.

Frum's latest work is at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary013003.asp

His book is at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375509038/nationalreviewon/0/002-3626908-6592816

1/29/03
Powell re-ups for 2004
Persistent reports that Secretary of State Colin Powell is ready to leave the Bush cabinet are just plain wrong, a senior official tells us. "Powell's not done doing what he came here to do." In fact, he has no plans to leave before the 2004 presidential election and is still strong-arming top aides to stay, like longtime spokesman Richard Boucher. Truth be told, senior Bush aides say there's a remarkable lack of indicators that many Bush bigwigs are planning to leave. Normally there is an exodus from the administration at the two-year mark. The only oft-told whisper is that Office of Management and Budget chief Mitch Daniels is testing the waters for an Indiana gubernatorial bid. Here again, aides say he's not leaving, but Indiana GOP officials are putting the squeeze on the native Hoosier to return.

1/27/03
Terror expert draws Arab ire
A leading Arab columnist has declared jihad on Matt Levitt, one of Washington's top terror analysts. "It is hard for a human being to lie more than Natanyahu. However, Levitt tries," writes Jihad al Khazen in al Hayat, the widely-read, London-based newspaper. The former FBI terror expert is "a Likudist American Jew" who "doesn't see Israeli Nazi character," reads another attack in al Hayat, which has posted on its Web site a large photo of Levitt. Now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the widely respected Levitt has drawn al Hayat's fire for his tough reporting on ties of the terror group Hezbollah to drug trafficking and al Qaeda, reports our David E. Kaplan.

1/23/03
My bio would lose money: Rove
Top presidential aide Karl Rove scratches his head when he reads that he's President Bush's brain. He calls it a "myth." But don't tell that to all the reporters who think he's King Karl. Some of them are considering writing biographies of the longtime senior adviser, who wears "W" cuff links. "This town operates in some odd fashion," Rove says, poking fun at his status, which has been elevated by news outlets that give him credit for all that's good–and bad–about Bush. Asked during a tea with reporters about those who are considering writing books, Rove jokes that doing so would be "a moment of very bad judgment." For both author and publisher, he adds. "I think the outcome of all of this is I think it will be a long time until the memories of publishers fade that anybody will try to write a book about a presidential aide. The sales are gonna be so darn poor."

1/22/03
Hard(ly) work on Capitol Hill
We’ve taken a look at Congress’s schedule, and we’re wishing we had run for office. Just 103 days of voting are scheduled, the only days when members have to be in town. And the target adjournment date for the year is October 3. A House Democratic leadership aide says the schedule is proof that the Republicans want to leave only enough time to pass the president’s agenda. But a GOP leadership official tells us: “I think people would rather have us outta here than mucking up their lives” with legislation.

See it here:
http://www.majorityleader.gov/media/Pdfs/2003calendar.pdf

1/15/03
Speechwriter Frum's latest spin
Is the quick payout from a briefly popular insider's book worth the White House's cutting you off as a result? That's certainly a question before former Bush speechwriter David Frum, author of The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush. A lengthy tale of goings-on inside the administration, the book has been noted in the press for the criticism of Bush as impatient, glib and "incurious."

Publicly, the White House acts as if the book doesn't exist. But staffers tell Whispers that Frum got it all wrong. First, they say Bush welcomes all ideas. But when it comes time to make a decision, he is done listening. They also say Frum got his portraits of many aides, like former communications czar Karen Hughes, wrong. But what would you expect, they add, from a "junior" speechwriter?

Is Frum feeling the heat? Our Margaret Menge last week attended a New York City literary speech by Frum, where he tried to give back to his former boss all the credit he took for having authored Bush's famous "axis of evil" phrase. You might recall that after Bush first mouthed those words, Frum's wife E-mailed friends that her hubby was the inventor. But in NYC, Frum softened that to make it sound as if Bush gets the credit, calling it "a phrase that he [Bush] chose." Says a senior Bushie: "Let's just say he won't be invited to this year's State of the Union."

See Frum's book at: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?0375509038

1/14/03
Frogger's presidential choice
He's only exploring a likely presidential candidacy, but his rivals are already starting a rumor campaign about what an old fogey Rep. Dick Gephardt is. "You hear the name Dick Gephardt," says a top aide to another likely candidate, "and you can't help but think of Members Only jackets, Atari, and Frogger." That he's tried to run in the past and failed is one of Gephardt's biggest hurdles. But, aides say, it also points up his biggest advantage: that Geppy's the most experienced politician in the Democratic field, especially when it comes to presidential-primary campaigning.

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