No reporter coverup: Kennedy kept sex secret
Advice from a seasoned Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter to Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and other pols with a wandering eye: The next time you get the urge, pick a paramour who won't blab. And, adds retired Associated Press legend Walter Mears, don't blame the press when you get caught. Mears should know. He covered every presidential campaign from JFK to George W. Bush and reveals in his juicy memoir, Deadlines Past, that Kennedy got away with it because he kept his sex life secret, not because reporters covered up for their presidential pal. "Even if they can't prove it, reporters trade gossip," says Mears. "Even at last call in the bar, I didn't hear any," he tells us. Be assured, he adds, if reporters had the skinny on JFK and Marilyn Monroe, "it would have been nuclear." But "his affairs were secret because he saw to it," Mears says in the book, out in October. "Not so with Gary Hart or Bill Clinton--they got involved with talkative women." Sure, Mears concedes, times have changed and news has become more gossipy. But, "A story is no story unless you can prove it."
One Hog of A Presidential Token
To the politically desirable "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads" add "Harley-Davidson couples." These aging wild-thing baby boomers are fast becoming the target of presidential candidates because they're active voters, hip, independent, and relatively wealthy. It should come as no shock, for example, that Sen. John Kerry is wooing them from the back of his own Harley. But you've got to give the edge to the Bush team and biker-in-chief Josh Bolten, the president's budget Boss Hog, for turning the vote George W. Bush's way. He owns three motorcycles, two Harley Fat Boys--one brand-new--and an Iowa-built Victory that he parks at Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch. But Bolten's more than just show. He brought a 100th-anniversary Harley-Davidson gas tank to the latest cabinet meeting for Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the agency heads to autograph. And after he clear-coats it, Bolton plans to present it to Harley officials at the company's 100th birthday party in Milwaukee this month. "That's called," said an insider, "political giddyap."
No, Not Gitmo
One word used by special operations forces in Iraq seems to have captive disciples of ex-prez Saddam Hussein crying uncle: "Gitmo." Looks like the 200 or so Iraqis caught by special forces would rather fess up at home than be shipped to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to face tough military interrogators. "They usually start squealing like the mice they are when an interrogator mentions Gitmo," we're told in a military source's E-mail.
Nader's 9/11 Plan
Get a load of this: Likely 2004 third-party presidential hopeful Ralph Nader thinks the 9/11 terrorist attacks wouldn't have happened if he had been president. He claims that amid all the big decisions new presidents have to make after inauguration, he would have ordered cockpit doors to be hardened against attack. He says an old report warning about how easy it is to get in the cockpit still sticks with him. What's more, he would have wiped out Osama bin Laden and his gang without a shot being fired. How? Bribe Osama's friends to hand him over.
The Girls Club
Torie Clarke's departure as Pentagon spokeswoman won't be the blow for the yack-yack sisterhood that many feared. We learned that Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld has put a "women-only" sign on the office. He wants another Torie: a politically savvy spokeswoman who hasn't done military work. "He doesn't want," an insider says, "somebody beholden to the brass."
Stay Home, 41
Conservatives are going nuts over reports that "41," as former President Bush is known in the White House, will repay a favor and campaign for Arnold Schwarzenegger. "He could actually seriously damage Schwarzenegger," a prominent righty told us. Reason: Many conservatives haven't forgiven Bush for flip-flopping on taxes and being soft on abortion.
Waiting For Kerry
President Bush and his political staff don't buy the hype on Democratic presidential primary front-runner Howard Dean. "I'd be surprised if [Sen. John] Kerry doesn't surge soon," says an insider. In fact, many Bush aides expect Dean to fade and Kerry to take the nomination. There's another faction that doesn't think a Washington insider can get it, leaving Dean as the likely victor. But there is something both sides agree on. "They all sound like jerks," says a Bushie.
Gephardt's Fail-Safe
Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt may not top the voter polls, but, boy, is he the buzz in political circles. Democrats talk that he'd be a great veep choice for Sen. John Kerry. His strengths: Labor loves him and he has Midwest roots. In GOP circles, there's chatter that he's still eyeing a Senate bid if his presidential hopes die on Super Tuesday. Republicans are calling Sen. Kit Bond's Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Nancy Farmer, a "place holder" for Gephardt. Ain't happening, promise his aides.
Scott! Scott!
New White House spokesman Scott McClellan is ignoring the normal practice of calling only on big shots seated in the first few rows. Instead, he recognizes even back-row squatters, giving the pressroom a democratic feel. "Everybody yelling, `Scott! Scott!' " says Washington Times reporter Joseph Curl, "is making the briefing fun again."
Family Ties
Gary Bauer, who built the conservative Family Research Council from a tiny Capitol Hill basement operation into a huge Washington think tank before leaving for a failed 2000 presidential bid, could return to the FRC. Ever since Ken Connor left the top spot, Bauer has been besieged with E-mails to come back and revive the organization. Bauer's not talking but has asked financial backers of his American Values group to help FRC out too.
Hot Enough?
Reporters and aides who think President Bush cares that you can't stand the 100-degree-plus temps at the Crawford, Texas, summer White House, beware. He actually takes a perverse pleasure in their plight. "He knows that a good 75 percent of the staff and press corps hate it," says one. "But the more he can make them sweat the better."
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With Richard J. Newman
This story appears in the August 18, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.