About Those Side Pockets on a Cow
Rep. John Dingell isn't just the third-longest-serving House member ever, passing the 50-year mark last week at a Hill lunch to celebrate his 1955 election to replace his father. He's also one of the few who can break up the dreadful bureaucracy-speak with folksy sayings like "That's about as useful as side pockets on a cow" and "Madder than a boiled owl." Dingell, 79, tells our congressional correspondent Danielle Knight that the use of "Dingellisms" goes back to his father. "I learned a lot from my dad," he says. "Dad was a very colorful fella."
Let's be clear: Dingellisms are not like "Dingellgrams," the famously harsh, sometimes belligerent notes to agencies the congressman is angry with. Instead, Dingellisms are quirky, off-the-cuff comments that are rich with meaning. Take the one that sizes up bipartisanship: "My pappy used to say," explains Dingell, that "when they say they want to be bipartisan, it means they don't have the votes." Ex-aide Dennis Fitzgibbons says Dingell trolls histories for some of his phrases. "A lot of them come from his reading," says Fitzgibbons. And some, he adds, come from Dingell's favorite Gilbert and Sullivan plays. Others Dingell just blurts out. Our faves: "There is no substitute for a public hanging" and "He's so crooked, they will have to screw him into the ground," a comment Dingell made after one such politician had just died.
Iraq Searches, American Style
American-style search warrants are coming to Iraq, a victory for locals who don't like random searches but a defeat for some troops who think surprise searches are useful. While still under review, the new policy requiring search warrants is expected to go into force next month. "That is fine," Lt. Col. Alan Kelly tells our Julian E. Barnes in Mosul. Kelly, commander of the 172nd Stryker Brigade's 1-17 infantry battalion, explains that most bad guys operate from roving cars, not houses, anyway. But other officers aren't happy, believing the new policy will lead insurgents to simply shift strategies. "It will be just like the mosques," one tells Barnes. "They will start hiding weapons in their homes."
Saving CBS in C-SPAN Style
Washington's keeping an eye on CBS's search for a new nightly news anchor and is eager for Black Rock to look beyond the obvious candidates like NBC's Today cohost Katie Couric. Such as? C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb. "I think that would be super," says a Bush insider. Lamb's not so sure. "Some folks," he E-mails, "have been drinkin' the spiked eggnog again."
Friendship Won't Stop Hagel Bid
He's Sen. John McCain 's best pal in the Senate, a fellow Vietnam War vet, but that won't stop Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel from running for president in 2008 against the current front-runner. "You know that there will be a lot of very good people in the race," says Hagel, who won't decide until late next year. "You know some of them are going to be your close friends." He adds: "I could not, or would I, base my decision on John McCain running or not running."
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