Washington Whispers
Has King Karl Lost His Magic Touch?
It's an ugly rumor, but it's spreading like wildfire: Karl Rove has lost his touch. In an amazing betrayal within a family where top political aide Rove is royalty, Bushies have been sneering at his pre-election happy talk that the GOP would keep the Senate and take a slight hit in the House, both soon to be run by Democrats. And now we learn that President Bush really believed the GOP was safe, too. On the day before the elections, he asked embattled House GOP leader Dennis Hastert to run for speaker again so he could guide the White House's agenda in Congress.
Another Contract With America
A chief architect of the 1994 GOP Contract With America that helped to end Democratic control in Washington is back with some ideas on how to return Republicans to power. Pollster and wordmeister Frank Luntz's simple message for the losers in the last election: Fess up you were wrong, stop wasting money, woo the middle class, and don't let the Democrats get away with anything. In a 13-page memo, he boils the GOP problem down to one sentence made famous in Cool Hand Luke: "What we got here is [a] failure to communicate." In a do-or-die tone, Luntz calls for new leaders and themes. "Every other political party in the free world changes its language and starts over when it loses. Don't be the stubborn exception."
Worth the Paper It's Printed On
The job of Charles Allen, head of the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence office and a 40-year CIA vet, is keeping secrets. Except his own. In a town where the information on the business cards of government honchos is normally meaningless, Allen's is remarkably forthcoming. We know because he gave us one. Missing: the useless stuff like the general phone number of DHS. Included: accurate numbers of his cellphone, home-office phone, and work desk. And why? So those who need to can actually reach him.
80 and Rocking Out to His iPod Nano
Here's an old dog who can learn new tricks: 80-year-old Rep. John Dingell, who just got an iPod nano and loves it. The most senior House member has an age-appropriate iTunes list he blasts from his iPod: Gilbert and Sullivan show tunes, marches, and Tchaikovsky ballets. The incoming chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee first got hooked when his press secretary, Adam Benson, asked him to record some podcasts. "I told him I thought podcasts were like a 21st-century version of FDR's fireside chats," says Benson. "It wasn't a tough sell."
With Kenneth T. Walsh, David E. Kaplan, Angie C. Marek and Danielle Knight
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