Washington Whispers
Time for Bush to Steer Noah's Ark
Some major gestures of conciliation are due from President Bush, says Republican wordsmith and pollster Frank Luntz, who offers this suggestion for the State of the Union address January 23: The prez should point out, by name, five Democratic legislators and five Republican legislators and praise them for a specific idea or piece of legislation for which he would request bipartisan support. Why? "So the American people see that the president is pulling ideas from both sides, not only Republicans and not only Democrats," adds the author of the new Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear. Luntz calls it the "Noah's Ark" strategy: Bush gets the message from the elections and is ready to lock arms with Dems.
Only Newt Worries This Candidate
In a week when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney joined the 2008 GOP presidential primary race and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani started hiring aides to man his bid, allies of front-runner Sen. John McCain suggested that the guy he's most concerned about is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The reason: While Giuliani and Romney are moving to the right, Gingrich is already there. But he's not that worried: Gingrich still hasn't decided to run, and it's getting late.
Sen. Gobbledygook vs. Gov. Plain Talk
The new head of the National Governors Association, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, doesn't sound as if she likes either top 2008 presidential contender-Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Arizona favorite son John McCain. She clearly leans to those in her line of statehouse politics-the job most recent presidents have held. "The longer people are in Congress," she tells us, "the harder it is for them to speak in short, declarative sentences."
Hardball Loves Rocky's Softball
We shouldn't be surprised that Chris Matthews, the jabbing host of MSNBC's Hardball, is a fan of the heroic fighter Rocky series. "I saw the first one; I saw the third one. They were the really great ones," he tells us. So what's he think of the latest, Rocky Balboa? He loved it. "There were some great moments: When he talks to his son and says, 'You know, you were my dream when I held you in my hand when you were small, and then you grew up. But somewhere along the line, you began to look for an excuse for failure, and I'm your excuse.' It was unbelievable. It was so strong," coos Matthews. "The soliloquies-it's an odd word to use for Rocky-his soliloquies that [actor-director Sylvester Stallone] obviously wrote were fantastic," he says. "It was slow moving like all Rockys," adds the critic, "but at the end, it was unbelievable."
With Kevin Whitelaw and Kenneth T. Walsh
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