Washington Whispers
Clinton's Secrets in His Sock Drawer
It's a good thing former President Bill Clinton had lots of socks. It's where he kept all of his secrets, recorded on tape. Author Taylor Branch reveals that Bubba invited him into the residence over 70 times to record Clinton's oral history. Clinton kept the tapes in a sock drawer. He later used them for his autobiography. After the sessions, Branch would tape his own recollections on his drive home. His tape-based book, Wrestling History: The Bill Clinton Tapes, is out next year. Finding room for the tapes wasn't hard because Clinton "had a lot of socks," Branch said in an appearance at the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas.
Elvis Music Teacher Saw No 'Stardust'
Washington, it turns out, has a better connection to Elvis than that old picture of Richard Nixon meeting with the King. Seems that outgoing Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey's grandmother was his music teacher in East Tupelo, Miss. While her "grandmom" thought his guitar playing was good, she wasn't wowed by his voice. "He had a sweet voice, but not particularly strong," Blakey recalls her elder saying. Even after he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, says Blakey, there was "no real stardust as far as she was concerned; but then he moved to Memphis and, you know, life changed."
Bush's Loss Is the Cabinet's Gain
It's starting to feel a bit lonely in the White House, now that the president's closest aides from his Texas days—former spokesman Scott McClellan, lawyer Harriet Miers, communications czar Dan Bartlett, political ace Karl Rove, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, have bailed. And as a result, top aides believe there will be a shift in influence from the West Wing staff to the sometimes ignored cabinet. "Bush can't just say, 'Karl, figure this out' anymore," says one insider. "He'll have to turn to the cabinet more, and it's a great opportunity for the cabinet to get its agenda on the president's desk instead of the other way around."
Eyes on Your Fries—and Steny Hoyer
He may dress like a million bucks and carry himself like the Donald, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is still a rural southern Maryland boy at heart. Case in point: He needs a regular fix at the Golden Arches. "He's not an adventurous eater," says an associate. Which is why his staff added a McDonald's stop in Israel during his August tour as the head of a congressional delegation. It happened as their bus headed to the Lebanon border. "They took our orders, called it in ahead, and we stopped to pick it up on the way up," says the associate.
Paul Bedard's blog is at www.usnews.com/whispers
With Suzi Parker
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