WHITE HOUSE ANGER AT BOOK BY BUSH 'AXIS OF EVIL' SPEECHWRITER!

Drudge ^ | January 5th 2002. | Drudge

[ConservativeMan55]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JAN 05, 2003 19:25:38 ET XXXXX

WHITE HOUSE ANGER AT BOOK BY BUSH 'AXIS OF EVIL' SPEECHWRITER; CONCERN MEDIA TOUR WILL MUDDLE MESSAGE; FRUM DESCRIBES PRESIDENT AS 'TART'

**World Exclusive**

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum -- credited with the phrase 'Axis of Evil' -- has infuriated top officials at the White House with his controversial new book, the first insider account of the W. Bush Administration, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Frum helped make international headlines when President Bush's 2002 State of the Union address linked international terrorists to Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

But now Axis Man must walk a fine line between the art of hyping a book and overshadowing a president's own words and policy.

WARNINGS NOT TO GRANDSTAND

"He's going on the TODAY show to talk about North Korea, Iraq?!" an alarmed Bush intimate told the DRUDGE REPORT on Sunday. "Mr. Frum should seriously consider letting the president speak for himself on these highly volatile matters."

MORE

Frum, who left the White House less than a year ago, is set to launch THE RIGHT MAN: THE SURPRISE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W, BUSH on Tuesday with a high-impact media tour, giving the speechwriter and journalist a platform to elaborate on his Bush insights.

Among the White House staff, there was a "dearth of really high-powered brains," Frum, a neoconservative, writes in RIGHT MAN, obtained exclusively by the DRUDGE REPORT.

"One seldom heard an unexpected thought in the Bush White House or met someone who possessed unusual knowledge."

MORE

"Bush was a sharp exception to the White House code of niceness. He was tart, not sweet," charges Frum.

[RIGHT MAN was ranked #2134 on the AMAZON hit parade Sunday evening]

Native Canadian-style quips not withstanding, Frum reveals a grudging admiration for Bush throughout his prose.

Frum writes of the president: He "was hardly the obvious man for the job. But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be, of all unlikely things, the right man."

Bush is neither dumb [as portrayed by the left] nor nice [the president assigns cute nicknames to people only to remember who they are], Frum claims.

With his upclose look at White House players Rove, Hughes and Card, Frum is the first Bush staffer to publish a firsthand account.

Insiders question the "quick turn around" of the book, and one top Bush adviser is said to believe Frum rushed to cashout on his direct access to the president, sources said.

RANDOM HOUSE has printed 125,000 copies of the book. The TODAY SHOW has reserved a money slot for Frum on Tuesday morning. And with North Korea/Iraq currently on the covers of both NEWSWEEK and TIME: Enter the speechwriter.

Developing...

----------------------------------------------------------- Filed By Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereport.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2003 Not for reproduction without permission of the author

[Cicero]

I believe Bush's advisers are familiar with Lewis and Pipes and their recent writings. They would be hard to miss. Being a first-rate theorist and scholar doesn't necessarily make you a useful day-to-day adviser.

[PianoMan]

The current equivalent would be giving Daniel Pipes or Bernard Lewis a great say in how to deal with the Middle East.

Sounds like Frum has the same type of snobbery towards think tanks shared by the media and the academy. The national think tanks (and even the regional) have a great deal of high-powered minds that are not welcome in places with a liberal imprimatur. I think Bush's cabinet has many brilliant faces and the tanks are giving him advice to match any academic scholar, especially given the abyssmal condition of our humanities departments.

[PianoMan]

how paltry the pickings of dissension and scandal are in this WH

So true. And the potentially large impact of this on voters is totally lost on the pundits, who with their craving for things to talk about see no virtue in their absence.

[ConservativeMan55]

Where in that post did I say to use the nukes?

I said it is helpful in dealing with the Middle East to have Nukes. Certainly if our enemies..er...Americans enemies...the enemies of freedom had nukes they would have used them.

[PianoMan]

Where in that post did I say to use the nukes?

Foul! 15-yard penalty. :)

[evad]

Hey, we do have SOME conservatives up here. David Frum is very much a conservative..

I'm glad to hear that...
on both accounts.

No personal offense intended ;0)

[ConservativeMan55]

If the damn terrorists had nukes they would use them.
When and if they use them...they will get it right back at em.

[ladyinred]

He "was hardly the obvious man for the job. But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be, of all unlikely things, the right man."

I find the first part of this statement offensive to say the least. What pray tell makes this true? He ran for President as a governor of a large state, and was elected by the legal process just as any other President has been.

Seems to me that the real statement should be that the author was hardly the obvious man for the job that the President entrusted him with!
He clearly has a agenda here, and it is not hard to decipher his motives.

[ConservativeMan55]

I completely agree Lady in Red. Bush was elected...and proved that he was the right man for the job. Nobody else could have done a better job.
Well maybe G. Gordon Liddy...but he didn't run.

[Destro]

Must every president have a pet of somekind? God forbid we have a petless president.

[ConservativeMan55]

I'm still waiting for your answer. It seems you responded to my post because you felt that I would use the nukes. A classic liberal. Always uses feelings before facts.

[ConservativeMan55]

I'm still waiting for your answer. It seems you responded to my post because you felt that I would use the nukes. A classic liberal. Always uses feelings before facts.

[ConservativeMan55]

Clinton had Monica.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"He clearly has a agenda here, and it is not hard to decipher his motives."

Clearly. I will never forget that Bill Kristol went on Fox News shortly before President Bush's State of the Union Address to "predict" that Rudy Guiliani was to be named the first ever Homeland Security Chief. Hours later I collapsed in guffaws when Tom Ridge was named. Later I learned that David Frum, who was formerly a writer for the Weakly Standard was one of the speechwriters. (Although not the head speechwriter.) It was months later that all this flap occurred about the axis of evil, and Frum's wife taking credit for her hubby. I will always believe that the WH was smokin' out their leakers......and Frum was one of the first to fall.......

[PoisedWoman]

I agree, the book is probably complimentary to Bush. Let's wait and see.

[ConservativeMan55]

That was very astute of you to notice that.

[Ragin1]

"Mr. Frum should seriously consider letting the president speak for himself on these highly volatile matters."

Mr. Bush should have spoke for himself to start with.

[OReilly]

The TODAY SHOW has reserved a money slot for Frum on Tuesday morning.

What in the world is that supposed to mean? Not being a newsee wannabe like drudge.

[fromnovascotia]

Not everyone takes Frum as seriously as he takes himself. Just for laughs, here's The White House Diaries of David Frum, by some writer in Vancouver.

[ConservativeMan55]

He's going to come on and talk about the State of the Economy.
Of course it means that they've booked him as a guest.