Posted on 03/21/2005 9:17:08 AM PST by areafiftyone
Washington. A local boy who made it big on the Comedy Channel, Black knows that the city loves to laugh--just not at itself. So when he does his routine at the Radio & Television Correspondents' Association dinner on April 6, attended by the vice president and probably the president, he's going to skip the "F" word and be nice. He reasons that if questioners at President Bush 's Social Security town halls are being screened, "you have to tread very lightly because they are very thin skinned." Ditto for the other spring political galas, like the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, featuring Cedric the Entertainer . Black, whose new bio, Nothing's Sacred, takes shots at Bush, reviewed one joke with us. Remember Janet Jackson flashing her breast at the Super Bowl? he asks. "I've never seen the Congress, everybody respond so fast--and there was nothing on TV. If you saw a breast, then you should be working for the CIA because your eyes are so super." He adds: "It was the kind of moment a man like me waits for. And I saw nothing."
Haley the new Jimmy?
With the 2008 front-runners unable to wow the GOP and kill early presidential competition the way George W. Bush did four years ago, Republicans are sizing up newbies like Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. This month's hottie is Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour . Yup, the very same sweet-talking pol who used to chair the Republican National Committee wants to run for president, say friends who give him fair odds. His strengths: As a former Reagan political aide, lobbyist, and GOP boss from 1993 to 1997, he's got a fat Rolodex filled with names of backers and donors. The Yazoo City, Miss., native is also very popular with his folk and even the national media, who never tire of his southern sayings--or snacks and drinks in his office. The drawbacks: He's up for re-election a year before the presidential race, and he doesn't have the national following of front-runners like Sen. John McCain and ex-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani . But pals say those hurdles are no different from the ones cleared by another obscure southern governor-- Jimmy Carter .
Yes, it's serious
Sorry, madam first lady, but the relationship between your daughter Jenna Bush and former White House aide Henry Hager is starting to look a lot more serious than you think. In fact, some of their friends are whispering of a White House wedding. But we're probably getting too far down the road. Just a couple of weeks after Laura Bush said Hager, 26, "is not a serious boyfriend," the cuties continue to be seen together. At a college basketball game in Washington last week, for example, a photographer caught Jenna's and Hager's arms knotted. A friend reveals that the relationship "is very real."
Easy off, easy on
President Bush wants his presidential library to be adjacent to an interstate highway so that it's easy for visitors to come, according to associates. We're told that W, who recently helped Bill Clinton open his library in Little Rock, Ark., believes having his library close to a major highway will attract crowds. Schools near such highways are Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Baylor University in Waco. Word is both Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Bush pal and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans are working on the project.Caviar For Colin
Few countries can bankroll a lavish party like Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz 's recent retirement dinner for former Secretary of State Colin Powell really set the gold standard. Just consider the vats of caviar on the tables of Bandar's Potomac riverfront home. "The Beluga caviar at my table," said one partygoer, "would have bought my automobile 30 times over." Guests washed that down with Dom Perignon and puffed on real Cuban stogies as Roberta Flack crooned "Killing Me Softly." Our tipster said the scene was "almost obscene."
Gas Guzzlers
You think your fuel bill is high? The Pentagon revealed that it pays $2.8 billion a year for heating, jet, ship, and vehicle fuel, making it the nation's No. 1 user.
Divided Over Charm
Democrats are increasingly divided over the GOP charm offensive targeting black voters. Strategist Donna Brazile says her side should take it seriously. Noting that presidential wannabe Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania recently pushed a minimum-wage plan, she said, "Republicans . . . are starting to get it." But Rep. Melvin Watt, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, won't hear of it. He calls the GOP effort "all smoke, no fire."
It's the news, stupid
There's a great debate raging in Washington newsrooms over the flagrant use of anonymous sources, which, polls show, hurts media credibility. Many editors blame the Bush White House for being secretive. But former Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry has another suggestion: Reporters are too quick to offer anonymity. His answer to boosting credibility: Stop giving anonymity away and return to hard news reporting. "If you pick up the front page of the New York Times now," he said, "and look at it and see how much different it is from 20 years ago in the number of facts versus the interpretive analysis, I think that's a change in the culture of journalism that really has nothing to do with evil people in the government trying to keep secrets."
Navy goes green
The Navy tells us that sailors and ships are doing their part to stop dirtying the world's oceans with garbage. Ships and subs are being fitted with ovens that melt plastic garbage into solid disks that are disposed of on land. That's about 1,700 tons a year of plastic trash not dumped into the seas.
NASCARing the Nats
When D.C. Councilmember David Catania last week proposed that the new Washington Nationals baseball team wear a patch highlighting the lack of voting rights in the city, Nats fans went to work to make sure it won't happen. Their fear: Politicians will try to use the team to sell their causes. "This isn't NASCAR," said Neil Alpert, president of the D.C. Baseball Association, a quasi-official city and team community group. "No city forces its team to wear patches for political gain. It's just ridiculous."
Mississippi ping needed for Haley Barbour.
I'm sure it's illegal to mention Haley in the same sentence with Jimmy! (If not, it should be.)
WTF!!! The giant imperialistic US War Machine, which scours the globe seeking out strategic oil reserves to expropriate for its insatiable bloodthirsty appetites, spends less on oil than Californians alone spend on marijuana!
It's probably less than the members of said Imperial War Machine spend on brewskis in the course of a year, in either case somewhat less than .03 of 1% of the national economy!
Perhaps moveon.org and their confederates could switch to No Blood For Beer as a rallying bleat!
Yikes! LOL Oh well I guess the rumors are pretty correct. Well she should enjoy her youth. It goes sooo fast!
True, youth does go so fast, but it would sure be nice to see a lovely White House wedding.
(Not to mention seeing the father of the bride at a moment like that.)
Oh it would be great! I would love to see it. Jenna would look lovely as a bride!
Way too young. She can wait a few more (5) years or so. Besides, I'm not done fantasizing yet...
LOL
Haley gets a mention ping
Thanks for the ping as always - this article brings up lots of good gossip.
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