May 20, 2004 by s.z.

Sure, He Does! One last Bush family item: LOS ANGELES — First lady Laura Bush appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" last night and surprised the comedian when she told him that reading newspapers is a daily ritual in the White House. In response to a question about what her typical day is like, Mrs. Bush said, "We get up really early ... about 5:30. He goes in and gets the coffee, and we drink coffee and read the newspapers. That's been our ritual our whole married life." (When pressed, she said they read the papers in bed.) Leno, looking dubious, told her he'd made a lot of jokes about the fact that the president once said he didn't read newspapers. "He really does read the newspaper," the first lady said. "Just not the reporters that follow him. He says he doesn't want to be mad at 'em the next day. Also, because he was there at the event, so he doesn't need to really read their coverage of it." I don't want to call the first lady a liar (even though she did claim in a speech that George wrote the "lump in the bed poem" for her -- and then later said on TV that George didn't write the poem, but for some reason people thought he did).  However, this is what George told Brit Hume back in September: BUSH: And then at 8:00, generally Andy Card will be here when I walk in. He's here earlier than I am. And he'll be here with the latest, and I'll ask him what's in the newspapers worth worrying about, or, you know... HUME: And he'll say, nothing? BUSH: No, he'll say something. [...] HUME: How do you get your news? BUSH: I get briefed by Andy Card and Condi in the morning. They come in and tell me. In all due respect, you've got a beautiful face and everything. I glance at the headlines just to kind of a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves. But like Condoleezza, in her case, the national security adviser is getting her news directly from the participants on the world stage. HUME: Has that been your practice since day one, or is that a practice that you've... BUSH: Practice since day one. HUME: Really? BUSH: Yes. You know, look, I have great respect for the media. I mean, our society is a good, solid democracy because of a good, solid media. But I also understand that a lot of times there's opinions mixed in with news. And I... HUME: I won't disagree with that, sir. BUSH: I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news. And the best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world. I'm having a hard time reconciling these two accounts of George's newspaper reading, but I'll give it a shot: Apparently George's "I just glance at the headlines and rarely read the stories because I get briefed on them by Card and Rice" remark only applies to the stories written by the reporters on the White House beat.  George doesn't need to read those stories because he was at the events they cover -- and besides, he doesn't want to be mad at the reporters when he sees them the next day.  But even though he was at the events, he has Andy and Condi brief him about them -- because it doesn't matter if he's mad at them the next day.  George actually spends hours reading various newspapers every morning.  He just asks Card what's significant in the papers of the day to make Andy feel important.  George doesn't need no stinkin' print media because Condi has better sources and gets the info right from the horse's mouth.  She is also more objective about everything than the world's various newspapers -- which he reads for several hours every morning.  Because he just loves reading that much. There, does that make sense? Anyway, as you may have heard, Laura is being touted by campaign strategists as one of the "president's strongest assets," which is why the Bush campaign is sending her on the trail to talk about education and niceness and such at every podunk town in every swing state that is having a gathering of more than a dozen people.  It's also why they arranged for her to appear on the "Tonight Show" and make George seem more likable by confiding how he once ran the car into the garage wall when she criticized one of his speeches, and how he once had one of his staffers whacked for correcting some of his facts.  However, I think she's going to have to do a lot better than she did last night if she wants to convince people that George can read. P.S.  One more interesting bit from that Hume interview -- it's about how George  wasn't paying attention to what the Democratic candidates were saying about him (well, at least he wasn't reading the newspaper accounts) because the voters should just judge him on the job he had done:  BUSH: No. I've got a job to do, and I'm going to be judged upon whether or not the world is more peaceful and whether or not America is more prosperous and more compassionate. Well, if the voters do judge him by that criteria then Laura might as well stay home and read, since the election is already lost. 8:03:40 AM

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And Speaking of Republican Kids . . .   Here's the Bush Twin news.  It comes from Laura Bush's press spokesman.  It's the most boring news ever. Per the A.P. story: Like their mother, the twins joined the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Barbara has been said to be a member of Skull and Bones, the secret society for Yale seniors that tapped her great-grandfather, grandfather and father for membership. Barbara may be a member of that secret society which Rush Limbaugh claimed forcibly strips, humiliates, and sodomizes its inductees?  Gee, I wonder when those photos are going to start showing up? After graduation, the sisters plan to travel with friends, then help with their father's re-election campaign, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Laura Bush. "While they're not very political people, they do want to do something to help their dad out," Johndroe said. You know, maybe give him a makeover, or teach him how to pronounce "nuclear."  In return, they made their father promise not to embarass them by speaking at their commencements. Both plan to get jobs or attend graduate school, he said. Each had a summer internship in New York - Barbara at a fashion house, Jenna at a public relations firm. Yes, they're going traveling with friends, and then they're taking summer internships.  And then they're going to start lining up jobs and/or applying to graduate school.  But maybe on a weekend or two, if they have the time, they'll try to help out Dad's re-election campaign.  Because they do feel sorry for him, after all. A visit to Africa has inspired Barbara to work with AIDS sufferers, he said, while Jenna is interested in following her mother's career in education.  So, Barbara is going to work with AIDS sufferers in the New York fashion industry, while Jenna is going to teach grade school at a public relations firm.  What public-spirited young women the Bushes have raised!  I wish them (the twins) well in their future endeavors -- which I'll bet don't turn out to involve working with AIDS sufferers or the public schools.  6:42:11 AM

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Those Republican Kids And Their DUIs Per the The Trentonian: The son of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, of Tennessee, was busted for alleged drunk driving in Princeton Borough yesterday. Police said officers pulled over William Harrison Frist, Jr.’s 1999 Chevy outside one of Princeton University’s eateries on Prospect Street at 1:35 a.m. for making an illegal pass. Police said Frist was legally drunk, but not belligerent. He did, however, fail the balance test, prompting the arrest, Lt. Dennis McManimon said. "It’s weird, we don’t get too many university students for drinking and driving," the lieutenant said. "They usually can walk where ever they want to go." Hey, if God hadn't wanted Senators' sons to drive drunk while attending Princeton, He wouldn't have given them cars. Anyway, after young Frist failed his balance test he was taken down town for a blood alcohol test. McManimon said the test revealed his blood alcohol level was over the legal limit of .10. Police said the department isn’t allowed to reveal the exact test results, but McManimon said it "wasn’t crazy" over the legal limit. Ironically enough (sort of), Frist, Sr. pushed to lower the national legal limit to 0.08 -- here's one of his old press releases: March 4th, 1998 - WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) joined a bipartisan majority in passing the “Safe and Sober Streets Act” by a vote of 63 to 32. The law would require states to lower the legal blood alcohol content for drunk driving to .08 within three years or lose a percentage of their highway construction funds. Senator Frist issued the following statement regarding the passage of the .08 standard: “In the 15 states that have already adopted the .08 standard for DWI, drunk driving has decreased. As a trauma surgeon and someone who has spent his entire adult life taking care of people in emergency rooms suffering from the trauma of drunk driving, I feel this bill will help save lives. People have a right to drink and they have a right to drive, but they don’t have a right to drink and drive.” Well, apparently legacies at Princeton who will be heading to D.C. internships in a couple of weeks think they have that right.  I hope their trauma surgeon dads can straighten them out. Also interesting: Dr. Frist is reportedly one of the Top Senate recipients of Alcohol PAC contributions (he's second in the list).  I have to admire him, I guess, for taking their money and still voting for "Safe and Sober" streets. 6:10:51 AM

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The Naughty Blogger of D.C. Today's Wo'C theme is "Political Friends and Families" -- so, gossip, more or less.  We start with a story that began as a Wonkette scoop, but is now making the papers; it's about an employee of Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and her exciting online diary.  Here's part of the Cox News Service report: Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine's office found itself linked to a storm of Capitol Hill gossip Wednesday amid reports that a low-level employee is the anonymous author of a salacious Web log. The trouble began when the gossip Web site Wonkette.com — a snarky, often raunchy weblog well-read by Washington insiders because it covers Washington insiders — highlighted another Web log, or blog, supposedly written by a Capitol Hill staffer. The author, who identified herself as "the Washingtonienne," wrote that she is a staff assistant in a Senate office — a high-turnover, low-paying job — and detailed her sexual exploits, which include, she said, getting paid to have sex with older men including a "Chief of Staff at one of the gov agencies." Washingtonienne had previously described  her special friend "X" as a married "chief of staff at one of the gov agencies, appointed by Bush." Here are more juicy details from the Cincinnati Enquirer: Calling herself "Washingtonienne" the staffer described, though only with initials: A married man who pays for sex. A person known as "threesome dude."  An office boyfriend with whom she is engaged in an "office scandal." The blog (which may only be soft porn fiction, although Wonkette said she thinks it's probably true, more or less) disappeared from BlogSpot after Tuesday's entry.  On Wednesday, Wonkette and Swamp-City.com identified the woman as an employee of DeWine, and said their sources claimed she had been fired. The Enquirer has info on the response from DeWine's office, and on why one of his aides might have been tempted into joining the world's oldest profession (not just because she saw little difference between it and politics): "All I can tell you is someone brought it to our attention, and we're looking into it," said DeWine's communications director, Mike Dawson. Asked if the unidentified employee had been fired, Dawson said, "Not yet." DeWine spokeswoman Amanda Flaig said the staffer was not at work Wednesday. Flaig said she did not know whether the woman used a Senate computer to post her writings. DeWine has about 40 employees in Washington spread out over several offices. "Most of my living expenses are thankfully subsidized by a few generous older gentlemen," Washingtonienne wrote Friday. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who makes money on the side this way: How can anybody live on $25K/year? I dare some paper to use this headline for the story: "Cheap Republican Senator Reportedly Forced Aide Into Life of Prostitution." Anyway, was the blog truth or fiction?  Did a Senate staffer break up the monotony of answering boring constituent mail with a little racy blogging on a Senate computer, or did she service lonely Bush appointees for cash?  If Washingtonienne was telling the truth, just who is "X, " the generous Bush appointee? And could Washintonienne just have been part of Senator DeWine's urological research efforts? U.S. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) today introduced a Senate companion bill to a House measure furthering training and research efforts in urology. [...] The urological division would be responsible for the creation of a National Urological Diseases Data System and a National Urology Diseases Information Clearinghouse to enhance dissemination of research findings among experts. In addition, the proposal would create a ten to eighteen-member Advisory Board in charge of developing a plan for advancing Urological research in the 21st century.   Developing ... or whatever word Wonkette concludes with. 5:01:26 AM