Joe Curltag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//462008-05-23T18:06:51ZMovable Type 3.33JoeCurlhttp://feedburner.google.comMcCain's Health Recordstag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.62182008-05-23T16:57:20Z2008-05-23T18:06:51ZHe's no match for President Bush, but he's no slouch, either. Sen. John McCain released his health records this morning, and they show a pretty darn healthy 71-year-old. He takes a few medications, has had a minor surgical procedure on...
Sen. John McCain released his health records this morning, and they show a pretty darn healthy 71-year-old. He takes a few medications, has had a minor surgical procedure on his prostate, but the invasive cancer that prompted major surgery on his face has not returned, and his doctors said the cancer most likely will not return.
"I can find no medical reason or problems that would preclude Senator McCain from fulfilling all the duties and obligations of President of the United States," said Dr. John D. Eckstein, who works in the internal medicine wing of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The 5-foot-9 McCain weighs 163 pounds, considered healthy for his age. His BMI, or body mass index, which measures a person's ratio of body fat, was just under 24, putting him at the upper end of normal (25 or higher is considered overweight). Bush, on the other hand, stands nearly 6 feet tall and weighed 192 at his last annual physical last year. His percentage of body fat is just 16.6 percent, absurdly low for a 61 year old man (that daily exercise really pays off!).
McCain's blood pressure, measured during his most recent physical exam in March, was a healthy 134 over 84. (Optimal is below 120 over 80, and high blood pressure begins at 140 over 90). Bush's was 110 over 64, again ridiculously low, and his resting heart was that of a world-class athlete at just 47-52 beats per minute (million-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's was around 35 when he was at the height of his career).
McCain's cholesterol count is 192, well below the worrisome 240 level. Bush's was 170.
The Arizona senator takes everal medications: simvastatin, part of the popular statin family of anti-cholesterol drugs; a baby aspirin, commonly prescribed starting in middle age to prevent heart attacks; Claritin as needed for allergies; the sleeping pill Ambien as needed during travel; and HCTZ, or hydrochlorothiazide, to prevent kidney stones.
Bush takes a a daily multivitamin, a low dose of Aspirin, and glucosamine and chondroitin supplements, which reduce joint pain and stiffness. Last year, he used nasal corticosteroid sprays to prevent hayfever symptoms, mainly because they're less likely than some allergy pills to cause drowsiness.
To see McCain's health summary, go here.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Them Thar's Fighting Words!tag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.62082008-05-22T20:23:01Z2008-05-22T21:36:27Z You can take the man out of the Navy, but you can't take the Navy out of the man. Sen. John McCain laid in to Sen. Barack Obama today, slapping him hard for having the temerity to question the...
McCain, who missed the vote because he was campaigning in California, let Obama have it.
"It is typical, but no less offensive, that Senator Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of. ...
"Perhaps, if Senator Obama would take the time and trouble to understand this issue he would learn to debate an honest disagreement respectfully. But, as he always does, he prefers impugning the motives of his opponent, and exploiting a thoughtful difference of opinion to advance his own ambitions. If that is how he would behave as president, the country would regret his election."
The war hero also pointed out that Obama never served in the military.
"I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Arizona Veepfesttag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.61912008-05-21T22:59:51Z2008-05-22T00:36:02ZThe McCain camp says it's purely coincidental, but three of the guests scheduled to drop by the Republican candidate's Arizona home over the Memorial Day weekend just happen to be on the short list of vice presidential contenders. Florida Gov....
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times
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Quibbling lobbyist squabbletag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.61902008-05-21T19:55:54Z2008-05-21T21:37:57Z Democrats and Republicans are having a little slapfight over which of their candidates has the most ties to lobbyists (Short answer: They both have lots and lots of ties to lobbyists -- active, inactive, foreign, domestic, tall, short, alive,...
The Democratic National Committee sent out a mean little message today screamingly slugged: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LOBBYING SCANDAL FOR MCCAIN CAMPAIGN. "As John McCain's campaign continues its false and misleading attempts to spin away a widening lobbying scandal, the USA Today revealed that yet another member of McCain's inner circle was lobbying on the campaign trail. According to the report, as recently as November 2007, McCain's top foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann, was lobbying McCain's Senate office on behalf of his foreign clients in the same week he was representing the Senator on the campaign trail."
The McCain camp sent out its own mean little message: "Despite his own campaign's ties to lobbyists, nothing comes between Barack Obama and a partisan political attack," said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman. "In Senator Obama's world, lobbyists can raise money and advise his campaign on policy issues, their families can contribute but supposedly they have no role. It's absurd, despite his own rhetoric, Senator Obama still refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists advising his campaign. What is Senator Obama hiding?"
McCain enacted a new policy last week that prohibits any campaign staffer from being a currently registered lobbyist or foreign agent. Part-time, unpaid volunteers for the campaign must disclose whether they are registered lobbyists or lobbying on behalf of foreign entities.
Obama does not take money from current registered federal lobbyists, but has plenty of his own active lobbyists advising his campaign, and he has a slew of former lobbyists collecting cash. His fundraising team also includes dozens of members of law firms that were paid nearly $140 million last year to lobby Washington lawmakers. He also accepts contributions from state lobbyists and corporate executives with interests before Congress, and former lobbyists work for him as "bundlers," raising cash for him.
For more on the whole brouhaha, read my story tomorrow in The Washington Times (or here on the Web site).
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Ketchup vs. Beer?tag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.61552008-05-19T19:46:43Z2008-05-20T23:07:32Z"She was a big beneficiary of the reductions in tax rates on dividends and capital gains that have been enacted under President Bush. She collected more than $2.2 million in dividends, all of which qualified for the new 15 percent...
That quote comes from an Oct.16, 2004, story in the New York Times about Teresa Heinz Kerry (left), the wife of Sen. John Kerry. The day before the article ran, Heinz finally relented and released what The Times called a "small part of her 2003 income tax return."
The two-page summary showed the heir to the ketchup fortune made a "total income of $5,073,554 last year." She had initially fought demands to release her tax returns, but pressure grew — in part through newspaper editorials — and she eventually gave in.
This campaign cycle, another wealthy spouse finds herself in the same pickle — Cindy Hensley McCain. The daughter of a multimillionaire Anheuser-Busch distributor, who inherited tens of millions of dollars, McCain has steadfastly refused to release her returns. Some news publications said Heinz had set a precedent by not releasing hers (she technically didn't, but she released enough to determine whether she benefited from the Bush tax cuts). At the time, her husband was proposed raising income taxes and dividends taxes on Americans who made over $200,000.
The Democratic National Committee today sent out an e-mail arguing that the McCain tax flap is reaching the same critical mass.
"EDITORIAL PAGES AGREE: TIME TO RELEASE MCCAIN TAX RETURN," the header yelled.
"Editorial pages around the country are weighing on the McCain campaign's hypocrisy on tax returns and transparency. Despite his efforts to craft an image as a champion of transparency in government, Senator McCain refuses to apply those standards of accountability and openness to himself. In addition to releasing just two years of his own tax returns — far less than any party nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980 — the McCain campaign is refusing to release Mrs. McCain's tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady."
(It must also be noted that in a rare accord, both The Washington Times and The Washington Post call on the Republican candidate's wife to release her tax returns.)
Ketchup vs. beer, indeed.
Check it all out here.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
A brave new worldtag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.61312008-05-16T14:48:00Z2008-05-16T16:15:49Z There is something disturbingly Orwellian about Saudi Arabia, perhaps best illustrated by a sign on a downtown building: "General Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vices." Right behind this building, next to a large mosque,...
Right behind this building, next to a large mosque, in a wide public square, is where they behead those found guilty of crimes. (See photo at right; workers were rinsing the square down with a hose when your blogger visited Saudi Arabia with a team of White House staffers doing a site survey for the trip of President Bush, who arrived in Riyadh this morning).
The definition of "crime," of course, depends on the eye of the beholder. For instance, Sadiq Malallah was publicly beheaded in 1992 after he was charged with throwing stones at a police patrol. But Malallah, a poet and member of Saudi Arabia's Shi'a Muslim minority, was actually convicted of apostasy and blasphemy. (The government's persecution of Shi'a is reminiscent of another dystopis novel, Farhenheit 451 — Shi'a books are banned.)
The judge in the Malallah case reportedly asked him to convert to Sunni Wahhabi Islam, but he refused (he hadn't done so under torture, either). He was taken to al Qatif in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and beheaded in a public square.
There is a precise ritual when beheading the guilty: "The prisoner now recites verses from the Quran while a government official reads the charges and the verdict," according to a recent account in Arab News, a Saudi daily. "Halfway through the reading the executioner suddenly nicks the back of the prisoner's neck with his sword, causing him to tense and raise his head involuntarily."
Then, in one sweeping move, the prisoner is beheaded. Sometimes the executioners "fix the chopped head to the body and then either hang it from a pole or from a mosque window or balcony for about two hours during the noon prayer," another news account says.
Perhaps it is not unexpected that while Malallah urged more rights for the Shi'a minority, he also sought more freedom and equality for women. Women are inferior under Islamic law, and they are watched closely by the Mutawwi'in, a police force of 10,000 men from the Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices charged with enforcing dress codes and sex segregation.
Earlier this year, A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three was arrested by the Mutawwi'in for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in a fancy mall in Riyadh. She told The Times, a British paper, that she had been in the shop's "family" area, the only place where men and women can sit together, and was wearing a headscarf and abaya, a neck-to-toe black garment. One officer told her "you are sinful and you are going to burn in hell," she said.
President Bush is in Riyadh today to meet with King Abdullah, who recently pardoned a female victim of a gang rape who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man's car at the time. Bush and Abdullah will have three tea services, as well as lunch and dinner together on the king's horse farm. The White House says they will discuss petroleum production and Middle East peace.
It will be interesting to see if Bush — who ripped Afghanistan last year as a "totalitarian nightmare … where religious police roamed the streets, where women were publicly whipped" — brings up human rights in Riyadh. But perhaps that is not polite conversation over tea with a king who controls the world's largest supply of oil.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
"His own Masada"tag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.61192008-05-15T17:37:03Z2008-05-16T16:17:31Z"Everyone has his own Masada." Eitan Campbell, director of Masada National Park, said that to President Bush today when he visited the mountaintop fortress, where hundreds of Jewish rebels slit the throats of their wives and children — then each...
The symbolism of the president's visit was heavy, even ham-handed — to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary, the leader of the nation's strongest ally toured a spot where the Jews made a final stand against its foe. The site's brochure calls Masada "a symbol of humanity's continuous struggle for freedom from oppression."
The story, especially as told by Campbell (at right, with Bush), whose visceral connection to the site is palpable and who tells the story with a still-fresh passion and emotion, is remarkable. In 73 or 74 A.D., members of the Jewish rebellion against the Romans, known as Zealots, took refuge atop 1,500-foot-high plateau fortress, built by King Herod as a winter palace. More than 8,000 Roman soldiers laid seige to the mountain, but could not break the rebels, who had stored years worth of food and had a complex water cistern system that was indestructable.
For months, the Romans built a ramp up to the fortress's main gate and set it on fire. The gate, and an earth-and-wood wall behind it, was sure to give way eventually, but the wind — always across the desert, west to east — turned back, blowing off the Dead Sea and pushing the flames back.
With the reprieve from death — but annihilation certain — rebel leader Eleazar Ben Yair gathered the men and delivered a speech, retold by historian Josephus Flavius.
"Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time has now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice. … We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day's time, but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends …
"Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom."
The men drew lots (they were found by archeologists and are on display in the Masada museum, at right) to decide which 11 would kill each other, and which man himself (just one man committed suicide, against his religion).
Josephus wrote that when the Romans entered the fortress, they "were at a loss to conjecture what had happened. Here encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they admired the nobility of their resolve and the contempt of death display[ed] by so many in carrying it, unwavering, into execution." In all, nearly 1,000 Jews were dead; two women and five children had hidden themselves in the cisterns and told the Romans what had happened.
Bush and first lady Laura spent 90 minutes atop the plateau today, riding the modern cable car up to the ancient "Snake Path" gate of the fortress. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (suffering his own Masada of late with a bribery scandal that threatens to force his resignation) and his wife, the four (pictured at left, listening to Campbell) passed through the gate and walked along a complex of stone storage rooms, and then the buildings at the northern end, which include a small palace and a bathhouse. They visited the sophisticated water-storage system and walked past the Roman ramp to the synagogue, the oldest in the world (by some acounts).
It was here the Zealot leaders cast lots that one night nearly 2,000 years ago, here that archeoligists found several scrolls, including one containing the Prophesy of the Dry Bones, which foresees the rebirth of Israel — and here that Campbell told the president, "Everyone has his own Masada."
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Israel at 60tag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.60992008-05-14T14:35:14Z2008-05-14T18:10:39ZThe first things you notice when you land is Tel Aviv, Israel, are the guns. Dozens of armed soldiers pace the Ben Gurion airport, small Uzis or other automatic weapons slung over their shoulders. They aren't menacing, threatening, they are...
While the hourlong drive to Jerusalem passes through flat, peaceful country, dotted with small houses, the landscape flush with sheep, the guns return in the Old City. Random people seem to have guns — a woman in black pants and shirt, no official uniform or badge, holds an Uzi near the Western Wall. Two young men, beards barely visible on their chins, stand by the entrance of a small park, old bolt-style rifles strapped to their backs.
The children of Jerusalem know no other world: They have always walked the streets with their classmates protected by an armed man in front, an armed man in back (as in the photo at right). For good reason: In March, a Palestinian terrorist fire at central Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, killing eight students and wounding 11 others.
It turned out that he carried a blue Israeli identity card and came from east Jerusalem. He fired more than 500 bullets in just a few minutes. An Israeli Arab group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible claimed responsibility for the massacre. In Gaza City, residents took to the streets and fired rifles in the air in celebration after news of the attack.
No one in Israel, in Gaza, on the West Bank, has lived in a safe world since 1948, when Israel was created. Arabs have killed thousands of Jews; Jews have killed thousands of Arabs. And walking the streets of the Old City, there is a quiet, sometimes irrational, fear that the spot you're standing might be dangerous, that you might want to move away from this crowd, this group of Israelis, just in case a suicide bomber with explosives packed into a vest attacks. [A few hours after this post, at least 14 people were wounded when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a shopping center in Ashkelon. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack in a statement on its Web site.]
You can feel the animosity, the hatred, just under the surface. A tour guide trying to lead you through the city grows angry when you ask him about the Palestinians: "We will never have peace with them, never. They do not want peace." He walks off, mumbling.
At the Dome of the Rocks, Islam's second most holy place, just behind the most sacred place for Jews, the Wailing Wall, you can feel it again, an uneasy feeling, a hatred. Even though the site has just opened to tourists, Muslims rush you through, shouting, "It is closing now! Closing now! Go!" Frightened tourists quickly make their ways to the exits, where more men rush them out: "Here is the exit. Closing now."
The scene is no different along the roads south and east of Jerusalem as you head into the West Bank. There, the checkpoints begin; close to the city (below), they are still men in black shirts, jeans, bullet-proof vests, holding old rifles; farther out, on the edges of the West Bank, the armed men wear Israeli army uniforms and have bigger, newer, more powerful weapons.
Palestinians have complained that the checkpoints make their lives difficult, cutting off access to the places they once traveled. But the new effort — larger than any before — to keep Palestinians out of Israel is working. Suicide bombings in Israel have dropped dramatically since the new checkpoints were erected, from a high of 59 in 2002 to only one in 2007, and one so far this year.
The military's new effort came after a deadly spring in 2002, when a Palestinian from the West Bank walked into the small Park Hotel in a small coastal resort town and blew himself up. Israeli forces swept into the Palestinian territory in an operation dubbed Defensive Shield, taking control away Palestinian Authority security forces. Shortly thereafter, Israel started building the West Bank security barrier in 2002, with checkpoints like the one below. Mostly odd stretches of fences and walls, Israeli officials say the barrier is working, and a main reason suicide bombings have plummeted.
The already high-level security is higher today, with Bush in Jerusalem to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation. Upon arrival, Bush spoke of the long strategic alliance between the two nations, but said not a word about the Palestinians or peace. Israeli President Shimon Peres said that while his nation has often been "outnumbered and outgunned," Israel "could still win seven wars during this period."
But the celebration rings hollow: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this month rejected talks in Egypt this week with Bush and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and has already nixed talks in Moscow planned for later this spring, which Abbas said he probably wouldn't attend, either.
So, for now, the children of Israel will walk the streets, flanked by armed gunmen, and Palestinians will be turned away at checkpoints. Not much to celebrate after 60 years.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Mideast POTUS Part IItag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.60832008-05-13T13:26:26Z2008-05-13T15:05:38Z President Bush leaves this evening for a weeklong trip to the Middle East, and all your Blogtini can say is: "Been there, done that." Literally. Your Blogosaurus just did the exact trip the POTUS will take, traveling along with...
President Bush leaves this evening for a weeklong trip to the Middle East, and all your Blogtini can say is: "Been there, done that."
Literally. Your Blogosaurus just did the exact trip the POTUS will take, traveling along with a couple dozen White House staffers who ran through their own weeklong tour on a trip called a "pre-advance," or site survey. The idea is simple: The White House team does a dry run of the president's trip. almost in real time, checking out event venues and hashing out all details with the host nation (and there are a lot of details, check back tomorrow for a slew).
A few members of the media tag along on the site survey to report back to the rest of the reporters about the president's schedule, the event sites, the press hotels and, yes, where to eat and even shop on the trip. So, without further ado, here is — The President's Mideast Trip Part II.
Bush did almost this exact trip in January, but this time, he has trimmed the stops back to just Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. POTUS flies overnight tonight (this is when it's sweet to have a big comfy bed aboard Air Force One) and lands tomorrow morning in Tel Aviv. (The press left just after midnight today and arrives in Jerusalem about 8 tonight.)
Bush will chopper to Jerusalem and be at the residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres by 2:30 p.m. local time. The president is visiting Jerusalem as part of a weeklong celebration of Israel's 60th birthday. After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush attends an evening celebration where he and Israeli leaders will deliver remarks. (First lady Laura Bush likely will make a stop at the Wailing Wall, top photo. Proof your blogger was there is at right.)
Thursday will be his most interesting day: The president and first lady will travel to Masada to tour the mountaintop stronghold of Jewish rebels (boy, you don't hear that phrase often), nearly 1,000 of whom killed each other (and one, himself) in the first century A.D. rather than become slaves of the Romans. (We'll post more on this stop tomorrow.)
On a lighter note, Bush then delivers a speech at the Knesset (likely the big speech of the trip) before he and Laura Bush host a U.S. reception in the evening. The site of this event, the Israel Museum, is very cool. About 300 people — world leaders, dignitaries, etc. — will attend the evening party at this museum complex, which houses the Dead Sea scrolls.
The main building, known as the Shrine of the Book, looks like a turnip poking up through a cement terrace (the dome, which is also a fountain, is actually shaped like the top of one of the jars that contained the scrolls, discovered in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert). Inside the very dark and cool shrine are eight of the Dead Sea scrolls, including the entire Book of Isiah, along with artifacts found at Masada.
The terrace will likely be the spot spot for the reception, although guests will be able to walk over to an area where there is a huge scale model of Jerusalem (photo above) from the Second Temple period (516 B.C - 74 A.D.). Workers were fixing it up during the White House tour. Guests can also stroll along the 20-acre grounds, including the Billy Rose sculpture garden, with works by some of the world's most famous artists (and strewn with sarcophogi and ossuaries from the 1st century B.C.).
The next day, he's off to Saudi Arabia (where it will be 107 degrees, and two degrees hotter — 109! — the next day). There, he'll have lunch AND dinner with King Abdullah (and perhaps beg His Highness to up his output of oil, which he's cut over the last year). The press has nearly no reason to be there: Bush will motorcade to the king's farm shortly after he arrives, and reporters won't see him again until he lands in Egypt, his last stop. (And they won't even stay in the hotel called "The Big Bottle Opener" — the Riyadh Four Seasons, right.)
In Sharm el Sheik, Bush will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora (on the site survey, there were fairly firm plans for what the White House called "quad talks" — Bush, Mubarak, Abdullah and Abbas. While in Sharm, Egyptians officials pressed for the inclusion of Olmert [Mubarak said later in Europe that talks without him would be "pointless"]. Privately, the White House team expressed fears that adding Olmert would make the talks more a "summit," which would bring much higher expectations for action [which they figured is not so likely]. The summit was axed, then the quad talks hacked, as well. Now it's just the series of bilateral meetings).
Bush ends his trip with a speech to the World Economic Forum, holding a four-day conference there. Oddly, he'll talk Middle East, not world economics (not that there's much going on in that realm lately).
We'll post some pictures from the site survey and details of the stops all along the way. Stay tuned!
— Joseph Curl,, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
McCain woos conservativestag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.59912008-05-06T19:08:21Z2008-05-07T13:24:50Z WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Sen. John McCain opened a big, messy can of worms today when he delivered a speech about his judicial philosphy, a subject near and dear to the hearts of conservatives, religious and otherwise. Although he banded...
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Sen. John McCain opened a big, messy can of worms today when he delivered a speech about his judicial philosphy, a subject near and dear to the hearts of conservatives, religious and otherwise.
Although he banded together in 2006 with liberal senators in the Gang of 14 to preserve the minority's right to reject some of President Bush's nominees to the bench, McCain laid out a philosophy that sounds remarkably like that of Bush and boils down to this: Judges should apply the Constitution, not interpret in order to legislate from the bench.
"The moral authority of our judiciary depends on judicial self-restraint, but this authority quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it. A court is hardly competent to check the abuses of other branches of government when it cannot even control itself," McCain said.
"My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power," he said.
The visit to Wake Forest University was interesting in that several of the guests who accompanied him could wind up in a McCain Cabinet, should he win the presidency. McCain was introduced by former Solicitor General Ted Olsen, whose introduction bordered on the solicitous. Also on stage was former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, (right) making his first appearance on the campaign trail to stump for the eventual GOP nominee.
McCain made quite a few jokes at Thompson's expense. "Senator Fred Thompson -- who has been head of the CIA, Secretary of State, and president of the United States," McCain said to laughter, referring to Thompson's Hollywood roles. "And he's done a great job in every one of them."
McCain drew some unintended laughter when he opened his speech. "I appreciate the hospitality of the students and faculty of West Virginia -- of this great, great Wake Forest," he said before being drown out by laughter.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Colbert discovers The Timestag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.59122008-05-01T11:31:21Z2008-05-01T13:51:19Z Stephen Colbert, the mock-hyperconservative who lacerates Republicans nightly on his Comedy Central show, has apparently been reading The Washington Times lately (although he clearly is a couple weeks behind). On his show Tuesday, he showed a screen-grab of this...
Stephen Colbert, the mock-hyperconservative who lacerates Republicans nightly on his Comedy Central show, has apparently been reading The Washington Times lately (although he clearly is a couple weeks behind). On his show Tuesday, he showed a screen-grab of this blog, from the entry titled "McCain: Triskaidekaphobiac!" (The story ran in The Times on April 16.)
"According to The Washington Times, John McCain always carries around a lucky penny, a lucky nickel, a lucky quarter, a lucky feather, and lucky compass and a lucky four-leaf clover," Colbert said. "The only unlucky thing around John McCain is the person behind him at airport security." Yeah, not very funny, so Colbert then worked up a superstition-age joke which was a bit better. "A lot of people don't know that superstition, but it's an old saying from McCain's childhood: Throw a hat on the bed, woolly mammoth make you dead."
OK, not much better. But while you're on his site, check out his bit from Monday on J.D. Salinger — hilarious.
See the clip here (you might have to scroll down to the one titled "McCain's Superstitions."
And we'll forgive Colbert for being a couple weeks behind The Times. We didn't see his show until the next day because by the time he comes on, we've already been in bed for hours.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
White House Correspondents' Association dinnertag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.58472008-04-28T14:45:44Z2008-04-29T10:16:03ZThis year, just like many in the past, the hottest ticket in town was one to the Bloomberg party thrown after the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The news organization had once again co-opted the Costa Rican Embassy not far...
And once again, the party (supposedly exclusive) was packed to the gills. Guests complained of long drink lines and the small building was steamy hot, packed as tight as a can of sardines.
Not so at the afterparty thrown by Capitol File, the six-times-a-year fashion and arts magazine that has been rocking Washington since its inception. The magazine set up at the Newseum, turning the brand-new, steel-and-glass building from Snoozeum to Cruiseum.
Hundreds of the Washington's most beautiful poeple stalked the five-story atrium and danced to the cranking DJ Fallout Boy's Pete Wentz) spinning discs on a riser just under the news helicopter that hangs from the ceiling. Bartenders mixed up anything and everything (a lot of orders for vodka and Red Bull, which sounds disgusting), and there were short lines at every station.
All the biggest stars dropped by — Perez Hilton, Morgan Fairchild, and even WHCA dinner host Craig Ferguson (who appeared to be accompanied by his daughter — wink). Even though there were hundreds of partiers on the dance floor and hundreds more on the second floor — which delivered a great view — the place had plenty of room to move (huge AC vents kept the building cool and dry on the hot, rainy night). Departing guests picked up a goody bag with at least $100 worth of perfume, lotions, makeup (and even an umbrella).
Who knows how long the party went on — your blogger left well after 2 a.m. and the place was still rolling.
Back to the WHCA dinner for a few quick observations. We saw was former editor of The Washington Post Ben Bradlee inching along in line to get through the mags to his table when he suddenly said: "Oh, I need a ticket. I don't have a ticket." Your blogger offered encouragement: "Certainly YOU don't need a ticket." He shook his head grimly and slinked off; he was last seen heading toward the escalator, away from the giant ballroom.
The hottest guest? Pamela Anderson, by far. Men orbited her table all evening, snapping shots of the actress (?), who was, as expected, falling out of a low-cut dress (which carried an odd button pinned on one side — "Ban the Horseless Carriage." Hollywood humor).
Entertainment blogger Perez Hilton brought squeals when he arrived on the red carpet (but not so much for CBS' Jim Axelrod, who walked across the carpet in silent anonymity). Former "American Idol" star Michael Johns (the Australian one, left) also brought screams and hundreds of camera clicks.
The fare at the dinner was again nearly inedible (cook the meat, people) but President Bush rocked the house by conducting the Marine Corps band and Ferguson had a few very funny jokes (one in which called the New York Times "whiners"; another in which he asked the audience which way they planned to vote — on "Republican," solid applause; on "Democrat," twice as loud — Ferguson then said something like "Well, I guess that clears up the charge that there's a liberal bias.").
Excellent blogs on the dinner here, here and here (your blogger's in the shot captioned "Michael Johns and a fan"!)
So now, without further ado, the pictures:
The excitement begins on the Washington Hilton's red carpet.
Thunderstorms held off -- the scrum was fierce on the Hilton patio.Miss USAJules "Miss Blogtastic" MasonWashington Times Executive Editor John Solomon hosts the paper's pre-party.Christina Svolopoulos of Fox News.Fishbowl's Patrick Gavin shooting us shooting him.NBC's Kelly O'Donnell -- what a smile!Simply Gabriela.
Senior McCain adviser Mark Salter's asked to take a picture.Meghan McCain (right) aka McCainBlogette.
Martha Stewart and Sen. John McCain's mother, Roberta, cook up a business deal.Karl Rove about to pummel Fox's Megyn Kelly.Pamela Anderson drew the rapt attention of a table guest.Dozens orbited around The Man Magnet.
Toby Zakaria of Reuters.Morgan Fairchild at the Newseum.Stephanie Green of Capitol File.Your blogger with Washington Times reporter Sara Carter (right) and
Mary Beth Long, assistant secretary of defense for international security.— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Down for the counttag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.57402008-04-22T14:44:26Z2008-04-22T18:04:08Z Just after President Bush appeared last night on "Deal or No Deal," and just before Sen. Barack Obama did a guest spot on "The Daily Show," all three presidential candidates took to the mats of the WWE. On the...
On the World Wrestling Entertainment show, candidate impersonators faced off in a fictitious match that included body slams and something called the "Samoan Spike."
The segment opened with the real Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton calling herself "Hil-Rod," and then Obama made an inside joke, saying, "Do you smell what I'm cooking." Both appeared via taped message.
Onto the screen popped Sen. John McCain. "Looks like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to settle their differences in the ring," he said with mock fierceness (although he looked more like Popeye the Sailorman). "Well, that's fine with me, but lemme tell ya', if you wanna' be the man, you gotta' beat the man. Come November, it'll be game over. Whucha' gonna' do when John McCain and all his McCainiacs run wild on ya'?"
The show then cut to a mock wrestling match featuring the impostors. Hillary, in a gray pantsuit, and husband Bill entered to fanfare, then the fake Hillary took the mic and said: "Whether you're a mover or a shaker, Amish or Quaker, when it comes to change, whutcha' gonna' do? Whutcha' gonna' do when Hillary Clinton and her superdelegates run wild on you?"
More fanfare and out came a fake Obama -- with huge fake ears.
They squared off in the ring. Hillary started with a kick to the crotch, then hoisted Barack up and body slammed him to the mat (she followed with, of course, a leg drop). She went for the pin but he kicked out just at the count of three (who woulda' guessed that?) Meanwhile, Bill complained to the ref from outside the ring.
Barack came back with a knee to the gut, then he grasped Hillary around the neck ("Don't let him do that to you baby!" yelled Bill) and used a new move -- the "BarackBottom" -- to slam her down onto her ample rear end. As Barack bounced off the ropes for momementum, Bill appeared to punch him in, yes, again, the crotch. But he defended himself: "I did not have illegal contact with that candidate," he said.
The ref started counting BOTH of them out. "Three, four, five," then ... "Wait a minute," the announcer said as music started to blare.
Then an enormous wrestler with a huge face tattoo emerged (sorry, we don't know ALL their names, but we think it's Umaga aka Eddie Fatu) and grabbed Barack by the scruff of the neck. He poked one thumb out and jammed it into Barack's throat with what an announcer called "The Samoan Spike." Just when Bill thought the angry Samoan was a Hillary fan, the wrestler grabbed her (Bill fled up the ramp and out of the stadium), threw her onto his shoulders and pile-drived her into the ground (it actually looked really painful). They both laid there, motionless.
"Hopefully that won't happen in Pennsylvania tomorrow," the announcer said.
You'll find it all at wwe.com.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Think Pinktag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.57252008-04-21T21:03:57Z2008-04-21T21:38:17Z Team McCain has a whole bunch of new gear available at its official store here. An e-mail just now from the campaign says breathlessly that there are new "hats, buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, t-shirts and special state and...
Team McCain has a whole bunch of new gear available at its official store here. An e-mail just now from the campaign says breathlessly that there are new "hats, buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, t-shirts and special state and coalition-specific gear. Please visit our store today!"
We checked it out — some cool stuff (although some of it's a bit pricey, like the $200 fleece jacket). A new item: state-shaped McCain lapel pins.
Of course, we fixated on the pink embroidered polo shirt, especially because it comes in 3XL. It takes a lot of man to wear that shirt.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Sour Saltertag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/joecurl//46.57232008-04-21T19:27:01Z2008-04-21T20:14:12ZMark Salter, a top aide for Sen. John McCain, was not too happy with Michael Leahy's story Sunday in The Wasington Post. Or maybe Salter just wants the two hours he spent talking to Leahy back. Either way, Salter wrote...
Some of the instances, like the Bob Smith one, he never even raised with me so I could respond. For others, he declined to print my rebuttal. He used my quotes in ways that made them seem as if I were confirming his thesis when I insisted that McCain's temper is no greater than the average person's, and that I personally know 20 or 25 Senators with much worse tempers. He argues, sometimes heatedly, with his peers, but he doesn't hold grudges or pick on people subordinate to him. If you want to tell what members of Congress have ungovernable tempers, you need only look at how rapidly their staffs turnover. As a twenty-year veteran Hill staffer, I can assure you that is the best indicator of which members have bad tempers. McCain's staff serve tenures well beyond the norm, because they are treated exceedingly well by him.
The story about the Young Republican in 1982 is entirely fictional. The Bob Smith incident is entirely fictional. The Karen Johnson story is entirely fictional. Most of the others are exaggerated beyond recognition. Let me give you two examples of Leahy's reporting practices that serve to underscore that he had a thesis he wanted to prove and forced facts to make them fit it.
I am quoted regarding the Renzi incident saying something like "no punches were thrown," making it seem as if i was excusing any incident as evidence of bad temper unless McCain drew blood. In fact, Leahy suggested to me that McCain had thrown a punch (I believe he got this from a defamatory book published recently by a Democratic activist). I responded directly to an accusation. More, I told him that McCain hadn't lost his temper at all. McCain routinely refers to people and colleagues as "boy." He does to me, to Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, and almost everybody. It's like saying hey, buddy. He means nothing by it. Renzi was relatively new to Congress, and got upset when McCain refered to him in this completely innocuous way. All McCain told Renzi was that he meant nothing by it, and Renzi should calm down or words to that effect. That was it. And I explained all that to Leahy. None of it made it into the story. That wasn't only place in the story he declined to quote me fairly or to quote my explanation at all.
When he asked me about Karen Johnson, who says McCain tried to block her from getting a job, I asked for details: what job; who did he call, when did it happen, etc. He said he couldn't give them to me because he had promised his source he wouldn't share those kind of details with McCain in advance of publication. Source didn't ask for her identity to be protected and didn't put the details off the record. They all appeared in the story. I explained to Leahy that this was a very unusual form of confidentiality, that an incident that was given to him on the record could not be shared with the subject of the story so that we could provide an informed response. There is only one reason that a source would act for that kind of selectively targeted and temporary confidentiality, to deny us the ability to disprove the story, which we could have done in ten minutes. It's like telling someone he's been accused of pedophilia, asking for a response, but declining to identify the incident in question. Mr. Leahy was unpersuaded.
In sum, this is one of the more shoddy examples of journalism I've ever encountered. But for the infamous NYT story, I'd say it was the worst smear job on McCain I'd ever seen.
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— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
McCain's blood pressure, measured during his most recent physical exam in March, was a healthy 134 over 84. (Optimal is below 120 over 80, and high blood pressure begins at 140 over 90). Bush's was 110 over 64, again ridiculously low, and his resting heart was that of a world-class athlete at just 47-52 beats per minute (million-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's was around 35 when he was at the height of his career).
McCain's cholesterol count is 192, well below the worrisome 240 level. Bush's was 170.
The Arizona senator takes everal medications: simvastatin, part of the popular statin family of anti-cholesterol drugs; a baby aspirin, commonly prescribed starting in middle age to prevent heart attacks; Claritin as needed for allergies; the sleeping pill Ambien as needed during travel; and HCTZ, or hydrochlorothiazide, to prevent kidney stones.
Bush takes a a daily multivitamin, a low dose of Aspirin, and glucosamine and chondroitin supplements, which reduce joint pain and stiffness. Last year, he used nasal corticosteroid sprays to prevent hayfever symptoms, mainly because they're less likely than some allergy pills to cause drowsiness.
To see McCain's health summary, go here.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
The McCain camp sent out its own mean little message: "Despite his own campaign's ties to lobbyists, nothing comes between Barack Obama and a partisan political attack," said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman. "In Senator Obama's world, lobbyists can raise money and advise his campaign on policy issues, their families can contribute but supposedly they have no role. It's absurd, despite his own rhetoric, Senator Obama still refuses to disclose the list of lobbyists advising his campaign. What is Senator Obama hiding?"
McCain enacted a new policy last week that prohibits any campaign staffer from being a currently registered lobbyist or foreign agent. Part-time, unpaid volunteers for the campaign must disclose whether they are registered lobbyists or lobbying on behalf of foreign entities.
Obama does not take money from current registered federal lobbyists, but has plenty of his own active lobbyists advising his campaign, and he has a slew of former lobbyists collecting cash. His fundraising team also includes dozens of members of law firms that were paid nearly $140 million last year to lobby Washington lawmakers. He also accepts contributions from state lobbyists and corporate executives with interests before Congress, and former lobbyists work for him as "bundlers," raising cash for him.
For more on the whole brouhaha, read my story tomorrow in The Washington Times (or here on the Web site).
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
The Democratic National Committee today sent out an e-mail arguing that the McCain tax flap is reaching the same critical mass.
"EDITORIAL PAGES AGREE: TIME TO RELEASE MCCAIN TAX RETURN," the header yelled.
"Editorial pages around the country are weighing on the McCain campaign's hypocrisy on tax returns and transparency. Despite his efforts to craft an image as a champion of transparency in government, Senator McCain refuses to apply those standards of accountability and openness to himself. In addition to releasing just two years of his own tax returns — far less than any party nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980 — the McCain campaign is refusing to release Mrs. McCain's tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady."
(It must also be noted that in a rare accord, both The Washington Times and The Washington Post call on the Republican candidate's wife to release her tax returns.)
Ketchup vs. beer, indeed.
Check it all out here.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
There is a precise ritual when beheading the guilty: "The prisoner now recites verses from the Quran while a government official reads the charges and the verdict," according to a recent account in Arab News, a Saudi daily. "Halfway through the reading the executioner suddenly nicks the back of the prisoner's neck with his sword, causing him to tense and raise his head involuntarily."
Then, in one sweeping move, the prisoner is beheaded. Sometimes the executioners "fix the chopped head to the body and then either hang it from a pole or from a mosque window or balcony for about two hours during the noon prayer," another news account says.
Perhaps it is not unexpected that while Malallah urged more rights for the Shi'a minority, he also sought more freedom and equality for women. Women are inferior under Islamic law, and they are watched closely by the Mutawwi'in, a police force of 10,000 men from the Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices charged with enforcing dress codes and sex segregation.
Earlier this year, A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three was arrested by the Mutawwi'in for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in a fancy mall in Riyadh. She told The Times, a British paper, that she had been in the shop's "family" area, the only place where men and women can sit together, and was wearing a headscarf and abaya, a neck-to-toe black garment. One officer told her "you are sinful and you are going to burn in hell," she said.
President Bush is in Riyadh today to meet with King Abdullah, who recently pardoned a female victim of a gang rape who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man's car at the time. Bush and Abdullah will have three tea services, as well as lunch and dinner together on the king's horse farm. The White House says they will discuss petroleum production and Middle East peace.
It will be interesting to see if Bush — who ripped Afghanistan last year as a "totalitarian nightmare … where religious police roamed the streets, where women were publicly whipped" — brings up human rights in Riyadh. But perhaps that is not polite conversation over tea with a king who controls the world's largest supply of oil.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
The men drew lots (they were found by archeologists and are on display in the Masada museum, at right) to decide which 11 would kill each other, and which man himself (just one man committed suicide, against his religion).
Josephus wrote that when the Romans entered the fortress, they "were at a loss to conjecture what had happened. Here encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they admired the nobility of their resolve and the contempt of death display[ed] by so many in carrying it, unwavering, into execution." In all, nearly 1,000 Jews were dead; two women and five children had hidden themselves in the cisterns and told the Romans what had happened.
Bush and first lady Laura spent 90 minutes atop the plateau today, riding the modern cable car up to the ancient "Snake Path" gate of the fortress. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (suffering his own Masada of late with a bribery scandal that threatens to force his resignation) and his wife, the four (pictured at left, listening to Campbell) passed through the gate and walked along a complex of stone storage rooms, and then the buildings at the northern end, which include a small palace and a bathhouse. They visited the sophisticated water-storage system and walked past the Roman ramp to the synagogue, the oldest in the world (by some acounts).
It was here the Zealot leaders cast lots that one night nearly 2,000 years ago, here that archeoligists found several scrolls, including one containing the Prophesy of the Dry Bones, which foresees the rebirth of Israel — and here that Campbell told the president, "Everyone has his own Masada."
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
Palestinians have complained that the checkpoints make their lives difficult, cutting off access to the places they once traveled. But the new effort — larger than any before — to keep Palestinians out of Israel is working. Suicide bombings in Israel have dropped dramatically since the new checkpoints were erected, from a high of 59 in 2002 to only one in 2007, and one so far this year.
The military's new effort came after a deadly spring in 2002, when a Palestinian from the West Bank walked into the small Park Hotel in a small coastal resort town and blew himself up. Israeli forces swept into the Palestinian territory in an operation dubbed Defensive Shield, taking control away Palestinian Authority security forces. Shortly thereafter, Israel started building the West Bank security barrier in 2002, with checkpoints like the one below. Mostly odd stretches of fences and walls, Israeli officials say the barrier is working, and a main reason suicide bombings have plummeted.
The already high-level security is higher today, with Bush in Jerusalem to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Israel's creation. Upon arrival, Bush spoke of the long strategic alliance between the two nations, but said not a word about the Palestinians or peace. Israeli President Shimon Peres said that while his nation has often been "outnumbered and outgunned," Israel "could still win seven wars during this period."
But the celebration rings hollow: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this month rejected talks in Egypt this week with Bush and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and has already nixed talks in Moscow planned for later this spring, which Abbas said he probably wouldn't attend, either.
So, for now, the children of Israel will walk the streets, flanked by armed gunmen, and Palestinians will be turned away at checkpoints. Not much to celebrate after 60 years.
Bush will chopper to Jerusalem and be at the residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres by 2:30 p.m. local time. The president is visiting Jerusalem as part of a weeklong celebration of Israel's 60th birthday. After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush attends an evening celebration where he and Israeli leaders will deliver remarks. (First lady Laura Bush likely will make a stop at the Wailing Wall, top photo. Proof your blogger was there is at right.)
Thursday will be his most interesting day: The president and first lady will travel to Masada to tour the mountaintop stronghold of Jewish rebels (boy, you don't hear that phrase often), nearly 1,000 of whom killed each other (and one, himself) in the first century A.D. rather than become slaves of the Romans. (We'll post more on this stop tomorrow.)
On a lighter note, Bush then delivers a speech at the Knesset (likely the big speech of the trip) before he and Laura Bush host a U.S. reception in the evening. The site of this event, the Israel Museum, is very cool. About 300 people — world leaders, dignitaries, etc. — will attend the evening party at this museum complex, which houses the Dead Sea scrolls.
The main building, known as the Shrine of the Book, looks like a turnip poking up through a cement terrace (the dome, which is also a fountain, is actually shaped like the top of one of the jars that contained the scrolls, discovered in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert). Inside the very dark and cool shrine are eight of the Dead Sea scrolls, including the entire Book of Isiah, along with artifacts found at Masada.
The terrace will likely be the spot spot for the reception, although guests will be able to walk over to an area where there is a huge scale model of Jerusalem (photo above) from the Second Temple period (516 B.C - 74 A.D.). Workers were fixing it up during the White House tour. Guests can also stroll along the 20-acre grounds, including the Billy Rose sculpture garden, with works by some of the world's most famous artists (and strewn with sarcophogi and ossuaries from the 1st century B.C.).
The next day, he's off to Saudi Arabia (where it will be 107 degrees, and two degrees hotter — 109! — the next day). There, he'll have lunch AND dinner with King Abdullah (and perhaps beg His Highness to up his output of oil, which he's cut over the last year). The press has nearly no reason to be there: Bush will motorcade to the king's farm shortly after he arrives, and reporters won't see him again until he lands in Egypt, his last stop. (And they won't even stay in the hotel called "The Big Bottle Opener" — the Riyadh Four Seasons, right.)
In Sharm el Sheik, Bush will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora (on the site survey, there were fairly firm plans for what the White House called "quad talks" — Bush, Mubarak, Abdullah and Abbas. While in Sharm, Egyptians officials pressed for the inclusion of Olmert [Mubarak said later in Europe that talks without him would be "pointless"]. Privately, the White House team expressed fears that adding Olmert would make the talks more a "summit," which would bring much higher expectations for action [which they figured is not so likely]. The summit was axed, then the quad talks hacked, as well. Now it's just the series of bilateral meetings).
Bush ends his trip with a speech to the World Economic Forum, holding a four-day conference there. Oddly, he'll talk Middle East, not world economics (not that there's much going on in that realm lately).
We'll post some pictures from the site survey and details of the stops all along the way. Stay tuned!
McCain made quite a few jokes at Thompson's expense. "Senator Fred Thompson -- who has been head of the CIA, Secretary of State, and president of the United States," McCain said to laughter, referring to Thompson's Hollywood roles. "And he's done a great job in every one of them."
McCain drew some unintended laughter when he opened his speech. "I appreciate the hospitality of the students and faculty of West Virginia -- of this great, great Wake Forest," he said before being drown out by laughter.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>
The hottest guest? Pamela Anderson, by far. Men orbited her table all evening, snapping shots of the actress (?), who was, as expected, falling out of a low-cut dress (which carried an odd button pinned on one side — "Ban the Horseless Carriage." Hollywood humor).
Entertainment blogger Perez Hilton brought squeals when he arrived on the red carpet (but not so much for CBS' Jim Axelrod, who walked across the carpet in silent anonymity). Former "American Idol" star Michael Johns (the Australian one, left) also brought screams and hundreds of camera clicks.
The fare at the dinner was again nearly inedible (cook the meat, people) but President Bush rocked the house by conducting the Marine Corps band and Ferguson had a few very funny jokes (one in which called the New York Times "whiners"; another in which he asked the audience which way they planned to vote — on "Republican," solid applause; on "Democrat," twice as loud — Ferguson then said something like "Well, I guess that clears up the charge that there's a liberal bias.").
Excellent blogs on the dinner here, here and here (your blogger's in the shot captioned "Michael Johns and a fan"!)
So now, without further ado, the pictures:
The excitement begins on the Washington Hilton's red carpet.
Thunderstorms held off -- the scrum was fierce on the Hilton patio.
Miss USA
Jules "Miss Blogtastic" Mason
Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon hosts the paper's pre-party.
Christina Svolopoulos of Fox News.
Fishbowl's Patrick Gavin shooting us shooting him.
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell -- what a smile!
Simply Gabriela.
Senior McCain adviser Mark Salter's asked to take a picture.
Meghan McCain (right) aka McCainBlogette.
Martha Stewart and Sen. John McCain's mother, Roberta, cook up a business deal.
Karl Rove about to pummel Fox's Megyn Kelly.
Pamela Anderson drew the rapt attention of a table guest.
Dozens orbited around The Man Magnet.
Toby Zakaria of Reuters.
Morgan Fairchild at the Newseum.
Stephanie Green of Capitol File.
Your blogger with Washington Times reporter Sara Carter (right) and
Mary Beth Long, assistant secretary of defense for international security.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times]]>