Spinner in Chief

Press Dinner Redux

I wrote in Friday's column about the off-the-record party Bush threw for the White House press corps last week, earning me my first-ever mention in a Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times.

Only two of the reporters actually present at the dinner seem to have had enough courage to actually write about it.

Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle writes that "as it often can be when strange bedfellows find themselves at a party, the evening had a somewhat awkward atmosphere. Was it work or social? Neither side seemed sure.

"Nothing the president said could be quoted, but it's rare that reporters get uninterrupted access to him for 90 minutes, particularly when beer is served. Bush, who gave up drinking years ago, drank a non-alcoholic Buckler."

NBC News producer Antoine Sanfuentes blogged: "Over a fare of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, and chocolate-chip cookies, reporters were offered a brief glimpse inside the presidential retreat as well as an opportunity to speak informally with the President."

Meet Frances Fragos Townsend

Susan B. Glasser and Peter Baker profile Frances Fragos Townsend in The Washington Post.

"From the low-ceilinged, windowless confines of a basement office in the West Wing, Townsend runs President Bush's far-flung campaign against terrorism. Her two predecessors were four-star generals who brought decades of experience to the fight. Townsend, 43, a former mob prosecutor, has a different credential -- the president's ear. . . .

"But by all accounts, Townsend has impressed Bush with a tough efficiency and a bit of a swagger that resembles his own. Her influence has grown to the point that Cabinet secretaries and agency directors who do not normally return media calls about White House staff members rush to phone with lavish praise for a profile.

" 'She obviously has the confidence of the president, and that has a huge impact on her ability to influence the process,' said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. She is the 'coordinator, the facilitator, the bridge,' as FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III put it, between the powerful institutions and clashing egos of a war cabinet. Townsend is both 'honest broker' in the many internal debates, said national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, and 'crisis manager' during terrorist attacks such as the recent London bombings."

Social Security (Non) Watch

Joel Havemann and Warren Vieth write in the Los Angeles Times that Bush has "been notably silent on a subject he pushed hard the first half of the year: his Social Security plan for creating private investment accounts.

"In July and August, Bush has made one appearance to plug his Social Security proposal, which he's described as the top domestic priority of his second term. In the first six months of the year, by contrast, he made 36 appearances focused primarily on restructuring Social Security -- a dozen such events in March alone. . . .

"But members of the Bush administration insist he has not given up. . . .

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the lull merely reflected the congressional recess, which ends Sept. 6. 'This is one of our priorities when Congress returns,' he said."

Scrappleface for Speechwriter!

K. Daniel Glover writes in National Journal's Beltway Blogroll that some conservative bloggers think that Scott Ott, the conservative voice behind the ScrappleFace blog, should be hired by the White House as a speechwriter.

"Their praise came this week after Ott penned the response that Ott's fans think President Bush should give to grieving mother and anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan.

An excerpt: "Mrs. Sheehan, everyone dies. But few experience the bittersweet glory of death with a purpose -- death that sets people free and produces ripples of liberty hundreds of years into the future. Casey Sheehan died that freedom might triumph over bondage, hope over despair, prosperity over misery. He died restoring justice and mercy. He lived and died to help to destroy the last stubborn vestiges of the Dark Ages."

Rangel on Cheney

Michael Saul writes for the New York Daily News: "Rep. Charles Rangel, dean of the city's congressional delegation, blasted Vice President Cheney yesterday as a 'sick man' who 'grunts a lot.'

" 'Sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on,' Rangel (D-Harlem) said during an interview on New York 1 last night. . . .

"When asked if Bush takes too much vacation time, Rangel replied, 'Oh, no, it makes the country a lot more safe -- the further Bush is away from Washington the better it is.'"

The Bush Institute

In U.S. News, Paul Bedard answers the question on everyone's lips: What will Bush's presidential library be like?

" 'The Hoover Institution,' reveals Bush's chief library scout and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans , 'is the model. That's what will differentiate our library.' No kidding. Based at Stanford University, Hoover's team includes over 150 big thinkers who have shaped major national policies and still influence Washington. . . .

"And that's not all. In a letter to seven colleges and the city of Arlington, all vying to build the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Evans and Bush brother Marvin say the prez also wants a high-tech library and museum, including an IMAX theater, gift shop, and apartment."

That's No Ranch

Warren Vieth writes in the Los Angeles Times about Bush's Crawford place.

"[W]ith a handful of cattle now on the property, some Texans suggest that calling the place a ranch could be considered a stretch.

" 'There are some guys that are all hat and no cattle. The president's not that way; he's hat and five cattle,' joked Austin lawyer and former U.S. Rep. Kent R. Hance, who as a Democrat beat Bush in a 1978 congressional race by portraying him as an Ivy League interloper. . . .

"Bush prefers bicycles to horses and never claimed to be a cattleman. He has described himself as a 'windshield rancher' who likes to escort such visitors as Russian President Vladimir Putin around his property in a pickup. He once told a visiting journalist he had become an avid amateur arborist.

" 'I am,' he said. 'Tree man.' "

Bike Watch

Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong apparently was the first person to break Bush's first rule of biking: Don't pass the president.

Matthew Cooper writes on Time.com: "When he went biking with Lance Armstrong in Crawford earlier this month, the two, at one point, approached a particularly steep and rocky hill. Bush 'wouldn't even contemplate going up it,' recalls a senior Bush official. For his part, Armstrong cruised up the incline. A White House military aide made it part of the way up but 'Lance just buried him' and Bush was in awe of his stamina."