Beats Governing

I called Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn yesterday to find out. I knew he wouldn't tell me anything about the inner workings of a grand jury. But I figured he might be able to tell me if there was no grand jury involved anymore.

No dice.

"The only comment that I have to add is a glorified no comment," Samborn said, "which is to say that we have consistently refrained from and we do not comment in this entire matter outside of either the public court record or speaking in court."

Koizumi Watch

Come September, Bush won't have Koizumi to rhapsodize over anymore.

Mindless of the groans from the press corps that follows him around, Bush has easily more than 100 times publicly told the story of his friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as an example of the power of democracy to build peace.

He never gets tired of it.

Koizumi is paying his last visit to the White House as prime minister today -- and tomorrow he and Bush are off to Graceland.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "It is a way for Mr. Bush to thank the Japanese prime minister for sticking by the United States on the war with Iraq and, more broadly, it is a case study of Mr. Bush's own brand of diplomacy, one that relies on personal chemistry and perks.

"From invitations to his ranch in Crawford, Tex., to mountain biking trips at Camp David like the one he took this month with the prime minister of Denmark, Mr. Bush showers the trappings of his office on leaders he likes, and withholds them from those he does not. . . .

"Current and former White House aides say Mr. Bush likes leaders who are decisive, optimistic and resolute in the face of criticism -- not coincidentally, qualities the president often ascribes to himself."

Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek: "Bush's foreign policy aides insist that the idea for a Graceland visit came from the president himself, not from Koizumi. 'About a year ago, the president started saying to us as staff, "I would like to take him to Graceland," and we all thought he might be joking,' said one senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity in talking about Bush's foreign-policy discussions. 'But as he repeated it several times to us, we realized he indeed thought it was a great thing to do.' . . .

"Of course, President Bush can decide whom he wants to treat as his best friends among the world's leaders. But what is surprising is how small and steady that circle of friends has been. Some, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, have fallen out of favor. Only one, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seems to have joined the shortlist. Bush will travel to her hometown in former East Germany next month, en route to the G8 summit hosted by his ex-friend Putin.