The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

Democrats Without a Prayer

By The Prowler on 4.4.05 @ 12:09AM

(Page 2 of 2)

MAJORITY RULER
The whispering campaign that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may be pushed out of his leadership position has officially begun, after the Wall Street Journal's Friday "Washington Wire" broached the subject. The two big names the Journal tossed into the ring were those of Majority Whip Roy Blunt and former House Republican Conference Chairman John Boehner.

Boehner, for one, isn't spreading the rumors, but Capitol Hill insiders say that he has been seeking advice from friends about how to best position himself should DeLay be forced to resign due to the ongoing ethics investigations in Texas.

Blunt, too, isn't pressing for the job, and ironically probably can't win it thanks to the public and ethics beating he took over his personal life and ties to a former tobacco lobbyist that was instigated by strategic leaks by DeLay himself. Blunt was viewed as an up and comer with too much ambition for DeLay's taste, even though DeLay had handpicked him for the whip position.

Perhaps the only reason DeLay is feeling secure in his job is that no potential challenger to his position -- including old political hands Boehner and popular whip Blunt -- has the organization inside the House that is required to challenge DeLay's machine.

"Boehner might be in the best position, because he is such a tireless fundraiser for the party, but he just doesn't have the operation and organization to get the votes he needs here in the House," says a Republican colleague. "If the leader gets tossed over the side, his replacement is going to be the guy or gal who has the staff and outside help necessary to have a campaign in place and the votes in place fast enough that no one else can challenge them. That's how [Speaker Dennis] Hastert ended up where he is. He wasn't the favorite, but he had the organization to get the job done before anyone else could move."

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
Bill Clinton's health is not what it appeared during his arrival at Washington's Union Station last Thursday afternoon. Clinton rode in first class on Amtrak's Acela high-speed train from New York to attend a National Foundation for Infectious Diseases dinner and receive its Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions.

Clinton arrived at Union Station, and made a spectacle of walking out of the first-class lounge, which served as a holding area for him, and then walking through the station ostensibly window shopping. Clinton had been given the opportunity to exit the train privately, with no public interaction, but ever the politician, according to advisers, Clinton wanted to feel the love of the public.

Clinton walked through the station, spoke to some people, and then according to advisers began feeling weak. He was escorted back to the holding area, where Clinton is said by sources to have caught his breath.

Clinton also caught enough of a rest in a private room (paid for by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases) at the Pentagon City Ritz-Carlton where the dinner was held (and also the location where Linda Tripp famously was wired by federal authorities to nab Monica Lewinsky), to have enough strength not only to appear at the dinner but to take several backhanded swipes at the Bush administration for not doing enough about HIV around the world -- even though it's doing more than Clinton's ever did in this regard.

"It was classic Clinton in every way," says a reporter covering the event.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Bill Clinton, Catholicism, Hollywood, NATO