hillnews.com
The couple were married in New York on Dec. 14.
Rummy declined honor as ‘Person of the Year’
The Time cover that didn’t appear
It isn’t often that someone turns down an offer to be Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” especially when that someone is as important as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But that’s what Rumsfeld did when he learned that Time was planning to honor him in its year-end issue last month.
Rumsfeld told guests at a holiday party that in this year of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military deserved the honor more than he did, which is why Army Sgts. Marquette Whiteside and Ronald Buxton and Spc. Billie Grimes turned up on Time’s Dec. 29 cover.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Managing Editor James Kelly appears to confirm Rumseld’s self-effacing act, if only obliquely, in an editor’s note recounting that when he and several other editors “met with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in November to talk about the war, [the Defense Secretary] made the pitch, unsolicited by us, that the Person of the Year should be the American soldier. (Or as he put it, the American volunteer.)”
Kelly also noted that Washington bureau chief Michael Duffy and senior correspondent Mark Thompson were working on a profile of Rumsfeld in preparation for the issue, but set it aside to help two fellow Time journalists who were injured in Iraq. (The profile appeared in the Person of the Year issue.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
J.C. Watts recovering from Sugar Bowl blues
Like a lot of people who made the social rounds in New Orleans during Sugar Bowl weekend, former Rep. J. C. Watts was feeling a bit under the weather Monday. But it had nothing to do with an excess of partying in the French Quarter.
“My mental state is a little injured this morning,” the Oklahoma Republican and former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback said after watching Louisiana State University (LSU) defeat his alma mater 21-14 in the Bowl Championship Series title game in the Louisiana Superdome.
Watts, who was named most valuable player in Oklahoma’s two Orange Bowl victories in 1980 and 1981, was asked by a TV interviewer during halftime if he thought he might be able to help his old team on the field.
“I said if they need somebody [to] go in and watch films, I can do that. But with the way the LSU defense was rushing the quarterback, I’m not sure Superman could have helped.”
Watts, who was the only Republican African American in Congress when he retired in 2002 after four terms, watched the game with another Sooners gridiron great, former Rep. Steve Largent (R).
Watts, Largent and Mary Matalin, former aide to Vice President Cheney, teamed up Sunday night at a rally with about 120 Oklahoma and LSU students to cheer for the Bush-Cheney team and urge them to work for the GOP ticket.
As Watts headed for a visit to his hometown of Eufala, Okla., he offered some advice for Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder in his search for a new coach.
“From a guy who played offense all his life, I can tell you everything starts with a good defense. You get a good coach who understands defense. That’s the way you build a good team. If your opponent can’t score, you can’t lose.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New book’s hero: teenage Senate page
Few people can move around the Capitol more freely than congressional pages, but that may soon come to an end if Capitol security officials read best-selling author Brad Meltzer’s newest thriller, The Zero Game.
The novel, to be published Jan. 20 by Warner Books, is a murder mystery set in the Capitol. It involves two bored and cynical senior staffers who play a clandestine game betting on the likelihood of various pieces of legislation being passed.
It’s a game that few staffers are likely to pass up. “Risk, reward, mystery, and the thrill of knowing that just by being invited to play, you’ve confirmed your status as a true power broker in Washington,” Warner promises.
But the game turns deadly when someone close to them ends up dead and they realize they’re about to become the game’s next victims as the ruthless killer chases them through secret tunnels under the Capitol.
They turn to the only person they can trust, an idealistic, 16-year-old black Senate page named Viv who, because she can move around the Capitol undetected and in and out of private offices without raising suspicion, turns out to be their savior.
Meltzer, whose books have sold more than 6 million copies, says he conjured the idea of the secret legislative game. But he’s since been told a similar of the game actually is being played on Capitol Hill. |
