Capital Briefs

* DELAY'S WORST DAY: Rep. Tom Delay (R.-Tex.) told a group of conservative reporters last week that his worst day in Congress was in 1998 when Capitol Police Detective John Gibson was shot and killed while preventing a gunman from entering DeLay's office. HUMAN EVENTS Editor Terence Jeffrey then asked DeLay if he supported the Capitol Police in their conflict with Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.-Ga.), who is accused of striking an officer, who tried to stop her when she circumvented a security checkpoint. "You bet," said DeLay. "If nobody in this House files an ethics charge, I am. Her behavior is outrageous. ... Had it been Tom DeLay, the Ethics Committee would have met the next day."

* WHITE HOUSE DODGE:Two weeks ago, when HUMAN EVENTS Political Editor John Gizzi asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan whether President Bush would veto an immigration bill that does not include a guest-worker plan, McClellan evaded answering. Last week, when Gizzi asked McClellan whether the President would sign an immigration bill without a guest-worker plan, McClellan was again evasive. "What I emphasized was what the President emphasized, too, that we want a comprehensive bill," said McClellan. "We believe that if you're going to fix the immigration system, you have to do so in a comprehensive way. And that's what the President is continuing to urge members [of Congress] to move forward on."

* MCCLELLAN ONTHE ROPES? Veteran CBS Radio correspondent Ivan Scott asked McClellan last week about reports that "McClellan is going to ride off into the sunset" and "be replaced by [former Iraqi Freedom spokesman] Dan Senor." When McClellan answered that he "must have missed that story," Scott pressed him by saying "as though you were under oath, can you give us a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer?" McClellan replied: "I appreciate the question, and, as I have said, I don't speculate on personnel matters. Period."

* SNOW MELTING: Although the President and McClellan both made statements last week about "the great job" Treasury Secretary John Snow is doing, speculation mounts that Snow will be the next major administration figure to leave. Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry Poulson and retiring House Ways and Means Chairman BillThomas (R.-Calif.) have been mentioned for the job.

* OLD SCHOOLTIE: Conservatives would love to see former Republican Rep. PatToomey (Pa.) or former House Budget Chairman John Kasich (R.-Ohio) take over as director of the Office of Management and Budget, but several administration sources say the job is likely to go to Deputy OMB Director clay Johnson, who has an inside track to President Bush. The two went to Andover together and were roommates at Yale.

* 'TWO-FOR-ONE' RERUN: When Bill Clinton was campaigning for President in 1992, Hillary Clinton said, "People call us two-for-one. The blue-light special." The phrase came back to mind last week when the Associated Press caught Hillary cribbing a line from one of husband Bill's old speeches. In his 1993 Inaugural Address, newly elected President Bill Clinton said: "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce last week, Hillary said: "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right about America." Who knows? Hillary concocted Bill's plan to nationalize the health care system. Maybe she did his speechwriting, too.

* CRIMINAL CLINTON: In the same speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Sen. Clinton suggested that the House border security bill would make her into a criminal. "I realize I would be a criminal, too. My staff would be criminal," she said. "We help people with all kinds of problems." HUMAN EVENTS Assistant Editor Amanda Carpenter asked House Homeland security Chairman Peter King (R.-N.Y.), who co-sponsored the House bill, about Hillary's remarks. "She was afraid that if Jesus Christ was here, he'd be arrested," said King. "Now she's afraid that she and her entire staff would be arrested because these people [illegal aliens] come to her office for assistance and therefore she'd be locked up." King said that if Hillary and her staff are not members of "an alien-smuggling gang she has nothing to worry about." But, he said laughing, "If she has become a coyote, yes, she will be arrested."

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Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Apr 10, 2006
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