KC Buzz Blog

You say tomato, I say tomatoe

   An alleged controversial comment from President Bush's brain, Karl Rove, to a Republican women's group is up on right-leaning The Corner where it's getting chewed over. (Note the reference to Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback.) The National Journal has already picked it up.

   The quote?

   "I don't want my 17-year-old son to have to pick tomatoes or make beds in Las Vegas," Rove reportedly said in explaining why President Bush wants a guest worker program.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Desserts for dummies, er, the president

   First lady Laura Bush is so seldom the subject of gossip so you might remember back in 2005 the culinary hubub that arose when she sacked White House chef Walter Scheib.

    Bush's friends sniffed that Scheib refused to stop making dishes hated by the president (apparently scallops are to him what broccoli was to his father). Scheib fired back that the first lady wanted to put her own stamp on the White House kitchen and couldn't do that with a chef hired by Hillary Clinton.

   Scheib's supporters whispered that the real reason arose from tension created when the Bushes demanded that the French-trained Scheib scrap all French recipes and techniques when France refused to support the Iraq invasion.

   Needless to say, liberal blogs are howling with laughter at the announcement that William "Bill" Yossess is the new pastry chef at the White House. Yossess is French trained (guess that's OK now that virtually everyone is against the Iraq war), but he's also the author of a book not mentioned in the news release: Desserts for Dummies.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

In the pool for Bush's visit

   Here's the pool report on Bush's visit to Lee's Summit.

   UPDATE: "REMARKS" BY THE PRESIDENT IN ROUNDTABLE ON HEALTH CARE INITIATIVES," as supplied by the White House

Posted by Matt Stearns

He's outta here

Air Force One was wheels-up (presidential geeky talk for take-off) at 1:47 p.m., 27 minutes behind schedule.

Posted (from the ground looking up) by Steve Kraske.

A nation's eyes turn to Lee's Summit

   That lovely Kansas City suburb with its top rated schools, burgeoning subdivisions, nice parks, new hospital, big-box stores and chain restaurants that so many area folks want to live in?

   So seldom does it get any negative publicity (Money magazine rates it highly). Then along comes a presidential visit and egads!

   The leftist group, Americans United for Change, which was started to derail Bush's Social Security efforts, has issued a news release chiding Bush for pushing his health-insurance proposal in Lee's Summit. What's wrong with Lee's Summit you ask?

   "....the president instead is going to peddle his health-care plan for the rich in Lee's Summit, Missouri, one of the most affluent communities in the country."

   The news release goes on to cite federal Census statistics that Mayor Karen Messerli normally would brag about. (The release says 95 percent of the city's adults at least are a high school graduate and the median home value is $170,800, which is obviously an outdated figure, cause can't imagine that now). Shhh...nobody tell Legoland!

Posted by DeAnn Smith   

Ladies and gentlemen, start your SOTU engines!

   President Bush is 90 minutes away from addressing the nation and reaction to his State of the Union address is already flooding the inboxes of reporters.

   The conservative Family Research Council offers to provide to reporters "the 'right' reaction" to the speech. Former Louisiana Rep. Tony Perkins pens an open letter to Bush today on how he can rescue his "endangered legacy."

   George Miller, chairman of the U.S. House's education committee, says Bush faces difficulties with the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act without substantial budget increases. And Miller in his statement throws down the gauntlet on Bush again proposing private school vouchers.

   "It didn't pass muster when the Republicans controlled the Congress, and it certainly won't pass muster now that Democrats do," Miller said.

Posted by DeAnn Smith  

Union sneak peek

Can't wait until tonight for the president's speechifying? The speech itself isn't out yet, but the White House is posting its fact sheets (at least the facts as it sees them) online.

Look here for Bush's points on energy.

Click here to read the White House take on health care.

This is the spot to get the president's discussion of the No Child Left Behind Act.

This is the link for immigration.

Want to read what the president says about the global effort on HIV/AIDS?

Or malaria?

Here he is on the strength of the military.

Finally, your chief executive on spending and taxes.

More details emerge on Bush visit

   At least we now know where President Bush is headed when he visits KC on Thursday:

   St. Luke's East in Lee's Summit, the White House is saying this weekend. The event is to begin at 11:55 a.m.

   His focus will be health care, a topic he's expected to discuss in his State of the Union message Tuesday.

Posted by Steve Kraske 

T. Graves lauds U.S. Attorney pick

   Former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said today he wanted to make certain KC Buzz Blog readers know he is delighted with the selection of John Wood as his replacement. He said his mind was elsewhere when asked yesterday about Wood's appointment, but that in no way should reflect on the nomination by President Bush. He said he believes Wood deserves effusive praise.

   "He has had a stellar career. He has had very important positions in D.C. He has clerked for a Supreme Court judge," Graves said. "The guy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard law school and nobody gives that to you."

   Graves said he wishes Wood well and wants to help him however he can.

   "I am thrilled they are going to get political leadership back in that job," he said, adding that will provide important long-term strategic direction for the 120 employees in the office.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Gamblin' man

    Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times files an analysis of President Bush's speech tonight:

   By stepping up the American military presence in Iraq, President Bush is not only inviting an epic clash with the Democrats who run Capitol Hill. He is ignoring the results of the November elections, rejecting the central thrust of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and flouting the advice of some of his own generals, as well as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq.

In so doing, Mr. Bush is taking a calculated gamble that, no matter how much hue and cry his new strategy may provoke, in the end the American people will give him more time to turn around the war in Iraq, and Congress will not have the political nerve to thwart him by cutting off money for the war.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski