KC Buzz Blog

Congressman Cleaver and his better half go prime time

    Last night's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on MSNBC included an oddball-ish moment from the National Prayer Breakfast.

   Here's how Keith described the moment as the video played:

"And in a lighter, but in some ways more disturbing note about Iraq, at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning in Washington, when Laura Bush asked her neighbor for coffee, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, stood up, poured the first lady a cup of Joe, did not pour one for the president, put down the coffee pot, then went back to his own seat. 

"The whole exchange triggering some kind of primeval response in the president, who stood up, gestured at the blushing chairman, retrieved the coffee pot, returned to his own seat and poured himself a cup of coffee to hearty guffaws all around.  He then appeared to change course, standing up to take the coffee back to General Pace, filling his cup up, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff clearly showed his continuing embarrassment, embarrassment over coffee."

   The general also missed filling the cup of the person to the First Lady's right. That person was Dianne Cleaver. She and her congressman husband, Emanuel who led the prayer service, were among those participating in those hearty guffaws and shown throughout the video.

    It was quite the primetime night for the Mo-Kan congressional delegation. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback was featured in one clip on the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

UPDATE: Cleaver spokesman Danny Rotert has helpfully provided links after reading the original post. If you want the conservative take on the moment, check out Fox News. If you want the bash Bush take, then check out MSNBC's. 

Posted by DeAnn Smith   

In prayer

President and Mrs. Bush, along with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II and his wife Diane, listened as Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, sang and played guitar this morning during the National Prayer Breakfast.

Cleaver on Biden

    "I think that had Sen. Biden not been a strong supporter of civil rights, had he been someone who, over his years of public service, had a shaky relationship with African Americans, I think we would all need to be very upset over his comments. But obviously he has done thing likes this before. We realize he made a mistake. He was putting his tongue ahead of his brain. I don't think you're going to find any African Americans who are going to be upset with him. He's a friend, always has been."

Posted by David Goldstein

You want fries with that?

    The editors at foodie mag Bon Appetit gave four stars to Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's cooking grease-powered bus that he uses to travel his district.

     "In a town of ribs and fries, could there be a more perfect way to travel?" Cleaver tells their blog this morning.

    He has been pushing alternatives fuels. A Cleaver bill says his colleagues can only use their office allowance on cars if they run on alternative fuels.

    Cleaver aide Danny Rotert tells Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, that the aroma of barbecue lingers inside the bus. The only question we have is, when constitutents seek assistance as the bus rolls through their neighborhood, do Cleaver aides follow the teachings of one of Kansas City's legendary lords of barbecue and shout, "May I help you?   

Posted by David Goldstein   

Remember the first day of kindergarten?

   Apparently that's kind of like the seating chart for a president's State of the Union speech. A wild scramble ensued last night and seniority does have its perks.(Apparently the "good" aisle seats to be able to glad-hand on national teeevee the president as he walks in and out of the House Chambers require staking 'em out 12 hours or so beforehand.)

   One of those on the aisle was Sen. Kit Bond, who was next to Penn. Sen. Arlen Specter on the Republican side. His bipartisan display was a blue paisley tie.

  On the Democratic aisle side no, that wasn't Congresman Emanuel Cleaver mauling President Bush last night and saying he was going to pray for him. That was his near twin, Rep. Sanford Bishop.

   A spokesman for Cleaver said Cleaver sat dead center in the Democratic side of the House chambers. Cleaver grabbed a salad beforehand and got to the chambers early. He said he couldn't imagine the pressure the president faced last night.

   Afterward, as Cleaver was on the telephone doing an interview with KCUR-FM, he waved at Sen. Claire McCaskill as she prepared to do an interview with KMBC.

   During the speech, McCaskill was several rows back from Sen. Hillary Clinton, which got her on television a bit. But apparently even closer to her and thus getting more camera time was Congressman Dennis Moore, who is today on The New York Times Web site thanks to this picture.

  He may be in the minority now, but Rep. Roy Blunt was one of the first to make his way to Bush after the speech. Cameras caught him broadly smiling his accolades to Bush. Right behind Blunt, but not seeking Bush out for any back slapping would be Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, who blamed Bush in part for him losing the title of majority leader. Lott was smiling jovially to everyone else on his way out.

   Getting the biggest post-speech interview from our neck of the woods was McCaskill who charmed MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. (Check it out here). She was rewarded with almost 10 minutes of airtime, a lifetime by teevee standards. The best part of the interview was when she joked about the difficulties in knowing when to stand and clap and when to sit stoically.

   "It's a mess!" she joked, adding it was "silly" the whole "game" about when to stand up.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Cleaver, Bush pray together

   Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver met with President Bush today to discuss plans for the National Prayer Breakfast, which Cleaver is co-chairing this year with Rep. Jo Ann Davis, a Virginia Republican. The breakfast is Feb. 1.

    “We talked a lot about Texas and football,” said Cleaver, a Texas native who said it was his first meeting with Bush since Cleaver's 2004 election. “Karl Rove called Rep. Davis and I into the Oval Office after the president had finished his morning prayer. I mentioned to the President that I would have been glad to join a fellow Methodist in prayer and he said he would be glad to have me pray with him after the business part of the meeting. So, before we left, I prayed for us and the nation.”

Posted by Matt Stearns

Emanuel Cleaver: Greased lightning!

   Like many members of Congress, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri has a publicly paid mobile office in his district to help with constituent service.

Unlike most, Cleaver's doesn't run on gas or diesel. He retro-fit it to run on used cooking grease. That means a fill-up costs 70 cents a gallon, kids.

   The retrofit is in tune with Cleaver's re-introduced bill to force members of Congress to lease vehicles that run on alternative fuels if they're going to lease a vehicle with taxpayer dollars (The Star revealed last year that such leases, many for gas-guzzling SUVs and luxury cars, cost taxpayers more than $1 million a year.)

   "We are taking a normally discarded waste product and turning it into a replacement for foreign oil," Cleaver said. "And, honestly, the humor is not lost. In the town of ribs and fries could there be a more perfect way to travel?"

   Grease is the word.

   More in tomorrow's Star.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Emanuel Cleaver: Moderate (It's all about context)

    Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver was named Second Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus today, joining the policy-making executive committee of the 43-member group, all Democrats.

   Cleaver was recruited for the position by CBC leaders. Why?

   "To add a voice of progressivism flavored with Midwestern moderation," Cleaver said, explaining he is the only CBC member from a district with a black population of less than 30 percent (MO-5 is 23 percent black).

   UPDATE: Cleaver said his top priority as an officer for the CBC will be to end the state election laws that require voters to present state-issued identification to vote. "Congressman Ike Skelton, my friend and member of Congress for 30 years, couldn't vote because he showed up at the polls and didn't have a driver's license -- Ike has polio and can't use his arms and has no need for a license. That kind of foolishness has to stop."

   He added that the CBC leadership would work "to make certain CBC members are given optimum consideration" for important committee posts. Given the ire between the black caucus and incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her decision to pass over member Alcee Hastings to lead the House Intelligence Committee, Cleaver said he expected that effort would be easier because Pelosi "realizes there's a great deal of disappointment in our caucus over the Hastings decision."

Posted by Matt Stearns

The Rev keeps promise to Chris Moreno

   Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is headlining a fund-raiser for up-and-coming politico Chris Moreno. As reported previously on KC Buzz Blog, Cleaver's folks had promised that Cleaver would campaign for Moreno, who is running for the 48th District Missouri House seat.

  Obviously, the Democrats are smelling blood in Moreno's bid against Republican Rep. Will Kraus. That's because virtually every major Democratic politico is locking hands in this event, including seven state lawmakers, four county lawmakers and several Democrats unopposed on the November ballot. The Hispanic political leadership is also stepping up for Moreno.

  And making another Kansas City appearance will be Attorney General Jay Nixon, who along with Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders is joining Cleaver in hosting the event at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at a Lee's Summit banquet hall.Tickets start at $25 and go up to $325.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

More on North Korea

    Rep. Emanuel Cleaver: "I think we've gotten into this because we haven't been paying attention. I think this could ignite an Asian arms race. No leader of a nation will sleep better tonight because of the test by North Korea."

    Rep. Ike Skelton: "North Korea continues playing a highly dangerous game...Because of its importance to both regional and international security, this issue must be given far greater priority...including the appointment of a high level coordinator for North Korean policy within the administration."

Posted by David Goldstein