Good for Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole for speaking today in support of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of Health and Human Services. As Dole told a Senate committee, “‘Bipartisanship’ is a good word. We ought to develop it, nurture it and let it grow.” Dole also spoke about the pressing need to reform health care, saying that “not acting is not an option anymore.” Sebelius agreed. “We face a health system that burdens families, businesses and government budgets with skyrocketing costs,” she said. “Action is not a choice. It’s a necessity. . . . Should I be confirmed, health reform will be my mission.”
Glenn Beck has had a surge of popularity since becoming a host on Fox News Channel. He is now a leading voice for conservative populist anger, the New York Times reported. Beck says he believes every word he says on his TV and radio shows, though he knows he is also an entertainer. “I’m a rodeo clown,” he said.
Conservative writer David Frum said Beck’s success “is a product of the collapse of conservatism as an organized political force, and the rise of conservatism as an alienated cultural sensibility.”
“It’s a show for people who feel they belong to an embattled minority that is disenfranchised and cut off,” he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates (in photo) sounded a grim note on “Fox News Sunday” in predicting that North Korea “probably will” test-fire a missile soon and that “we’re not prepared to do anything about it” — unless “it was headed for Hawaii or something like that.” Gates also seemed pessimistic about the idea of diplomacy countering the nuclear threats posed by North Korea and Iran. “The opportunity for success is probably more in economic sanctions in both places than it is in diplomacy,” Gates said.
A comment in Friday’s Opinion Line accurately noted that “George Bush spent 1,020 days, more than one-third of his presidency, on vacation” — though a president is never really “on vacation.” CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who famously tracks such things, broke down the numbers this way: 490 days at Bush’s Texas ranch, 487 days at Camp David and 43 days in Kennebunkport, Maine. Other interesting tallies of the Bush 43 era: He attended 338 political fundraisers and 12 baseball games, delivered 23 commencement speeches, played 24 rounds of golf (giving it up six months into the Iraq war out of respect to families of fallen troops), hosted six state dinners, cast 12 vetoes, visited 75 foreign countries and flew 1.4 million miles on Air Force One. One thing Bush never did as president? Visit Vermont.
