[Newspoetry] FW: Newspoem from Madrid

[Joe Futrelle]

Oops, I thought I had run that already.

On Mon, Oct 29, 2001 at 09:45:21PM -0600, Robert Porter wrote:
> One may have missed this the first time around..
> 
> ----------
> From: Robert Porter <bwp61 at ix.netcom.com>
> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 16:07:59 -0600
> To: Newspoetry <newspoetry at lists.groogroo.com>
> Subject: Newspoem from Madrid
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/23/national/23LEAD.htm
>  
> A Flurry of Hugs in Capital:  Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows
> 
> By NEWTON BIGELOW (Associated Poets)
> 
> Dateline Madrid ‹ 
> 
> When President Bush smothered the highest-ranking Democrats, Senator Tom
> Daschle and Representative Richard A. Gephardt, in hugs last month after he
> addressed a joint meeting of Congress, Mr. Bush wondered if he had gone too
> far.
> 
> The next day, Mr. Daschle said, the president asked him, "Do you think it
> was O.K. that we hugged each other in front of all these people?"
> 
> Of his reply Mr. Daschle recalled, "I said, `It just seemed like the natural
> thing to do.' "
> 
> Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican leader, did not get a hug,
> though he was standing behind Mr. Daschle, of South Dakota.
> 
> "That was more a hug from Daschle than it was from Bush," Mr. Lott said, a
> tad defensively. "I'm not a hugger, I guess."
> 
> Hugs or no hugs, lawmakers said they could not remember when Democratic and
> Republican leaders in Congress had worked so intimately with each other ‹
> and with the president.
> 
> These days, they are the Gang of Five, often to the exclusion ‹ and great
> dismay ‹ of other lawmakers.  The five leaders, who sometimes chat with one
> another several times a day, have formed a breakfast club. Every Tuesday or
> Wednesday at 7 a.m., they gather around a table in the private dining room
> off the Oval Office. Though not an early riser, Mr. Lott sets his alarm
> before 5:30 a.m. to get to the breakfasts. He said he would not dare miss
> one.
> 
> The group has fallen into a routine. As the lawmakers are ushered into the
> inner sanctum, their aides are dismissed.  Mr. Bush usually picks at the
> bowl of fruit in front of him. Mr. Lott orders what he calls "a full load":
> coffee, juice, eggs, toast and grits.
> 
> The five men have developed a much more personal relationship. Mr. Lott said
> that when he turned 60, his first call was from Mr. Bush. Mr. Gephardt also
> called, and Mr. Daschle burst out of a cake at a luncheon where Republican
> senators were assembled. Mr. Lott ‹ the man who resists hugs ‹ found himself
> in an embrace.
> 
> As Senator Chuck Hagel recalls the scene: "Daschle shakes his hand, gives
> him a hug and wishes him a happy birthday. They almost held hands."
> 
> The bonding has been particularly beneficial for Mr. Gephardt.  Of his
> relations with Mr. Hastert, Mr. Gephardt said: "There was no communication.
> At least now there's human communication."
> 
> Yet for all the stroking, Mr. Gephardt said he expected Mr. Bush to side
> with conservatives on some issues.
> 
> "I know we're going to run into more holes in the road because we don't
> agree on how to do stimulus," Mr. Gephardt said.
> 
> Mr. Gephardt and Mr. Hastert said they bonded out of necessity in West
> Virginia. They spent hours together eating bologna.  Describing how bonds
> were created in such dire circumstances, Mr. Gephardt said: "It was, in a
> way, a nightmare. You've got to remember we still didn't know what all could
> happen.  Scary stuff."
> 
> Although the hugs still loom as the most enduring symbol of the altered
> relationship, Mr. Lott appeared rankled by the embrace.  The morning after
> the hugs, Mr. Bush seemed a bit sheepish when he spotted Mr. Lott and Mr.
> Hastert at the White House. The president's Congressional liaison, Nicholas
> E. Calio, said Mr. Bush pondered whether to embrace the two Republicans but
> instead offered soothing words.
> 
> "He told them, `Of course, I know you two a lot better,' " Mr. Calio said. "
> `I've kind of hugged you in the past.' "
> 
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--
Joe Futrelle
editor-writ-large
Newspoetry daughdt kom