Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

THE McCARTNEY GAGGLE

Yes, he looks very good at 67. Svelte in a black suit, Sir Paul McCartney - who receives the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at the White House on Wednesday - graciously faced down 80 surly reporters, 15 video crews and 20 still photographers at the Library of Congress late Tuesday afternoon in a overheated, overdecorated drawing room, at a press conference that began 45 minutes late. Guests for a nearby private reception were into their second chardonnay, and the whine of a jazz trio was already echoing down the marble hallway.

Mr. McCartney took seven questions, managed to evade an autograph-seeking fan who had sneaked in, and proved he is not a celebrity seeking political clout, advising the journalistic horde that he couldn’t comment on the BP oil spill, saying, “I’m not a politician.” But political leanings? Transparent. The legendary musician admitted he would be nervous playing for President Obama, who will sit just a few feet away during the White House event, which also features performances by Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Jerry Seinfeld, the Jonas Brothers, Elvis Costello and other luminaries. But Mr. McCartney did have his sole stern moment, this one reserved for the press.

“The president’s a great guy. I like him. So lay off him,” he said.

AN AUTHOR’S ADVICE

We pause to ponder investigative journalist Joe McGinniss, new next-door neighbor to Sarah Palin, and one who denies he is stalking her for that book he’s writing.

“It’s interesting. Joe McGinniss contacted me last fall with a question about my book, ’What Does Sarah Palin Believe?’ ” author Michael Patrick Leahy tells Inside the Beltway. “That e-mail exchange began in a fairly confrontational way, but after we engaged for a while, I came to believe that this was a guy who was just trying to uncover facts. Still, to rent a house next door to her, while legal, shows poor judgment.”

Mr. Leahy - third cousin to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, and author of “Rules for Conservative Radicals” and “What Does Barack Obama Believe?” - is currently at work on a biography of President Obama chronicling his college years through 1996 with co-author John Drew, a college pal of the president.

“When you’re writing a book about a public figure, you have an obligation to respect their privacy to some degree. I think if Joe had thought it through, he would have been better advised not to rent the house. Joe may be in a box right now. And he might do better to get out of that box,” Mr. Leahy says.

BP BLUES

“Top kill, junk shot. Maybe they should name the latest idea the ’crap shoot,’ ” muses WMAL newsman Rick Fowler to the Beltway.

SESTAK, PART DEUX

So, where’s the special counsel in the Sestak matter? Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, for one, would like to know. So does Hans A. von Spakovsky, legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, who has another question: Where’s the news media?

“There is no question that if the Bush White House had been accused of offering candidates administration jobs or ’advisory’ slots to get them out of primary races, this would have been considered a terrible breach of ethics and good-government policies, as well as a violation of the law, and the media would have been on this story from Day One. But the [Rep. Joe] Sestak story was ignored for months until after he won the Senate primary in Pennsylvania - and the mainstream media already seems to be buying the White House line that this is just ’business as usual,’ as if that makes it acceptable,” Mr. von Spakovsky tells the Beltway.

“And no one is paying any attention to the similar story of what happened in Colorado. This is not ’business as usual,’ and there is no way the media would accept such a justification from the Bush White House - they certainly did not accept the explanation that the firing of U.S. attorneys was nothing unusual since they serve at the pleasure of the president,” he continues.

“Given all of the politicized decisions coming out of this Justice Department, from the dismissal of the New Black Panther voter-intimidation case to the immediate condemnation of the Arizona immigration law by [Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.] as a ’civil rights violation’ when he had not even read the statute, the chances of a special counsel being appointed are probably the same as the Redskins and the Nats winning the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same year,” Mr. von Spakovsky adds. “Holder is too political to appoint a special counsel who might actually charge the chief of staff of the president with a crime. Holder won’t even open an investigation within DOJ.”

ONCE UPON A TIME

“I think you can tell from watching it that it was completely spontaneous. I was just overcome with the emotions that I was feeling. It was kind of an outpouring there that just moved me to express my love for Tipper. I didn’t map out some strategy. I was really overcome by the emotions in the hall.”

Al Gore, explaining why he suddenly and passionately kissed wife Tipper on camera during the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

POLL DU JOUR

c 86 percent of Democrats and 87 percent of Republicans say science benefits society.

c 47 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of Republicans say scientific research “doesn’t pay enough attention to the moral values of society.”

c 34 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Republicans say that the theory of evolution “conflicts” with their religious beliefs.

c 53 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of Republicans say evolution is “mostly compatible” with their beliefs.

c 13 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of Republicans “don’t know” the answer.

c 11 percent of Democrats and 4 percent of Republicans “know nothing at all” about the theory of evolution.

Source: Virginia Commonwealth University 2010 Life Sciences Survey of 1,001 adults, conducted May 12 to 18.

c Murmurs, asides and occasional good news to jharper@washingtontimes .com.