Bush Speechwriter Sows Panic With Memoir
Book said to include hilarious behind-the-scenes moments
By EMILY FELDMAN
Updated 12:30 PM EDT, Mon, Aug 3, 2009
Players in the Bush Administration are holding their breath in anticipation of a tell-all book, penned by a man who had a front row seat for the two-term president's time in office.
Matt Latimer, the speechwriter for George W. Bush, defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, and Republican Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.), is coming out with a behind-the-scenes account of the Bush years, which is sending some folks into panic, The Washington Post reported.
While the book is still under wraps and not due out until September, rumors have been circulating about its content. Besides humorous anecdotes -- like the time Bush quite seriously said his dog Barney was the son he never had -- Latimer names names and recounts who said what about Sarah Palin's vice presidential nomination, Obama's victory and the criticism that forced Bush to withdraw Harriet Mier's Supreme Court nomination.
Other reported details reveal Karl Rove's humorous reaction to the apparently lofty national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. To mock Hadley's habit of eating from a silver platter while his colleagues used plastic trays, Rove would occasionally serve the adviser from a shiny platter himself.
Also, there are accounts of bosses who had problems with remembering facts, and one who would lock himself in his office to avoid his staffers.
The memoir is reportedly more of a laugh-out-loud account of wacky moments, and behind-the-scenes chaos, than it is a mean-spirited attempt to sabotage a former boss.
Still, The Post reports that folks are scrambling to get their hands on the manuscript, so they can prepare worthy rebuttals for all the regrettable, condemnable or laughable things they said or did. Or maybe they'll leave that up to a ... speechwriter.
First Published: Aug 3, 2009 8:39 AM EDT
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