This Week In Pool Reports

Now that summer is over and things are heating up again (well, politically anyway), the pool is back in prime form: "At the foot of the stairs the president greeted the 2006 Little League World Series champions, from Columbus, Ga., all wearing light-blue T-shirts proudly proclaiming themselves the champions. After walking down the line the president gathered the boys around him and seemed to be explaining his pitching grip. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, standing nearby, joked that he was showing them 'his curve that doesn't curve,' then explained that earlier the president had told Mr. Chambliss and the state's other senator, Johnny Isakson, he can still throw a fastball but his slider doesn't work anymore." -- Stephen Dinan, Washington Times "Brief, uneventful motorcades to and from speech, which was open press. Rather than returning to the pool trailer (which smells like cats), the pool was mercifully whisked directly to the Roosevelt Room. Mr. Bush was running uncharacteristically late, which allowed poolers to admire the chamber's artistic treasures, such as Alexander Pope's noble bronze of a bison beset by a pack of snarling wolves." -- Bill Sammon, Washington Examiner "In the immortal words of Dick Keil, POTUS's bike-ridng jaunt at the Secret Service training facility in Beltsville represented two-and-a-half news-less hours of our lives that your poolers will never get back." -- Yochi Dreazen, Wall Street Journal "Most of you know the drill: we left the White House at 2:40 in a limousine-less motorcade of Suburbans, one of which had bikes lashed to its back. We arrived shortly after 3, and were dropped off at the front parking lot, where we had no further sign of POTUS. Your pool amused themselves by watching a pair of agents fiddle unsuccessfully with a gadget attached to a briefcase that looked suspiciously like a Buck Rogers-era death ray." -- Dreazen "We arrived back at 4:46 -- and would have been back sooner except for a hapless DC cop, clearly soon to be reassigned to the weekend graveyard shift, who had blocked off the wrong road, keeping the non-POTUS highway wide open while simultaneously keeping the presidential motorcade blocked in bumper-to-bumper traffic. After a few uncomfortable minutes, sirens blared, cars parted to both sides, and we zoomed on through." -- Dreazen "He approached a worker standing to the side, asked him where he was from, and when he was told Texas, shook his hand and posed for a photo. He bantered a bit with the fellow, gesturing at your pool and saying something like, 'Most of these folks don't know what it means to live in Texas. Maybe one day, they'll learn. Isn't that right, Stretch?' he asked Bloomberg writer Dick Keil. Your pool was then escorted out." -- Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Baltimore Sun "The weather improved considerably in POTUS's absence -- I pass that on with no editorial comment whatsover -- and that enlivened the wait for his return." -- Dreazen "On this overcast day, your happy poolers gathered at the trailer, said goodbye to our colleagues who were flying with POTUS to scenic Piney Point, and trundled over to watch the departure. -- Dreazen

Fishbowl

This Week In Pool Reports

Patrick

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Patrick