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POLITICO Playbook, presented by Chevron – JON MEACHAM on Bush 41: No ‘empty deck of cards,’ he dictated real-time notes ...

2015-11-05

By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; <a href="mailto:mallen@politico.com" target="_blank">mallen@politico.com</a>) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; <a href="mailto:dlippman@politico.com" target="_blank">dlippman@politico.com</a>)TWEET DU JOUR -- Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC): “Man asks Clinton about global poverty, she replies: ‘I’ve had many conversations with Bono on this.’”BREAKING – “Carson Best-Liked of All Presidential Candidates,” by Gallup.com’s Andrew Dugan: “net favorable score of +59 among Republicans nationwide. ... Carson is popular not only with Republicans, he also has a net favorable score of +21 among national adults -- the highest of any candidate from either party.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1GN0dQ0" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1GN0dQ0</a>--NET FAVORABLE: Carson +21 ... Fiorina +6 ... Rubio +5 ... Sanders, Kasich, Huckabee +4 ... Jeb -2 ... Cruz -3 ... Clinton -6 ... Christie -10 ... Trump -22.--The (Columbia) State, bottom of 1A, “Winthrop Poll: Clinton’s support soars among SC Democrats,” by Jamie Self: “71 percent of likely S.C. Democratic primary voters back Clinton ... Sanders at 15 percent ... O’Malley at 2 percent ... Clinton is favored by 80 percent of black Democratic voters.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1PoM64o" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1PoM64o</a>Good Thursday morning. It’s five days to the next debate (GOP, Fox Business, Milwaukee); 88 days to Iowa caucuses; a year and four days to Election Day. CBS announced that for the next Dem debate (Nov. 14, Drake University, Des Moines), “CBS News’ Nancy Cordes, CBS Des Moines Affiliate KCCI’s Kevin Cooney and the Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich Will Join Principal Moderator John Dickerson.”ONE OF THE BOOKS OF THE YEAR: At a party in Manhattan tonight hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler and his wife, Lisa, friends will honor JON MEACHAM -- the Pulitzer-winning, bestselling historian -- for his forthcoming tour de force, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.” The fascinating, revealing biography is out Tuesday from Random House. Meacham had amazing access to the Bush family and its once-in-a-century archives, including the diaries of President Bush 41 and Barbara Bush, the former First Lady.Playbook has followed the project’s progress for years. MAUREEN DOWD will love this: Bush once told his longtime chief of staff, Jean Becker, that he feared historians would see him as “an empty deck of cards” – an oh-so-Bushish conflation of “empty suit” and “not playing with a full deck.” But Meacham found so much more. He had first planned to edit Bush’s diary, then realized that 41 warranted the deep dive.Over a decade or so, Meacham spent time with Bush at his home at Walkers Point in Kennebunkport, Maine, and at his home and retirement office in Houston. Meacham has told friends that he found Houston was more useful, because there were fewer distractions – the former president wasn’t always antsy to get out on his boat. Meacham also spent more than a dozen hours (including one marathon, three-and-a-half hour session) with President George W. Bush, at his office in Dallas.41 dictated his diary in real time into mini-cassette recorders. His presidential library provided CDs and transcripts. Then Meacham checked the quotes against the tapes, which often have the rotors of Marine One or the engines of Air Force One in the background. Many were made at Camp David – a sitting president, speaking his mind in real time. As a separate project, Meacham plans to edit the diaries – one volume for the presidency and one for the pre-presidency, including Bush’s service as ambassador to the U.N., RNC chairman and vice president.Barbara Bush’s diary, never before available to a journalist or historian, goes back to 1948 – and she is said to be keeping it even now, at age 90. The first decades were handwritten, but she was an early computer adopter, often getting up at 5 a.m. to type away. Originally, the project was to be published after 41’s death. In 2012, after Meacham had finished “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” he went to see the former president, who told him it would be fine to go ahead. “He’s fearless about history,” Meacham has said. “He’s confident he did his best and always tried to put the country first.” Amazon preorder $20.83 <a href="http://amzn.to/1Oq0n2f" target="_blank">http://amzn.to/1Oq0n2f</a>--PETER BAKER on N.Y. Times p. A19, “Elder Bush Says His Son Was Served Badly by Aides”: “Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son’s administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. ... Bush [told Jon Meacham] that Mr. Cheney had built ‘his own empire’ and asserted too much ‘hard-line’ influence within George W. Bush’s White House in pushing for the use of force around the world. Mr. Rumsfeld, the elder Mr. Bush said, was an ‘arrogant fellow’ who could not see how others thought and ‘served the president badly.’ ... “While he continued to praise his son, he did tell Mr. Meacham that the younger Mr. Bush was responsible for empowering Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld and was at times too bellicose in his language. ‘I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there — some of it his, maybe, and some of it the people around him,’ Mr. Bush told Mr. Meacham. ‘Hot rhetoric is pretty easy to get headlines, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the diplomatic problem.’ ... Bush cited ... ‘axis of evil’ ... “Bush, now 91 and frail from a form of Parkinson’s disease, has seen his reputation rise again with the passage of time, and Mr. Meacham’s largely admiring biography offers the most definitive account to date about the nation’s 41st president. ... It also reports that Donald J. Trump, now a leading Republican candidate for president, wanted to be Mr. Bush’s running mate in 1988, and that Jeb Bush privately urged him to drop Dan Quayle from the ticket in 1992.” <a href="http://nyti.ms/1RWtkQY" target="_blank">http://nyti.ms/1RWtkQY</a>** Presented by Chevron: Our nation’s heroes deserve the very best when they return home. The USO has created programs to help veterans and their families restore their lives. Chevron is proud to support the USO in this essential mission. Learn more about the USO at: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/q2uy79u" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/q2uy79u</a> **MRS. OBAMA OVERSEAS -- “Michelle Obama: To improve education, world needs an ‘honest conversation’ about women’s rights,” by USA Today’s Greg Toppo in Doha: “[F]irst lady ... delivered a major speech on girls’ education ... ‘If we truly want to get girls into our classrooms, then we need to have an honest conversation about how we view and treat women in our societies,’ she told an international education conference. ‘And this conversation needs to happen in every country on this planet, including my own.’ Obama is in the Mideast this week [with] Conan O’Brien.” <a href="http://usat.ly/1Q6BjNW" target="_blank">http://usat.ly/1Q6BjNW</a> People mag Q&A with Obama and Conan <a href="http://bit.ly/1Qfl6VW" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1Qfl6VW</a>HEAT ON MARCO -- N.Y. Times, top of col. 1 in National Edition, “Rubio Seeking To Tamp Down Fiscal Scrutiny: To Release More Data on Personal Expenses,” by Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder (bottom of A1 in New York, swinging for a de Blasio story, “Rubio Seeks to Tamp Down Scrutiny of Finances”): “Fearing that Mr. Rubio could surpass him in polls, Donald J. Trump has started to mock Mr. Rubio’s use of the party account, calling him ‘a disaster with his credit cards’ ... “Jeb Bush all but encouraged the news media to pursue the issue Wednesday, highlighting his own voluminous financial disclosures and suggesting that scrutiny of Mr. Rubio’s handling of money was entirely reasonable.” <a href="http://nyti.ms/1iEyFk3" target="_blank">http://nyti.ms/1iEyFk3</a>JUST ASKING: Why the heck didn’t Team Rubio get these credit-card statements out a long time ago? He’s been running for years. Why not do it when less scrutiny? YOU'RE INVITED! Playbook Breakfast, this TUESDAY, 7:30 a.m. at the W Hotel: Bryan Cranston (Walter White in “Breaking Bad”) and Jay Roach (director of “Recount” and “Game Change”) discuss their new film “Trumbo,” in theaters this month: “In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood’s top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.” RSVP <a href="http://bit.ly/1Q82ib4" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1Q82ib4</a> Trailer <a href="http://bit.ly/1izOk4a" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1izOk4a</a>STEVEN BRILL in TIME magazine, “TRUMP U.: What the litigation over Trump University reveals about the man who would be President” (8 pages in the forthcoming issue): “Trump told me recently ... that he ‘loves talking about this,’ because the courses were ‘fantastic.’ He has surveys filled out by students, he said, showing a ‘98% satisfaction rate’ that is ‘better than Harvard’s.’ He is ‘dying to go to court,’ he insisted. However, his lawyers so far have thrown five years’ of procedural roadblocks in front of a trial. ... ‘I could settle these cases for peanuts ... but I’m not a settler. When you become known as a settler, everybody sues you.’ ... “The court papers do suggest a potential saving grace in a Trump campaign and presidency. The tight financial controls … show that there is a meticulously managed enterprise behind the bluster. Washington could use some of that.”FUTURE OF NEWS – “Facebook links with media groups to launch news app,” by FT’s Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw: “Facebook is preparing its latest push into news with a new standalone app called Notify that is scheduled to launch next week ... It will feature content from ... companies including Vogue, Mashable, CNN and the Washington Post. CBS, Comedy Central and Billboard magazine are also involved.” <a href="http://on.ft.com/1SraMZX" target="_blank">http://on.ft.com/1SraMZX</a> TRAIL MIX – “How Jeb Bush Cheats the Paleo Diet,” by ABC’s Alexander Mallin: “Bush showed [Jon] Karl a package of turkey jerky, saying it was what he ate for ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner,’ but then pulled out a package of peanut M&Ms. ‘This, on the other hand, is how we cheat at night.’” Video <a href="http://abcn.ws/1MBmVqb" target="_blank">http://abcn.ws/1MBmVqb</a>CAN JEB FIX IT? Tampa Bay Times, middle of 1A, “DOWN BUT LOOKING UP: In New Hampshire, the Granite State, Jeb Bush keeps a stiff upper lip during a critical campaign tour,” by Political Editor Adam Smith in Raymond, N.H. (online: “Bush strikingly upbeat campaigning in New Hampshire”): “Journalists are writing Jeb Bush’s political obituary, asking him about dropping out of the race soon. Every day seems to bring ever-grimmer polls ... Yet Bush appears strikingly upbeat on a three-day bus tour ...“The former Florida governor has never been adroit at masking his real feelings, and he hardly looks joyful in the role of sputtering longshot candidate, but neither does he look defeated or glum. ‘Show heart. Campaign in a way that I can show that I'm a leader, not a talker. I'm a doer.’” <a href="http://bit.ly/1RWBzN4" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1RWBzN4</a>BRUTAL: Top of WashPost homepage, “Jeb Bush’s comeback tour sounds like a therapy session,” by Phil Rucker in Raymond, N.H. (middle of A1, “Comeback tour as therapy session: In N.H., an introspective Bush tries to breathe life into his candidacy”) <a href="http://wapo.st/1NRcoKT" target="_blank">http://wapo.st/1NRcoKT</a> WHAT N.H. IS READING – Union Leader, middle of A1, “Trump, O’Malley headline first day of primary filings -- Little-known candidates were also among those who turned in their paperwork,” by Dan Tuohy <a href="http://bit.ly/1GMYABE" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1GMYABE</a>SPEAKER RYAN -- “Ryan flexes muscles in Ways and Means battle,” by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer: “As ... Ohio Rep. Pat Tiberi and Texas Rep. Kevin Brady explain[ed] why each thought he was the best man to succeed [him] as Ways and Means chairman, Ryan gave away little. But when decision time came, ... Ryan started to make calls ... to lawmakers: How can I get you to support Brady?” <a href="http://politi.co/1LR3zjE" target="_blank">http://politi.co/1LR3zjE</a> --The Speaker’s office announced last evening: “The House Republican Steering Committee ... selected Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) to serve as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. ... Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) has been chosen to fill the vacancy.” POWER PLAYERS – "Paul Ryan staffs up political team," by Jake Sherman: “Ryan is tapping two loyal insiders to run his newly bulked up political operation, which he is calling Team Ryan. Kevin Seifert, a longtime Ryan aide and Wisconsin native, will be the executive director of Team Ryan. Seifert, most recently Ryan’s Washington chief of staff, will be a critical figure in Ryan's orbit, managing the massive political side of the speaker’s job, and working with the GOP infrastructure to strategically deploy him across the country for Republicans. “Jake Kastan will be the deputy executive director of Ryan’s political team. Kastan was Ryan’s body man during his 2012 vice presidential run, and has worked for Prosperity Action PAC, the speaker’s leadership PAC. ... Tim Kronquist ... will be the general counsel of Team Ryan. Kronquist has been Ryan’s lawyer since 1998. And Jeff Livingston of the Townsend Group will be the top finance consultant." <a href="http://politi.co/1Nfprmz" target="_blank">http://politi.co/1Nfprmz</a>SCOOP DU JOUR – WSJ A1, above fold, “Iranian Hacking Surges in U.S.,” by Jay Solomon: “Obama administration personnel are among a larger group of people who have had their computer systems hacked in recent weeks, including journalists and academics ... Those attacked ... included officials ... at the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs and its Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. ... Iran’s cyberattacks have included regular operations to test ... U.S. ... cyberdefenses.” <a href="http://on.wsj.com/1Qfcv5w" target="_blank">http://on.wsj.com/1Qfcv5w</a>TOP STORY – “U.S. intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down [Russian] jet,” by CNN’s Barbara Starr and Catherine Shoichet: “U.S. intelligence suggests that the crash was most likely caused by a bomb planted on the plane by ISIS or an affiliate ... Intelligence also suggests someone at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport helped get a bomb onto the plane. ... The signs pointing to ISIS ... are partially based on monitoring of internal messages of the terrorist group.” <a href="http://cnn.it/1kcgLXx" target="_blank">http://cnn.it/1kcgLXx</a>--N.Y. POST cover, “Russian airliner crash: It WAS a bomb -- Planted in baggage by ISIS, U.S. believes” <a href="http://bit.ly/1Xy78jU" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1Xy78jU</a> ... Daily News cover, “EVIL IN THE SKY ... Brits halt all flights in the region.” <a href="http://nydn.us/vp5qdB" target="_blank">http://nydn.us/vp5qdB</a> --“AP-GfK Poll: Americans souring on Obama’s Islamic State plan,” by AP’s Josh Lederman and Emily Swanson: “More than 6 in 10 now reject Obama’s handling of the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ... Last September, Americans were roughly split, yet disapproval has jumped 8 percentage points just since January.” <a href="http://yhoo.it/1NtJT7W" target="_blank">http://yhoo.it/1NtJT7W</a> DAILY TRUMP -- “Trump courted mega-donors he now scorns ... quietly wooed Sheldon Adelson, Paul Singer and the Koch brothers,” by Ken Vogel and Ben Schreckinger: “Trump ... called Adelson and had his staff attempt to set up a meeting in Vegas. After declaring his candidacy ... Trump called Adelson to tout his pro-Israel bona fides ... Trump mentioned that he lives in heavily Jewish New York and that his daughter married a Jewish man, real estate developer Jared Kushner.” <a href="http://politi.co/1kcghkc" target="_blank">http://politi.co/1kcghkc</a> GRAYDON CARTER, “Trump’s Juvenile Vitriol”: “What the experts fail to grasp is that, crude as his jerry-built platform is, to many voters there is a kernel of ... ‘truth’ is too strong a word for it—a kernel of accuracy in many of his more astringent barbs. Jeb Bush does have low energy. The poor fellow is valiantly trying to undo this image, but is there anything so sad as a low-energy person trying to act like a high-energy person?” <a href="http://bit.ly/1Oq60xj" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1Oq60xj</a> HOT IN HILLARYLAND – HILLARY CLINTON’s hawkish Israel op-ed, “How I Would Rebuild Bond With Israel — and Bibi” in The Forward, the national Jewish newspaper: “I would ... invite the Israeli prime minister to the White House in my first month in office.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1KYPooH" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1KYPooH</a> DATA DU JOUR -- “Clinton’s Campaign Runs On Pizza,” by Vocativ’s Brian Patrick Byrne and Kaitlyn Kelly: In “filings from Q3, Team Hillary spent more than $6,000 on fast food in the months of July, August and September in 21 identifiable chow sessions. ... [T]wo-thirds of that was spent on pizza, with subs and donuts taking second and third ... Bagels are ... breakfast of choice.” <a href="http://voc.tv/1Q6wzIc" target="_blank">http://voc.tv/1Q6wzIc</a> TRAILER OF THE DAY – “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - Trailer #2 RED BAND”: “When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1Me3iVZ" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1Me3iVZ</a> TRANSITIONS -- FIRST LOOK – “Marc Solomon Joins Civitas [Public Affairs Group] as Principal and National Director” – Forthcoming release: “Most recently, Marc served as national campaign director for Freedom to Marry ... Marc [a huge KC Royals fan, who flew out to KC for the parade] ... served as a policy adviser to U.S. Senator John Danforth ... a community development strategist in St. Louis, and a researcher for Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.” <a href="http://politi.co/1kcfSy3" target="_blank">http://politi.co/1kcfSy3</a> --“[Hamilton Place Strategies] Welcomes Francis Bouchard As Managing Director”: “Bouchard comes ... from Zurich Insurance Group, serving most recently as the Global Head of Government Affairs in Zurich.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1KYNggO" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1KYNggO</a> --“NARAL Pro-Choice America ... Names Joel Foster Political Director and Mac D’Alessandro Senior Director For Special Projects” – Forthcoming release: “Foster comes ... from the Women’s Equality Center ... D’Alessandro joins NARAL from Democracy Partners.” <a href="http://bit.ly/1MBpNDs" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1MBpNDs</a>BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Julie Siegel, a Hillary ’08/Obama ’08/Obama W.H. alum, who recently graduated from Harvard Law School ... Ken Weinstein, Hudson Institute president and CEO ... Jean Roseme, long-time “legislative gladiator” for Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) (h/t Darren Martin) ... Darla Bunting, D.C. regional manager for Enriched Schools, is 3-0 (h/t Kiara Pesante, who was on time)BIRTHDAYS: Autumn Hanna VandeHei (Pack tip: Jim, Sophie, James) ... John Harwood ... NBC News D.C. bureau chief Ken Strickland … Valerie Biden Owens, E.V.P. at Joe Slade White and Co. ... Politico’s Katy O’Donnell and Nolan McCaskill ... Benjamin Wittes, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Lawfare blog … Jason Calabretta of “NBC Nightly News” (h/t Maggie Steenland) ... Stephen Rubright, director of gov’t relations at BAE Systems … Trudy Vincent (h/t Jon Haber) … Reuters’ Curtis Skinner … Austin Butler, 3L at UNC Law, is 25 (h/t Jack Winne) ... Zack Marshall, leg director for Rep. John Yarmuth ...... Annie Kelly, SVP at FP1 Strategies and Jeb Bush Iowa Director … Kristin Bodenstedt, associate general counsel and gov’t relations director at Bacardi USA … John Procter, EVP at McBee Strategic Consulting … Corey Jones … @statedept’s Moira Whelan, deputy assistant secretary for all things digital, and mom to Declan … Steve Caldeira, alum of the International Franchise Association ... Chris Sununu … military whiz Chris Mewett, a rugby player and sartorial inspiration to many ... his Navy twin Ryan Mewett, executive officer on the USS Columbus … Florida Justice Association’s Malik Haughton (h/t his wife) ... Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) (h/t Darren Martin) … Ted Kulongosk … Janice Griffin … Joseph Perman (h/t Kevin Meath, a.k.a. “Dad”) … ... Meryl Holt, Austan Goolsbee alum, now law clerk on Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, who in May received joint degree from Harvard Business, Law schools … Keith Castaldo ... Sloan Rappaport … Heather Stone ... Jessica Harris ... Ben Polk ... Kim Griffin ... Sheri Sweitzer ... Jackie Boynton ... Rick Leach ... Karen Mulhauser ... Craig Kirby ... Richard Parker ... Evie deFrees (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... actor Chris Robinson is 77 ... Art Garfunkel is 74 ... actor-playwright Sam Shepard is 72 ... TV personality Kris Jenner is 60 ... Bryan Adams is 56 ... Tatum O’Neal is 52 ... Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is 44 ... Kevin Jonas is 28 ... actor Landon Gimenez is 12 (h/ts AP)DESSERT -- “JK Rowling: I’m writing a children’s book under my own name,” by The Telegraph’s Patrick Foster: “‘I will definitely write more novels under JK Rowling. I’ve written part of a children’s book, which I really love. I will definitely finish that. I have ideas for other adult books. ... I sometimes worry I’ll die before I’ve written them all out. That’s my midlife crisis – that I will leave this earth without having written them all.’” <a href="http://bit.ly/1HaPQFp" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/1HaPQFp</a> ** Presented by Chevron: Our nation’s heroes deserve the very best when they return home. The USO has created programs to help veterans and their families restore their lives. Chevron is proud to support the USO in this essential mission. Learn more about the USO at: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/q5p6mwl" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/q5p6mwl</a> **