When He Took The Floor, It Went Over Their Heads
Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry may be back and free from suspicious substances, but things just won’t be the same.
In his book “The New City-State,” former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery recalls a Conference of Mayors meeting where Barry arrived late in a rumpled red warm-up suit, sat down and closed his eyes.
“Suddenly Marion Barry came alive, interrupting the speaker and blurting out a few non sequiturs. … Everyone stared for an instant, jaws dropped, and I heard a chuckle of nervous laughter from a staff member.”
Then Barry “slumped back quietly into his chair beside me again, apparently satisfied that he had made some point. Politely, we all acted as if nothing had happened. … I have never shuffled my papers as intently as I did the rest of that meeting.”
Loose talk
California Congressman Sonny Bono, on life inside the Beltway: “I don’t know if politicians have the grip on reality that entertainers do. (Entertainers) know if they disregard a message from the people, they could lose their careers.”
Imagine the specter of him in the White House
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter turns 65 today.
You could say the invitation was terminated
Then again, maybe Barry hasn’t changed that much. He was so late for a lunch date at Planet Hollywood in Washington last week that restaurateur/actor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally said, “Let’s just forget this mayor” and began eating.
It’s too bad he didn’t scribble something, too
Bill Clinton’s recent stop for a cup of coffee has meant big business for the Charcoal Drive-in in Wescosville, Pa. Employees plan to enshrine the cup, its saucer and a coffee-soiled napkin and spoon used by the president.
He’s resigned to not selling them for more
Speaking of souvenirs, for a mere 50 bucks, Chuck Farnham of San Jose, Calif., is selling pieces of the Astroturf that served as a mat for Richard Nixon’s coffin. It runs in the family; Farnham told Esquire magazine he once got his mother, an Elvis Presley fan, to swipe some grass from the Graceland lawn.
He says that because the Nielsens told him so
WTLW, a Christian station in Lima, Ohio, has dropped Rush Limbaugh’s top-rated television show because of his occasional off-color jokes. The Rush response: “Jesus loves me, this I know. And I think he watches the show.”
They might want to add Sonny Bono to the list
Roll Call magazine’s roster of the other congressional colleagues whose names House Majority Leader Dick “Barney Fag” Armey should not attempt to say: Norm Dicks, Daniel Akaka, Mike Crapo, Mel Hancock, John Boehner, Chris Cox, Harry Reid, Jay Dickey, Carlos Moorhead and Dick Swett.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino