Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Frenemies
Former Bush senior adviser and current Fox News contributor Karl Rove says he is not exactly popular with the current president.
Rove writes in his new book about attending an April, 2008 event where he was seated near then-Obama campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett: “Jarrett e-mailed Obama on her BlackBerry to let him know — she was breaking bread with Satan himself. He e-mailed her back — and Jarrett made the mistake of showing me his reply — which was ‘Rove hates me.'”
Rove also writes about the Bush administration’s failures after Hurricane Katrina: “Our biggest mistake was that we did not seize control of the situation in Louisiana sooner. The president should have ordered a federal takeover— and taken the heat for pushing Louisiana officials aside.”
The Situation
Rapper Jay-Z was in Washington this week for a concert and bragged to his audience he’d just come from the White House.
Here’s the apparent proof. These pictures (shown left) on the Internet show Jay-Z, wife Beyonce, and their entourage posing in the Situation Room. As you can see, the rapper looks quite comfortable sitting beneath the Presidential seal.
Incidentally, the Weekly Standard reports New York Democratic Congressman Scott Murphy said prior to winning a special election last year he met with Obama political advisers in the Situation Room.
Traditionally, the Situation Room is reserved for national security meetings.
Friday Follow-Up
Now updating some stories we’ve been tracking in our “Friday Follow-Up” segment.
The Republican party official behind a controversial fundraising presentation that caricatured President Obama as the Joker reportedly is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the RNC.
Politico says Rob Bickhart earns both an annual salary close to $200,000 and a consulting fee which was $240,000 for the second half of last year.
A Bum Rap
And finally, Rapper Sky Blu tells MTV News his altercation with former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on an airplane last month inspired his newest song: “We’re gonna use this incident to actually bring the world closer together.”
Romney told David Letterman this week the rapper “broke my hair” during the confrontation.
— FOX News Channel’s Lanna Britt contributed to this report.
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