Bush's New Chief of Protocol's Youthful Indiscretion
She hasn't even been on the job a full month and already we've discovered that Nancy Brinker, President Bush's new Chief of Protocol, had a youthful indiscretion.
Not of the Henry Hyde or even George W. Bush variety. No, hers was different. And to some die-hard politicos -- far more risqué.
Brinker, former ambassador to Hungary and the lady behind the pink ribbon, the icon of the fight against breast cancer -- she founded Susan B. Komen for the Cure in memory of her late sister -- wasn't always faithful. To her party, that is.
As a young college woman, Brinker, who was Nancy Goodman back then, was involved in just about every group a gal could join at the University of Illinois. Her senior yearbook lists her as house president of her Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and communications chairman of the Panhellenic Executive Board. She served on the Committee of Student Senate, Council of Women Students, the Sociology Club, the Mortar Board and the homecoming court.
And then there was that other group she belonged to. Brinker, now 60, was also a member of an organization she probably didn't advertise on her resume: the Young Democrats Club.
Brinker, the mega GOP donor and fundraiser who, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has given $174,545 over the past 14 years to Republican candidates and organizations, was -- gasp! -- an LBJ-loving Young Democrat? (Really, this makes Brinker, originally of Peoria, Ill., the mirror opposite of another famous Illinois girl: Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was a Goldwater conservative and president of Young Republicans at Wellesley College in the '60s.)
Brinker's generosity to Bush and other Republicans helped propel her into the world of diplomacy and land the uber plum assignment as chief of protocol. She was Bush's ambassador to Hungary. And now, in her new role, she plays host to international dignitaries and heads of state who visit the White House. She's a sort of ambassador of etiquette.
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at Brinker's swearing-in ceremony last month, "Nancy is someone of grace and elegance and someone who can handle almost any situation when it comes along...I know that she can connect with people and help us to do the diplomacy."
Did the new Miss Manners of diplomacy alert Condi and Co. that she was a former lefty? We don't know. But Brinker, through her spokesman, did tell the Sleuth, "I came from a dysfunctional politically split home. My father eventually won out."
Brinker told the blog Tiki Cocktail recently that her father, who died last year of stomach cancer just shy of his 91st birthday, inspired her to take the job as chief of protocol.
"He lived a very healthy life until late in his life when he became ill with stomach cancer. It became very clear he wasn't going to make it so we were hovering around him all of the time. He finally said, 'Look, I don't want you hovering over me. Go serve this country and this president.' He loved the President and the First Lady."
By Mary Ann Akers |
November 2, 2007; 3:41 PM ET
Previous: Senators Go Nuclear, Then Make Nice (Sort of) |
Next: Kucinich vs. Cheney, Round 2
Posted by: Eunice | November 5, 2007 1:15 PM
The whole thing is so weird. How may of us have not changed in one way or a hundred since college? I was raised (heaven forbid) in a family that taught us to look at the candidate...NOT just at the political party. You can tell I must be from the stone age can't you. It is all just stretching for a story when there isn't one.
Posted by: Charlie | November 6, 2007 2:47 PM
Unlike her populist husband, Hillary is still a Republican and is beginning to remind me of Mrs. Thatcher. Strong, cold, ambitious and without humanity to leaven the mix.
Posted by: sisyphusinsoho | November 7, 2007 1:20 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Since when does being a democrat mean we are a "lefty?"