Inside the Beltway

LIFE WITHOUT JENNY

Not a good week for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who announced that his “political days are over” during a speech to local civic leaders in Batesburg on Thursday.

But his missus is doing just fine. Jenny Sanford is taking care of business, even as her husband admits that the governor’s mansion is lonely these days.

“Right now, she is settling herself and the boys into their Sullivan’s Island home and getting them ready for the first day of school next week. She will still continue her role as first lady,” her assistant, Meg Milne, tells Inside the Beltway.

Mrs. Sanford moved out of the mansion with her four sons last week and now occupies the family beach house. Her winning public demeanor in the aftermath of her husband’s philandering prompted some to suggest Mrs. Sanford run for office herself.

“No other updates at the moment,” Ms. Milne says.

WISH YOU WERE HERE

“I do think that as he’s on vacation, he will concentrate on being on vacation,” says White house press secretary Robert Gibbs.

That is his prediction for President Obama as he takes some downtime with the family in Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere.

Fat chance. Others are not on vacation. And things may not be so restful.

Some 500 protesters from Patients First, a grass-roots advocacy group, are expected at a presidential town-hall meeting in Bozeman, Mont., on Friday. Americans for Prosperity and the Western Slope Conservative Alliance have planned a vigorous “Hands Off My Health Care Rally” in Grand Junction, Colo., when the president comes to call Saturday.

“Washington does not understand the needs of rural Colorado when it comes to grazing rights, oil and gas leases or public lands issues. They certainly understand the need to keep Washington bureaucrats out of something so personal as the relationship between them and their health care provider,” local organizer Jeff Crank tells Beltway.

Conservatives for Patient Rights has bought full-page newspaper ads and TV spots in both localities. But that’s not the end of leisure-time agendas. Why not call attention to our shabby parks as well?

“There is an approximate $600 million annual operating shortfall and a backlog of maintenance projects that exceeds $8 billion, and more than $2 billion of private land to be acquired within park boundaries,” says Ron Tipton, senior vice president for policy of the National Parks Conservation Association.

“As our nation becomes more diverse, our national parks should fully represent our evolving history, culture and diversifying population,” Mr. Tipton says.

PAT ANSWER

Legendary crooner Pat Boone is in Washington on Friday to receive the annual Silver Bowl Award from the International Platform Association, which lauds lecturers, actors and others capable of facing down a live audience.

Mr. Boone - age 75 and nimbly bolting for a plane to ferry him to the nation’s capital - had this to say about the current outpouring of “senior concerns” at town-hall meetings.

“When dissent comes from [House] Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her allies they label it ’democracy in action.’ When it comes from the other side, it’s put down as ’disruptive.’ ” he tells Beltway.

POLL DU JOUR

• 79 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Democrats are closely following news coverage of town-hall meetings on health care reform.

• 51 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of Democrats feel “more sympathetic” to protesters.

• 8 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of Democrats now feel less sympathetic.

• 64 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of Democrats categorize rowdy health care reform protesters as “democracy in action.”

• 32 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of Democrats say the protests are an “abuse of democracy.”

Source: A Gallup poll of 1,000 adults conducted Aug. 11.

REVERSE PALINIZATION

Aw. Poor Michele. No, not that one.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, has accepted talk-show host Sean Hannity’s suggestion that she is the “second-most-hated Republican” outside of Sarah Palin.

“Don’t let them Palinize me,” Mrs. Bachmann pleads in a new fundraising outreach. “It appears that I may be absorbing even more of the liberals’ scorn. And, I’d really appreciate your support so that I can defend myself against their attacks.”

“Palinize,” like “borking,” is a verb with dire implications. But oddly enough, Mrs. Palin has done a little “Palinizing” of her own, refusing in a Facebook missive on Thursday to back off her claims that health care reform would foster “death panels” to decide the fate of vulnerable citizens.

And lo and behold, Mrs. Palin has prompted the Senate Finance Committee to rethink the complicated legislation and drop language related to end-of-life issues that had troubled the former Alaska governor.

• Whispers, caterwauls, bold statements to jharper@washingtontimes .com or 202/636-3085.