Axis of diners

Rumsfeld and Kissinger go out for dinner. Note three things: 1) they're at a French restaurant; 2) Rumsfeld drinks white wine; and 3) the publicity director of the rightwing Regnery Press just happened to be at the next table. Read on and you'll see that everyone was mobbing Rumsfeld and saying how great he is. Now, I live in DC and I know my share of conservatives here (who are vastly outnumbered in DC, except among the moneyed and lobbyed class), yet I do not know one who would tell Rumsfeld how great he is. Also note 4) the peculiar absence of socks [apologies to Woody Allen].

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and erstwhile Nixon Secretary of State and Vietnam War architect Henry Kissinger were caught dining together last Thursday at Washington's Bistro Bis, ROLL CALL reports Monday. Excerpts:

The former secretary of State arrived first and waited a good 15 minutes for Rummy. While he waited, sources say he ordered a Virgin Mary. (Who knows, maybe Kissinger wanted to stay sober to remember the moment in the event Rumsfeld apologized for that little spat that dates back to the day when he accused Kissinger of being too slow to pull out of Vietnam.)

Rummy drank white wine, our sources say. And it appeared they had a “chummy, nice, relaxing dinner,” said Angela Phelps, director of publicity at Regnery Publishing, who dined at a nearby table.