That's 'Wittmann,' With Quotes (2024)

"Do you know Marshall Wittmann?" co-host Robert Novak asked. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said he did. "Don't you think he's a pretty smart guy?" Novak asked. Shays agreed.

Wittmann (who has never met Shays) has a suitably quotable explanation for why he's become the go-to guy for legions of journalists: "I probably have an unusual market niche as a Texan who is an ex-Trotskyite, former Christian Coalition McCainiac. I'm like the Zelig of punditry."

No one knows quite why it happens. A pundit says something clever one day, gets a few press calls, attracts the attention of cable bookers and, presto, a sound-bite star is born. Some have staying power; some fall out of fashion. Sometimes the quotemeisters -- Norm Ornstein, Thomas Mann, Larry Sabato and other savvy folks -- are quoted so often that reporters start shying away from them, their wisdom somehow discounted by overexposure.

Now Wittmann, 47, is seemingly everywhere, talking about seemingly everything. The Hudson Institute analyst was quoted in two Washington Post stories on one day (Dec. 24). He's been quoted by Newsweek, Fortune, Money, Business Week, the New Republic and the Weekly Standard, and has been on "NBC Nightly News," "CBS Evening News," CNN, CNBC and National Public Radio.

Who, after all, can resist a guy who said of George W. Bush after the first presidential debate: "He passed the drool test." Or who told The Post: "The heart will be the favorite organ of the Bush administration. That's to distinguish it from the favorite organ of the Clinton administration."

Among Wittmann's other bons mots:

"The Hippocratic Oath of Austin is, first, do not enrage the right" (Baltimore Sun). "Why was Christine Todd Whitman examining chad? She was on a job search" (New York Times). "This is the gray-flannel, buttoned-down, corporate administration." (New York Times).

When Bush named Paul O'Neill to his Cabinet, Wittmann told USA Today: "This is your father's Treasury secretary." As for the raft of appointees from Gerald Ford's administration, Wittmann told The Post: "It's very exciting. He's going to be pardoning a president soon. Chevy Chase will have a new gig now."

Little wonder that newspapers quoted Wittmann 311 times last year, according to a Nexis search, up from 213 in 1999 and just 73 the previous year. So it seems fair to ask: Who is this guy, and why should we care what he thinks?

"I have my own point of view, but I try to be as skeptical as possible, with a good dose of cynical idealism," Wittmann says. "And I think a lot of reporters have that outlook. It's flattering to see one's name -- it's always poetry to one's ears -- but more important to me is to know I've affected the larger story."

An anti-war Democrat who volunteered for Gene McCarthy's 1968 campaign and detested Richard Nixon, Wittmann is now a conservative Republican. A Texan who grew up near what is now Bush's ranch in Crawford, he opposed Bush during the primaries as an adviser to John McCain. And he may be the only living person to have worked for both Cesar Chavez and Linda Chavez.

The former social worker, who once considered moving to Israel, joined "Jews for George" in 1988, backing Bush's father, and became a Health and Human Services deputy assistant secretary in the first Bush regime. Then he struck up a friendship with Ralph Reed and became a Christian Coalition official. Wittmann's wife, Karen, a Democrat, wasn't thrilled.

Wittmann loved the experience, though "during the prayer meetings I felt a little bit uncomfortable. . . . My family was completely unaccepting of it."

The Bethesda resident joined the Heritage Foundation and recently jumped to Hudson, where he heads a project churning out papers on such issues as defense reform -- and dispenses insight to the press.

"He has more to say than most people," says Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, an old pal. "He does think ahead and tries to figure out how the ball's going to bounce down the road. It's not just the same conventional wisdom."

Wittmann makes light of his profile: "Having your name out there is all ephemeral. I don't think it's terribly significant." Besides, he says, "I still take the Metro and the Z8 bus home every night."

Back in Court

When the New Republic ran a blistering cover story on conservative activist Paul Weyrich in 1997, the impact was immediate. The piece played a role in the decision by National Empowerment Television, the conservative network founded by Weyrich, to fire him.

The "Robespierre of the Right" article -- which pictured Weyrich leaning against a guillotine -- described him as "authoritarian," "apoplectic," "isolated" and "given to storming around the office," a man who "frothed at the mouth" and had "sudden bouts of pessimism and paranoia."

Weyrich sued the magazine for $20 million, and a judge dismissed the case. Now a three-judge appellate panel has unanimously reinstated the suit.

On one hand, the court says, the charge of "paranoia" is "rhetorical sophistry, not a verifiably false attribution." But "neither does the label 'political commentary' insulate the reporting of verifiable and arguably defamatory facts. There is no doubt that a reasonable person, reading the article's repeated tale of [Weyrich's] volatile temper and apparent emotional instability, could very well conclude" that he is "unfit for his trade or profession."

Attorney Larry Klayman, likening his client to attorney general nominee John Ashcroft, says: "What Weyrich went through is much like what Ashcroft is going through -- the politics of personal destruction. In our view the left wanted to bring him down. This is a warning that you can't go too far."

Editor Peter Beinart issued an upbeat statement: "The decision affirms our right to print reasonable and factual analysis and criticism of public and political figures, and is therefore a victory for journalists and critics everywhere." Despite this "victory," the magazine is headed back to court.

Still Ticking

Top Marine officials had a fine time knocking Mike Wallace recently for calling the wife of a pilot killed in a crash of the service's controversial V-22 Osprey plane.

But it was the Marines who were scrambling Thursday, firing the Osprey squadron commander, Lt. Col. Odin Leberman, after "60 Minutes" got hold of an audiotape in which Leberman told subordinates to lie about the program. Wallace got the tape Jan. 5, authenticated it and notified the Marines Wednesday night.

This prompted Marine officials (who later received their own copy of the tape) to launch a preemptive strike by announcing the firing, prompting Wallace to rush his story onto the "CBS Evening News" Thursday, well before last night's "60 Minutes" segment.