Who's Who.

• Author: THREADGILL, SUSAN
• Position: Conduct of politicians and notable people in the Washington, D.C. area - Brief Article

George W. Bush has been plowing new ground in English usage. To resolve disputes between patients and insurers, he has called for an "arbitrary panel" Describing the need for a strong defense, he replied, "there is madmen in the world and there are terror." On another occasion, he promised to "use our technology to enhance uncertainties abroad." When first asked by reporters why he hadn't denounced Bob Jones University's anti-Catholicism and its then-opposition to interracial dating, he said "I did denounce it ... I denounced interracial dating." Bush then reached for a new height in linguistic creativity by saying "I denounced anti-Catholic bigacy." The governor had coined a totally new word--"bigacy," but then perhaps awed by what he had done, he retreated to the conventional and corrected himself to say "bigotry."

There has been considerable comment in the media about Bill Clinton's loneliness since Hillary moved to New York. But she's been away from the White House before. In fact, not even counting all her domestic travel, she had by the end of last year taken 52 international trips according to Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report. Twenty-four of them, taking at least 121 days, were without her husband.

One reason that Jamie Rubin is leaving his job as State Department spokesman this month is that he wants to join his wife Christiane Amanpour in London. Another may be that, according to Jane Perlez of The New York Times, his boss Madeline Albright has lost the power struggle that secretaries of state traditionally have with national security advisors. Albright lost to Sandy Berger, not only because of the physical proximity to Bill Clinton that his West Wing office gives him, but because his personal relationship with the president is closer than Albright's.

When George W. Bush appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman," Jennifer Harper of the conservative Washington Times reported that "a grinning sure-footed Mr. Bush held his own with Mr. Letterman who told the governor he looked like `a million dollars."' The New York Times took a somewhat different tack. Its story, headlined "Bush Muffs Letterman's Late-Night Opportunity" and written by Caryn James said, "Imagine, then, what a comic flop he had to be to elicit groans and boos from the audience, as he did with jokes about Mr. Letterman's recent heart surgery." In case you missed it, here's what Bush said about the surgery: "I'm a uniter not a divider. That means when it comes...