GQ Kills Critical Hillary Article

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Quid Pro Quo

GQ magazine agreed to kill a critical piece about fighting within the Hillary Clinton campaign team — in exchange for access to Bill Clinton for another story. FOX's Carl Cameron has confirmed the publication struck a deal to spike the story — in order to secure Bill Clinton's cooperation in a cover piece planned for December.

The Politico newspaper says GQ confirmed that the Clinton article had been killed, but would not say why. The Clinton team isn't talking either.

Politico writes that a spokesman for Bill Clinton delivered the ultimatum to GQ editors. It says they succumbed to the threat — despite plenty of internal protests. The episode is said to be an illustration of the power of the Clinton celebrity factor — and the fact that the Clintons have the rare ability within the political word to actually affect magazine sales.

Redibility Issues

The whistleblower who told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was being built by kidnapped workers — now turns out to have a criminal record.

Rory Mayberry told the panel that he was on a plane to Baghdad in 2006 when 51 Filipinos broke out in panic when they heard they were going to work in Baghdad instead of Dubai. That led to Committee Chairman Henry Waxman accusing the company building the embassy of illegal labor trafficking.

But The Wall Street Journal reports Mayberry has a string of convictions going back to the mid-1980's — including burglary, forgery and welfare fraud. And it says he was fired by the company building the embassy after only five days — because he could not prove he had proper qualifications.

Waxman says he was unaware of Mayberry's past — but that his legal troubles were years ago. And Waxman says he has other sources for his allegations against the builders.

Working Together?

President Bush is quietly advising Hillary Clinton to moderate her anti-war rhetoric — to give herself maneuvering room if she wins the election next year. The Washington Examiner reports that White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten says Mr. Bush has been privately urging Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic candidates to avoid locking themselves in with hard positions on the war.

A senior White House official says the Democrats have actually welcomed the conversation — and understand the negative consequences of working too quickly to reverse Mr. Bush's Iraq policy.

Bias Against the Corps?

The San Francisco Film Commission denied the U.S. Marines permission to film a recruitment ad on city streets during the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A local TV station reports the head of the commission told the production company it could shoot on the streets only if no Marines were in the picture.

Yet when challenged on the matter Monday — she said that rush hour traffic concerns were behind her actions. The commander of the Police Traffic Bureau says the commission leader's politics have blinded her to her duty.

He points out the commission often grants permission for shoots during rush hour — and that it has previously allowed traffic to be backed up for street demonstrations and anti-war protests.

— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.