Friday, October 10, 2014

Sylvia Burwell calls me at 7:45 AM concerned about the media coverage of Tom Frieden’s statement comparing Ebola to HIV/AIDS. Wants me to speak with Tom to get him to understand the problem with this statement. Called Tom right away and discussed with him. He now gets it and realizes that he should not have said it that way. I told him that the comparison is strong regarding the fear, but the magnitude and other aspects are very different. Continued doing much press → WTOP Radio; MSNBC with Craig Melvin; PBS Charlie Rose; Has interesting dinner hosted at the Fiola Mare (on 3050 K Street, N.W.) by Catherine and Wayne Reynolds. Usual DC Glitterati there. Had great conversation with ex-CIA Director Mike Hayden about what is going on with ISIS. He joked that the Ebola situation and me on TV is bumping ISIS of the media coverage. Great idea by Wayne Reynolds. Wolf Blitzer was at the dinner and Wayne (at the end of the dinner right before dessert had Wolf “interview” me in front of the people sitting at dinner just as if we were on the CNN TV set. The dinner crowd loved it. It was fun.