Reply #2: Viagra Alert

[DulceDecorum]

February 5, 2001
Ariel Sharon, who will likely become Israel's next prime minister, swears he has no trouble concentrating.

No trouble, that is, except when it comes to Condoleezza Rice.

Sharon, 73, was quoted as telling a group of Israeli television journalists and executives that he found President Bush's national security adviser so attractive when they met last summer that he could barely focus on what she was saying.

Sharon, the hawkish leader of Israel's Likud Party, holds a commanding lead in opinion polls heading into Israel's prime ministerial elections tomorrow. A two-time widower, he met with Rice in August when she made her first trip to Israel.

Sharon's interest in Rice, who is 46 and single, was first reported Friday by Israel's mass-circulation newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth. According to the article, Sharon told journalists and executives of Israel's Channel 2 News last Tuesday, "I have to confess, it was hard for me to concentrate in the conversation with Condoleezza Rice because she has very nice legs."

However, a journalist at Channel 2 who sat in on the meeting said Sharon actually said he found Rice's overall appearance attractive.

-- Lee Hockstader
The Washington Post