'AXIS' EXIT AT WHITE HOUSE By DEBORAH ORIN
February 27, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - Bush speechwriter David Frum, credited with coining the dramatic phrase "axis of evil," has exited the White House, sparking a weird little flap about why.
CNN commentator Bob Novak touched it off by suggesting the White House, which hates credit-grabbing and leaks, ousted Frum over the revelation his wife e-mailed friends letting them know of her husband's authorship of the phrase.
But Frum and the White House say that's nonsense.
"Novak's story is an entire fabrication. I handed in my resignation on Jan. 24 [before President Bush's State of the Union Address which included the phrase]. I'm leaving because I'm a writer and I want to be able to write in my own voice," Frum told The Post.
"This has been an amazing year. This guy [Bush] is a great president - and now there are some things about this I want to write."
Frum's role in the attention-getting phrase was publicly revealed in a proud e-mail from his wife, writer Danielle Crittenden, to a few dozen pals and relatives.
"It's not often a phrase one writes gains national notice . . . so I hope you'll indulge my wifely pride in seeing this one repeated in headlines everywhere!!" she wrote in an e-mail meant to stay private.
But someone leaked it to Timothy Noah, of the online magazine Slate, which published it as an example of "authorial vanity," sparking talk in the gossip-hungry chattering classes, which are well aware of how the Bush White House hates leaks.
When Frum left Monday, Novak said on CNN: "There's suspicion he's been kicked out" - but acknowledged both Frum and the White House had denied it.
Friends say Frum suspects Novak, who opposes Bush's tough line on Iraq, was trying to distance the president from the phrase "axis of evil," referring to Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
"A phrase like 'axis of evil' suggests our goal is not just constraint but defeat of Iraq - and Novak doesn't like that," one source contended.
To which Novak replied: "Bullbleep."
Bush met with Frum before his departure. The president "was incredibly gracious," the ex-speechwriter said, adding that his White House colleagues gave him a going-away party.
When his wife's e-mail was published, Frum said, White House reaction was split "between sympathy and ribbing - the usual office joshing" but no one took him to task or accused him of indiscretion.
His wife said she was "amazed" at all the attention, adding: "It's my fault, in retrospect, for putting it in e-mail . . . I was just furious and just flabbergasted" when it was leaked.
Frum will return to the Weekly Standard magazine. He was on leave as a contributing editor for his 13 months at the White House.