advertisement
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
advertisement
The AP reports Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Vice President Dick Cheney rejected "an Iranian offer to help the United States stabilize Iraq and end its military support for Hezbollah and Hamas" in 2003. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Wilkerson said the State Department was "open to the offer, which came in an unsigned letter sent shortly after the American invasion of Iraq." Wilkerson said State Department officials "thought it was a very propitious moment" to strike a deal, "but as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the vice president's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil'...reasserted itself."
The AP reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in her chamber will back a nonbinding resolution "declaring that President Bush's decision to send additional troops to Iraq is 'not in the national interest of the United States.'" The Washington Times says Pelosi "has made clear her disdain for the 'surge' proposal" since before President Bush unveiled it last week, but her latest remarks "were her first indication of the language that she will want the House to approve." In a preview of a "Good Morning America" interview with Pelosi, ABC World News showed Pelosi saying, "I think it is very difficult for the President to sustain a war of this magnitude without the support of the American people, and without the support of the Congress of the United States. That's why Congress will vote to oppose the President's escalation."
Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Clinton made some of her strongest comments yet on the surge in two television interviews Thursday night. On Fox News' On The Record, Clinton said of the surge, "I opposed it, based on what I knew about the situation before I went, and I'm even more strongly against it now because I think the chances for success are limited at best." Clinton made similar remarks on PBS' NewsHour, where she said, "I think that certainly our strategy has not succeeded, and I don't think there's any doubt about that anywhere, including in the White House. The question is, what do we do now going forward? And the President's proposal to add 21,500 troops in an escalation of the combat situation is not going to work."
Counterinsurgency Plan Raising Questions When Lt. Gen. David Petraeus takes over as commander in Iraq, the New York Times says, he will "be guided by a new military doctrine on counterinsurgency that makes the security of the population a chief objective." But when the Senate takes up his confirmation next week, "a pressing question" likely to emerge is whether President Bush's new Iraq strategy "will draw on enough forces to ensure security -- as measured against the general's own guidelines." The five new combat brigades to be sent to Baghdad "would roughly double the size of the American force involved in the security operation there" but that would still be "only a small portion of the 120,000-strong force that would be required to secure the entire capital" according to the military's new counterinsurgency field manual.
Sunni Nations Offer "Cautious Backing" The Financial Times reports Egypt and Saudi Arabia, "two of the US's most important Sunni allies," gave "cautious backing" to President Bush's Iraq strategy, "while a third, Jordan, reiterated the need for Iraq's Sunnis to be given a greater role" in Iraq's government.
Mahdi Army Says It Is Under Siege In Sadr City. The AP reports insurgents in Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army said they were "under siege in their Sadr City stronghold as U.S. and Iraqi troops killed or seized key commanders in pinpoint nighttime raids." ABC World News said that while Sadr "is a fellow Shiite" who helped Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "take power," Sadr told an Italian newspaper that "400 of his men have been arrested" since Maliki ordered a crackdown.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The AP reports the House "wrapped up the Democrats' '100 Hours' legislative sprint Thursday with time to spare, voting to recoup billions of dollars in lost royalties from oil and gas companies and roll back industry tax breaks." The energy bill "capped a two-week drumbeat of votes on legislation that, while popular with voters last fall, awaits a sketchy fate in the Senate." Democrats "accomplished their early legislative goals in 87 hours." The Christian Science Monitor notes that in the "first 100 legislative hours, which wrapped up Thursday, House Democrats drew a significant number of GOP votes on their 'Six for '06' agenda, despite giving minority Republicans little voice in shaping the legislation." The "bipartisan, problem-solving mantra is one that lawmakers of both stripes say they took straight from voters in the midterm election."
Poll Finds Bipartisan Support For Agenda The Los Angeles Times reports a "bipartisan majority of Americans strongly supports the bills that whisked through the House in the first days of the Democratic-controlled Congress, but many remain uncertain about where the party wants to lead the nation, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found." Only "25% of those surveyed believed that Democrats have formulated a clear direction for the country; 58% said they had failed to."
Bloomberg, meanwhile, reports "Americans are warming to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and they give the Democratic-led Congress high marks for its initial legislative priorities." The Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll "shows positive views of Pelosi, 66, climbed over the past month and are considerably higher than the marks Americans gave one of her highly publicized predecessors, Republican Newt Gingrich, in the first weeks of his tenure as speaker in 1995." Thirty-four percent gave Pelosi "a favorable rating, up from 27 percent who did so in a poll conducted in December.""
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced a tough grilling by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday over the Bush Administration's post-9/11 security policies, and coverage of the event in today's newspapers is hard on the Administration. ABC World News said "anger on the Administration's conduct in the war on terror came pouring out" as Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy "accused the Attorney General and the Bush Administration of trampling the Constitution." Gonzalez "fired back that the country faces a ruthless enemy." The Washington Post reports the Administration "quickly locked horns with Democratic lawmakers," adding the "debate underscored continued skepticism among Democrats and some Republicans over the parameters and legality of the administration's surveillance efforts." USA Today says Leahy and other senators of both parties "made it clear that they remained unhappy about the administration's handling of surveillance issues," and the Washington Times notes "both Democrats and Republicans on the committee demanded more information" about judicial oversight of domestic wiretapping.
The Los Angeles Times says "the Bush administration refused to provide details to Congress of how a new court-review process for terror-related wiretaps would work, triggering a fresh round of complaints and suspicions from Democrats." The AP says Gonzales "offered few answers" yesterday, "maintaining during 3 1/2 hours of sharp rebukes that disclosing details of the program would expose sensitive security information." The New York Times says Gonzales "tried, apparently without success, to quell the flood of questions."
The New York Times reports House Democrats "easily passed legislation on Thursday that would rescind $14 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for oil drillers and reserve the money to develop alternative energy projects and conservation technologies." The measure "passed 264 to 163, with many Republicans joining a bloc of Democrats. Passage came despite opposition from the oil industry and the Bush administration, which said the bill singled out the companies for higher taxes and could increase the country's dependence on foreign oil." The Washington Post and Washington Times run similar stories.
Senate leaders on Thursday negotiated a deal to revive ethics reform legislation. The bill was easily passed, 96-2, even as a dispute over a modified line item veto measure had threatened to derail it only a day earlier. The AP reports "the new Democratic majority [was] trying to stave off defeat on its first major bill and Republicans [were] wanting to avoid being blamed for obstructing an overhaul." The dispute arose over a move by New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R) "to get a vote on a modified version of a line-item veto. It would allow the president to single out spending items for elimination." USA Today notes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the bill "the 'most significant legislation in ethics and lobbying reform we've had in the history of this country.'" Earlier, Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "worked behind the scenes to broker a compromise that would allow lawmakers to move forward on the bill." The New York Times says the Senate's bipartisan vote "makes the start of the 110th Congress a watershed moment in the history of K Street and Capitol Hill." The Washington Post and Washington Times run similar reports.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
President Bush on Tuesday will deliver his first State of the Union address to a hostile Congress, and he plans to depart from the traditional "laundry list" of proposals, instead focusing on his plans for Iraq and some domestic themes such as education, energy, and immigration. USA Today reports Bush will "be facing a new audience on an old issue: a Democratic majority in Congress that is strongly opposed to his new plan for the Iraq war." White House spokesman Tony Snow said "explaining the proposal to boost U.S. troop strength by 21,500 in Iraq is a major goal of Bush's speech," even as "Democrats and some Republicans push forward a non-binding resolution against it." The Washington Times says the President will deliver "a stripped-down State of the Union address," and the AP suggests that with Bush's "low approval ratings, a narrowly tailored national address might keep the public from tuning out or reaching for the remote, White House officials reason."
The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes in his "in the Loop" column that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "didn't seem to be trying to make much news on her swing this week through the Middle East. Still, she offered an interesting take on what she called 'a challenging time' in the region." Kamen notes that on Tuesday, Rice "pontificated" that although she doesn't read Chinese, "I am told that the Chinese character for crisis is weiji, which means both danger and opportunity." Rice "did not say where she learned this aphorism," but Kamen writes that "oddly enough it was once featured on 'The Simpsons.'" Kamen observes, "Echoing Lisa Simpson on the Middle East or on the Chinese language may not be a great idea." Kamen's report was only one of several negative stories on Rice this morning. In news analyses, the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all criticize her efforts during her Mideast trip this week. In addition, in the Los Angeles Times, Aaron David Miller, former adviser to secretaries of state from George Schulz to Colin Powell, takes on Rice's recent assertion that diplomacy is "not about making deals."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Two polls out in recent days from independent pollster John Zogby show Sen. Hillary Clinton trailing her Democratic rivals in two key early contests. A New Hampshire poll, reported in the New York Daily News, shows Sen. Barack Obama leading the Democratic field with 23%, followed by Clinton and John Edwards, each at 19%. In Iowa, according to a report in today's New York Post, Edwards leads with 27%, followed by Obama, 17%. Clinton is tied for third at 16% with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
Race Remains Tight On GOP Side The New Hampshire poll shows Sen. John McCain leads with 26%, followed by Rudy Giuliani with 20%. In Iowa, Rudy Giuliani has a narrow lead, the Rocky Mountain News reports, with 19%, followed by McCain with 17% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 13%.
The AP reports that New York Comptroller H. Carl McCall (D), who is backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), said yesterday that Sen. Barack Obama (D) "is trying to make inroads on Clinton's home turf, and he was among the Democrats to hear from Obama's campaign." McCall ran for governor of New York in 2002, "the state's first black candidate for governor from a major political party." While McCall says he is still backing his home state Senator, he told the AP, "the Obama thing is interesting, maybe even exciting and I think will appeal to a lot of people." Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reports this morning that Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who last year "publicly committed to his political patron's wife," Sen. Clinton, is now coming under pressure to back Obama. Emanuel said, "Everybody knows I worked for the Clintons. I'm very close to the Clintons. And I'm very close to Barack. Let's be honest, does anybody want to pick among friends?"
Dick Morris, who in his column in The Hill Wednesday incorrectly said Sen. Barack Obama voted against a bill to protect campaign committees and PACs from paying spouses and relatives, said in a statement later that day, "I want to retract the allegations in my column yesterday that criticized" Obama. "I sincerely apologize to the senator for my mistaken reading of the record and want to commend him for his correct vote on the issue." Morris had also made the incorrect allegation during an appearance on Fox News. On Thursday morning, media columnist Howard Kurtz wrote on the Washington Post Web site that the column, entitled "Obama's First Blunder," turned out "instead to be Dick Morris's first blunder of the 2008 campaign."
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D) told the AP that he hopes to decide on whether he will make another presidential bid by the end of this month. Kerry added, "I'm not going to drag it out. But I need to finish the process, which I will."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The AP reports that ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) "will announce by early February" if he will enter the 2008 GOP contest. A spokeswoman for his political action committee said, "He has said he will make it at the end of his book tour, which is in a couple of weeks."
IowaPolitics.com reports that IA5 Rep. Steve King (R) "told IowaPolitics.com this week" that he has not ruled out a bid against Sen. Tom Harkin (D) in 2008. King said that "he continues to construct a statewide network and is building his warchest for a possible run." In New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Katrina Swett (D) has formally filed to run against Sen. John Sununu (R), considered by many political observers to be one of the more vulnerable Senate incumbents because of the recent Democratic drift of his state. Swett, however, added that if former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who lost to Sununu in 2002, decides to run, she may exit the race. In addition, Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand (D) also told the Union Leader that he is planning filing in the very near future, setting up a potentially heated Democratic primary.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "Man, you believe the numbers all across the country: 25 in L.A.; 15 in New York; minus 5 in Washington. And that's just President Bush's approval rating."
Jay Leno: "Senator Hillary Clinton is back from her fact-finding tour of Iraq. She had to cut the trip short to address a growing threat here at home, Barack Obama."
Conan O'Brien: "Big announcement from the prime minister of Iraq. I don't know if you heard this. Big, big announcement. Yesterday, in a speech the prime minister of Iraq said he wants U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. But he wants them to leave their guns. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, then he added, 'Oh, and we could also use some light bulbs and $400 billion.'"
Conan O'Brien: "Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff is on trial for perjury. And his lawyer says he only going to select jurors who have a favorable opinion of Dick Cheney. Yeah. Experts predict that the jury will consist of 11 vampires and a werewolf."
Conan O'Brien: "Former President Bush -- former President Bush announced that he's planning on celebrating his 85th birthday by jumping out of a plane. Yeah, so -- so for a few minutes, there will be two George Bushes in freefall."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
