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Monday, November 9, 2009
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With the Senate poised to debate the President's Iraq strategy next week, media reports this morning suggest the battle is taking shape as a confrontation between two GOP titans, Sens. John McCain and John Warner. The "shape of the debate," says today's Los Angeles Times, has come "into clearer focus" with McCain's introduction of his own resolution of "full support," which will compete against one authored Warner, which "disagrees" with the President. But "how that debate is likely to turn out became even murkier Thursday as lawmakers continued to mull the details of the two lengthy resolutions." The support of key Republicans who've expressed discomfort with Bush's plan is still up in the air. Among them, John E. Sununu and George V. Voinovich, who yesterday "uncharacteristically rushed past reporters and into the Senate chamber."
The New York Times also says the "shifting allegiances -- and the intense procedural gamesmanship preceding votes next week on Iraq policy -- left it uncertain whether Mr. Warner's compromise could attract the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural obstacles." And McClatchy notes "some key Republicans said they hadn't made up their minds, and Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi said he thought he could rally enough opponents to sustain a filibuster." Two Democrats so far, Sens. Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd, have announced they will not support the Warner resolution. The Washington Post, however, says "Democratic defections would probably not prevent the legislation from passing the Senate, provided that the measure gets to a final vote over a threatened filibuster by Republicans." But GOP "defections would deprive Democratic leaders of a strong united vote against Bush's decision to boost troop levels in Iraq by 21,500."
The Wall Street Journal analyzes McCain's measure, co-written with Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Joseph Lieberman. It calls "on the Baghdad government to 'make visible concrete progress' toward 11 political, military and economic benchmarks." Its intent, says the Journal, is "to slow the momentum behind a tougher Iraq measure crafted" by Warner. The Washington Times, meanwhile, describes the Warner measure as "a firm 'stay the course' resolution on the war in Iraq," because it is "critical of the war's execution" but it also "condemns any effort by Mr. Bush to send reinforcements to the region. In the measure, the Senate also promises not to cut off funding for the increasingly unpopular war."
Bush To Discuss Iraq With GOP Senators Today USA Today reports President Bush "will be trying to sell" his plan today "to an unexpectedly skeptical audience: senators from his party." But "some of the president's guests are leading an effort to put the Senate on record opposing Bush's plan to commit an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. Perhaps not coincidentally, many of the mutinous senators are up for re-election in 2008."
Snow: Remember Bin Laden's Words CNN's The Situation Room reported yesterday White House press secretary Tony Snow "is sending a harsh word of warning to those senators about putting their opposition to the president's new Iraq strategy on the record. He even invoked the name of America's most wanted terrorist." Snow was shown saying, "Osama bin Laden thought that a lack of American resolve was a key reason he could inspire people to come after us after September 11th."
"Surge" Of 48,000 Troops? Congressional Quarterly, a Washington, DC, insider publication, reported yesterday afternoon on a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that asserts that Bush's plan "could require more than double the number of soldiers." The report "found that Bush's decision to deploy 21,500 extra combat troops in Iraq actually could require a total increase of as many as 48,000 troops when support units are counted, and cost as much as $27 billion over 12 months." McClatchy says the CBO also says the surge "could cost as much as $10 billion this year, nearly triple the initial $3.2 billion price tag that Bush aides placed on the surge."
Another negative report on the surge appears to have been leaked to the Washington Post, which says this morning the "long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to...Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document."
The AP reports Gen. George Casey, the outgoing commander of troops in Iraq, "diplomatically aired his differences with the commander in chief on Thursday, telling lawmakers that President Bush has ordered thousands more troops into Iraq than needed to tamp down violence in Baghdad." USA Today reports White House spokesman Tony Snow "said the president has talked to Casey, and 'Gen. Casey supports the plan.'" McClatchy and the Washington Times run similar reports.
Much of the TV coverage of Casey's testimony focuses on the strongly worded criticism he faced from senators, particularly from Republican John McCain. NBC Nightly News reported Casey "was grilled by members of the Senate. It was verbal combat and it got heated." ABC World News said Casey "found himself under attack. Unusual to find a commanding general subjected to such criticism." Casey "was on Capitol Hill because he's been nominated to be Army chief of staff. Despite the clashes and criticism General Casey is expected to be confirmed by a wide margin." The Washington Post says that "summarizing the day's proceedings, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) , chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters after the hearing that he thought the majority of its members would vote to confirm Casey."
Focusing on McCain's criticism, the Washington Post reports that though the senator "has been a firm supporter of the Iraq war and of...Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Baghdad in the coming months," yesterday "he expressed stark concerns about the war." The New York Times says the exchanges "underscored the anger that dominates much Congressional sentiment on Iraq as well as the tensions between the White House and the military over Mr. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq." The Los Angeles Times reports Casey was "was berated by leading Senate critics."
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The Washington Times reports in its "Inside the Ring" column that "a military source tells us the talk among Israeli military officials is how and when to counter Iran's nuclear weapons program, most likely in a pre-emptive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities." Sources say "the Israelis know that any attack will require overflying US-dominated Iraq, but one solution would be to set up a secret base in another area between Iran and Israel to refuel Israel's bombers."
The AP reports that in a "case that hinges on credibility, FBI agent Deborah Bond is making it clear from the witness stand just how believable she finds former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby to be: not very." Libby "told the FBI that he learned about Plame from Vice President Dick Cheney, then forgot about it and was surprised to hear it again from a reporter weeks later." Fox News' Special Report noted Bond "testified that...Libby told agents that Dick Cheney was his source. ... However, according to the prosecution, Libby told the grand jury that he first heard the Plame information from journalist Tim Russert...a full month after Libby said he talked to the Vice President." MSNBC's Hardball noted "it's yet another nail in the coffin for prosecutors to show that Scooter Libby had motive to lie about his statements about where he learned information about Valerie Wilson."
Under the headline "Libby Left Out Some Facts In Interviews, FBI Agent Says," the Washington Post reports Agent Bond's "description of the FBI's two interviews with Libby in his White House office gave jurors their first account of what the prosecution alleges were lies that Cheney's former top aide told investigators to obscure his role in spreading classified information." The New York Times reports, "In an intriguing but unexplored exchange with a prosecutor, Peter Zeidenberg, Ms. Bond also said that Mr. Libby had acknowledged in one of the interviews that he might have talked to Mr. Cheney aboard Air Force Two about whether to tell the press about Ms. Wilson as part of the effort to rebut Mr. Wilson's criticisms."
McClellan Said Libby Wasn't Leaker USA Today reports Federal Judge Reggie Walton "agreed Thursday morning to let prosecutors show video clips of" former White House spokesman Scott McClellan "telling reporters in 2003 that" Libby "'had nothing to do' with leaking information about" Valerie Plame. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said "after McClellan spoke, Libby 'couldn't walk back from his story' without risking being fired."
The Washington Post notes that before allowing jurors to see the video excerpts, Walton "expressed doubts about defense arguments that Libby was made a scapegoat by the White House in 2003 as the furor over the CIA leak grew." The Los Angeles Times also reports that the McClellan video "dealt a blow" to Libby's "contention that he was made a scapegoat to protect White House political strategist Karl Rove."
By a margin of 94 to 3, the US Senate yesterday pass a bill that would increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over two years while cutting some business taxes. The Senate vote sets the stage for a clash with the House which, as the CBS Evening News reported, passed a wage hike without the "controversial tax provisions." USA Today reports Majority Leader Harry Reid "raised the possibility that the Senate negotiators may agree to demands from Democrats in the House of Representatives that the tax breaks be stripped from the bill that eventually gets sent to...Bush." The Wall Street Journal also notes Reid "questioned whether 'we need all these business pieces of sugar' in the legislation. Rep. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), the assistant majority leader, said a minimum-wage increase could emerge from a House-Senate conference without the tax breaks. 'If we go through the process and go through a conference and the message comes back, "You can have the minimum wage stripped down or not at all," then we'll face another vote,' Mr. Durbin said. 'We need Republicans to pass it. If they continue to oppose it, then it will not pass.'" But the New York Times, however, notes Reid's office said later it was unlikely the votes would be there in the Senate for a "clean" bill, and that the senator "expected that the differences could be worked out in negotiations." The AP and Washington Post detail the tax breaks contained in the Senate legislation, while the Washington Times surveys the strong opposition of key House Democrats to combining the tax measures with any bill raising the minimum wage.
In a move sure to get much attention in the politically charged budget debate in Washington, the New York Times says today President Bush will "ask Congress in his budget next week to squeeze more than $70 billion of savings from Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years, administration officials and health care lobbyists said Thursday." The Times says proposals, "part of a White House plan to balance the budget by 2012, set the stage for a battle with Congress over entitlement spending."
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Print reports this morning note the Administration is calling for a very large boost in college grants for low-income students. The Washington Post says that if enacted, the increase would be the largest "in more than three decades, the latest in a flurry of measures this week by Congress and the White House to make higher education more affordable." US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the proposal during a speech at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The Washington Times notes the Administration is proposing to "increase the grants to $5,400 over five years, the largest five-year increase ever." The New York Times reports Spellings' announcement "suggests that the administration will try to emphasize access to education, an issue that Democrats have seized upon as the cost and debt burden of higher education continue to rise." The AP, meanwhile, quotes Sen. Kennedy saying the Administration proposal "shows how a Democratic Congress is changing the nation's priorities."
The New York Times reports this morning that "military officials have removed a poster of Saddam Hussein from the American detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after complaints from a detainee that it was intended to intimidate the prisoners there." The poster was described by a detainee to his lawyers as a "7-by-3-foot poster, in a small recreation area for prisoners" that "featured images of Mr. Hussein being sentenced to death and a heading in Arabic that stated, 'Because Saddam chose not to cooperate and not to tell the truth, because he thought by lying he would get released, for that reason he was executed.'"
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning a "new poll from Harris Interactive found that 55% of Americans think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military." By comparison, "19% of the 2,337 Americans polled said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve 'only if they keep their sexual orientation a secret,' and 18% said they should 'not be allowed to serve in the military at all.'"
The AP is reporting former Vice President Al Gore "was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world's attention to the dangers of global warming, a Norwegian lawmaker said Thursday." Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende said "he joined political opponent Heidi Soerensen of the Socialist Left Party to nominate Gore as well as Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier before the nomination deadline expired Thursday."
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Sen. Joe Biden (D) took more heat for comments about presidential campaign rival Barack Obama (D) on the 2nd day of his official campaign. The AP reports "civil rights activist" Al Sharpton yesterday took Biden "to task" for calling Obama "'articulate' and 'clean,' questioning how the description reflects on other blacks." When Biden called into Sharpton's radio show to explain his remarks, Sharpton said, "A lot of people took it from you that because [Obama] is Harvard-trained, that people don't see someone as good and clean unless they are less connected to the struggle of the African-American community." Biden, who spent much of yesterday on the defensive, said on MSNBC's Hardball last night, "I wasn't making a historical statement. I was trying to compliment a colleague. I was complimenting a colleague." Biden added, "There's not a single politician in either party who wouldn't like to be positioned where he is at this point. That was the point I was making when I said he's clean -- what I meant to say was fresh, that he was new, he's exciting."
A new Opinion Dynamic poll commissioned by FOX News shows Sen. Hillary Clinton Holding a wide lead among Democratic primary voters nationwide. 43% said they back Clinton, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 15%, and former Sen. John Edwards at 12%, with former Vice President Al Gore in 4th at 11%. The GOP side is a bit tighter. Rudy Giuliani leads with 34%, followed by Sen. John McCain, 22%, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 15%.
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The AP reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton ended last year with $11 million in her Senate account, which she can now use towards her presidential bid. Her warchest far outstrips her top rival's Sen. Barack Obama finished 2006 with about $500,000. Only two longshot candidates had significant bank accounts at this point Sen. Chris Dodd (D) holds $5 million, while Sen. Joe Biden (D) has $3 million. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports today that Clinton isn't sitting on her lead. Clinton is "establishing record-setting goals for presidential campaign fund-raising, her advisers say, asking donors to raise at least $1 million for the honor of being in her top echelon of supporters. That million-dollar benchmark is 10 times the amount that President Bush's 'Pioneers' were expected to raise in his 2000 race; at that time, the Pioneers' $100,000 goal was considered sizable." Clinton's ultimate goal is to bring in $75 million during 2007.
The continuing effort by a number of states to bump up their presidential primaries in order to increase the attention garnered by their states appears to be bearing fruit for Florida. The Miami Herald reports that a "fast-moving" bill going through the Florida legislature that would move the state's presidential primary from March to Jan. 29 is already starting to draw candidates to the state. For example, Mitt Romney (R) "continues to snap up former staffers of Gov. Jeb Bush's, and he dispatched his telegenic son to mingle at a GOP meeting in Orlando last week," while Sen. John McCain (R) "rolled out endorsements this week from Florida's three Cuban-American members of Congress." In fact, the Herald says, "Virtually every other contender -- Democrat or Republican -- has passed through Florida in recent weeks." A state political consultant says, "It's double the amount of activity we've seen in the past."
CQ Politics reports today that a number of major political party committees finished 2006 with significant debt left over from last year's elections. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which funds GOP House races, ended the year with $1.4 million in cash and $14.4 million in debt. Its' counterpart on the other side of the aisle, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has $9.3 million in debt and $775k in cash. On the Senate side, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had $6.6 million in debt and just $63k in the bank. The National Republican Senatorial Committee was in the best shape of the four, with $1.3 million in debt and $109k in cash.
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Jay Leno: "Joe Biden was forced to fire his campaign manager, Michael Richards."
Jay Leno: "Critics of Venezuela say they've now had a radical lurch towards a dictatorship by a leader with unchecked power. When they told President Bush about this, he said, 'What, Cheney's in Venezuela? What happened?'"
Conan O'Brien: "Big news -- earlier today, former Vice President Al Gore was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. That's right. Gore is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah, Gore is being honored for his work putting both Arabs and Jews to sleep."
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