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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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Pressure continues to mount on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Yesterday, Sen. John Sununu became the first Republican to call for his ouster, and even President Bush offered some criticism, suggesting Gonzales had misled Congress. Bush made it clear he was standing by Gonzales, but as the Chicago Tribune says this morning, "his attempt to deflect criticism of the White House's involvement in the firing of the US attorneys last year is likely to increase pressure on the attorney general." The President said, "Mistakes were made. And I am not happy about it. Mistakes were made, and he's going up to the Capitol to correct them." CNN's The Situation Room thought that by "emphasizing Gonzales has to strengthen this out with Congress, the President leaves himself wiggle room to sack the Attorney General if Republicans start joining Democrats in calling for a resignation." The New York Times also reports "the president's statement did little to tamp down speculation that Mr. Gonzales would be forced to resign."
Making matters worse for Gonzales, says the Wall Street Journal, he has "a potentially serious vulnerability -- he lacks a significant base of support outside the White House. Many conservatives have long questioned his moderate stances," while "liberals have faulted him for his actions as White House counsel, when he composed and defended controversial Bush administration tactics for detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects." A New York Times piece, meanwhile, suggests Gonzales' close ties to the White House have become a liability for the embattled attorney general.
The tenor of the media coverage leaves little doubt about the atmospherics of the case: ABC World News led its broadcast saying "the pressure on the Attorney General of the United States to resign is growing," NBC Nightly News reported "pressure on...Gonzales is building," and CNN recounts speaking to "one Republican senator today" commenting on "what he thinks...Gonzales' chances for survival are." The senator replied, "I think I have a better chance of winning my Final Four pool." The Los Angeles Times also notes the "increasing pressure on Gonzales to resign."
Gonzales tried to get out in front of the story again yesterday. The Washington Post reports he "accepted responsibility for the 'mistakes' that have triggered a congressional investigation into whether White House officials and other Republicans exerted political pressure in the dismissals, but he said he would not resign." His remarks "followed the release of e-mails and other documents that show the White House began the process in early 2005 that led to the prosecutors' dismissal." The Hill says "the e-mails and evidence provided to congressional investigators show a coordinated plan to purge the prosecutors that was tied closely to political turns of the 2006 election cycle." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday "called the Justice Department's actions 'untoward, wrong, immoral and illegal.'" Another Washington Post story says "the conflict between documents released this week and previous administration statements is quickly becoming the central issue for lawmakers who are angry about the way Gonzales and his aides handled the coordinated firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year."
Firings Called "Absolutely Extraordinary" McClatchy reports that during his comments on the controversy yesterday, the President "denied Wednesday that partisan politics played a role in the firings of eight US attorneys, and he characterized the controversy over the dismissals as a big misunderstanding." That explanation is not going over well in the media: The CBS Evening News noted Bush defended "the firings" and "says it was the right thing to do. What was wrong, he says, it was way the Justice Department told Congress about it. That would include saying the White House wasn't involved. Turns out it was." CBS went on to interview "legal consultant" Andrew Cohen. Asked "how unusual" the firings were, coming "in the middle of a term," he replied, "Well, it's absolutely extraordinary. ... I've been talking to legal historians all week. None of them can remember something in recent memory where this sort of thing has happened."
In an editorial, the Washington Post derides any comparison between Bush's firings and the Clinton team's 1993 dismissal of all Republican US attorneys, ordered by then-Attorney General Janet Reno. The "Reno precedent," says the Post, "is a red herring, not a useful comparison. The summary way she announced the move was, indeed, unusual if not unprecedented. But a turnover in the top prosecutorial jobs with a new administration taking power -- especially one of a different party -- was not. ... The question, then, is what to make of the president's move to fire several of the prosecutors. This recent group firing, in the midst of a presidential term, is unprecedented."
The Senate yesterday began debating a Democratic plan to pull US troops out of Iraq. Media reports give the measure virtually no chance of becoming law. According to Fox News' Special Report, the Democratic proposal "at this point cannot attract even 50 votes," much less the 60 needed to break a hypothetical GOP filibuster. CNN's The Situation Room also said "even before this debate began, the legislation seemed doomed to fail," as moderate Republicans who voted with Democrats last month to oppose the president's troop increase dislike setting a 2008 deadline to leave. And so do some Democrats, like Nebraska's Ben Nelson." The New York Times, The Hill, USA Today, Washington Times and Wall Street Journal, among other newspapers, offer a similar view. Only McClatchy appears to disagree with that assessment, reporting this morning "the fate of the Democrats' resolution remains uncertain because the Senate is so closely divided."
The Administration issued another veto threat yesterday. The Washington Post notes "administration officials said they have constitutional concerns" about the Democratic bill, and adds that by "raising legal concerns about Congress setting timetables for a withdrawal, experts said," the White House "has raised the possibility that it could try to check Congress not by vetoing the Iraq funding bill, should it contain restrictive language, but by declining to enforce what it deems unconstitutional."
Warner, Nelson Would Give Surge Half Year Roll Call reports a draft resolution by Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, "the Senate would ask President Bush to revise his plans for the war and consider a phased redeployment of US troops -- but only after giving the White House until at least September to prove the current 'surge' strategy has worked."
GOP: Democrats Flip-Flopping Fox News' Special Report reported Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday "unearthed a January, 2005 speech from his Democratic counterpart," Majority Leader Harry Reid, "that argued against timelines for troop withdrawals." Another GOP senator, John Cornyn, "quoted a much more recent pronouncement on the dangers of withdrawal timetables from current Democratic presidential frontrunner, New York Senator Hillary Clinton."
House Panel Takes Up Iraq Bill Today The Washington Post reports, "The House Appropriations Committee will begin consideration today of a $125 billion war funding bill that includes deadlines for bringing the troops home." Roll Call says Speaker Nancy Pelosi "has executed an aggressive push to keep Democratic members of the Appropriations Committee in line." The Los Angeles Times and The Hill note House leaders are busy courting liberal lawmakers, once considered to be on the political fringe but now in the mainstream, who find the Iraq plan before the House too meek.
Clinton Would Keep Some Troops In Iraq In an interview with the New York Times, Sen. Hillary Clinton "foresees a 'remaining military as well as political mission' in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military." In "outlining how she would handle Iraq as commander-in-chief, Mrs. Clinton articulated a more nuanced position than the one she has provided at her campaign events, where she has backed the goal of 'bringing the troops home.'"
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The Washington Post reports, "Republicans charged yesterday that Capitol Hill Democrats are hatching a plan to raise taxes, noting that a new Democratic budget proposal assumes a $400 billion revenue jump over five years without adequately specifying where the money would come from." The AP reports White House budget director Rob Portman weighed in on the Democratic plan in an interview, "Their path to balance," he said, "is paved with higher taxes, higher spending and what can only be characterized as budgetary slights of hand."
In the Wall Steet Journal, GOP Sens. Judd Gregg and Chuck Grassley write, "Yesterday, the majority party unveiled its budget proposal to impose higher taxes on families and businesses in order to pay for more wasteful Washington spending. Despite campaign promises not to raise taxes, the new majority party's budget fails to keep existing tax policies in place, which amounts to a $900 billion tax hike over five years, the largest tax increase ever."
In his column in the Washington Post, Robert Novak writes, "Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes to a presidential candidacy will run next week into a harsh assessment by his former House Republican colleague Tom DeLay." DeLay, a former lieutenant to Gingrich and House Majority Leader, "assails Gingrich as an 'ineffective' House speaker with a flawed moral compass." In "No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight," DeLay is "even more critical of his predecessor as majority leader, Dick Armey, and assails George W. Bush as being more compassionate than conservative."
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Eleven declared and potential 2008 White House hopefuls appeared yesterday at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) presidential forum in Washington, DC. The presidential candidates touched on a number of issues, including the war in Iraq and the healthcare problems encountered by veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conspicuous in his absence from the forum was ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is embroiled in a feud with the union over his decision to stop firefighters from searching for bodies at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. MSNBC's Hardball reported the 1,000 delegates from the "bipartisan International Association of Firefighters," was the first forum this year "to feature most of the presidential candidates from both parties." The Tribune reports, "Most of the top Democrat and Republican contenders, with the notable absence of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, offered lyrical tribute and lavish praise to the largest and increasingly influential firefighters union." Illinois Sen. Barack Obama "lauded those who served at home and abroad," while Sen. Clinton, "in a speech that drew a powerfully positive crowd response, ticked off a list of ways that the federal government could repay the firefighters for their service." Sen. McCain "joined the chorus with his indictment of the government for not properly equipping the nation's first responders."
The Hill reports that while Clinton "received raucous applause for her tales of work in New York after the" 9/11 terrorist attacks and Obama "continued to wow crowds with his charisma," that "it was lesser-known candidates," such as Sens. Chris Dodd and Joseph Biden "who moved the crowd most by offering what one union boss described as rhetorical 'red meat and a six-pack.'"
Fox News' Special Report reported that it "might be an uphill battle for McCain and other Republicans to win" the IAFF "over. This union, which claims 280,000 members in the US and Canada, endorsed Democratic candidates 65 percent of the time in 2006."
The Washington Post reports, "There was highflying rhetoric and low comedy, personal accounts of firefighters' courage and heroism, and sharp disagreement over Iraq. All through the day, there was an abundance of pandering." However, the Post report that Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) "who announced Monday that he will announce later whether he plans to run for president, did worse. At one point, he praised volunteer firefighters -- to the dismay of those in the union audience."
Giuliani, A No-Show At Forum, Jeered By Attendees Long Island Newsday reports that while "Clinton was given a hero's welcome by the national firefighters' union Wednesday," ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani "was jeered in absentia for clearing rescuers from the smoldering pile at Ground Zero five years ago. ... Last week, union officials circulated a letter saying Giuliani wasn't welcome. Many city firefighters haven't forgiven the former mayor for his November 2001 decision to stop hundreds of firefighters from combing Ground Zero for bodies. ... George Fress, a 35-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, said some union members had talked about turning their backs if Giuliani came. 'He would have been interesting to hear, but there's no way he could have come,' said Fress, 53." On MSNBC's Hardball, Harold Schaitberger of the International Association of Firefighters said, "I think the ripple effects are that Rudy's going to have to answer to 280,000 of our members -- today we had 1,000 of our leadership from every congressional district around the county -- and quite frankly, answer for his decisions that we found egregious and disgraceful when he rolled back the firefighters off that pile on November 2 while they were trying to continue with the dignified recovery of our fallen and those citizens that were murdered on that horrific day."
On MSNBC's Tucker, Chris Cillizza of Washingtonpost.com said, "Well, if you have a group that came to be the symbol of that record, the firefighters, going into the building as everyone was rushing out, going through the wreckage of 9/11 on the grounds of Ground Zero, not with him, it raises a substantive fundamental question about his candidacy. Is this guy who we think he is?"
A new CNN /Opinion Dynamics poll shows Hillary Clinton (D) leading the Democratic field with 37%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with 22%. Al Gore comes in third with 14%, with John Edwards at 12%. The poll, which has a margin of error of 4.5%, was taken March 9-11.
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The New York Times reports Rudy Giuliani's law firm "has lobbied for years on behalf of an oil company controlled by the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, a strident critic of President Bush and American-style capitalism." Bracewell & Giuliani, "the firm based in Houston that Mr. Giuliani joined as a name partner two years ago, handles lobbying in the Texas capital for the Citgo Petroleum Corporation of Houston. Citgo is the American subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company that Mr. Chávez controls." While Giuliani did not lobby for the firm, its relationship with Chavez "potentially exposes Mr. Giuliani to new scrutiny as he campaigns to become the Republican nominee for president in 2008." The Houston Chronicle says the lobbying deal provoked a mini-boomlet of attention after a Bloomberg News story "which disclosed the contract's existence, was posted online by the Drudge Report and cited by other Web sites." Giuliani's exploratory committee "refused to discuss details of the contract with Houston-based Citgo. ... Political experts said the episode is a precursor to what's sure to be more in-depth examination of the financial success Giuliani has enjoyed since leaving the mayor's office at the end of 2001."
The Washington Post reports that in the "seven years since John McCain and his 'Straight Talk Express' nearly derailed George W. Bush's White House ambitions," the "blunt-spoken" Arizona Senator "has become the very picture of the highly managed presidential candidate he once scorned." With McCain heading off today for a 5-day tour of Iowa and New Hampshire, "he is hoping to regain the front-runner status that has slipped away from him and rekindle the insurgent spirit of his first presidential bid." The Post adds McCain's supporters "say his reputation as a maverick is alive and well, sustained by his confrontations with Bush over torture policy, judges and campaign finance issues."
The AP reports today that 2008 presidential candidates are spending their campaign war chests at a historic rate. Citing examples such as $800k dropped by Mitt Romney on early ads and $100k being paid for the Iowa Democratic Party's fundraising list, the AP says, "At the start of a campaign season that is already moving at lightning speed, presidential candidates are spending money at unprecedented rates. And these are only the initial investments in an election that strategists from both parties predict could cost each major party's nominee $500 million."
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Jay Leno: "The Administration is still taking a lot of heat for firing eight US attorneys. See, that shows you how unpopular the Administration is, when people are siding with the lawyers."
Jay Leno: "Well, people in Washington are now calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Do you have any idea how much trouble he's in? The White House is now thinking of replacing him with Scooter Libby. That's not a good sign."
David Letterman: "Scooter Libby, by the way, is already wearing a button that reads, 'Pardon me, I'm Irish.'"
Conan O'Brien: "Earlier today, the President returned from a week-long trip to Latin America. That's right. When asked about it, Bush said, 'Actually, I went to Latin America, Latin Mexico and Latin Guatemala.'"
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