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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
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Pessimism about the war in Iraq permeated the media coverage of this Memorial Day weekend. The flow of negative stories was relentless and so was the somber, markedly negative tone of the reports, most of them portraying a country increasingly united against President Bush's Iraq policies. For example, yesterday's New York Times ran a front-page story titled "As Allies Turn Foe, Disillusion Rises In Some GI's," in which it interviewed members of the 82nd Airborne's Delta Company, "renowned for its aggressiveness." According to the Times, "most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop." Also yesterday, Adam Cohen, in an "Editorial Observer" piece in the New York Times, wrote that "we are fighting a war sold on false pretenses, and the Bush administration stands by its false stories." Network news stories led with the latest reports of car bombings and other insurgent violence, even as Washington Post and New York Times ran stories describing the pain of families who have lost loved ones in Iraq.
Coverage of the President's Memorial Day remarks depict him as isolated. "Increasingly isolated, " says the AP, "on a war that is going badly." The AP, USA Today and New York Times describe him as "somber," particularly compared to past occasions in which he has used his remarks to defend his war on terror policies. NBC Nightly News said he was "more muted that in the past," and "choosing words tinged with the weariness of war." The AP and USA Today both noted the presence of a single protester: "Just before his limousine crossed over the Potomac River into Virginia," says the AP, "a man held up a sign saying, 'Bring our troops home.'" The Los Angeles Times and Washington Times also report on Bush's remarks yesterday.
Meanwhile, the news about Bush's "surge" strategy couldn't be more disheartening. Today the Los Angeles Times is reporting that US military leaders in Iraq "are increasingly convinced that most of the broad political goals...Bush laid out early this year in his announcement of a troop buildup will not be met this summer and are seeking ways to redefine success." The Times adds, "Enactment of a new law to share Iraq's oil revenue among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions is the only goal they think might possibly be achieved in time, and even that is considered a long shot. The two other key benchmarks are provincial elections and a deal to allow more Sunni Arabs into government jobs."
Anticipating just such a disappointing report, the New York Times over the weekend that the Bush administration "is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year." According to the Times, the proposals are "the first indication that growing political pressure is forcing the White House to turn its attention to what happens after the current troop increase runs its course," though "there is no indication that Mr. Bush is preparing to call an early end to the current troop increase." Similarly, the Washington Post on Sunday said Bush and his top aides "have signaled in recent days that they are beginning to look more closely at a 'post-surge' strategy that would involve a smaller U.S. troop presence in Iraq and a mission focused on fighting al-Qaeda and training the Iraqi army."
Bush's backing among GOP lawmakers appears to be eroding quickly. Even conservative stalwart Sen. Jeff Sessions, during an appearance on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, said, "I think he [Bush] is coming around to [reducing the US force level in Iraq]." The AP adds that Sessions "said any reduction will have to await a much anticipated report by Gen. David Petraeus...who will tell the president and Congress whether the current troop increase is working." The AP also noted Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's recent claim that "the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall, and I expect the president to lead it.'" Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, also appeared on Face the Nation and said he thinks Republican lawmakers will support "a withdrawal of American forces" after Petraeus submits his scheduled September report.
Bush Ignored 2003 Intel This weekend it was also learned that the US intelligence community had warned president Bush that an invasion of Iraq could lead to exactly the type of sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq since 2003. On Friday night, NBC Nightly News led off reporting, "We are only now learning that the Bush Administration was warned by the US intelligence community four years ago that Iraq could unravel and turn disastrous no matter how quick, no matter how successful the initial invasion had been. This is all in a rather damning new report on Iraq by the Senate Intelligence Committee." According to a front-page article in Saturday's Washington Post, "Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan. ... Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and 'probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups' in the Muslim world."
The Los Angeles Times, in an article headlined "Spy Warnings On Iraq Turn Out To Be True," said the Senate Intelligence Committee report "brought to light once-classified warnings that accurately forecasted many of the specific military and political problems the Bush administration and Iraqi officials have faced since the invasion in March 2003. The report also details that these warnings were distributed to senior officials with daily access to President Bush and others at the very top of the administration."
Anti-War Forces Furious Democrats are also hurting politically though perhaps not as much as Bush and the GOP. After seeing Congress hand the President the funding he wanted for Iraq (without a pullout schedule), the Washington Post says "antiwar activists" are "spoiling for a fight." For antiwar groups, "the only tally that mattered was Congress's easy approval of a $120 billion war spending bill that was stripped of timelines for troop withdrawals." Though a majority of House Democrats voted against it, "the Democratic leadership in both chambers facilitated its passage. ... Such sentiment is only being compounded by Democratic presidential candidates who are reveling in their opposition to the war funding bill as they appeal to core Democratic voters." The Washington Times also reported that "many antiwar activists and bloggers condemned the Democrats' retreat and said their patience with party leadership was wearing thin." The New York Times reflected these concerns in an editorial, writing that Bush "has been swaggering around like a victorious general because he cowed a wobbly coalition of Democrats into dropping their attempt to impose a time limit on his disastrous misadventure."
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times picked up on the increasingly fierce intraparty fighting in the GOP over the Senate's immigration reform deal, with "each side accusing the other of following a course that would destroy the party for decades." The Times notes President Bush "aimed unusually pointed language Thursday at critics, many in his own party, who opposed a more permanent status for illegal immigrants. Two conservative senators were booed by Republican crowds in their home states last week for endorsing the legalization effort. And conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh attacked the Bush-backed plan as the 'Destroy the Republican Party Act.'"
Today, the New York Times reports, "Angry calls poured into Senator Jon Kyl's office this week by the thousands, expressing outrage beyond anything he said he had witnessed in his 20-year political career. The callers were inflamed by Mr. Kyl's role in shaping the bipartisan immigration compromise." The Times adds, "Even officials of the Arizona Republican Party have turned against Mr. Kyl. ... The state party chairman called a news conference to denounce the bill." The New York Times quotes New York City's liberal Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who "criticized Congress yesterday for parts of a comprehensive immigration bill," and "was especially critical of the guest-worker provision."
Business Interests Withhold Support While anti-immigration conservatives' strident opposition to a bill they consider "amnesty" has been the subject of much analysis, in the last few days the business community's lukewarm response to the Senate compromise has gotten quite a bit more attention. This morning USA Today reports that immigration reform "is a top priority of the U.S. business community," but "that doesn't mean businesses...are pleased with the compromise immigration bill now under debate in Congress." According to USA Today, "many in the business community are concerned the bill could increase costs and potential liability." However, many business officials "are determined to work through the process to see if amendments in the Senate and later during House action will produce a bill they can support."
According to U.S. News and World Report, immigration "dominates talk radio and cable TV -- cue Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs -- and has splintered the Republican Party. The result: Big business, unaccustomed to losing in Washington, finds itself playing defense, accused of supporting 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants." Reflecting most business leaders' take on the immigration debate, U.S. News' Editor-in-Chief Mort Zuckerman writes, "If these immigrants weren't here, this kind of work would have to be done by more skilled Americans, and they would only do it for much more money -- which could be seen as a cause of inflation and a misuse of skills."
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In a very long (5000+ words) piece for this week's New Yorker, Jeffrey Goldberg writes, "Disillusionment with the Administration has become widespread among the conservatives who once were Bush's strongest supporters. ... And now Karl Rove...is among those being blamed by conservatives for the Party's problems." Goldberg quotes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as saying, "Let me be clear: twenty-eight-per-cent approval of the President, losing every closely contested Senate seat except one...that's a collapse." Goldberg adds, "For this disarray [Gingrich] blames not only Iraq and Hurricane Katrina but also Karl Rove's 'maniacally dumb' strategy in 2004, which left Bush with no political capital."
According to Newsweek, President Bush's role "has remained shadowy throughout the controversy over the eavesdropping program. But there are strong suggestions that he was an active presence. On the night after [former AG John] Ashcroft's operation, as Ashcroft lay groggy in his bed, his wife, Janet, took a phone call. It was Andy Card, asking if he could come over with [Attorney General] Gonzales to speak to the attorney general. Mrs. Ashcroft said no, her husband was too sick for visitors. The phone rang again, and this time Mrs. Ashcroft acquiesced to a visit from the White House officials. Who was the second caller, one with enough power to persuade Mrs. Ashcroft to relent? The former Ashcroft aide who described this scene would not say, but senior DOJ officials had little doubt who it was -- the president."
According to a USA Today analysis using "corporate-style accounting standards," in 2006 the federal government tallied $1.3 trillion in losses." USA Today adds that taxpayers "are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household."
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The New York Times reported that the decisions of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to vote against the Iraq funding bill "because it did not set a timetable to withdraw the troops reverberated on the campaign trail" Friday, "underscoring the deep divisions over the war between Democrats and Republicans." The two Democratic frontrunners "quickly found their votes attacked by Republicans," as Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney who "had been feuding all week, found common ground in denouncing Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama."
The AP reported that in Iowa, Clinton "argued that she backs U.S. troops but it was time to stand firm as the four-year-old war rages on." The Chicago Tribune reported that Obama, defending his vote during an appearance in Chicago at "an international convention of more than 1,200 members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists," said, "The way that we are going to show that we support the troops is by [starting to bring] some of them home. ... That's our message to George Bush. That's our message to John McCain. That's our message to Mitt Romney. That's our message to the Republicans in Congress."
The Los Angeles Times reported Obama "fired back," noting "that Sen. McCain required a flack jacket, 10 armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago.'" The New York Daily News reported McCain said "Obama's 'two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops,' but cited his own service and Vietnam experience. 'By the way, Sen. Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket,' McCain added. An unnamed McCain aide piled on, telling the Politico website that 'Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong.'"
The New York Daily News reported that Rudy Giuliani "unloaded on...Clinton with both barrels" on Friday "for voting against funding the Iraq war, blasting her as an 'anti-troops' flip-flopper. 'She's had so many positions on this war, it's hard to know where she's going to be,' Giuliani said." The New York Post reported that "Giuliani called the" Clinton and Obama "votes a 'significant flipflop' and a betrayal of the troops on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend."
In Iowa, Biden Defends Vote For Bill Meanwhile, the AP reported Sen. Biden is "defending his vote for the war funding bill Congress approved this week, saying he's not willing to 'play a game of political chicken' with troops' lives." In Western Iowa, Biden said, "I will not cut funding for the troops that denies them the equipment they need to be safe. I don't care what the politics are of that decision." The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported that Biden "said Sunday at an Iowa City event that he believes in honesty, even if it costs him the 2008 Democratic bid for president."
The Council Bluffs (IA) Daily Nonpareil reported, "When it's all said and done, the war in Iraq will cost Americans $1.4 trillion and maybe more...Biden said Saturday in Council Bluffs." The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that Biden participated in a Memorial Day parade in Waterloo, IA. Biden, in the midst "of a six-day swing through Iowa, opted to travel by foot rather than car in the parade, giving him a chance to zig-zag through the route and shake hands with any spectator who had a hand out." The Portsmouth Herald News reported that Biden "said he has bipartisan support for his Iraq exit strategy plan and will push the five-part plan following Memorial Day weekend."
Dodd Unapologetic For Opposing Iraq War The New Hampshire Union Leader says Sen. Christopher Dodd (D), campaigning in New Hampshire, "reinforced the message behind his recently debuted television spots: unapologetic opposition to President Bush and the war in Iraq. One of 14 senators who voted against the Iraq war-funding bill supported by the President, Dodd said he was neither sorry for his vote nor worthy of praise for casting it." The AP reported that Dodd "said the war has been waged 'for all the wrong reasons' and that it is eroding both the nation's security and its moral leadership."
ABC News reported on its website that Sen. Hillary Clinton's visited Iowa "at the end of a tough week" that "included news of a leaked memo from one of her senior advisors suggesting she skip Iowa because money may be better spent elsewhere." But Clinton's staff noted that the campaign will be spending the next three weekends in a row in Iowa, had been expanding offices around the state and is very much committed to Iowa.
The Des Moines Register reported Clinton "cut a swath across the state's northern tier, pledging and re-pledging her commitment to the leadoff nominating state. 'I'm going to spend so much time in Iowa, I'm going to be able to caucus for myself,' she said." The Sioux City Journal reported that in a Memorial Day weekend stop in Sioux City, Iowa, Sen. Clinton "promised to end the war in Iraq and pledged to take care of veterans and U.S. troops, whom she said the Bush administration has all but forgotten, if she is elected president."
No Questions For Clinton On New Books The Washington Post reports that "at no time" during her stops across Iowa this weekend was Sen. Hillary Clinton "asked for her reaction to a pair of soon-to-be-released books that portray her and her husband in an unflattering light." Clinton advisers "say the early reaction confirms their belief that Americans long ago digested those controversies, drew whatever conclusions they wanted and moved on."
Clinton's New York, DC Aides At Odds In his column in the New York Post, Fredric U. Dicker writes about the "serious tensions" between the elements of Sen. Clinton's campaign staff working in New York and those working in Washington. Dicker says the tensions "exploded at Clinton's endorsement event with Gov. Spitzer and other high-ranking Democrats earlier in the month at the Capitol. 'The New York locals were incensed that so many of these outsider kids were sent in from Washington and they were trying to run the event and they couldn't even make a contribution to it.'"
"Largess To Clintons" Subject Of Lawsuit Both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran front-page reports on a shareholder lawsuit against infoUSA chief Vinod Gupta, sparked by his ties to the Clintons. The New York Times says infoUSA "paid $146,866 to ferry the Clintons, Mr. Gupta and others to Acapulco and back" for a 2002 trip, and during the next four years, the company paid Bill Clinton "more than $2 million for consulting services, and spent almost $900,000 to fly him around the world for his presidential foundation work and to fly Mrs. Clinton to campaign events." Shareholders argue that the company is getting little in return for the money being given to the Clintons.
The Washington Post says Gupta's "big donations to the Democratic Party earned him a Lincoln Bedroom overnight when Bill Clinton was president," and that he "has emerged as a key benefactor of Clinton's post-presidency -- and Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential candidacy."
Meanwhile, the AP reported that while "[i]t is unclear whether Gupta provided jets for Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign," he has donated some $19,500 to her campaign and PAC. The AP points out that the Clintons are neither a party to the suit, nor are they specifically mentioned in it."
The New York Post reported that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's "White House campaign has been going retro -- getting tangled in issues that haunted his first-ever political run, for City Hall, in 1989, political observers say." Giuliani "has been reliving some of his" mistakes, "from his stumbles over the abortion issue to controversies about his business clientele."
Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that Giuliani's "campaign team will reward top fund-raisers from across the country with special access at a New York 'leadership conference' that will include golf and other recreational events, The Post has learned." The Giuliani campaign is "dangling the carrot of more 'exclusive' time with the 2008 presidential hopeful in front of potential top 'bundlers' as an incentive to boost fund-raising through June 30," a finance reporting deadline.
Daughter's Graduation Provides Glimpse Into Difficult Personal Life The New York Daily News reported Giuliani was "the odd man out at his daughter's graduation" Friday. Caroline Giuliani, "the Harvard-bound daughter of Giuliani and his second wife, Donna Hanover, graduated with honors from the prestigious Trinity School on Manhattan's upper West Side. She was cheered boisterously by family and friends. ... But Dad kept his distance." The New York Post reported the "big chill between" Giuliani and Hanover "was on full display yesterday when both attended their daughter Caroline's high school graduation -- but sat as far apart as possible and never spoke." When commencement speaker, Sen. Charles Schumer, "noted Giuliani's presence and the audience broke into applause, Hanover and her son, Andrew Giuliani, sat stone-faced and didn't clap."
Conservative Group Taking Aim At Giuliani. The Portsmouth Herald News reported, "A conservative organization has formed in 34 states that opposes the naming of...Giuliani as the Republican nominee for president based on his pro-choice, pro-gun control and pro-gay rights positions."
Reporting from an advance copy of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's remarks slated for a speech today in Iowa City, the AP reports he is "offering a sweeping plan that would require every American to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program." Obama said "his plan could save the average consumer $2,500 a year and bring health care to all."
Obama Campaigns In New Hampshire The Chicago Tribune reports that in New Hampshire over the weekend, Sen. Barack Obama "attracted more than 1,000 people...as he campaigned across this state's often-overlooked northern section." It was "the first time Obama has campaigned with his entire family since he launched his presidential bid in February. Besides his wife, his two daughters and in-laws have joined him for the two-day swing."
The New Hampshire Union Leader reports these days, Sen. Obama is "measuring his success not just in poll numbers, money raised or endorsements -- but by the size of the crowd. 'We have been attracting these enormous crowds all across the country,' he said over the weekend during a town hall-style meeting."
The AP adds that for Obama, "one barometer of his campaign is crowds -- something Obama highlights at every opportunity." In "sparsely populated northern New Hampshire, turnout typically pales when compared to venues farther south. But Obama's appeal -- and aggressive organizing machine -- are defying expectations."
Obama Plans Massive Chicago Fundraiser The Chicago Tribune reported Sen. Obama "is planning what could be the largest fundraiser of his presidential bid so far, a big-dollar event in Chicago that is expected to raise at least $1.5 million in a single evening."
The Washington Times reported that new Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson "was confronted on 'Meet the Press'" Sunday "with a number of inconsistencies in his record, including calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq just 18 months after writing in his book that any such move would 'undermine' the Iraqi government."
On NBC's Meet the Press, Richardson was asked "if he flip-flopped in initially supporting and then criticizing the Senate immigration compromise, Richardson said, "I was announcing for president, and the day before, I saw a summary of a bill that had been proposed in the Senate. And the summary, I believed, contained essential elements of a comprehensive immigration reform bill. ... The bill is then presented, and I read it the next day, and it contained some problems."
In another report, the AP related, "Can anyone be a New York Yankees fan and a Boston Red Sox fan and win the presidency? ... Richardson wants to have it all. 'I'm a Red Sox fan,'" said Richardson. The AP noted, "Questioned by The Associated Press this year, Richardson said if he were not running for president, his dream job would be playing for the Yankees -- because of his childhood idol."
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Jay Leno: "Opponents of the immigration bill are asking people to call their congressmen and complain. Remember, if you do call, press one for English -- two for Spanish."
Jay Leno: "President Bush said in his news conference yesterday, that the United States would leave Iraq if Iraq asked us to. Aren't they shooting at us? Isn't that kind of like a way of saying it?"
David Letterman: "This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. And that means it's the beginning of the barbecue season. Because let's face it, those ice caps just aren't melting fast enough."
Conan O'Brien: "Very weird story from the White House. I don't know if you've heard this. True story. Yesterday, at a press conference in the Rose Garden, President Bush was speaking when a bird pooped on him. That's a true story. Konk! Yeah, and then, apparently, the bird spent the rest of the day high-fiving other birds."
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