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Sunday, May 11, 2008
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The AP reports, "Sen. Richard Lugar, a senior Republican and a reliable vote for President Bush on the war, said Monday that Bush's Iraq strategy was not working and that the U.S. should downsize the military's role. The unusually blunt assessment deals a political blow to Bush, who has relied heavily on GOP support to stave off anti-war legislation." The AP added, however, that an aide to the Senator "said the speech does not mean Lugar would switch his vote on the war or embrace Democratic measures setting a deadline for troop withdrawals."
Dionne Says Pullout Is Inevitable Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes, "It's not about whether the United States should pull out troops. That is now inevitable. The real challenge is to figure out the right timetable for withdrawal, whether a residual force should be left there and which American objectives can still be salvaged."
In a series of 5-4 decisions, a narrowly divided Supreme Court limited the application of precedent in three high-profile rulings announced Monday. The Wall Street Journal reports the Supreme Court "handed conservatives victories in a raft of 5-to-4 rulings, demonstrating the far-ranging influence of President Bush's two appointees. But the opinions, including closely watched cases involving campaign-finance regulation and student free speech, revealed fissures among the five conservative justices even as the court's rightward tilt drove the four liberals together in unified dissents."
USA Today reports the rulings - "which included decisions that weaken restrictions on broadcast ads during election campaigns and that narrow students' speech rights in schools - reflected how President Bush's appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, have begun to move the court toward the right."
The CBS Evening News reported, "The court's swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, has swung mostly conservative. Notably by upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion." The Los Angeles Times says the court "handed President Bush and the Republican Party two victories by clearing the way for corporate-funded broadcast ads before elections and by shielding the White House's 'faith-based initiative' from challenge in the courts."
The New York Times reports that in the campaign finance case, "in a splintered 5-to-4 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that as interpreted broadly by federal regulators and the law's supporters, the restrictions on television advertisements paid for from corporate or union treasuries in the weeks before an election amounted to censorship of core political speech unless those advertisements explicitly urge a vote for or against a particular candidate."
The Hill reports the ruling "could disadvantage the 2008 campaigns of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.): Officeholders now will be subject to corporate-and union-funded ads targeting their positions just before Election Day."
The Washington Post reports the Court ruled "that federal taxpayers cannot challenge the constitutionality of White House efforts to help religious groups obtain government funding for their social programs, handing a victory to President Bush's faith-based initiatives program." The majority of justices contended that allowing taxpayer lawsuits against individual federal spending items would leave federal "relegated to 'general complaint bureaus.'"
The Washington Post reports that in the third case, the Court "gave public schools new authority to regulate what students say, allowing principals to punish speech or demonstrations that may 'reasonably be viewed' as promoting illegal drug use." The case before the court involved an Alaska high school student who was suspended "for unfurling a banner reading 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' as students waited for the Olympic torch relay to pass their school in 2002."
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In marked contrast to the very heavy coverage of the Senate immigration bill on television Sunday and in Monday's newspapers, there is comparatively little coverage today, even though voting on the measure is actually set to begin today.
CNN's The Situation Room reported, "A critical test vote is scheduled for tomorrow on the latest version of a compromise bill that has the blessings of the White House. Our new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 30% of Americans favor the bill. Forty-seven percent oppose it."
The Washington Post says Republican supporters "threw their weight yesterday behind a significant change to the legislation that would force illegal immigrants to return to their home countries to apply for legal status."
On Fox News' Your World, Sen. Jeff Sessions, a leading opponent of the bill, was asked what he thought the outcome would be. Sessions said, "I just don't know. The senators, many of them sort of got committed to going forward with this legislation some time ago but as they've studied the bill, got this Congressional Budget Office report, seen the loopholes that are in it, seen the public support for it plummet. ... I think people are beginning to reevaluate."
The Washington Times reports the White House "says it has the votes to resurrect the immigration bill on the Senate floor today." The Hill says that "since the bill was pulled from the floor after a failed cloture vote, opposition to the measure seems to have grown." The Hill also notes that the "continued absence" of Sen. Tim Johnson "has added to the roadblocks supporters face in pushing through the carefully negotiated compromise."
A negative Wall Street Journal report says, "Over the objections of the White House, House Republicans said they will vote this morning on a party resolution critical of the immigration bill the president has been struggling to have called back up in the Senate." Meanwhile, the New York Times says when the bill "returns to the Senate floor...opposition from labor unions could doom the bill's prospects by putting pressure on many Democrats to vote against it."
The Los Angeles Times reports a "federal watchdog agency planned to inspect the president's executive offices in the White House in 2005 for evidence of suspected leaks of classified information, but it was rebuffed by Bush administration officials, congressional investigators have been told." The Times notes Rep. Henry Waxman has detailed two instances, in 2003 and 2005, when the White House refused to submit itself to inspection. The Times also reports, "It was not clear what prompted the inspection. The oversight agency has not commented on it." White House officials continue to insist the White House is not subject to the oversight Waxman is asserting.
In a 3,800-word front-page story, the Washington Post reports on Vice President Cheney's hidden influence on domestic policy, noting that his "impact has been on public display in the arenas of foreign policy and homeland security, and in a long-running battle to broaden presidential authority. But he has also been the unseen hand behind some of the president's major domestic initiatives." The President "is 'the decider,' as Bush puts it, but the vice president often serves up his menu of choices." The Washington Post also reports Vice President Cheney played a key role in President Bush's selection committee for Supreme Court justices, noting that the "handful of candidates who survived a grilling of more than two hours by the Cheney-led selection committee would go on to what one participant described as a much shorter and 'far more relaxed' interview with the president."
Democrats May Cut Cheney Office Funding On MSNBC's Hardball, Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel said Vice President Cheney was "acting like he is unaccountable to anybody" by saying his office is not a part of the executive branch. But "I said if that's your logic, then we should not be funding you through the executive branch. And either Wednesday or Thursday, my amendment will be on the floor because the funding for the executive branch is on the floor. And I'll strike the money for the Vice President's office."
Roll Call reports Emanuel "said he has the backing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) to offer an amendment to the financial services and general government appropriations bill, which funds the vice president's office, that would hold the funds until Cheney's office is fully declared to be part of the executive branch."
On MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews interviewed Washington Post reporter Bart Gellman, who said, "I'm not sure that Rahm Emanuel stated it accurately. What Cheney's office has said is that the vice presidency is unique in that it is neither an executive nor legislative branch but attached by the Constitution to the latter. What that mean in terms of the applicability of executive orders is a mystery."
The Hill reports Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday "warned Dick Cheney that his office would risk losing its budget unless the vice president agrees to follow a presidential directive ordering the protection of classified information."
GOP Move To Oust Cheney Proposed In a Washington Post (6/26) op-ed, Sally Quinn says, "The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. Even before this week's blockbuster series in The Post, discontent in Republican ranks was rising." Cheney is "viewed as toxic," and Quinn suggests Fred Thompson as a replacement as he "would give the Republicans a platform for running for the presidency."
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Sen. Barack Obama showed significant fundraising strength in the 1st quarter, and by all indications, will be equally strong in the 2nd. He's now putting some of that fiscal firepower to use, going on the air with a sizeable ad buy in Iowa. The Washington Post reports Obama "will begin airing the first television advertising for his presidential campaign today with two ads aimed at introducing himself to Iowa voters. Both ads -- a 30-second spot and a 60-second spot -- are biographical. Each begins in black and white with the words 'The Obama Story' on the screen before transitioning to color and showing snippets of his speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention." The New York Times says the ads are "designed to tell the story of his career before he arrived" in Washington. Obama "is not expected to open a full-fledged advertising push until the fall, aides said, but the campaign will slowly start highlighting his life before he gained national prominence." He becomes the third Democratic contender to launch a television campaign, following Sen. Christopher Dodd and Gov. Bill Richardson.
The Chicago Tribune notes one of the ads features Illinois state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican, "who has been questioned by members of his own party for his strong touting of Obama's skills." Dillard, "a friend of Obama's from his days in Springfield, tells viewers that Obama was respected on both sides of the political aisle during his time in the General Assembly." The Politico says the other ad builds Obama's "liberal credentials in a non-confrontational way, with discussion of his decision to work in civil rights after graduating from Harvard Law, and a voiceover from Larry Tribe."
The Des Moines Register reports the ads "mark a new phase" in Obama's "grassroots national campaign." Obama Iowa press secretary Tommy Vietor is quoted saying that most voters know little about Obama's experience. "We think that if people know he was a community organizer, a civil rights attorney, an Illinois state senator for eight years, as well as a United States senator, they are very impressed by the experiences he has and believe that he is extremely well qualified," Vietor said. Roll Call and the AP also report on the ads.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp nationwide survey of 1,029 adults conducted June 22-24 shows Rudy Giuliani leading the GOP presidential field with 30%, followed by Fred Thompson with 19%, Sen. John McCain with 18% and Mitt Romney with 9%. On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton is out front with 43%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with 25%, John Edwards with 17% and Gov. Bill Richardson with 5%. In a head-to-head match-up, Clinton narrowly defeats Giuliani 49% to 48%.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on its website that a poll of 663 California voters conducted June 18-22 shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential field with 37%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards tied with 15% each. On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 25%, followed by Fred Thompson with 16%, Sen. John McCain with 14% and Mitt Romney with 5%.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) may be struggling in national polls, but he has data showing him running a strong race in Iowa. The Hill reports internal poll numbers released by Richardson's presidential campaign show him gaining in Iowa. The Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin poll of 500 likely Democratic caucus-goers has John Edwards at 34%, Sen. Hillary Clinton 24%, Sen. Barack Obama 17%, and Richardson 13%. Moreover, among the "likeliest" caucus-goers, Richardson pulls into third place. In that group, Edwards is at 31%, Clinton 23%, Richardson 18%, and Obama 16%. The New York Sun reported on its website that Richardson "is the only Democrat to make any significant gains over the past three months."
The Washington Post reports Rep. Brad Miller (D) has decided not to challenge Sen. Elizabeth Dole(R) in North Carolina in 2008. The Hill calls his decision "a blow to national Democrats, who had been touting Miller as a leading potential challenger." Roll Call also calls Miller's opting out "a blow to Democrats," saying the party now has to "go back to the drawing board to see if they can recruit a top-tier challenger in the Tar Heel State."
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Jay Leno: "The government of Iraq is under a lot of pressure from President Bush to find a fair way to share their huge oil profits -- you know, like we do here in this country."
Jay Leno: "The CIA has released some documents that detail illegal and scandalous activity they were involved in more than 30 years ago. The activities include wiretapping of phones, warrantless searches, and opening citizens' mail. Thank God that kind of thing cannot happen today."
Jay Leno: A Texas store is "offering wedding ceremonies for only 99 cents. Imagine that, getting married for 99 cents. This could save Rudolph Giuliani millions."
Jay Leno: "Ralph Nader is thinking of running for president again." Nader "says he rejects the term 'spoiler.' Still, a lot better than 'loser.'"
David Letterman: "Chemical Ali has been sentenced to death. I feel bad for his wife, Chemical Shirley."
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