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Monday, February 13, 2012
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As the White House prepares to deliver a progress report on Iraq to Congress tomorrow, the Administration is arguing that it will show some progress has been achieved in Iraq. USA Today also notes the White House "cautioned" that the report "should not be viewed as the final deciding factor of progress in the Iraq war." The Politico says the report will conclude "the current approach should be given more time to work." President Bush "plans to go before cameras...to detail the findings as he seeks to shore up fading support among Senate Republicans and convince them to wait until military commanders report in September before abandoning the current strategy," according to "officials." The Washington Post reports on its front page that the White House "originally envisioned" today's "widely anticipated" report as "a midterm update, but it has taken on greater political importance in recent days as senior Senate Republicans have bolted."
White House officials told ABC World News the report "will claim some encouraging signs that should eventually lead to a reduction of US forces in Iraq. But there are plenty of discouraging signs in the report, as well." On "eight of the benchmarks, mostly dealing with the Iraqi security forces, the report will claim progress is satisfactory." But a "senior White House official" says the report "will say progress on eight of the benchmarks has been not satisfactory," including "nearly every benchmark on political reconciliation." NBC Nightly News offers a different tally, claiming the report found "unsatisfactory progress on 10 of the 18 so-called benchmarks laid out by Congress," while the CBS Evening News simply said Iraqis "are not meeting most of their political, military, or economic benchmarks."
The Los Angeles Times says the Administration's "decision to set benchmarks for measuring the progress of the Iraq mission is now seen by some US officials as a costly blunder that has only aided the White House's critics in Congress and its foes in Iraq." With "the major goals still out of reach," the Administration "is playing down their importance." The Christian Science Monitor writes that the Administration "is fighting back" against "a restive Congress." The "pushback is following two lines of attack: one, that the presence of some 30,000 additional troops is beginning to bear fruit, even if not among the 'benchmarks' set by Congress when it approved Iraq funding in May; and that members of Congress are allowing political motivations to trump long-term security priorities."
On its front page, the New York Times reports the Bush administration will assert progress has been "satisfactory on nearly half" of the 18 benchmarks, but will "qualify some verdicts by saying that even when the political performance of the Iraqi government has been unsatisfactory, it is too early to make final judgments," according to several administration officials. A McClatchy analysis, meanwhile, finds that only four benchmarks have been at least partially met.
White House Blocking Iraq Study Group? The Washington Post says this morning that "despite an overwhelming House vote last month to revive the Iraq Study Group, the White House has blocked reconvening the bipartisan panel to provide a second independent assessment of the military and political situation in Iraq." Sources involved in the drafting of the first ISG document said co-chairman Lee Hamilton and several other panel members were willing to participate, but the "White House did not give the green light" for co-chairman James Baker to participate, and Baker "is unwilling to lead a second review without President Bush's approval."
In a related and critical front-page story, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward writes that last November, just two hours after President Bush gave "what one panel member called a 'Churchillian' vision of 'victory' in Iraq," CIA Director Michael Hayden "painted a starkly different picture for members of the study group. Hayden said 'the inability of the government to govern seems irreversible,' adding that he could not 'point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around,' according to written records of his briefing and the recollections of six participants." Hayden said, "The government is unable to govern. We have spent a lot of energy and treasure creating a government that is balanced, and it cannot function."
Democratic Measure Four Votes Short While the Senate yesterday turned back a Democratic attempt to thwart President Bush's war policies, media accounts suggest that as many as 10 Republicans could be ready to vote against President Bush's strategy under certain conditions. The Washington Post reports the 56-41 tally, four short of the 60 needed to move on to a final, up-or-down vote, shows "a bipartisan consensus to dramatically alter the US military mission in Iraq" has begun "to emerge in the Senate." The measure, authored by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, would place limits on the deployment of troops overseas, and in the past it has been dubbed a "slow bleed strategy" by GOP supporters of the President. But yesterday, USA Today notes, seven Republicans -- Minnesota's Norm Coleman, Maine's Susan Collins, Nebraska's Chuck Hagel, Oregon's Gordon Smith, Maine's Olympia Snowe, New Hampshire's John Sununu, and Virginia's John Warner supported the measure.
USA Today says three other Republicans who have been critical of the current Iraq strategy -- Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and George Voinovich of Ohio, did not support the measure. However, the Post says, Warner and Lugar are working on a "bipartisan measure that could attract enough Republican votes to pass." The Wall Street Journal says the "collaboration" of Warner and Lugar, "who worked with the White House at the outset of the war, underscores the unrest Mr. Bush faces." And the Los Angeles Times says Senate Republicans "are fed up with the war but not ready to abandon Iraq," and "are seeking shelter in legislation that calls for a new war strategy without ordering a troop withdrawal."
The New York Times reports that "only a few hours before the vote, about a dozen Republican senators" met with White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley in what lawmakers and aides called a "candid" meeting, "with several Republicans saying they could not wait two months" for Bush to weigh a change in course.
The Washington Times says Republicans who voted against the troop leave measure, sponsored by Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, called it "unconstitutional because it would have curtailed the president's authority as commander in chief." The Army Times quotes Sen. John McCain saying "the amendment would have created a 'congressionally mandated fence around every service member.'"
House Expected To Pass Withdrawal Bill Roll Call reports House Democrats" are inching near unanimity on legislation scheduled for floor action today to begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq." Members as "ideologically diverse as anti-war liberal Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Southern conservative Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.) both said Wednesday they were inclined to support the legislation, which Democratic leaders are confident will pass."
ABC World News reported, "Law enforcement and intelligence officials across Washington at the highest levels say something very serious is going on. What's behind the concern are multiple credible intelligence reports that an al Qaeda terror cell are already on their way to the United States or already here." The AP says US intelligence analysts "have concluded al-Qaeda has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." The network has reportedly been able to "regroup along the Afghan-Pakistani border despite nearly six years of bombings, war and other tactics aimed at crippling it." The Washington Post, meanwhile, says implications for US domestic security "are not immediately clear, despite a warning Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that reports of heightened al-Qaeda activity and public threats gave him a 'gut feeling' that the country faces an increased chance of a terrorist attack this summer."
Disturbing News About US Nuke Security ABC World News reported last night on "how easy it might be for terrorists to obtain the radioactive material needed to make a so-called dirty bomb. Congressional investigators conducted an undercover sting on the Federal agency charged with keeping radioactive material out of the wrong hands. The outcome was hardly reassuring." NBC Nightly News noted the undercover agents "easily fooled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission into giving them a license to obtain this radiological material." On its front page, the New York Times reports the investigators, "from the Government Accountability Office, demonstrated once again that the security measures put in place since the 2001 terrorist attacks to prevent radioactive materials from getting into the wrong hands are insufficient, according to a G.A.O. report, which is scheduled to be released at a Senate hearing Thursday." The Washington Post and USA Today run similar stories.
Intelligence Officials Defend Bin Laden Search The Washington Times reports senior US intelligence officials on Wednesday "defended unsuccessful efforts to capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden." Deputy Director of National Intelligence Thomas Fingar told Congress, "We share your frustration. Being No. 3 in al Qaeda is a bad job. We regularly get to the No. 3 person."
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With a House Judiciary Committee investigation slated for today, the White House has ordered former counsel Harriet Miers not to testify. Of the three broadcast networks, only the CBS Evening News mentioned the US attorneys controversy, noting "the President's former political director did appear before a Senate committee. Sara Taylor didn't say much except that she never heard President Bush discuss the firings." The New York Times reports in a straightforward and somewhat muted tone that Taylor told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she believed Bush "was not involved in last year's dismissal of federal prosecutors." Democrats dismissed her testimony "as part of what they called a continuing effort to conceal political motives behind the dismissals and to interfere with Congressional inquiries into how and why" the attorneys were dismissed.
The Washington Post reports Democrats said Taylor's comments about Bush's role "could undermine Bush's assertion that White House deliberations about the US attorney firings are protected by executive privilege." The Washington Post also runs a story on the front page of the Style section on the 32-year-old Taylor's background and "rapid rise" inside the White House political operation.
But most sources focus primarily on Bush's instructions to Miers. Roll Call says Taylor "gave conflicting answers" to the panel while Miers "refused to testify at a hearing on the same topic." The Los Angeles Times says the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel, "in a broadly worded legal opinion," has concluded Miers and others "can ignore subpoenas from Congress to testify" about the attorneys case. The AP, USA Today and McClatchy run similar stories.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says the "political price of sticking by an embattled Alberto Gonzales is getting higher for President Bush, now that an increasingly hostile Democratic Congress is using the attorney general's continued tenure as a cudgel to battle administration priorities." Progress on updating an intelligence surveillance law "has been stalled because key lawmakers believe Mr. Gonzales misled them about a separate surveillance program." Gonzales was also "sidelined during the recent immigration debate."
Positive news on the US budget deficit front is receiving only limited attention from national media outlets. ABC World News, the only network newscast to carry the story, briefly noted "an encouraging sign about the economy, today. The Bush Administration said the federal budget deficit will fall to $205 billion this year. That's less than half of what it was at its peak three years ago."
Some of the coverage was actually quite negative toward the Bush Administration. The Washington Post credits "surging corporate profits -- and another big increase in corporate tax collections" for the shrinking deficit, and adds "the gusher of revenue is already starting to slow dramatically, the projection shows, and the deficit is expected to increase to $258 billion in the fiscal year that begins in October." President Bush, adds the Post, "yesterday ignored the bad news and took credit for the good, saying his tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 had stimulated the economy, generating a revenue windfall for the Treasury." The AP is also critical, citing "several rounds of tax cuts, including Bush's signature $1.35 trillion 2001 tax cut," for helping to create the deficits.
Other major newspapers see the story as setting the stage for upcoming partisan confrontations over spending. The Wall Street Journal says with the "government's financial picture brightening somewhat," Bush "is going on the offensive against Democrats over taxes and spending. The battle, which is likely to last the rest of the year, could help determine the direction of fiscal policy for the remainder of his presidency." The Financial Times notes Bush "warned against complacency in the battle to bring the deficit under control, renewing his threat to veto a series of forthcoming spending bills unless Congress reduced its budget demands."
The Albuquerque Journal reported Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., "said this week that President Bush was wrong to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, but he defended the president's right to do it." Domenici said, "I myself don't think it's right. I think he should not have done that."
In an ironic turn of events, Sen. Arlen Specter, often the nemesis of social conservatives who see him as a too liberal on abortion and other issues, is rallying conservative activists in support of the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick. The Politico reports social conservatives are "answering a call to action from an unlikely source," Specter, whose "moderate stances on abortion and other issues have made for an uneasy relationship with his party's right-leaning base." On Tuesday evening, "representatives from about 15 organizations, ranging from Concerned Women of America to the Family Research Council, gathered in Specter's office to plot strategy for pushing President Bush's nominees, including former Mississippi Judge Leslie H. Southwick, an Iraq war veteran." Specter "accused the Democrats of 'showing their muscle' by stalling the Southwick nomination."
The Hill reports Specter "has fired an early volley in what Senate Republicans and conservative activists predict will escalate into another pitched battle with Democrats on judicial nominees." Specter has "accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) of breaking promises they made regarding" Southwick.
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The Politico reports on Larry Flynt's conference call, during which he "told a group of reporters that all he wants to do is expose hypocrisy." Flynt "stressed repeatedly that this wasn't 'a witch hunt' or some particular vendetta he has against members of Congress and/or Republicans -- although he conceded GOP-ers are much more 'fun' when it comes to sex scandals, since they're so 'repressed.'" Currently "Flynt PI has about 20 different investigations going on directly related to 'D.C. Madam' Deborah Jeane Palfrey's 'original set of records.'"
The death of former first lady Claudia Alta Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson at age 94 led all three Wednesday network news broadcasts, which gave the story a cumulative 18 1/2 minutes of coverage, and is also on the front page of many major daily newspapers. Reports focus on her marriage to Lyndon Johnson, who died 34 years ago, as well as her focus on beautification during her time as first lady. Some reports also stress her business acumen, which helped finance her husband's political career. ABC World News called her "one of America's most influential first ladies," while the CBS Evening News said she was "one of the longest-living first ladies in American history, a Southern belle who made it her mission to keep America beautiful." NBC Nightly News said Johnson, who died in Austin, Texas, will "be buried alongside her husband, the former president, on the banks of the Pedernales River in the hill country of Texas."
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Negative stories on John McCain's presidential campaign continue today in the wake of his massive staff shakeup. The New York Times reports that with "just $2 million in the bank, undisclosed debts, a campaign burning cash at a rate of more than $3 million a month and the recent layoffs of more than half its staff, the McCain campaign is reading its obituaries in the comments of some observers." Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report said, "It's effectively over. The physicians have left the hospital room and it's the executors of the estate that are taking over."
In his Roll Call column, Stuart Rothenberg says, "First there were four, and now there are three - three top-tier GOP presidential candidates, at least if you count a guy who still isn't officially a candidate. Sen. John McCain now has the second tier all to himself." The McCain campaign's "burn rate on funds was too high, but that's not why the Arizona Republican's prospects have slipped." Given McCain's cash, his poll numbers and the state of his campaign, he has few options, according to one veteran political strategist with whom I talked, except to 'park himself in New Hampshire, shut down his operations elsewhere and try to make a comeback in a state that he won eight years ago.'"
The Politico reports, "Six months ago, the consensus among many leading Republicans was that the party's presidential nomination was Sen. John McCain's to lose. By outward appearances, he has done just that." Republicans "inside and outside his campaign say his epic descent from front-runner to political life support was triggered by a poisonous political environment, an undisciplined candidate and a campaign with all the chaos and casualness of McCain's happy-go-lucky 2000 bid -- but without the excitement and charm."
In his column in the Washington Post, (7/12, A23), Robert Novak says, "McCain's precipitous decline cannot be laid at the feet" of former aides Terry Nelson and John Weaver. McCain himself, "long ago noting that he had 'caught lightning in a bottle' in 2000, questioned whether he could replicate that magical campaign. The magic stemmed from McCain's allure as a dissident who for years had sniped at the GOP elephant. Now, as 2007 began, he was asking the elephant to embrace him." McCain's "slimmed-down campaign will concentrate on the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina."
A major firefighters union is using relatives of firefighters killed on 9/11 to criticize Rudy Giuliani in a new video. The AP reports the video is "pairing footage of the falling twin towers with charges that the city's former mayor was woefully unprepared for Sept. 11, causing needless firefighter deaths." The "parents and siblings of some of the 343 firefighters killed in the terrorist attacks released the video with the International Association of Fire Fighters, which opposes Giuliani's candidacy." Giuliani's campaign "denounced the images, saying that the former mayor had a long history of supporting firefighters' health and safety and that the international union releasing the video only supports Democratic presidential candidates." The New York Times reports that in a "video that is by turns emotional, scathing and at times factually questionable, the nation's largest union of firefighters is appealing to its members across the country not to support the Republican presidential candidacy of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani." Though the video "is addressed to firefighters, the union, a frequent supporter of national Democratic candidates, has posted it on Google and YouTube in efforts to reach a broader public as well."
The Hill reports Giuliani's presidential campaign "moved quickly yesterday to blunt what it sees as a sensationalist Swift Boat-style attack by a firefighters' union." Seeking to "avoid the mistake of delay that so hurt" John Kerry in 2004, "the former New York City mayor's campaign went on the offensive before the attack was even formally released, dismissing the union as politically motivated." Before IAFF "was able to release a video in the afternoon full of angry testimony belittling Giuliani's support of New York City firefighters, the campaign fired off releases and held a press conference." IAFF President Harold Schaitberger "has said before that he and the organization are not engaged in a vendetta against Giuliani, but simply trying to educate their members."
The New York Sun reports, "In the video, New York City firefighters describe Mayor Giuliani's negligence in letting firefighters use dysfunctional radios and his decision to build an emergency management command center at 7 World Trade Center after a terrorist attack in 1994. The video also focuses on Mr. Giuliani's initial decision to truck away September 11 debris without first recovering remains of victims. 'We have remains of dead heroes out at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration,' a firefighter, James Riches, says in the video."
Three new state polls out today show Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton leading their respective primary fields.
Ohio A Quinnipiac University poll of 1,447 Ohio voters taken July 3-9 shows Clinton leads the Democrats with 35%, followed by Barack Obama, 17%; John Edwards, 13%; Al Gore, 12%; and the rest of the field at 3% or less. On the GOP side, Giuliani leads with 24%, followed by Fred Thompson, 18%; John McCain, 14%; Mitt Romney, 8%; and Newt Gingrich, 5%. The rest of the field is at 1% or less.
In general election trial heats, Clinton tops Giuliani (44%-42%), McCain (45%-41%), and Thompson (47%-38%). Obama trails Giuliani (42%-41%), but leads McCain (43%-38%) and Thompson (44%-34%).
Pennsylvania A Strategic Vision poll of 1,200 likely Pennsylvania voters taken July 6-8 shows Giuliani leading the GOP field with 42%, followed by Fred Thompson, 16%; McCain, 10%; Romney, 6%; and Gingrich, 4%. On the Democratic side, Clinton led with 36%, followed by Obama, 25%; Edwards, 12%; and Bill Richardson, 5%.
Michigan A Strategic Vision poll of 1,200 likely Michigan voters taken July 6-8 shows Clinton on top of the Democratic field with 32%, followed by Obama, 25%; Edwards, 16%; and Richardson, 7%. The race is tighter on the GOP side, where Giuliani leads with 20%, followed by Romney, 15%; McCain, 14%; Fred Thompson, 14%; and Gingrich, 4%.
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Jay Leno: "Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said today he had a gut feeling...there may be another terrorist attack this summer. Yeah. He has no specific intelligence to back it up, just a gut feeling. Oh, is that reliable? How do we know it's not just bad clams?"
Jay Leno: "Because of the...war in Iraq, President Bush's popularity has now plunged to 2% BC. ... You know what that means, BC? Below Carter. It doesn't get any worse than that."
Jay Leno: "In fact, Bush's only supporters now are Laura and one of the twins."
David Letterman: "Here's good news, ladies and gentlemen. Subway crime is down. So apparently the troop surge is working."
Conan O'Brien: "A new poll just came out about Dick Cheney. This is a true story. A new poll finds that Dick Cheney has a 59% disapproval rating, which makes him officially the least popular Vice President in US history. Even worse -- even worse, the only people polled were Cheney's wife and kids."
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