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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
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Seeking to blunt the impact of Gen. David Petraeus' report on the situation in Iraq and President Bush's Thursday evening speech, Democrats are trying to come together on a new legislative assault on the "surge." Tellingly, according to media reports, the new Democratic measure will not include a deadline for the withdrawal of US troops, something Democrats had considered non-negotiable earlier in the year. The AP says the Senate Democrats "rejected" Petraeus' "recommendation to keep some 130,000 troops in Iraq through next summer and called for legislation that would sharply limit the mission of US forces." Their proposal "was not expected to set a deadline to end the war, as many Democrats want, but instead restrict troops to a narrow set of objectives: training the Iraqi military and police, protecting US assets and fighting terrorists." USA Today notes Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, "told reporters that several Republicans had expressed concerns about US troops being caught in the middle of a sectarian conflict and would like to see them pulled back to a support role in Iraq."
USA Today reported in a separate story that Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon is "helping to draft the proposal, but Democrats will need considerably more GOP support if their bill has any chance of passage." The Washington Post, in a front page story, says Democratic congressional leaders "have decided to shift course and pursue modest bipartisan measures to alter US military strategy in Iraq, hoping to use incremental changes instead of aggressive legislation to break the grip Republicans have held over the direction of war policy." For example, the New York Times reports that another Democratic plan "would guarantee troops longer respites from the battlefield, effectively cutting the numbers available for combat." That very plan was narrowly blocked by Republicans earlier in the year.
But as the Wall Street Journal reports, Democrats "have little ability to rewrite the administration's war strategy because Republicans can still muster enough votes to stop Congress overriding a presidential veto," even though "some Republicans worry that sticking to the current course could cost the party at the next elections." The Hill reports Senate Majority Leader Reid "faces the daunting task of preventing defections from his own caucus while securing enough Republicans to reach 60 votes." The Los Angeles Times says "even if these bipartisan compromises were to become law, they are unlikely to force the president to pull out troops for at least the next year, no faster than he appears to want."
Meanwhile, Democratic leaders are still under pressure from their party's base to make progress on the goal of ending the war. The Hill notes, "Democratic lawmakers and liberal interest groups are jockeying for advantage as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ponders the next step in her effort to change the direction of the Iraq war -- there's no clear floor strategy on Iraq for House Democrats." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Rep. John Tanner "have discussed meeting with moderate Republicans to discuss ideas on Iraq." But "the netroots that form a key portion of Democrats' political base are wary of the kind of bills that Republicans and centrist Democrats will support."
Coleman, Pryor Base Bill On Petraeus Report The AP reports GOP Sen. Norm Coleman, seen as a "potential swing vote on the war, said he was working with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., on legislation that would put Petraeus' recommendations into law."
Petraeus Rallies GOP Support Political commentators continue to subscribe to the view that Gen. Petraeus' report has frozen the Congressional arithmetic in place. The General's testimony appears to have solidified Republican support for the President's strategy, denying Democrats the chance to draw sufficient number of Republicans to support a fast withdrawal from Iraq. On NBC Nightly News, Washington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press Tim Russert said, "Petraeus solidified the base for...Bush on the Republican side. ... Both parties have lined up. The bases of their party are overwhelmingly in favor of the view being expressed by the President on the Republican side, Sen. Obama and other candidates on the Democratic side." The CBS Evening News reported Democrats "can't pass anything without Republican support, and Petraeus' testimony convinced many wavering Republicans to give his strategy more time." That "left Democrats little option but to plead for Republican defectors." Morton Kondracke, similarly, writes in Roll Call that Petraeus' "military successes on the ground and his promises this week on Capitol Hill of troop reductions and possible lower US casualty levels have kept the political bottom from falling out of Bush's policy."
The Washington Times says Republicans are now "closing ranks and say Democrats will continue to fall far shy of the votes needed to force a pullout from Iraq." Roll Call reports Republicans "feel more comfortable in their long-standing support for the war and don't want to undercut their key argument that Democratic attempts to force troop withdrawals amount to Congressional micromanagement."
Petraeus Takes Case To Media One day after completing his testimony before Congress, Petraeus continued to promote his report on the Iraq troop surge through a number of media interviews. The Washington Post reports in a front page story that as Petraeus "has become a political player, and more than ever before, the US venture in Iraq has become his own." In an interview with NBC Nightly News, Petraeus said, "I'm no longer an optimist or pessimist about Iraq. I think it is time to be a realist and it is just very, very hard." Responding to charges that his report manipulated data on Iraq, the General told the CBS Evening News that "he welcomed the chance to respond to critics who have accused him of cherry picking and twisting the facts." In an interview with ABC World News, he stressed that "the Iraqi security forces' losses are about two-times to three-times our losses. So, they're in the fight." Petraeus said on PBS's NewsHour, "There's certainly an intensity to the impatience and the frustration that was very, very palpable." Petraeus told CNN, "We have enormous national interests in Iraq." The Washington Times and USA Today also interviewed Petraeus.
The Financial Times reports that in an address to the nation Thursday night, President Bush is "expected to endorse plans to withdraw 30,000 US troops from Iraq by next summer but he will make the cuts conditional on improved security." The Los Angeles Times says the speech "will be Bush's most visible effort to answer congressional pressure to begin a major withdrawal of troops." Bush "is planning to follow Thursday night's speech with another Friday at the US Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va." The New York Times notes it "will be the first time Mr. Bush has described a plan for troop reductions, a radical departure for a president who has repeatedly defied his critics' calls to bring the soldiers home." The New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, among other media outlets, run similar reports this morning.
Edwards Buys Time On MSNBC To Respond The AP reports Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has found a way to be heard after Bush addresses the nation Thursday night: He's buying time for a rebuttal." Edwards "has bought two minutes of air time on MSNBC, scheduled to air after Bush's 15-minute televised speech from the White House at 9 p.m. EDT."
Poll Finds Uptick In War Support The Wall Street Journal reports, "Public discontent with the Iraq war has slightly eased, increasing President Bush's political maneuvering room at a critical point in debates over war costs and troop levels." Bush's "approval rating on Iraq is still paltry at 30%. But that's up from 22% in July."
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday said former Solicitor General Theodore Olson would not be confirmed by the Senate if President Bush nominates him to fill the attorney general vacancy. The Politico reports Reid "made a pre-emptive strike," saying, "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general." The Hill ¸ meanwhile, notes Senate Republicans "on Wednesday fired a warning shot at Democrats on the White House's still-unnamed attorney general pick as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that front-runner Ted Olson would not be confirmed." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "If they were serious when they cried out for new leadership at the Justice Department, they will follow Senate precedent."
The AP, however, reports some "Senate Republicans warned the White House Wednesday that it's not a good time for a fight with Democrats over a new attorney general." GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions said of an Olson confirmation battle, "It would be a dicey vote. ... It would be unfortunate to nominate someone who can't be confirmed." Roll Call says Bush "is expected to announce his choice in the coming days, with most observers predicting Monday to avoid conflicting with the Rosh Hashanah holiday this week."
Why are Democrats so opposed to Olson? USA Today reports Olson "represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton and made the winning argument in the Supreme Court in the 2000 election dispute." The Washington Post says "many Democrats view him as a sharply partisan figure." The New York Times says in an editorial, "It is heartening that Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, promised yesterday to block Mr. Olson if he is nominated."
Other Options Under Consideration The Washington Post listed several other potential nominees, such as former deputy attorney general George J. Terwilliger III, former Federal judge Michael B. Mukasey, and Judge William W. Wilkins of Greenville, SC. The New York Times reports "Reid's comments on Wednesday might bolster the candidacy of Senator Orrin G. Hatch."
The Washington Post reports White House press secretary Tony Snow's "last day at the lectern yesterday indeed featured moments of farce, moments of tension, moments of spin and moments of sentiment. The Tony Snow Show closed after 136 televised performances over 16 months, a relatively short tenure that nonetheless redefined the nature of the job." But as "feisty as the sessions have been, Snow clearly relished the give-and-take."
The networks each took time to note Snow's departure. ABC World News reported one "of the best-known faces of the Bush Administration took his final vow bow at the White House briefing room today." Snow, "who is battling cancer, says he needs to make more money and wants to spend more time with his family." The CBS Evening News says Snow spent most of the time defending General Petraeus and the President's Iraq policy, but he also had some parting words for reporters." Snow: "This job has been the most fun I've ever had, the most satisfying, fulfilling job." NBC Nightly News reported, "The lion-tamer of the press corps gave his last briefing today."
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Sen. Barack Obama laid out his most detailed plan on what to do next in Iraq in a major policy address yesterday, calling for a gradual withdrawal to start immediately. The Washington Post reports that Obama "unveiled what the campaign billed as a 'comprehensive plan to turn the page' that featured an immediate start to troop withdrawal, at the pace of one or two brigades per month, to be completed by the end of 2008." The Financial Times reports, "Deliberate or not, Barack Obama on Tuesday chose the small town of Clinton, Iowa, to make his strongest attack yet on the Iraq record of his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination." Although Obama "did not mention the frontrunner and former first lady by name, his speech was peppered with thinly veiled assaults on Hillary Clinton's shifting Iraq war record." Said Obama, "Conventional thinking in Washington lined up for the war. ... Too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask hard questions. Too many took the president at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves. Our only opportunity to stop the war was lost."
NBC Nightly News showed Obama saying, "Let me be clear. There is no military solution in Iraq. There never was. The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year, but now." Obama, added NBC, "called for an international working group of countries, something he said before, to help stabilize Iraq after the US military leaves."
The New York Times says "Obama's strategy for where to go from here, especially in maintaining an American military presence in Iraq and the region, is similar to the plan embraced by Mrs. Clinton." There are currently "about 20 combat brigades in Iraq, which General Petraeus has committed to reducing to 15 next summer." Under the Obama plan, "no more than 10 brigades would be in Iraq at that point. Military experts who supported the administration's "surge" strategy called the troop levels proposed by Mr. Obama insufficient."
The Hill reports, "Most experts agree that political reconciliation is the key to progress in Iraq, and Obama said the country 'needs a new constitutional convention that would include representatives from all levels of Iraqi society.'
In a blog posting on the website of the Washington Post, Dan Balz says Obama "returned to Iowa today to lay out his newest plan to end the war in Iraq -- and to step up his sparring with Hillary Clinton. The question is whether the new policy adds up to a surge strategy for his campaign." Balz calls Iraq war policy "the campaign's dominant issue" and says the war "highlights the arc of the Democratic nomination contest." The "entire Democratic field is playing a game of oneupsmanship on Iraq," with other candidates "doing everything they can not to allow the Iraq debate within the party to become a two-person conversation."
Plan Includes Significant Humanitarian Aid Under the headline, "Obama proposes $2 billion in Iraqi refugee aid," the Des Moines Register (9/12, Clayworth, 158K) reported on its website, "Barack Obama said Wednesday he would reach out to the Middle East with gestures such as $2 billion a year in aid to Iraqi refugees and welcoming at least 7,000 Iraqi refugee immigrants into the United States as part of his strategy to bring peace and end the war." Obama's remarks in Clinton, Iowa, "closely mirrored previous statements he has made on the war," but "Wednesday's speech was more detailed or updated from previous statements." Obama "called for withdrawing all combat troops from the country by 2009 instead of by April of 2008."
Opponents Critical Of Plan The Washington Times reports "Obama's adversaries said his plan doesn't go far enough, with former Sen. John Edwards saying the pace of withdrawal moves too slowly and sounds too much like the general's recommendation to President Bush to withdraw 30,000 troops by July. 'Taking credit for this gradual withdrawal is like taking credit for gravity,' Mr. Edwards said." The Chicago Tribune notes Obama's speech "drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike." Gov. Bill Richardson "said Obama's gradual withdrawal plan doesn't 'end' the war. Richardson called for the withdrawal of all American troops with no residual forces left behind." Sen. Chris Dodd "criticized both Obama and Clinton. 'I was disappointed that Sen. Obama's thoughts on Iraq today didn't include a firm, enforceable deadline for redeployment, and dismayed that neither he nor Sen. Clinton will give an unequivocal answer on whether they would support a measure if it didn't have such an enforceable deadline,' Dodd said."
The Nashua (NH) Telegraph reports "rival candidates from both political parties attacked Obama's plan. ... Several Democratic opponents said Obama's plan for withdrawal was not fast or binding enough." The Concord (NH) Monitor adds Obama's "rivals on the left and the right assailed Obama's plan." The Monitor says he "has used the Iraq war to separate himself from his leading Democratic rival," Clinton, who "voted to authorize the war in 2003."
Obama's speech was by no means the only action on Iraq in the presidential race yesterday. In a potential general election preview, Rudy Giuliani attacked Hillary Clinton yesterday for her questioning of Gen. David Petraeus on the Hill yesterday. The AP reports, "'Hillary Clinton, questioning Gen. Petraeus, said you had to suspend disbelief,' Giuliani said after a brief campaign stop at an Akron restaurant. 'Why would you say that about an American general?' ... Giuliani said Petraeus was doing 'the best that he can.' He also criticized the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org for running newspaper advertisements that asked 'General Petraeus or General Betray Us?' 'I can't imagine why we can't get beyond maligning other people's motives nowadays in politics,' said Giuliani," adding, "There is no reason to do what MoveOn.org or Hillary Clinton have done -- which is to make personal attacks on the general."
Long Island Newsday reports that during an appearance on an Atlanta radio talk show, the Randy And Spiff Show, Giuliani "said he admired Petraeus, was impressed with his reports, and deplored the MoveOn.org ad in Monday's New York Times that was headlined 'General Petraeus or General Betray Us?'" Giuliani ripped "Democrats' failure to condemn the ad, and indicated that they should because MoveOn.org spends so much money on behalf of Democratic candidates. 'And also, they sort of play into it,' he continued. 'Hillary Clinton said Wednesday, I think, said to General Petraeus, 'I think the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.'" Giuliani "added, 'I think this name-calling, you know, saying to people, 'willing suspension of disbelief,' and then saying the horrible thing they said about betrayal, that is the last thing we need right now.' 'What we need right now,' Giuliani said, 'is a reasoned account. We need statesmanship, not political venom.'"
A blog posting on the website of ABC News reported that Clinton's camp "responded to Giuliani's charge that the former first lady is spewing 'political venom' by suggesting that the national Republican frontrunner is oblivious to the real situation in Iraq. 'Mayor Giuliani might be content to bury his head in the sand when it comes to ending the war in Iraq,' said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer, 'but Senator Clinton will continue to ask the hard questions in an effort to get our troops home.'"
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John McCain was also attempting to capitalize on Gen. Petraeus' remarks yesterday amid hints that his campaign may be rallying. The New York Times reports, "Senator John McCain's famous 'Straight Talk Express' was gone, replaced by a bus emblazoned with a sign that read 'No Surrender.'" McCain "and a group of veterans -- including former prisoners of war who were held with him in Vietnam, and newly minted Iraq veterans - piled into the bus and drove across Iowa, stopping in V.F.W. posts and American Legion halls to argue that the current strategy in Iraq is working, and that Democrats and wavering Republicans who want to withdraw the troops now are making a terrible mistake." The McCain campaign, "buoyed by good reviews Mr. McCain received last week at a debate in New Hampshire and by the prospect of his taking on a high-profile role in the Senate debate over Iraq, is very much hoping that it is beginning a comeback." The AP reports McCain "was warmly received by veterans of five wars at a VFW post in Council Bluffs." Said McCain, "We have suffered enormous losses and Americans are frustrated and angry...but we do have a new strategy and a new general and it is succeeding and we ought to give it a chance to succeed."
ABC World News said McCain "has essentially tied his campaign to a successful campaign in Iraq. Our latest ABC News poll shows McCain in third, but apparently gaining some ground from his stance on the war." ABC (Berman) added, "If a campaign is a game of high-stakes poker, when it comes to the surge, John McCain is going all-in. ... There is nothing subtle about it. An internal campaign strategy memo calls on McCain to, 'take ownership of the surge.' The Arizona senator is launching a three-state no-surrender tour on the 'No-Surrender' bus. He brought us on board." McCain: "I am sure there is a political element because if we're able to succeed in Iraq, I think those of us who supported it, would receive credit for supporting it." McCain "was written off by some political professionals just a few months ago. His bank account was dwindling, his campaign staff defective. The clear message in the 'No Surrender' tour is that he is not about to surrender either. There are signs this new message might be working." Rich Lowry, National Review: "Republicans are giving him a second look. They're reminded about what they always liked about John McCain, his stalwartness, his credentials on national security."
Another national poll out this morning shows Hillary Clinton holding a commanding lead in the Democratic primary, while Fred Thompson is nipping at Rudy Giuliani's heels in the GOP contest. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of 1,002 adults taken September 7-10 shows Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic field nationally with 44%, followed by Barack Obama, 23%; John Edwards, 16%; Bill Richardson, 4%; Dennis Kucinich, 3%; Joe Biden, 2%; and Chris Dodd, 1%. On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 32%, followed by Fred Thompson, 26%; John McCain, 14%; Mitt Romney, 11%; Mike Huckabee, 4%; Ron Paul, 2%; Sam Brownback, 1%; Duncan Hunter, 1%; and Tom Tancredo, 1%.
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Jay Leno: "Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson now tied, neck-and-neck in national polls. Actually, you know, if they were on the ticket together that would be a tough team for the Democrats to beat. I mean, if they could just get all of their ex-wives to vote for them -- oh, my God."
Jay Leno: " Russia has tested a new bomb that they say is as powerful as a nuclear bomb, but does not contaminate the environment the way a nuclear bomb does. So now, you see, the Russians are going green, huh? Yeah, taking that global warming seriously."
David Letterman: "In the big game on Sunday, the Patriots and the Jets, the New England Patriots were secretly videotaping signals from the Jets sidelines. Maybe we should put these guys in charge of looking for bin Laden."
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