The Washington Post, in a story headlined "Bush Declares That He Remains Relevant," says that during a White House news conference, President Bush "lashed out at lawmakers for stalling housing and education initiatives, trade agreements, and judicial nominations, and for not having passed any of 12 annual spending bills more than two weeks into the new fiscal year." The Post says Bush "presented himself as still in command of the Washington agenda and rejected the suggestion that he has grown 'increasingly irrelevant,' as a reporter put it in a question." The Washington Times says the President was "combative," noting he "repeatedly cut off reporters and refused to answer questions." But he "appeared resigned to taking a lower-profile role for the rest of his time in office," saying of Congress, "All I can do is ask them to move bills."
The New York Times calls it a "scathing assessment" of Congress by Bush. Bush referred to his veto of the SCHIP health coverage bill as "one way to ensure that I am relevant." That remark "echoed one" by President Clinton, "who proclaimed after Republicans took control of the House in 1995 that 'the president is still relevant here.' It was especially striking coming from Mr. Bush, who often insists, as he did Wednesday, that he is going to 'sprint to the finish' of his presidency." On the CBS Evening News, Bob Schieffer said, "I think this was the President's declaration that 'I am not a lame duck.' When he says he is going to use the veto to show he is still relevant, that shows you someone that really doesn't have a lot to brag about at this point and I think he was just trying to take his stand."
USA Today reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in response to Bush's criticism, "It is quite disingenuous for President Bush to lecture Congress" while Bush "has been warning he may veto Democratic proposals." The Wall Street Journal also says "education funding is set to be the next big budget battle for Democrats, who are trying to build on today's House veto confrontation" with Bush over the SCHIP bill. The AP says the Democratic override attempt is expected to fail by several votes. USA Today notes Bush again "defended his use of the veto pen" on the bill, "calling it too big a step toward government-run health care."
The New York Times says Bush "complained bitterly that Democrats had failed to negotiate with him" over SCHIP. The Wall Street Journal says "antagonists in the debate over government health coverage for poor children are staking out increasingly incompatible positions, firing a debate that is set to play a big role in the 2008 election season." The Politico reports, "At its core, the SCHIP debate has reflected the clash of two competing strategies. The Democratic-controlled Congress has couched SCHIP in the context of children, and Democrats have come under fire for using kids in photo ops and press conferences to push the case."
Poll: Americans "Overwhelmingly" For SCHIP Bill The CBS Evening News reported on "a CBS News poll tonight finds Americans overwhelmingly side with Congress on expanding this health insurance program for poor children. Four out of five say it should be expanded to cover children in middle income families and of those who favor expansion, three out of four are willing to pay higher taxes to get it done."
The Washington Post reports members of both parties in the Senate "reached agreement" with the Bush Administration on the terms of legislation to oversee domestic surveillance. The draft Senate bill is backed by Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell." It will include full immunity for companies "that can demonstrate to a court that they acted pursuant to a legal directive in helping the government with surveillance" inside the US. Despite the agreement, Democrats cautioned that the bill must still go through the Senate Judiciary Committee, "whose chairman and ranking Republican have said, like their House counterparts, that they are wary of granting immunity to telecommunications companies." The New York Times says it is "not clear" whether the draft bill can make it through that committee.
Over in the House, Republicans "successfully maneuvered to derail" a Democratic surveillance bill over its "blanket warrants" requirement, the AP reports. Due to a "gambit by the chamber's Republican minority," Democrats "were forced to pull the bill from the House floor with no certainty about how it might be revived." The Washington Times quotes a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner saying, "We stopped them in their tracks."
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Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that a 2002 memo defending the Bush Administration's "use of torture techniques against terrorism suspects...'was worse than a sin, it was a mistake,'" the AP reports. Mukasey said, "It purported to justify measures based on broad grants of authority that were unnecessary." NBC Nightly News reported Mukasey "went on to make the point that when American GIs liberated concentration camps, toward the end of World War II they took photos and recorded what they found." Mukasey "said, quote, 'We didn't do that so we could duplicate it ourselves.'"
USA Today says Mukasey also told the Senate he "would resign if President Bush did something unconstitutional. 'I would have two choices: I could either try to talk him out of it or leave,' he said. 'Those are the choices.'" The Washington Post reports, "These and other strongly worded remarks reflected the former federal judge and prosecutor's desire to position himself as an independent legal thinker who, unlike" ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, "has no long-standing ties to the current White House."
Nonetheless, says the New York Times, Mukasey "did not distance himself from the Bush administration's most controversial antiterrorism policies." The nominee "walked a careful line. He tried to assure lawmakers that he would be far more independent of the White House" than Gonzales, "while not backing away from many of the disputed policies that Mr. Gonzales advocated on Mr. Bush's behalf." The Financial Times notes Mukasey "promised to do more to protect US civil liberties in the war on terror but left open the possibility he would not oppose the warrantless surveillance of US citizens, saying he could not make a decision on the legality of the secret eavesdropping programme until he knew the details."
Mukasey Would Recuse Himself From Giuliani Cases USA Today reports Mukasey "said he would recuse himself from any cases involving his longtime friend Rudy Giuliani."
Hearing "Anticlimactic At Best" Under the headline "Mukasey Hearings Anticlimactic At Best," The Politico says "there was never a doubt he'd be approved by the panel as the nation's next attorney general." The hearing was "so anticlimactic that at the start of the afternoon session, there were less than 30 spectators at what had begun with a standing-room crowd." Democrats "even joked privately with reporters that nobody on their side appeared ready to vote against his nomination." The New York Times says that while Mukasey "disappointed Democrats by not answering many questions about those polices, senators from both parties suggested at the end of a day of testimony that he was all but certain to be confirmed."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the "prospects of a vote on Armenian genocide were uncertain, after several members pulled their support amid fears it would cripple U.S. relations with Turkey," the AP report. Pelosi said, "Whether it will come up or not, or what the action will be, remains to be seen." The New York Times says Pelosi's remarks "added to growing evidence that modern-day pragmatism was overwhelming supporters' demands that the House render a historical verdict on the killings of the Armenians by Ottoman Turks." The Financial Times says Pelosi "backtracked" on the issue as she "toned down her commitment to take it to a full House vote."
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Some evangelical leaders have threatened to run a third party candidate if pro-choice Republican Rudy Giuliani is nominated. New polling data out this morning suggests that this would cripple Giuliani's chances of winning the presidency. Fox News report on its web site yesterday, "When a third party Christian Conservative is considered in the race for the White House, the candidate captures one of four Republican votes and a small minority of the overall vote. That significantly decreases support for Republican Rudy Giuliani and increases Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton's lead to double digits, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday." The poll shows that Clinton leads Giuliani 47%-43% in a two way race. However, "In a hypothetical three-way race, an unnamed Christian Conservative third party candidate receives the support of 14 percent of voters, and Clinton tops Giuliani by 10 points (44 percent to 34 percent)." John Gorman, chairman of pollster Opinion Dynamics, said, "While some of the conservative Christian leaders are sounding more positive about Mitt Romney despite his Mormonism, by and large they are still very negative about Giuliani. A significant fraction of voters who might otherwise support the Republican are also clearly not fans of the former mayor. If given a chance, they say they'll vote for someone else. This might diminish somewhat if the election of Clinton becomes more threatening to them, but given the narrowness of recent elections, even a few points could be decisive."
Rudy Giuliani picked up a high-profile endorsement yesterday from President Bush's Texas prot©. The AP reports Giuliani "won the endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday, despite their differences on abortion rights." Perry "said that his biggest concern had been Giuliani's support for abortion rights but that he was satisfied the former New York mayor would appoint judges who view the issue conservatively." Perry "said when he buys a pickup truck, he doesn't rule any out simply because they have an option he doesn't like. He said the war on terrorism is the campaign's overriding issue and Giuliani is best-equipped to lead a country at war." The Austin American-Statesman reports that "Perry's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for president surprised many Wednesday, but advisers to both men say it had roots in a years-old political friendship warmed since spring by Giuliani's attentive courtship. Advisers to Perry said he decided in September that he didn't want to sit out the presidential primaries, partly because" Clinton "looked likely to be the 2008 Democratic nominee."
The Dallas Morning News adds that Perry "said his primary motivation was that Mr. Giuliani, above all his Republican rivals, could beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. But the early endorsement raises the governor's profile nationally and freshly fuels speculation that he is looking to new horizons, keeping open the possibilities of a Cabinet job or even the vice presidency." Regarding vice presidential speculation ,the Houston Chronicle quotes Giuliani as saying, "I would say that Gov. Perry is at the top of everyone's list, my own and any other Republican nominee. He's governor of one of our largest states. He's a very successful governor." The Chronicle notes, "When asked about the speculation, Perry was quick to say, 'I won't consider that.' But he also declined to say whether that meant he would turn down a vice-presidential slot on the ticket if it is offered."
Giuliani may be set to pick up another endorsement from a conservative mainstay. Asked on Fox News' Your World if his group is "greasing the skids for a Giuliani endorsement," Pat Toomey, President of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, said, "No, we're not. We haven't made a decision about whether we will even make an endorsement. ... If we have got three leading Republican candidates who are all with us on taxes, spending, trade and deregulation, the big issues that drive the economy, then we probably would not try to make a distinction between them. ... Rudy Giuliani accomplished more cutting taxes than anybody else in a very difficult environment," but "I am impressed with Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney, too."
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Meanwhile on the Democratic side, Barack Obama got a key endorsement from another up-and-coming black politician. The AP, in a piece published by over 100 papers and websites, reports Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), "a one-time Clinton administration aide, has decided to endorse Barack Obama over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary." The piece reports that Patrick is expected to announce his endorsement next week, noting, "Last fall, Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts and only the second black state leader in the nation's history." The Boston Globe adds that Patrick "will throw his support behind" Obama, in "an endorsement that could give the Illinois senator a boost in the crucial New Hampshire primary and may help Obama blunt some of Senator Hillary Clinton's recent success in winning African-American support." The Globe notes that Patrick "called Clinton yesterday to break the news," adding that Patrick "chose Obama because the governor believes the country is hungry for a fresh leadership style, one that stirs up strong voter enthusiasm, Patrick administration officials said." The Boston Herald adds Patrick's backing is expected to boost Obama's "fundraising advantage among liberal Bay State campaign donors."
A Zogby International poll of 991 adults taken October 7-14 shows Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton topping their respective primaries. However, unlike other recent polls, Clinton does not top the 50 percent mark but she does dominate the field with 46 percent, followed by Barack Obama, 25 percent; John Edwards, 9 percent; and Dennis Kucinich, 3 percent; with the rest of the field at 2 percent of less. On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 28 percent, followed by Fred Thompson, 20 percent; Mitt Romney, 14 percent; John McCain, 8 percent; and Mike Huckabee, 4%; with the rest of the field at 2 percent or less.
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Jay Leno: Vice President Cheney and Sen. Barack Obama are "related. Do you realize Dick Cheney now has more blacks and gays in his own family than in the entire Republican Party?"
Jay Leno: "President Bush met with the Dalai Lama yesterday. ... The Dalai Lama taught President Bush how to meditate. And President Bush taught the Dalai Lama how to just nod off at meetings."
Jay Leno: Rudy Giuliani "says he's going to try and follow Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, that a Republican should never attack another Republican. ... Let's hope he has better luck with 11th Commandment than he did with the Seventh Commandment.," the "adultery one."
Jay Leno: "The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded to three people this week. It went to the CEOs of Exxon, Texaco and Shell for figuring out how to quadruple the price of oil over a seven-year period without any actual shortage."
David Letterman: New York City is "planting one million trees," and "today the $3 billion tree contract went to Halliburton."
David Letterman: "Turns out that Dick Cheney and Obama are cousins. ... In a related story, 20 years ago, turns out Rudy Giuliani was briefly married to himself."
Conan O'Brien: "Experts were worried about China's reaction to President Bush's meeting with the Dalai Lama." Bush "says he doesn't think the meeting will damage our relationship with China. Then Bush said, 'But this might,' and took a huge bite out of a panda bear sandwich."
Conan O'Brien: "When Dick Cheney found out" he was related to Sen. Barack Obama, "he said, 'I knew there was something creepy about that guy.'"
Jimmy Kimmel: President Bush and the Dalai Lama "have a lot in common, because one of the goals of Zen Buddhism is to completely empty your mind. And, you know, the President did that years ago."
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