Vice President Cheney yesterday predicted that Iraqis will have become "self-governing" and "capable for the most part of defending themselves, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East" by January 2009. That standard has often been used by Cheney and President Bush to define victory in Iraq. Cheney's comment, made in an interview with the Beltway insiders publication The Politico, could have significant impact on the renewed Democratic push to withhold war funding unless the President begins to withdraw US troops from Iraq. Cheney "said that by the middle of January 2009, it will be clear that 'we have in fact achieved our objective in terms of having a self-governing Iraq that's capable for the most part of defending themselves, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a nation that will be a positive force in influencing the world around it in the future.'" Asked, "All of that by 2009?" Cheney replied, "Yes, sir."
In a separate item, The Politico says, "Each day lately, Democrats inch closer to giving President Bush more money for the war in Iraq without any serious mandates for withdrawing US troops." While "Democratic leaders are loath to acknowledge they've backed off...lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as congressional aides, say Democrats are trying to find a way to provide continued troop funding while searching for some compromises that show they're still intent on challenging the president on the war."
Gates: Stable Iraq "Within Reach" The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is in Iraq, "said Wednesday that a stable and democratic Iraq is 'within reach.'" Gates mentioned several recent trends that "have given him hope, including the lowest levels of violence since early 2006, a substantial increase in the number of displaced Iraqis returning to their homeland, rising international investments and the willingness of more than 70,000 Iraqis to volunteer to protect their neighborhoods." The Los Angeles Times reports, "One of Gates' main objectives Wednesday was to assess whether progress could be sustained as troop numbers are substantially reduced." However, McClatchy reports, "just before" Gates "told reporters in the Green Zone Wednesday that safety and security for Iraq are within reach, a car bomb rocked a nearby neighborhood in what appeared to be the deadliest blast in Baghdad since September," killing at least 14.
Negroponte Sees Political Progress Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, interviewed on PBS's NewsHour, said, "I think the political part is slow. It's difficult; it requires patience." But "in Baghdad, I think the sectarian violence has subsided dramatically. And I think that's an important development with political consequences. These neighborhoods are more peaceful today than they were six or eight months ago. ... There has been a movement on the legislative front."
On its front page, however, USA Today reports that while "the troop action widely known as the 'surge' has helped reduce violence, drive al-Qaeda operatives from most parts of Baghdad and...led to some baby steps in reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites," US commanders acknowledge "that the relative peace is fragile. Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has yet to pass major legislation designed to ease longtime tensions between Sunnis and Shiites," the economy is "stagnant," and many neighborhoods in Baghdad lack basic services.
Another section of Dick Cheney's interview with The Politico is sure to make a splash in Washington this morning. Says The Politico, "Most striking were his virtually taunting remarks of two men he described as friends from his own days in the House: Democratic Reps. John Dingell (Mich.) and John P. Murtha (Pa.)." Cheney "scoffed at the idea of two men who spent years accruing power showing so much deference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the big spending and energy debates of the year." The Vice President said Murtha "and the other senior leaders...march to the tune of Nancy Pelosi to an extent I had not seen, frankly, with any previous speaker. ... I'm trying to think how to say all of this in a gentlemanly fashion, but [in] the Congress I served in, that wouldn't have happened." Cheney's "implication was clear: When asked if these men had lost their spines, he responded, 'They are not carrying the big sticks I would have expected.'"
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While traveling in Nebraska on Wednesday, President Bush said Iran has "a strategic choice to make: They can come clean with the international community and fully accept the long-standing offer to suspend their enrichment and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of isolation." Bush's remarks were seen as an attempt to maintain support for its ongoing effort at the UN for a new round of sanctions against the Iranian regime -- a goal the AP termed "an uphill effort" in wake of the intelligence estimate released this week. NBC Nightly News, the only network to report Bush's remarks, said "the President and his team appear to have been knocked back by the reaction to this new intelligence. And that's why you saw the President trying to ramp up his message." Also yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto said any talks with Iran "should be conditional," adding that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "had offered to meet with Iranian officials at any place or time, as long as they complied with UN demands that they suspend uranium enrichment."
The Omaha World-Herald reports Bush "said that he and other nations, such as France and Britain, continue to believe Iran's nuclear activity is a 'problem' despite a US spy report's conclusion that Iraq has no nuclear weapons program." Along similar lines, the Washington Post reports that the White House "remained anxious to contain the fallout from this week's new intelligence report, which contradicts recent statements by Bush and Vice President Cheney that Iran intends to try to acquire a nuclear weapon." The Wall Street Journal also says Administration officials "note that Germany, France and the United Kingdom are still talking publicly about the importance for Iran to bring transparency to its nuclear work."
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi "would not be drawn on Wednesday to make any judgment" of the NIE, "but he did have a gentle dig at the lack of cooperation between agencies in Washington." He said China "had a consistent position on Iran, insisting on safeguarding the nuclear non-proliferation regime, but recognizing Tehran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy." The Washington Times, meanwhile, reports China's "UN ambassador said yesterday that, because of the new report, 'things have changed.'"
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said of the Iranian government on PBS's NewsHour, "They still deny that they had a nuclear weapons program. So I think that's the real point of departure. They've got to acknowledge that they had such a program, and then they've got to get in discussions with the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency about the components of that program, what it consisted of, and finally bring -- if they're going to have some kind of nuclear activity, that's got to be brought under full safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency."
Ahmadinejad Calls NIE A "Victory" For Iran NBC Nightly News reported Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "in a fiery speech," described the NIE "as a victory and a final shot to those who have spread lies about Iran's nuclear program." The New York Times, however, says Ahmadinejad "and other authorities here have ignored the part of the report saying that Iran pursued secret nuclear weapons activities until 2003, and they have addressed only the part that says Iran's nuclear activities have been for peaceful purposes since then." Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports Fratto "disputed" Ahmadinejad's interpretation, noting that the report concluded "with the highest degree of confidence" that Iran had "been lying about its nuclear program to the international community."
The AP reports the Bush Administration "has hammered out an agreement with industry to freeze interest rates for certain subprime mortgages for five years." The Wall Street Journal reports the plan "comes as anxiety grows about the economy generally and the troubled housing sector in particular, and becomes an issue in the 2008 presidential race. The stakes are particularly high for the White House, which could shoulder the blame if the mortgage turmoil is seen as tipping the economy into recession."
But the agreement is sparking some criticism from GOP ranks. The Washington Times, under the headline "GOP Wary Of Bush's Rate Freeze," says the Administration "is running into unexpected opposition to its plan," with "some Republicans...complaining that the plan amounts to a 'bailout' for borrowers who don't deserve it." The Washington Post also reports "some Republican lawmakers and their aides expressed concern that the plan would anger homeowners and others who stayed out of the subprime mortgage mess." However, the Financial Times reports, Sen. Hillary Clinton "said the administration was not doing enough to help homeowners." Said Clinton, "It appears that the president is pushing a freeze for a very narrow group of borrowers. That is unfortunate because this crisis demands a more comprehensive approach."
All three networks reported on the agreement last night, with NBC Nightly News taking the most critical position toward the Bush plan. NBC reported on "the housing and mortgage crisis in this country," saying "this is a case where the devil truly is in the details." CNBC (Olick) added, "It's being called the 'teaser freezer.' The Treasury Secretary's plan to save hundreds of thousands of Americans from foreclosure is already drawing fire. ... It would only apply to people who live in their homes, not investors who bought properties to flip for a quick profit." Also, "critics argue dividing up all of the borrowers will be a bureaucratic nightmare, that some will try to game the system and others will be left out." More positively, ABC World News referred to a "breakthrough agreement...that could alleviate some of the housing and foreclosure problems in the country," while the CBS Evening News said "relief is on the way for some Americans who risk losing their homes when the interest rate on their subprime mortgages goes up."
The Washington Times reports the House "is scheduled to vote today on an expansive energy bill that calls for a big boost in vehicle fuel efficiency and greater use of renewable energy sources, despite a veto threat from the White House over proposed tax increases to oil companies." The Wall Street Journal says the legislation would create "a new group of energy winners and losers." Among the "big beneficiaries of a $21 billion tax-incentive package announced yesterday by House and Senate tax-writing committees" are the alternative fuels industry and "companies that have invested in more energy-efficient products, buildings and vehicles." The "oil industry and big utilities are fighting to eliminate major provisions."
The Washington Post says another loser is the auto industry, since the package contains "an increase in fuel efficiency standards that automakers have fought for more than two decades." The fuel-standards package "is one of the few components of the legislation that is relatively noncontroversial in Congress while having the support of President Bush, who opposes many other parts of the energy bill." Roll Call says some Democrats are "grumbling" that they are "being asked to vote for provisions that could end up dead in the Senate or vetoed by President Bush."
The New York Times reports, "President Bush and lawmakers of both parties are finally in full agreement on something. All proclaim that middle-class taxpayers should be spared a surprise bill in the coming months posed by the alternative minimum tax." But "their inability to agree on exactly how to limit that tax is threatening to throw filing season into chaos and cost millions of Americans more in income taxes while fueling a political blame game over just who is responsible."
The Washington Post says the House's "conservative Blue Dog Democrats have decided to take a stand for fiscal discipline -- at a very difficult time." Thirty-one Blue Dogs sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer this week, saying they "will not accept legislation to stave off the growth" of the AMT "unless its cost to the Treasury is offset by tax increases or spending cuts." That's a position the Senate does not support, leaving the issue at an impasse.
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Under the headline "Romney To Take On Issue Of Faith Vaguely," the Wall Street Journal reports that Mitt Romney's speech today "at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, will be one of the most closely watched of any so far in both parties' campaigns. The candidate's goal: to extinguish concerns about his Mormon faith that are damping support among his party's powerful evangelical voting bloc." However, Romney "is expected to be as generic as possible, focusing on his upbringing and his family, avoiding the differences between his beliefs and those of other Christians." But by "not talking specifics," Romney "risks feeding into another image problem. Already criticized by other candidates for supposedly flip-flopping on issues such as abortion, he risks coming off as inauthentic on yet another issue."
The Washington Post headlines its report "Romney Aims To Prove His Christianity," saying that while the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints calls itself a Christian faith, many evangelical Christians "believe Romney's church lies far outside the bounds of Christianity. His task has taken on a new urgency since GOP rival Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has soared in the polls with less than a month before the Iowa caucuses."
The New York Times says with polls "showing many Americans less likely to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate, the address has drawn comparisons to John F. Kennedy's call for religious tolerance when, as the Democratic presidential nominee in 1960, he sought to defuse hostility about his Roman Catholic faith before Southern Baptist ministers in Houston." But Kennedy's task "was in many ways easier, given that 42 million Americans were Roman Catholic then, compared with an estimated six million Mormons nationwide today, just 2 percent of the population."
The AP adds that former President George H.W. Bush will introduce Romney "and lend the prestige of his library for his fellow Republican's speech Thursday focused on religion. The former president's aides and friends say it isn't a tacit political endorsement."
The AP reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton, speaking at the NASDAQ Marketsite in Times Square Wednesday, said that the financial services sector should share responsibility for the subprime mortgage meltdown with the borrowers impacted, since lenders "gave mortgages to people who were unlikely to be able to make repayments." Clinton "proposed several steps to forestall mortgage foreclosures, including a 90-day moratorium on further loan foreclosures on owner-occupied homes and a freeze that would keep subprime mortgage rates from rising for at least five years." Bloomberg reports that Clinton accused Wall Street of "encouraging reckless mortgage lending," and "packaged loans in a way 'that common sense warned would end in foreclosure.' She said she disagreed with the idea that Wall Street simply helped distribute the risk for such mortgages."
The Politico reported on its website that Clinton "is threatening Wall Street with regulation of the mortgage investments that proved so lucrative in recent years," noting that given the concentration of the lending industry in New York, Clinton "was in the unusual position of taking on her own constituents."
The Washington Post reports, "With the Iowa caucuses nearing, Clinton took time away from campaigning in early-voting states to make her address; her advisers, however, said it is a message that they expect to resonate among middle-class workers in the early-voting states and help bolster her image as a strong, experienced leader."
CNBC's Closing Bell broadcast an exclusive interview with Clinton, who said, "I sent a letter to Secretary Paulson over the last several days outlining what I thought should be done. And from the little we're hearing, it sound like everybody is moving in the same direction, because that is important. We shouldn't play politics with this. ... We need to have a freeze or a time-out on foreclosures while we try to figure out how we can work out the conditions for people who are in owner-occupied homes. We have to freeze the adjustability rate mortgages and figure out how we can buy some breathing room for up to five years at least."
The CBS Evening News reported Hillary Clinton's campaign "fired a county coordinator who forwarded e-mails that smear Barack Obama, suggesting he's part of a Muslim conspiracy against America. Campaign officials say the e-mails were unauthorized." The AP reports Judy Rose, a Clinton coordinator in Jones County, Iowa, "resigned after forwarding a chain e-mail that suggests Barack Obama is a Muslim who wants to destroy the United States by being elected to its highest office." Rose forwarded the "hoax e-mail...without comment to eight people on Nov. 21." The Washington Post reported on its 'The Trail' blog that the Clinton campaign asked Rose to leave. "'There is no place in our campaign or any campaign for this kind of politics,' said Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle in a statement that was posted on the liberal blog Daily Kos this morning." Moreover, "The Clinton campaign's statement, which noted the claim has been 'investigated,' was in response to a posting on Daily Kos from a person who identified himself as a Dodd supporter."
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The AP reports Barack Obama "has moved a campaign rally with talk show host Oprah Winfrey to a football stadium that can hold more than 80,000 people." The event, to be held on Sunday, was "scheduled for an 18,000-seat coliseum near the University of South Carolina campus, but the campaign ran out of the free tickets just two days after it began distributing them." South Carolina's The State adds, "Obama's campaign staffers say they don't expect to fill the stadium, where big names like the Rev. Billy Graham and Pope John Paul II have appeared over the years. But it does mean the thousands who have e-mailed, called and stopped by headquarters to nab a ticket don't have to worry. ... Many event-goers say they are coming solely to see Winfrey."
There are three new polls out today on the Democratic race in New Hampshire, and a pair measuring the situation in the GOP primary. The consensus: Mitt Romney has a solid lead on the GOP side, while Hillary Clinton maintains a reduced, but significant, lead on the Democratic side. ABC World News reported on the new ABC News/Washington Post poll on the New Hampshire primary. In the Democratic race, "Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama 35% to 29%, with John Edwards third [with 17%]. But Sen. Clinton's lead has narrowed significantly." The poll surveyed 592 likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire from November 29-December 3.
On its front page, the Washington Post reports that while "Clinton's edge has shrunk, her supporters are more enthusiastic and loyal than are Obama's or Edwards's, and she scores better on measures of strength, experience and electability than any rival. She was also the most trusted on six out of seven issues tested in this poll. But New Hampshire voters said Obama is the most inspiring candidate in the field, by a 2 to 1 margin over Clinton."
In a second survey, Clinton holds a double-digit lead over Obama, but her lead has narrowed since a similar poll in September. In a new Zogby poll, Clinton leads in the Granite State with 32%, followed by Obama, 21%; Edwards, 16%; and Bill Richardson, 8%. In a Zogby survey in September, Clinton led Obama 38%-23%. Zogby surveyed 502 likely Democratic primary voters from December 1-3.
A Marist College Institute for Public Opinion poll released last night shows Clinton leading the Democrats 37%, followed by Obama with 23% and Edwards with 18%. The poll surveyed 604 "potential" Democratic primary voters from November 28-December 3.
On the GOP side, the Zogby International poll of 508 likely GOP primary voters taken December 1-3 shows Mitt Romney leading with 35%, followed by John McCain, 17%; Rudy Giuliani, 15%; Mike Huckabee, 10%; and Ron Paul, 7%. Fred Thompson pulls just 3% in the survey.
The Marist College poll shows Romney leading with 29%, followed by McCain, 17%; Giuliani, 17%; and Huckabee, 11%. Marist surveyed 505 "potential" GOP primary voters from November 28-December 3.
A new Zogby International poll out yesterday shows Hillary Clinton maintaining a small lead over Barack Obama in Iowa. Clinton tops the Democratic field with 27%, followed by Obama at 24% and Edwards at 21%. No other candidate is in double digits. In a similar poll in early November, Clinton led Obama 28%-25%. Zogby surveyed 514 likely caucus-goers from November 29-December 1.
On the GOP side, a Zogby International poll of 508 likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers taken November 29-December 1 shows Romney leading with 26%, followed by Huckabee, 25%; Rudy Giuliani, 12%; Thompson, 8%; McCain, 5%; and Paul, 5%.
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McClatchy reports on a new survey of "likely voters ages 18-24 released Wednesday by Harvard University's Institute of Politics" that show Rudy Giuliani and Barack Obama leading the contest for those young voters. On the GOP side, Giuliani leads with 26%, followed by John McCain at 15%, Fred Thompson at 9%, and Rep. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney at 6% each. On the Democratic side, 38% back Obama, followed by Hillary Clinton at 33%, and John Edwards at 7%. The Iraq war "was by far the most important issue for young voters, as 37 percent said it was the No. 1 issue. Health care finished second, at 9 percent."
A judge yesterday confirmed that the national Democratic Party can penalize Florida Democrats for scheduling their primary earlier than party rules permit. The AP reports that the DNC "can penalize the Florida party by stripping the state of its convention delegates because it is holding an early presidential primary, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in favor of the DNC in a lawsuit by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings, both Florida Democrats. Nelson and Hastings had argued that state Democrats were being illegally penalized for the state having the primary earlier than national rules allow. But Hinkle said that political parties have a First Amendment right to set their own rules and enforce them. The national party did that, which means that Florida will not have a say in picking the Democratic nominee."
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that Nelson "said he disagreed with the ruling and insisted Democrats' primary voting in January would still be meaningful. 'At the end of the day a delegation is going to be seated and it will be representative of how the people of Florida vote on January 29,' Nelson said. 'We just hoped that was going to be today with a federal judge's order, but he chose to do otherwise.' Nelson said that would be so because the eventual apparent nominee of the party would be compelled to seat a Florida delegation with an eye to November's general election."
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The late night shows continue to be in reruns due to the ongoing writers' strike.
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