The brouhaha over Sen. Hillary Clinton's sniper-infested description of her trip to Bosnia in 1996 reached a crescendo in the media in the last 24 hours, despite efforts by Clinton to defuse the situation. In addition to being the butt of late-night comedian jokes, all three network news broadcasts last night led with critical coverage of Clinton, with the CBS Evening News running footage of three instances in the last few months of Clinton claiming to have been vexed by sniper fire during the event. ABC World News reported in a lengthy and negative piece, "In light of the Bosnia incident, Clinton's other foreign policy experience will now face tougher scrutiny," and correspondent Jake Tapper added, "The bottom line is, Senator Clinton's biggest claim on the presidency is her perceived experience. Her biggest weakness as a candidate, is the fact that so many Americans do not trust her. The fact that her biggest weakness could undercut her biggest strength is potentially devastating." NBC Nightly News reported that Clinton "further clarified her comments about dodging sniper fire" after "pictures showed her receiving a warm welcome."
Bloomberg News reports Clinton "and her staff said she misspoke when saying she landed under sniper fire during a March 1996 trip to Bosnia as first lady." In Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Clinton said, "I did make a mistake in talking about it the last time, and recently. I made a mistake. I have a different memory. That happens. I'm human. For some people that's a revelation."
The situation set off another round of sniping between the Clinton and Obama campaigns. The New York Times reports Clinton "tried Tuesday to put a softening spin on her misstatement that she ran from sniper fire at an airport in Bosnia as first lady, saying the comment was a mistake that 'proves I'm human.' Yet Mrs. Clinton quickly found herself explaining a new comment, that it was the first time in 12 years she had told the story wrong." Obama advisers "pounced on the new remark, sending reporters an e-mail message with the subject line, 'first time in 12 years she misspoke?'" Clinton's campaign "responded with an e-mail catalog of Mr. Obama's 'exaggerations and misstatements.' The campaign cited his saying that he was a law professor - he was a senior lecturer - and that his parents fell in love because of the historic 1965 civil rights march in Selma, Ala., even though he was born in 1961. He later said he was referring broadly to the civil rights movement."
The AP adds Obama's campaign "fueled the Bosnia brouhaha Tuesday, sponsoring a conference call with Pennsylvania reporters that featured retired Maj. Gen. Walter Stewart of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Stewart said he was assigned to the Army's European headquarters when Clinton visited Bosnia as first lady in 1996. He said her claim that she landed under enemy fire insulted U.S. soldiers charged with her security. Clinton's explanation that she misspoke was 'really astonishing,' said Stewart, who supports Obama."
ABC World News reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton "went on the attack" yesterday, criticizing Sen. Barack Obama "for not quitting his church, because of a controversial remarks made by his former pastor," her first substantial criticism of him on the issue. The AP reports Clinton "said Tuesday she would have parted company with a minister who talked about America the way Barack Obama's pastor has." Clinton's comments "marked a clear shift in her handling of the Obama church controversy, which she had generally avoided until now." The New York Times reports Clinton "ended her silence on" Obama's pastor yesterday, "sharply criticizing" him "for not leaving the Chicago church where the pastor made inflammatory remarks about the United States, spread conspiracy theories about the government and made sensational comments about Mrs. Clinton." Clinton said, "Given all that we have heard and seen, he would not have been my pastor." The Times adds Clinton "made similar comments earlier in the day in an interview with The Pittsburgh Tribune Review." The CBS Evening News, reporting on the comments, observed, "Many Democrats had hoped the acrimonious exchanges between their two leading candidates would have ended by now, with one giving way to the other."
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The Wall Street Journal reports Sen. Barack Obama "upped the ante in his contest with" Sen. Hillary Clinton "over financial transparency, releasing seven years' worth of income tax returns that showed his family income soaring along with his political celebrity." The returns "show the Obama family's adjusted gross income in 2005 and 2006 rose roughly fivefold to an annual average of $1.3 million, largely thanks to sales of his two books." The Obamas reported "average annual adjusted gross income of $250,000 between 2000 and 2004, when Sen. Obama served as a state senator and lectured part-time at the University of Chicago Law School.""
The AP reports Obama "gave nearly a quarter of a million dollars to charity last year as he entered the presidential race, significantly more than during the nine previous years combined." He has "yet to release his 2007 tax return. His campaign said Tuesday it will be made public by Tax Day, April 15, while at the same time disclosing that Obama gave $240,000 to charity last year."
The Los Angeles Times reports the "'transparency' debate has been continuing between Clinton and Obama, whose finances are simpler and for the most part less controversial than the Clintons'. They made tens of millions of dollars in their book deals and former President Clinton's speaking and consulting fees since leaving the White House in 2001. The Chicago Tribune (3/26, McCormick, 607K) reports Obama's release of his returns was "part of an ongoing effort to paint" Clinton "as a secretive politician who has failed to disclose key information." Clinton's campaign, "meanwhile, said it hopes to release her post-White House tax records within the next week, earlier than previous estimates of mid-April." Obama's campaign "has repeatedly criticized Clinton for not releasing the documents sooner, as it has tried to suggest that he is an advocate for openness and transparency."
The Washington Post runs a front page story on Sen. Barack Obama, similar to a piece in yesterday's New York Times, that examines the extent to which he is a liberal, and how that would impact him in a general election and once in office. The Post writes that Obama "offers himself as a post-partisan uniter who will solve the country's problems by reaching across the aisle and beyond the framework of liberal and conservative labels he rejects as useless and outdated." But as he "heads into the final presidential primaries, Sen. John McCain and other Republicans have already started to brand him a standard-order left-winger, 'a down-the-line liberal,' as McCain strategist Charles R. Black Jr. put it, in a long line of Democratic White House hopefuls." Hillary Clinton's campaign "has also started slapping the L-word on Obama, warning that his appeal among moderate voters will diminish as they become more aware of liberal positions he took in the past."
The Los Angeles Times reports Sen. John McCain said yesterday in Los Angeles that "he understood Americans' anger about the mortgage foreclosure crisis and was open to ideas for addressing the problem, but he did not offer any substantive new proposals -- sparking criticism from his Democratic opponents." The Arizona senator "scolded 'complacent' home lenders, but eschewed the interventionist approach to the housing crisis proposed by" Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.Fox News' Special Report reported McCain "said as president he would consider any and all proposals to stimulate the economy but made it clear he would not make election year promises of government handouts." McCain was shown saying, "I've always been committed to the principle that it's not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they're big banks or small borrowers." The Wall Street Journal reports that McCain "called for a meeting of the nation's top mortgage lenders," suggesting that "they 'work together to help their cash-strapped but credit-worthy customers' and that, as the mortgage lenders have asked the government for help, it is now time for them to help 'their nation out.'" McCain's "pitch included a heavy dose of explanation of the problem but few ideas for solving it. Indeed, he spent more time explaining what the government shouldn't do than what it should."
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In what is described as the worst outbreak of violence in months, the New York Times reports "heavy fighting broke out Tuesday in two of Iraq's largest cities, as Iraqi ground forces and helicopters mounted a huge operation to break the grip of the Shiite militias controlling Basra, and Iraqi forces clashed with militias in Baghdad." The fighting, adds the Times, "raised fears across Iraq" that Moqtada al-Sadr "could pull out of a cease-fire he declared last summer." According to the AP, US and Iraqi troops "fought Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Sadr City district after the local office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party came under attack. ... An American soldier was killed in fighting Tuesday afternoon in Baghdad" though "it was unclear whether Shiite militiamen were responsible." The Washington Post says that "when the top US commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker deliver a report card on the country before Congress next month, a key gauge of progress will be whether the Iraqi government and its security forces are prepared to take over as US troops withdraw." The Basra offensive, "an important test of that preparedness, was several weeks in the making. While it targets the Mahdi Army in particular, its goal is also to break the grip that other Shiite militias, criminal gangs and death squads hold upon the southern port city, the conduit for Iraq's oil exports." The Wall Street Journal says that if "the increase in violence continues, it also could effectively rule out the prospect of additional US troop withdrawals this year." The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Times, which headlines its story "Gains In Iraq Undercut By Recent Violence," also report on the clashes this morning.
McClatchy reports "the operation was portrayed by Sadrists and some analysts as an effort by Maliki to consolidate power in the south for the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq before the election in October." USA Today quotes Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, who "said the operation in Basra...was not singling out al-Sadr supporters. 'Our actions are not targeting the Mahdi Army, just the people who are violating the law,' he said." Fox News' Special Report said Sadr "called for sit-ins across the country and said [he] would declare a civil revolt if US and Iraqi attacks against his followers continued." Sadr "renewed the cease-fire a few weeks ago but...militia leaders claim Iraqi and US forces are exploiting the truce in order to arrest militia members. The US military says it only targets Shiite splinter groups that are not upholding the ceasefire."
The Christian Science Monitor notes the US "has repeatedly accused elements within the Sadrist movement of having ties with Iran and even Lebanon's Hizbullah," while the Financial Times points out that Sadr's Mahdi Army "frequently rubs up against police forces and other security groups led by rival Shia organisations." Last night the CBS Evening News noted that during the fighting in Basra "there was no sign of British forces, who stayed on their base outside of town. They handed over security for the province to Iraqi authorities last December, claiming success that now seems reversed."
Oil Thieves Plague Iraq NBC Nightly News reported, "Remember, it was Iraqi oil that was supposed to pay for the war effort and rebuild Iraq, self-financing was how the administration described it. But like so many other parts of the plan, that hasn't happened. ... US investigators tell NBC News, between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels of oil are stolen a day worth $10 to $30 million."
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher were publicly lectured yesterday by former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, now a key member of the new governing coalition led by the Bhutto family's PPP. Sharif expressed growing Pakistani anger over intermittent US military strikes inside Pakistani territory, as well as the Bush administration's steadfast support for the extremely unpopular presidency of Pervez Musharraf. The AP reports Sharif told Negroponte and Boucher on Tuesday that "there needs to be a change in...Musharraf's policy of using the power of the army against Islamic militants." According to the AP, "It was clear Pakistan's civilian rulers are rethinking counterterrorism strategy, amid concern that use of military force against al-Qaida and Taliban has provoked a bloody militant backlash." After meetings with the US envoys, Sharif "lashed out at Musharraf's US-backed policies, saying they had led to a wave of suicide bombings that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and many others, and argued the security of Pakistan must not be sacrificed to protect other countries." Speaking to reporters, Sharif said, "If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want our villages and towns not to be bombed," alluding to recent airstrikes near the Afghan border.
The New York Times says Negroponte and Boucher "received what amounted to a public dressing-down" from Sharif. The Times notes Sharif's "cool body language in the televised portions of his encounter with Mr. Negroponte." Negroponte and Boucher "declined to comment after the talks." The Times says "the timing of the American visit was harshly criticized in the Pakistan media for creating the appearance that the United States was trying to dictate policy to a government not even hours old." According to the Financial Times US officials said the visit "was in no way timed to coincide with the latest political developments." The Washington Times reports notes Negroponte and Boucher also met with Musharraf and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Meanwhile, AFP reports President Bush "cleared the way for giving millions of dollars to Pakistan to fight terrorism this year." Bush "used his authority to exempt Pakistan from a law that restricts funding countries where the legitimate head of state was deposed by a military coup." The waiver, "which Bush has approved every year since 2003, opens the way for the United States to provide about $300 million this year" to Pakistan "to boost its counter-terrorism operations."
The CBS Evening News reported, "A report today says Medicare for the first time will pay out more in benefits this year than it takes in taxes. For Social Security, that point is nine years away. The same report predicts that the Medicare trust fund could be wiped out by 2019 unless Congress comes to the rescue. Social Security could be out of money by 2041." The Washington Times says trustees the entitlement programs "warned that Social Security and Medicare are facing 'enormous challenges' with the threat to Medicare's solvency far more severe." The New York Times notes Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who is also "the managing trustee of Medicare and Social Security," said yesterday, "Medicare poses a far greater financial challenge." The Times adds the report "may put pressure on the presidential candidates to say what they would do to rein in health costs and to shore up the programs, which serve more than 50 million people."
In his "Washington Sketch" column, Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post, "In their haste to fix Social Security and Medicare, the officials spoke for only 12 minutes, then fielded questions for exactly two minutes more." The Cherry Blossom Festival "may last two weeks, but the annual sounding of the entitlement alarms lasts only 14 minutes." The Wall Street Journal reports, "Last month, the administration offered a Medicare proposal that includes measures such as charging wealthier beneficiaries more for their prescription coverage . By law, Congress is required to consider the proposal but isn't required to pass any legislation."
Officials tell the US News Political Bulletin has learned that as senior and mid-level White House and Bush administration look to land jobs before the end of the year and the President's second term, it's becoming harder to find replacements willing to work for just 10 months. White House and Cabinet-level officials say that while a core of staffers remain fully devoted to the Bush agenda, many of the rest of the political-appointee team are searching for new jobs in hopes of moving out before it gets too late and fewer jobs either on Capitol Hill, K Street or other private venues are available.
The Westchester Journal News says New York Gov. Paterson and Lila Kirton, a state employee he reportedly had an affair with, "recently made two trips...to campaign for Sen. Clinton's presidential bid in Iowa and South Carolina," even though Paterson said he ended the affair years ago. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield "contended that they stayed in separate rooms and traveled together on personal time, with expenses paid by the Clinton campaign." But political observers, such as Douglas Muzzio of Baruch College, say the trips -- taken in November 2007 and January 2008 -- cast doubt on the validity of Paterson's initial disclosure "about having extramarital affairs during a rocky point in his marriage between 1999 and 2001."
ABC-TV.com says the AP conducted a review of Paterson's state credit card and travel records, none of which indicated that he took an October trip to South Carolina. The report says, "It's been a rocky start for Paterson." Similarly, WCBS-TV.com says, "The hits just keep on coming" for Paterson.
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Jay Leno: "I'm a little upset. You know, Hillary Clinton was supposed to be our first guest tonight, but she got pinned down by sniper fire and was not able to come in."
Jay Leno: "Over the weekend, a pilot's gun accidentally went off in the cockpit of a US Airways flight from Denver to Charlotte." And "Hillary Clinton said today the bullet" just "missed her."
David Letterman: "It was such a nice day in New York City that the new governor of the state of New York, Governor Paterson, was using drugs in the park."
David Letterman: "Did you hear about this Hillary Clinton? Apparently now they caught her exaggerating about a trip to Bosnia a few years ago. Do you hear about this? Well, people, when they heard her explanation of the trip, became suspicious because she said when she got to Bosnia she had to have shrapnel removed from her pantsuit."
Craig Ferguson: "Barack Obama called Hillary today to thank her for distracting everyone from his crazy pastor."
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