The sparring over whether Sen. Barack Obama is tough enough on terrorism continued yesterday. The AP reports Obama said yesterday "he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the US government finds him." Obama added, "What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism."
Obama also again hit at Sen. John McCain and defended his stance on terror. Fox News' "Special Report" reports Obama said yesterday, "Sen. McCain's campaign has said I want to pursue a law enforcement approach when it comes to terrorism. This is demonstrably false, since I have laid out a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes military force, intelligence operations, financial sanctions and diplomatic action."
For his part, ABC World News reported McCain "today said when it comes to fighting terrorism, Barack Obama doesn't get it." McCain said, "He doesn't have an understanding of the nature of the threat."
The debate has shades of the 2004 campaign. The AP reports McCain "paints...Obama as naive on foreign policy, weak on national security and, now, soft on terrorism. Sound familiar? It should," because "President Bush successfully used that line of argument in 2004 against Democrat John Kerry."
The AP reports, "A young Muslim woman said she and another woman were refused seats directly behind Barack Obama -- and in front of TV cameras -- at a Detroit rally because they wear head scarfs." Hebba Aref "said Wednesday that she and Shimaa Abdelfadeel were among 20,000 supporters who gathered to see the Democratic presidential hopeful on Monday at the Joe Louis Arena when the groups they were with were separately invited by Obama campaign volunteers to sit behind the podium. But Aref said the volunteers told members of both parties in separate discussions that women wearing hijabs, the traditional Muslim head scarves, weren't included in the invitation and couldn't sit behind the podium."
The Politico reports Aref "said she was glad" Obama's campaign had offered an official apology, "but she was not entirely satisfied." The Detroit News adds that beyond the official statement, Obama's aides "pointed to a series of photographs, including one published in The Detroit News on Wednesday, in which the candidate is seen with women wearing hijab. They also argued that Obama has sought out members of many faiths, including Muslims, and ethnicities, including Arab-Americans, to join the campaign, and that he has publicly decried bigotry against Muslims." The Washington Post headlines its brief report "Muslim Supporters Told to Move at Event."
In a story headlined "Obama Workers Snub 2 Muslims," the Chicago Tribune reports, "The conflict arises as Obama deals with persistent and false rumors that he is a Muslim. Though his grandfather practiced Islam, Obama has said that he never has and that he is a devout Christian. ... Though his volunteers' actions were independent of the campaign, they appear to reflect a deeply held fear among his supporters that mainstream America won't warm to Obama if people think he is not a Christian."
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The AP reports the AFL-CIO, whose membership was split during the Democratic primary, will endorse Sen. Barack Obama "within weeks, union leaders said after a private meeting Wednesday with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee." Paul Shearon, secretary-treasurer of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said, "Notice was given to the presidents of the internationals today that they should be anticipating a vote for endorsement in the next few weeks."
The Washington Post reports, "Several of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO supported" Sen. Hillary Clinton "and" AFSCME "spent heavily on ads attacking Obama. AFSCME's president, Gerald W. McEntee, criticized Obama until the end of the primaries, declaring in late May that Obama was a weak candidate who 'will literally walk almost lame into the Democratic National Convention' and who 'has a problem with the blue-collar worker and relating to that worker.'"
The New York Times reports Sen. John McCain said yesterday "that he wanted 45 new nuclear reactors to be built in the United States by 2030, a goal that he called 'as difficult as it is necessary.'" He "told the crowd at a town hall-style meeting at Missouri State University that he saw nuclear power as a clean, safe alternative to conventional sources of energy that emit greenhouse gases." The Wall Street Journal adds that McCain "said that eventually the U.S. should build 100 new" nuclear plants, "but that was a long-term goal." McCain "isn't proposing any new subsidy dollars, said Doug Holtz-Eakin, his senior policy adviser. Mr. Holtz-Eakin said the new goal could be accomplished by speeding up the permit process and developing domestic capability to manufacture key parts."
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that McCain "faulted past presidents from both parties for failing to sell the environmental and economic virtues of nuclear power to the public. McCain acknowledged that the nation will need to grapple with how to store and reprocess nuclear waste. Another obstacle, he said, was 'the mind-set of those who prefer to buy time and hope that our energy problems will somehow solve themselves,' McCain said. 'Senator Obama says, "I am not a nuclear energy proponent." I think that makes him a nuclear energy opponent, though he does have a knack for nuance and it's not entirely clear.'"
While President Bush enthusiastically backed Sen. John McCain at a massive GOP fundraiser last night, as the AP reports, there is one former member of his administration who is not hustling to back the GOP nominee. The Hill reports former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "recently declined to answer whether he will support" McCain, who "has been one of Rumsfeld's harshest critics." The Hill "talked to Rumsfeld earlier this month near his downtown D.C. office. ... Asked whether that meant he wasn't going to support McCain, Rumsfeld answered: 'I have not been involved at all.'" Rumsfeld "declined to comment any further. He also declined a follow-up request for comment on the issue to his personal office."
Obama Up 5 Nationally In ARG Poll An American Research Group poll of 600 likely voters taken June 13-17 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-44% nationally.
McCain Up 1 In Ohio A Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 500 likely Ohio voters taken June 17 shows McCain leading Obama 44%-43%.
Obama Edges McCain In Virginia A Public Policy Polling (D) surveyed of 893 likely Virginia voters taken June 14 and 16 shows Obama leading McCain 47%-45%.
Obama Up 12 In New Hampshire An American Research Group poll of 600 likely New Hampshire voters taken June 13-17 shows Obama leading McCain 51%-39%.
Obama Up 9 In Wisconsin A SurveyUSA automated poll of 538 likely Wisconsin voters released June 18 shows Obama leading McCain 52%-43%. The poll also tests a number of potential tickets, and most combinations show an Obama-led ticket leading a McCain-led ticket by 5 to 7 points.
McCain Up 4 In Alaska A Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 500 likely Alaska voters taken June 16 shows McCain leading Obama 45%-41%.
Obama Up 22 In Maine A Rasmussen Reports automated poll of 500 likely Maine voters taken June 16 shows Obama leading McCain 55%-33%.
The New York Times reports, "In death, Tim Russert did on Wednesday what no living journalist has yet to accomplish this campaign season: he got Barack Obama and John McCain to sit together and talk, quietly." The Times adds, "Specifically, it was Mr. Russert's son, Luke, 22, who got the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees together. He requested that they sit next to each other at his father's funeral at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown." NBC Nightly News adds that at the end of the service, "the two candidates for the presidency embraced. Seemingly, all of official Washington came here late today to embrace Tim's memory and the Russert family."
CNN's The Situation Room reported that for the "5 or 20 minutes before the service time," McCain and Obama "were having what seemed to be a great conversation. The body language was warm and friendly. They were talking. I mean, they weren't making jokes, but they were really engaged in a conversation."
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Media outlets are reporting President Bush's call for an end to the offshore drilling ban in the context of the presidential election. Bush's address, which followed a similar one by Sen. John McCain, is seen as part of a coordinated GOP strategy to gain politically from voter angst about gas prices. The Wall Street Journal, for example, in a story headlined "Republicans Ramp Up Energy Debate In Push For Offshore Drilling," says Bush's announcement "was carefully coordinated among the White House, Sen. McCain's presidential campaign and leading Republican lawmakers." USA Today reports that with his Rose Garden speech, "Bush jumped into the election-year debate over high gas prices Wednesday, echoing...McCain's call to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling."
The New York Times, likewise, says "Bush sought to take full political advantage of soaring fuel prices by portraying Republican lawmakers as imaginative and forward-looking and the Democratic majority in Congress as obstructionists on energy policy." Bush's "new stance on offshore drilling will inject him squarely into the presidential campaign," but it "will also expose Mr. McCain to accusations from Democrats that a McCain presidency would be akin to a Bush third term." Along those lines, CNN's The Situation Room reported Bush's shift "may only complicate McCain's efforts to distance himself from this president." The Washington Post also reports "Bush repeatedly blamed congressional Democrats for the high gasoline prices that are angering many American consumers."
McClatchy reports Bush's plan "is likely to go nowhere because of a reluctant Democratic-majority Congress, which fears environmental costs." And "even if US coastal waters were opened to exploration, experts agree that it would take at least seven and probably 10 years before any benefits were apparent." The AP reports, "Congressional Democrats were quick to reject the push for lifting the drilling moratorium, saying oil companies already have under lease 68 million acres on federal lands and waters -- outside the ban area -- that are not being developed." But "drilling proponents say that number is misleading because sometimes it takes years for actual development to take place." The CBS Evening News also reported Democrats fired right back." Rep. Ed Markey: "If this was a good plan, then they would have adopted it over the six years they controlled the House, the Senate, and the presidency."
The Financial Times titles its story "Bush Backs McCain On Oil Drilling," and reports "the Republicans have made their push for increased domestic oil production a key policy ahead of November's presidential poll amid mounting public anger at soaring petrol prices."
Bush 41 Executive Order Also Bars Drilling The New York Times reports, "Offshore drilling is blocked by two bans, one imposed by Congress and the other by the first President Bush's executive order. Asked why the current President Bush did not act at once to lift the order imposed by his father, Keith Hennessey, the director of the president's economic council, told White House reporters, 'He thinks that probably the most productive way to work with this Congress is to try to do it in tandem.'" The Washington Post notes that in his speech, Bush "said that if Congress removes the ban it first imposed in 1982, he would lift an executive order that also prohibits drilling for oil and gas on the US Outer Continental Shelf."
Florida Governor Backs Offshore Drilling Bloomberg News says Bush's move "carries some risk, as well, because offshore exploration has faced opposition in Florida, which will be a battleground in the presidential campaign." However, the AP notes Florida Gov. Charlie Crist "has dropped his long-standing support for the federal government's ban on offshore oil drilling and endorsed Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain's proposal to let states decide." One governor (and McCain backer) who still opposes him on this issue is California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports "the governor told reporters Wednesday that the state would maintain its long-held stance against offshore drilling."
Offshore Drilling Uniting Republicans The New York Times reports Gov. Crist "stepped on the third rail of Florida politics this week when he abandoned his opposition to drilling offshore for oil and natural gas. But surprise, surprise, he did not die. His call for cautious reconsideration, in fact, is spreading." The Washington Times reports, "Republicans from top to bottom have embraced more drilling as the answer to rising gas prices and put Democrats on the spot to come up with their own solutions to record-high fuel costs that are enraging voters." The New York Times reports, "With oil at more than $130 a barrel, gasoline over $4 a gallon and the broader economy threatened, the White House is betting it can finally break a decades-old Washington deadlock between those who favor domestic oil exploration and those who say conservation is the key."
Democrats Cancel Offshore Drilling Vote The Hill reports Democrats "saved themselves an awkward confrontation on gas prices Wednesday when they canceled a committee vote on the Interior spending bill." GOP Rep. John Peterson "was planning to push his offshore drilling bill as a remedy for oil and gas costs, just as" McCain and the President "made their tag-teamed push for drilling off the country's coastlines. But the committee markup was canceled just two hours before it was to begin."
The Washington Post reports, "US military officials on Wednesday accused a Shiite militant group of carrying out a truck bombing in northwestern Baghdad on Tuesday evening that killed at least 65 people, the deadliest attack in the capital since March." A US military spokesman "said intelligence reports indicate that Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, the leader of a Shiite 'special group,' planned the bombing in an effort to fuel animosity toward Sunnis in the largely Shiite district."
The Christian Science Monitor reports, "Based on intelligence 'corroborated through multiple sources,' the US said the Hurriyah attack was masterminded by Haidar Mehdi Kadhim al-Fawadi, a wanted leader in the so-called Special Groups (SGs)." USA Today /AP also reports the story.
Time "Ripe" For Iran Talks? Vali Nasr, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in the Washington Post, "For the first time since 2003, Iran has stumbled in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City last month caught Tehran off guard." In Iraq, Washington "is getting leverage. America has the advantage while Iran is on its heels. Engaging Iran now could even influence who wins the Iraq debate in Tehran."
Western Oil Firms Seek Iraq Contracts The New York Times reports, "Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power." Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP, which were "the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company -- along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "In an increasingly gloomy assessment of the US economy, the officers of major companies expect employment at their companies to decline in coming months and rising costs to pinch their profits, according to surveys released Wednesday." CEOs "polled by Business Roundtable, a Washington-based trade group, pared their expectations of economic growth to an annual rate of 1.3% in the second quarter of this year, from 1.5% in a survey conducted in March. Gross domestic product grew at a 0.9% pace in the first quarter." The Hill runs a similar report, while the Financial Times says "US corporate earnings are expected to decline for the fourth straight quarter when the reporting season kicks off next month as companies battle a sharp rise in production costs. Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are forecast by analysts to fall 9 per cent."
Stocks Fall Again The AP reports, "Wall Street sank Wednesday for the second straight day on renewed concerns about the financial sector and FedEx Corp.'s warning that weakening demand and surging fuel costs would weigh on its profits in the coming year." The Dow "fell 131.24, or 1.08 percent, to 12,029.06." Broader stock indicators also pulled back Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 13.12, or 0.97 percent, to 1,337.81, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 28.02, or 1.14 percent, to 2,429.71." The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal also report the story.
Shoplifting Spike Attributed To Economy USA Today reports, "Steadily and alarmingly, shoplifting seems to be rising at many retail chains, and experts are pointing at a prime cause: the sputtering economy."
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Jay Leno: "The Mets fired their manager, Willie Randolph," at "3:00 a.m. in the morning. 3:00 A.M. ... How cruel is that? You know who made the 3:00 a.m. call? Hillary Clinton."
Jay Leno: "Barack Obama announced this week he'll visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the election in November. He said he wants to see an area that's been overrun by violent extremists. So sounds like he already misses his old church."
Craig Ferguson: "Congratulations" to the NBA champion "Boston Celtics. ... Last night, they beat the LA Lakers by 39 points. Or as Hillary Clinton would say, 'Too close to call.'"
Craig Ferguson: "John McCain revealed his energy plan today. He wants to build 45 nuclear reactors. ... I think it's a good idea. We'll need that extra power to get him up and down the stairs."
Conan O'Brien: "In a recent interview, President Bush said that he might not be the last President Bush if his brother Jeb decides to run. ... Yeah, when he heard this, Jeb said, 'Please stop reminding everyone we're related.'"
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