Analysts are divided in their views of which side has the upper hand in Israel's battle with the Palestinian group Hamas. The Christian Science Monitor reports as "its assault on Gaza militants continues, Israel runs the risk of seeing Hamas emerge in much the same way as Hezbollah did two years ago. Already the deadly strikes have led to a burst of criticism aimed at pro-Western Middle East governments and sparked rallies supporting Hamas in the region and in Europe." The New York Times reports, "It is not only the publicity, but also the status conveyed on Hamas as the Palestinians' principal resistance." The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, reports "Israel's leaders" have drawn "sobering lessons from their stalemate against another Islamic paramilitary force, Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas." Israel "planned its Gaza operation more meticulously, over nearly two years."
The Washington Post editorializes, "Israel was offering upbeat assessments of its air offensive yesterday even while warning that it could continue for some time and possibly expand to ground operations. Yet, as in Lebanon, no decisive military victory is likely."
The New York Times editorializes, "Hamas must bear responsibility for ending a six-month cease-fire this month with a barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli territory. Still we fear that Israel's response -- devastating airstrikes that represent the largest military operation in Gaza since 1967 -- is unlikely to weaken the militant Palestinian group substantially or move things any closer to what all Israelis and all Palestinians need: a durable peace agreement and a two-state solution."
White House Blasts Hamas, Backs Israel NBC Nightly News reported that while President Bush, on vacation in Crawford, TX, hasn't made "any public statements" about the situation, yesterday a White House spokesman took "a hard-line on Hamas." Spokesman Gordon Johndroe was shown saying: "Hamas has once again shown its true colors as a terrorist organization that refuses to even recognize Israel's right to exist."
The AP, meanwhile, notes Johndroe "expressed US concern about humanitarian needs in Gaza," saying victims "must be given access to food and medical supplies." He "would not speculate on how the US would react if Israel, which has amassed tanks on the Gaza border, launched a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip." The Washington Times, USA Today and The Hill also run stories on the White House statements.
Kucinich Blames Israel The Hill reports Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) "is calling for a United Nations investigation into Israel's attacks on Gaza, criticizing Israel for a disproportionate response to Hamas rocket attacks."
Obama In Close Contact With Bush Officials CNN's The Situation Room reported President-elect Obama is "getting regular intelligence briefings about this situation, other crises around the world, even during this working vacation. Second, he's consulting very close with the Bush Administration."
Fox News Special Report reported, "While on vacation...Obama has spoken by phone with Secretary of State Rice about the conflict and will continue to do so until he takes office."
ABC World News also reported "Obama has been briefed by...Rice," but he "has made it very clear there's only one president at a time, and he's deferring to...Bush." NBC Nightly News said Obama's aides are "being very careful because they don't want to do or say anything that could indicate a change in US policy, or even a statement on US policy."
The story was also reported by the AP, USA Today, AFP, and the Washington Times.
Hamas Continues Rocket Attacks The Wall Street Journal reports Hamas yesterday "responded with its strongest rocket barrage since the Israel attacks began." NBC Nightly News also reported Hamas "fired back" with "60 rockets," while the CBS Evening News referred to "more than 40 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza" on Monday, "killing at least three more Israelis." The AP and New York Times also report the story.
The Republican National Committee will consider a resolution that protests the role played by President Bush and congressional Republicans in the passage of the financial bailout package. The Washington Times says the resolution would "amount to a slap in the face" Bush and the GOP congressional leaders. The "national GOP officials, including the vice chairman of the Republican National Committee, are sponsoring a resolution opposing the resort to 'socialist' means to save capitalism."
The Christian Science Monitor says, "A trillion dollars here and there, and soon the US government's financial rescue programs start adding up to big money. But how high is the cost, really?" The Monitor adds that "one tally, which puts the Great Bailout somewhere north of $8 trillion, has been making the rounds in news reports, on websites, and on Capitol Hill." But the "reality...is that the government really isn't committing that large a sum to rescuing the economy."
US Agrees To Stake In GMAC The New York Times reports on the front page of its Business Day section that the Treasury Department "has agreed to take a stake of $5 billion in GMAC, the auto lending company, and agreed to lend $1 billion to General Motors to help GMAC reorganize itself as a bank holding company." The Detroit Free Press notes "the Treasury said the money for the injection would come from the $700 billion financial industry bailout, and that GMAC would have to meet restrictions on executive pay as part of the deal."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "The move represents the second tranche of government aid that redounds to the benefit of giant private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which owns Chrysler and, until these recent moves, a majority stake in GMAC. John Snow, a top player at Cerberus, was the Bush administration's Treasury secretary before Henry Paulson."
USA Today reports, "The moves should let GMAC start lending to customers with less-than-perfect credit again. GMAC had limited its lending to customers with credit scores higher than 700 points." The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, the AP, Washington Post, USA Today, Washington Times, The Politico, AP and AFP also report the story. The Detroit News, meanwhile, notes that "separately, GM and Chrysler LLC won't receive $8 billion in emergency government loans until at least today as talks over the final details with the Treasury Department continue."
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With reports that the stimulus package percolating through Congress could reach $1 trillion, Republicans are warning against an excessive spending measure. The AP reports congressional Republicans said "they would work with Democrats to craft a plan to stimulate the economy, but only if GOP ideas are considered." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "We need the right mix of tax relief and other measures to grow the economy."
The Hill reports McConnell "said any stimulus should meet a simple test: 'Will the yet-unwritten, reportedly trillion-dollar spending bill really create jobs and grow the economy -- or will it simply create more government spending, more bureaucrats and deeper deficits?'" However, adds the Hill, "It could be difficult for McConnell to slow down a stimulus bill in the Senate."
The Wall Street Journal also views the comments as indication that Republicans "will cast themselves as guardians against excessive spending rather than outright opponents of the Democrats' stimulus package." The Washington Post and Roll Call run similar reports on McConnell's comments.
An aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, says in an interview with Vanity Fair that after he was elected in 2000, President Bush's lack of experience was telling. The AP reports Wilkerson "said that as a new president, Bush was like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin," and "was surrounded by experienced advisers like Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell, who Wilkerson said ended up playing damage control for the president." Said Wilkerson, "It allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin-like president -- because, let's face it, that's what he was -- was going to be protected by this national-security elite, tested in the cauldrons of fire."
The AP also notes that in the same Vanity Fair piece, two former aides said Hurricane Katrina "not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under" President Bush. Matthew Dowd, "Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign," said, "Katrina to me was the tipping point." Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said Katrina "politically...was the final nail in the coffin."
The scandal surrounding Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged bid to sell the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama serves as an interesting backdrop to incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's letter to the Governor resigning his House seat.
The Chicago Tribune's James Oliphant reports Emanuel "will formally resign his House seat Friday" and on Monday "sent a letter to embattled" Gov. Blagojevich "saying he would leave his congressional seat at the end of the week. Blagojevich held the seat before he was elected governor in 2002." Oliphant first reported the story on the Tribune's The Swamp blog yesterday afternoon. WFLD-TV Chicago also reported that "by law...Blagojevich has five days to schedule a special election to fill that congressional seat." WGN-TV Chicago says "several politicians have already expressed interest in Emanuel's seat including Alderman Thomas Allen, Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and Representative John Fritchey." Roll Call, Washington Post and the AP run brief stories on Emanuel's move.
Attorney Ed Genson offered a spirited defense of Gov. Rod Blagojevich yesterday, saying impeachment was unwarranted and that it was difficult for him to rebut the charges raised by the special state House committee. The Chicago Tribune says Genson "made an impassioned plea against the impeachment of his client today, telling a special Illinois House panel that he's been forced to fight 'shadows' since his subpoenas of witnesses have been denied and the committee has followed no standard for removal from office." Genson "repeatedly claimed that the 1997 impeachment hearings of former Illinois Supreme Court Justice James Heiple set a standard of 'clear and convincing' evidence in deciding whether someone should be removed from office. But members of the panel said they were not bound by the Heiple hearings, in which the committee ultimately recommended against impeachment."
The Wall Street Journal also reports on Genson's "spirited, hour-long closing," and says the attorney "took wide aim at the case against his client." The Washington Post also runs a brief account of Genson's remarks, while the Chicago Sun-Times runs a timeline of the "Senate Seat Puzzle," taken from the criminal complaint against Blagojevich, news stories and the report released last week by the Obama transition team.
Fitzgerald Seek Ruling On Release Of Wiretapped Calls The AP reports US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald "wants lawmakers to hear what...Blagojevich said on wiretapped phone calls. Fitzgerald filed paperwork Monday to release conversations caught on wiretaps to the Illinois House panel considering impeachment proceedings."
The CBS Evening News reported Genson "admitted...those wiretaps caught the Governor making 'unfortunate remarks,' but he told a House committee the Governor did nothing that justifies impeachment." The New York Times also reports the story.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Website, "Federal investigators probing hiring irregularities in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration were seeking detailed personnel records dating back to even before the governor took office, according to several subpoenas released to the public today."
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The AP reports Caroline Kennedy's "latest trip under the spotlight as a Senate hopeful didn't get much better reviews than her first," and notes that many news outlets criticized her performance in a series of interviews given over the weekend. The New York Post adds that "criticisms of Kennedy, who granted her first interviews to several newspapers, including The Post, and NY1, came from City Council members, state lawmakers and other prominent Democrats. ... Longtime Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf called Kennedy's 'second rollout her second bomb. It's two rollouts now and two bombs. She didn't answer questions in the interviews.'" The New York Daily News adds that Kennedy "revealed some cringing verbal tics that showed her inexperience as a speaker, experts told the Daily News. In a 30-minute session with The News on Saturday, Kennedy punctuated her answers with 'you know' more than 200 times. 'Um' was fairly constant, too. Transcripts of her interviews with other media outlets showed the same problem."
Fund Says Kennedy Fortunate "Palin Standard" Not Being Applied To Her In his 'On the Trail' column in the Wall Street Journal, John Fund writes, "When Sarah Palin gave a disastrous interview to CBS's Katie Couric, the national news media quickly jumped on the Alaska governor to declare her 'not ready for prime time.'" Kennedy, Fund writes, "has largely avoided such ridicule," but "barraged by criticism that she wasn't answering questions," Kennedy "surfaced over the weekend to give a series of media interviews. They didn't go well. In fact, if the Palin standard were applied, Ms. Kennedy would be roundly judged unsuited for the national political stage."
Survey Shows 52% Of Americans View Kennedy As Qualified For Senate The New York Post reports, "Caroline Kennedy's bid for the Senate has more support nationwide than in New York alone, a new poll suggests. The CNN/Opinion Research survey, released yesterday, found 52 percent of Americans believe Kennedy is qualified to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as senator, while 42 percent believe she isn't. This is in contrast to a Quinnipiac University poll out last week that found only 40 percent of New York state voters view her as qualified, while 41 percent said she was not."
The Hill reports that in the Minnesota Senate race, Sen. Norm Coleman's (R) "campaign on Monday suggested that an additional 650 to 700 ballots should be counted" in addition to the 1,350 other disputed ballots expected to be reviewed by the state canvassing board. Franken's camp "said it may agree to include the 650 ballots, should Minnesota's counties independently verify that the new ballots were, in fact, wrongly disqualified." The Minneapolis Star Tribune, however, says the call for the inclusion of the new ballots has set up an "impasse" which has "clouded" the timeline for the outcome of the race. The AP adds that Coleman's "proposed additions skew heavily toward suburban and rural counties where he did best in the election."
Roll Call adds that Coleman's attorneys "reiterated to reporters earlier Monday that if" Coleman "does not lead after the recount is finished, they plan to file a lawsuit with the state before the results are certified based on alleged 'double voting,' among other issues."
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The late-night talk-shows were reruns last night.
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