The ongoing feud over Bush-era interrogations of terrorist suspects continues to generate extensive print coverage and cable commentary. Today's reports continue to portray the President as struggling to contain the controversy. Some reports also suggest that Obama's statements yesterday signaled a change in his stance on whether an independent commission on prisoner abuse should be appointed.
The Washington Post, for example, reports "in a lengthy exchange with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)," Obama "appeared to back away from a statement earlier this week that suggested he could support an independent commission to examine possible abuses." The AP reports "the Obama administration struggled to quell persistent Democratic demands for a potentially explosive probe of harsh Bush administration detainee interrogations Thursday, abruptly declaring opposition to an independent commission."
AFP, meanwhile, reports "the White House pointed to increasing hostility between Obama's Democratic allies and his Republican critics as evidence that the president was right to say Tuesday that he would not champion the creation of a special commission." The Wall Street Journal, under the headline "Commission On CIA Tactics Is Unlikely," says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's opposition makes independent commission "unlikely."
McClatchy, however, says that "if growing political pressure doesn't subside soon...Obama may have to do something he's resisted doing since he took office: support a new investigation into how the Bush-era CIA interrogated suspected terrorists using techniques that are widely considered torture."
Meanwhile, on its front page, the Los Angeles Times reports, "The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuse by US personnel during the Bush administration of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The Washington Post reports on the one side, "five CIA directors -- including Leon Panetta and his four immediate predecessors -- and Obama's top counterterrorism adviser had expressed firm opposition to the release" of the memos, but "on the other side were Attorney General Eric Holder, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and White House counsel Gregory B. Craig."
Pelosi Says She Wasn't Told Glenn Thrush writes in a blog entry in The Politico that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing." Pelosi "says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the legal justification for using waterboarding -- but that they never followed through on promises to inform her when they actually began using 'enhanced' interrogation techniques."
Fox News' Special Report, however, reported that Pelosi's comment "conflicts with the December 2007 'Washington Post' story that quoted two officials saying that Pelosi and three other lawmakers received an hour-long briefing on interrogation tactics including waterboarding and that no objections were raised."
McCain: Obama Risks Starting A "Witch Hunt" The Politico reports "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned Thursday that any attempt by the Obama administration to prosecute the Bush-era lawyers who wrote memos signing off on waterboarding would start a 'witch hunt.'"
President Obama's meeting with credit card company executives is generating extensive and markedly positive media coverage, including the lead stories on all three network newscasts. NBC Nightly News reported at a White House meeting, "the President admonished the credit card companies and came down on the side of consumers." ABC World News similarly said the President "told top executives of the industry today that he wants to preserve the credit market but he wants to do so in a way that curtails their abuses." The CBS Evening News reported, "Clean up your act. That was...Obama's message to credit card issuers today."
USA Today notes Obama also "pledged...to support legislation that protects credit card borrowers from unfair rate increases and cracks down on issuers who engage in deceptive lending practices," and his "efforts lend momentum to pending bills in Congress." In fact, Bloomberg News reports, Obama "is pressing for consumer protections that go beyond proposals being considered in Congress and rules issued last year by the Federal Reserve."
The AP notes that the President "said his economic advisers will examine the various proposals and work with Congress and the industry, but he made clear he wants to sign a bill into law. McClatchy reports "the companies told Obama that they're already implementing new regulations proposed by the Federal Reserve, rules they said 'are likely to shrink credit availability and result in increased rates for some consumers.'"
Under the headline "Tough Talk At WH For Credit Card Execs," The Politico notes that "just like the bank CEOs who met with Obama a month ago, the credit card executives had to suffer through a lunchtime meeting without a meal." The Wall Street Journal says the executives "were initially nervous about the tone that would be taken at the meeting, one participant said. But they relaxed somewhat when Mr. Obama told them that he understands the industry's need to protect itself against credit risk, said people who attended the meeting."
AFP notes that "on Wednesday, Democrats in Congress widened their crackdown on the industry, which is accused of offering easy credit in good times and clamping down hard with high rates and reduced credit lines when the economy went sour." CNN's Situation Room reported after the meeting, "Some of the executives around the President's table have pushed back, too, saying that any further action from the White House and Congress is unnecessary."
Summers Caught Napping During Meeting The Washington Times reports that "among those with the president at the meeting were Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the president's senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, top economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel."
Fox News' Special Report reported, "A photographer caught Summers snoozing during today's session, no doubt to his great embarrassment right about now." The Politico reports, "It's not the first time Summers has publicly dozed off on the job. He first fell asleep during a White House 'fiscal responsibility summit' in February."
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The New York Times reports congressional Democrats are "voicing increased concern" about the Administration's plans to "escalate military involvement in Afghanistan and to try to stabilize the rapid deterioration in Pakistan, complicating the push by the White House for $83.4 billion in war spending and other aid." While it "hardly signals that Congress is about to pull the plug on the war...it shows that even with a Democrat as commander in chief, his party's longstanding qualms over the course of the war remain."
The Washington Post says Secretary of State Clinton "tried to calm anxious lawmakers while acknowledging she shares their worries," saying the Administration has "made these concerns abundantly clear" to Pakistani officials. But she "encountered skepticism from some committee members who expressed doubt about succeeding in Pakistan," the AP reports.
The Politico says "Democratic fears over President Barack Obama's Afghan-Pakistan policy spilled into the open" on Thursday. Democratic Rep. Obey of Wisconsin, "who had been largely silent, spoke out first" during yesterday's hearing "and then elaborated on his position" in an interview with The Politico. Obey "said he still expects this panel to act in early May on the president's new war funding request but in his mind's eye, sees this as only a one year commitment unless more progress is shown by especially Pakistan."
On its front page this morning, the New York Times reports that "Pakistani politicians and American officials on Thursday sharply questioned the government's willingness to deal with the insurgents and the Pakistani military's decision to remain on the sidelines." As Taliban militants "consolidated control of their new prize, a strategic district called Buner, just 70 miles from the capital, Islamabad," Pakistani authorities "deployed just several hundred poorly paid and equipped constabulary forces," who were "repelled in a clash with the insurgents, leaving one police officer dead."
ABC World News reported Taliban militants have extended their influence now to areas just 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad. Today, a Pakistani paramilitary force sent to deal with the Taliban was attacked by gunmen." The AP say the Taliban "appear to be emboldened after their bloody, two-year campaign in the valley led the government to agree to a peace accord."
Pakistani officials, however, "reacted with only mild concern, saying that the Taliban should comply with their pledge to lay down arms and that the peace deal should be given a chance," the Washington Post reports. Pakistan's national security adviser, Rehman Malik, "said security had actually 'improved' in the past two weeks but that force would be 'the only option' if the Islamists did not halt their violence."
ABC World News reported that Thursday was "the deadliest day of the year in Iraq. ... At least 78 people were killed in two separate attacks. A woman wearing an explosive belt walked up to a line of people waiting for free food in a Baghdad neighborhood. And in Diyala province, a bomb exploded inside a restaurant crowded with Iranian pilgrims." The New York Times says "it was not immediately clear how many of the victims were children."
McClatchy calls the attack "the latest signs that the country's hard-won security gains are beginning to reverse." The Chicago Tribune reports that while "there were no immediate indications that the bombings in Baghdad and nearby Diyala province were coordinated...they vividly demonstrated that militant groups are still capable of staging attacks that cause mass casualties, as they did in the darkest days of the country's 2006-07 sectarian violence."
The AP reports "the violence highlights potential security gaps as Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead role from US forces in protecting Baghdad and key areas around the capital." While "the insurgent push is still nowhere near the scale of violence in past years...it has undermined confidence that Iraq's security gains were on solid footing at a time when the U.S. military is shifting its focus and resources to Afghanistan."
On its front page, the Washington Post reports the attacks "renewed fears among Iraqis that Sunni insurgents are regaining strength and lethality as the US military has started disassembling its massive wartime architecture."
The CBS Evening News, meanwhile, reported that "Iraqi casualty numbers have been difficult to come by, but today, the Associated Press quotes an Iraqi government report as saying more than 87,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2005. The death toll since the US invasion in 2003 is estimated to be more than 110,000."
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CQ Politics reports a Public Policy Polling (D) nationwide survey of 686 voters conducted April 17-19 shows President Obama leading four potential 2012 GOP foes: Ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich 52%-39%; ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 49%-42%; Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin 53%-41%; and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 50%-39%.
The Politico reports that Steve Schmidt, who served as "chief strategist" for Sen. John McCain's (R) 2008 campaign, and David Plouffe, who served as Barack Obama's presidential campaign manager, appeared together yesterday and "seemed to agree on a central point: McCain was always the longest of long-shot candidates." Schmidt, who lauded Obama's "political skills with unabashed admiration," said that the McCain campaign "was 'the strategic equivalent of throwing a football through a tire at 50 yards,' an analogy that Plouffe agreed with."
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In a story headlined "Sources say Tedisco concession likely," CapitalNews9.com reported, "With the numbers not looking good for" NY20 special election candidate Jim Tedisco (R), "sources tell Capital News 9 that" he "could concede" to Scott Murphy (D) "as soon as Friday afternoon." However, Roll Call, under the headline "Source: Tedisco Abandons Hope of Winning in N.Y.," reported on its website, "A GOP source on Capitol Hill said Thursday afternoon that" the Tedisco campaign "has abandoned hope of winning" the NY20 contest, "but that the former state Assembly Minority Leader won't concede the race...until technical legal questions surrounding voter residency issues are resolved."
The Politico reports, "A conservative faction of the" RNC "is urging the GOP to take a harder line against both Democrats and wayward Republicans, drafting a resolution to rename the opposition the 'Democrat Socialist Party' and moving to rebuke the three Republican senators [Sens. Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins] who supported the stimulus package." David Gergen, commenting on what this means to RNC Chairman Michael Steele, said on CNN's Situation Room, "I can't remember a time when a sitting chairman of a political party has been openly challenged like this," which reflects "the weakness" of Steele's position "and the fact that Republicans have yet to find a voice in opposition." Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show that "The total collapse of rationality of the RNC is frightening" and Republicans are "consigning themselves to lose elections for years and years to come."
The Wall Street Journal reports backers of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) are expected to announce today the creation of a legal defense fund "to help her pay old legal bills, respond to a rash of ethics complaints and perhaps give her a political boost." Palin "has about $500,000 of legal debts, stemming in part from investigations into efforts to fire an Alaska state trooper who was her former brother-in-law."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports Minnesota's Matt Entenza (D), "a one-time rising" state Democratic star "whose 2006 attorney general bid ended after he was found to have done opposition research on his party's eventual gubernatorial candidate," launched his own gubernatorial bid yesterday, saying that the state has suffered under Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R).
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David Letterman: "Here's a name out of the past." He used "to be governor of the state of New York." Eliot Spitzer, "does that ring a bell? ... Listen to this, according to a new poll, two out of three New Yorkers would like to have...Spitzer back as their governor. I mean sure, two out of three New Yorkers are hookers."
David Letterman: "Do you know who is in town?" One of the Somali pirates is "on trial here in the United States." But he is not just in court. No, this pirate is "everywhere." For example, this weekend, "he's hosting 'Saturday Night Live.' Monday, he's attending the Tribeca Film Festival. Tuesday, he's going to launch his new fragrance. Wednesday, he's having lunch with Ruth Madoff. And Thursday he's going to hijack the Staten Island Ferry, so he's got a big, full schedule."
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