The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court dominated the Sunday political shows and was reported on the two network newscasts last aired last night. Republicans offered some criticism of the nominee, but most media analyses agree that she is likely to win confirmation. Most reports also describe the GOP senators' case against Sotomayor as muted, and damaged by the rhetoric of conservative opinion makers such as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. The AP, for example, says "leading GOP senators on Sunday offered more subtle criticism of the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court, but passed up the chance to stifle racially charged critiques of Sonia Sotomayor by some fellow Republicans." The Washington Post similarly reports that "Republican senators voiced skepticism yesterday about President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court...but avoided the name-calling that has come from some conservative activists, notably former House speaker Newt Gingrich and radio host Rush Limbaugh, who have labeled Sotomayor a 'racist.'"
Roll Call reports that "Republicans acknowledge that conservatives particularly" Gingrich, former Rep. Tom Tancredo and Limbaugh, "put the party in a difficult position with their accusations that Sotomayor is a 'reverse racist' and with their attacks on the civil rights group La Raza." A Los Angeles Times analysis, however, takes the view that "GOP senators showed "they too are ready to make race a key focus of the nomination battle as they settle on a touchy question: Can a woman who says her views are shaped by her gender and ethnicity make fair decisions when it comes to white men?"
Even as most reports cast GOP senators as backing away from "harsh" comments about Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remark, The Politico says "backers are struggling to come up with a single coherent line of defense." The Washington Post interviewed Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, who said, "Well, I think what she meant was...that her unique experience having grown up so poor in this family from the South Bronx presents a diversity of opinion. I think...the spirit of her comment was one about diversity of perspective and enrichment of comment."
On ABC's This Week, Sen. Chuck Schumer said, "She makes it clear that while, of course, people's personal experiences guide them, rule of law comes first." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on CBS's Face The Nation, contended, "There's one word in the statement. It's the word 'better' -- that a Latina woman who has gone through these experiences, that her views would be 'better.' And without that one word, it's a perfectly fine statement. And I understand what she meant by it. So you could say the use of that word was inartful."
Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News notes that in an exclusive interview, President Obama said, "I think it's very important for my former colleagues in the Senate to stay focused on, you know, judging this person on the merits, and not engaging in the kinds of, you know, political silliness that have come to surround the Supreme Court these days."
Howard Fineman, in his column for Newsweek, writes, "Barack Obama believes in his voice and his life story. Autobiographical speeches powered his campaign. ... Now comes the ultimate test of autobiographical speechmaking. Obama this week speaks at Cairo University, in the hub of Muslim-Arab culture." Obama "has privately told friends that his goal is far higher: nothing less than to help 'reconcile Islam and modernity.' ... He also will draw on the by-now-familiar story of his own life. A Christian son of an African-Muslim father, he spent years in Muslim-majority Indonesia, attending a public school run by, but not suffused with, the teachings of Islam."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
US News Weekly's Washington Whispers says former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft is "buddy-buddy with" Defense Secretary Gates and is "described as 'very close' to" current NSA James Jones, "so it's not surprising that" he is "emerging as a key conduit between the policymakers of George H. W. Bush's administration and President Obama's." Scowcroft "encouraged Jones to develop as close a relationship with Obama as he can, something Scowcroft accomplished with Bush senior, in order to get his best ideas across to his boss."
Washington Whispers, in a separate item, also notes that Jones "did something this week that would have been unthinkable during the Bush administration. He gave a major policy address on national security without mentioning either Osama bin Laden or 9/11. The name al Qaeda came up only once during his speech to the Atlantic Council."
US News Weekly's Washington Whispers says Defense Secretary Gates "has 'gone down a few notches' in the eyes of some military officials as a result of his recent firing of top U.S. Army Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan." Though his "replacement, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has a stellar reputation among his military compatriots, the manner in which McKiernan was dismissed by Pentagon leadership left a bitter taste in some mouths."
US News Weekly reports when President Obama "promised transparency and accountability in the $787 billion stimulus package, the idea hinged largely on providing full disclosure on who would be spending which portions of the government's money." But the "concept that the information should be made public effectively applies to less than two thirds of the law's total price tag: namely, the act's direct spending allocations, funneled through grants and loans to projects like school renovations and nuclear site cleanups." For the "remaining $288 billion, ensuring transparency and accountability will be a far trickier beast. That's because that sum goes to tax cuts and credits, a different kind of government expenditure that's protected by privacy laws and under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service."
LaHood: Stimulus To Be "Transformational" US News Weekly interviews Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asked "is this a watershed moment for transportation?" LaHood replies, "I think the term really is 'transformational.' The things we have in our part of the economic recovery are not just highways and bridges. It's transit. It's airports. It's $8 billion for high-speed rail. And I also think it's some opportunities that we have to promote livable communities."
With time running out on its June 1st restructuring deadline, GM expected to file for bankruptcy today. ABC World News reported last night it is a "foregone conclusion" that GM "will file for bankruptcy" Monday, "all in an effort to survive." One "estimate of best case scenarios predicts that GM and Chrysler's bankruptcies together will cost individuals more than $13 billion. Local governments, more than $5 billion."
NBC Nightly News reported "all the pieces are in place for General Motors to go bankrupt" after "54% of those holding $27 billion in GM bonds agreed to swap that debt for a stake in the new GM, clearing the path for a potentially smoother, quicker GM bankruptcy." The Detroit Free Press also reports that "a deal with bondholders not to oppose GM's bankruptcy plan was seen as an important step to helping speed GM's bankruptcy process." According to USA Today, "the U.S. government will invest an additional $30.1 billion in General Motors (GM) to finance its bankruptcy reorganization to be filed Monday, President Obama's auto task force said in a statement."
In a front-page story, the Washington Post says the restructuring plans call for "about 60 percent of the new GM" to "be owned by the United States, about 12 percent by the governments of Canada and Ontario, a union health trust would own 17.5 percent, and the company's current bondholders would get 10 percent." Although GM "now joins Chrysler as the bankrupt duo of Detroit's once-formidable Big Three," the Los Angeles Times points out that "the Obama administration is touting the bankruptcy filing as the beginning of a new era for GM, a painful but necessary court-supervised restructuring that will make the company profitable again and a leader in producing fuel-efficient vehicles."
The New York Times profiles 31-year-old Brian Deese, "a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry." Yet, "according to those who joined him in the middle of his crash course about the automakers' downward spiral, he has emerged as one of the most influential voices in what may become President Obama's biggest experiment yet in federal economic intervention."
Meanwhile, the New York Times notes on the front page of its business Day section, "With General Motors about to follow Chrysler into bankruptcy, the nation's ability to bounce back from the steep recession is being hobbled."
Chrysler Could Exit Bankruptcy As Early As Monday The Wall Street Journal reports on its website, "Chrysler LLC could exit bankruptcy reorganization as soon as Monday, after barely a month in Chapter 11 protection," as "Judge Arthur Gonzalez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manahattan is expected to approve the sale of most of Chrysler's assets on Monday to its alliance partner, Fiat SpA."
News that the US and Cuba have agreed to resume negotiations on immigration and the resumption of direct mail service received brief coverage on the two network broadcasts that aired Sunday night, as well as in major newspapers and newswires. Calling the move "a new sign of a thaw in relations" between the two nations, for example, ABC World News reported that "Cuba has agreed to open discussions with the US on establishing direct mail service. The two nations also will resume negotiations on migration talks that were last held in 2003." According to "a senior American official, the Cuban government is also willing to cooperate on counterterrorism efforts, fighting drug traffic and disaster relief," NBC Nightly News reported.
The move, the AP reports, was "welcomed" yesterday by Secretary of State Clinton, who said the talks are "part of our effort to forge a new way forward on Cuba that advances the interests of the United States, the Cuban people and our entire hemisphere." Secretary Clinton, the New York Times reports, "brought signs of a thaw between the United States and Cuba to Latin America on Sunday, as she arrived in a region increasingly impatient to see the United States repair the half-century-old breach with Havana."
Calling it "a sign that the island's communist government is warming to President Obama's call for a new relationship," the Washington Post reports the "breakthrough" was announced as Secretary Clinton "began a three-day trip to Latin America, where she is expected to face pressure to take further steps to ease the US policy of isolating Cuba." Sunday's announcement, however, "could take the edge off what was shaping up as a battle over Cuba at a regional meeting of foreign ministers that Clinton is scheduled to attend Tuesday in Honduras."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
The AP reports that "2 1/2 years before Iowans gather for their first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses, early presidential campaigning has begun," with prospective 2012 GOP candidates visiting the state, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), winner of "the GOP caucuses in 2008." Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) is in the state today, while the Des Moines Register reports Huckabee is scheduled to make another trip on June 10 to campaign for GOP gubernatorial prospect Bob Vander Plaats. In other GOP presidential news, The Politico reports Mitt Romney, "widely believed to be eying" a 2012 bid, "rejected reports on Sunday that he is planning to make his permanent residence in New Hampshire to position himself for the state's first-in-nation presidential primary."
The New York Daily News reports state AG Andrew Cuomo (D) "insisted" yesterday that he will not challenge unpopular New York Gov. David Paterson (D) in the primary next year, though he said competitive primaries can be "very productive" if they are "constructive and not destructive." The New York Post says state Democrats "are on the brink of an 'all- out civil war'" as Paterson "desperately fights to hold an office few think he can win at the polls next year, party insiders have told The Post." The Post says that Cuomo is in fact "gearing up" to run for governor, and is seen by top state Democrats "as their party's strongest standard-bearer." Paterson is viewed "as so weak that his presence on the ticket could put Republicans back in control of the state Senate and...guarantee the election of Rudy Giuliani as the state's next governor."
The St. Petersburg Times reported, "Shaking up an already volatile election cycle in Florida," Rep. Corrine Brown (D) "said Saturday she is seriously looking at jumping into the Senate race." Brown's entry would pit her against FL17 Rep. Kendrick Meek (D), and would pit "two of Florida's most popular African-American members of Congress" against each other. The AP, meanwhile, report state Sen. Dan Gelber (D) on Saturday said that he would exit the race "in order to help unify the party."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "As you know, this is our last show. ... I want to thank all the people that made it possible: Michael Jackson; Monica Lewinsky; Bill Clinton."
Jay Leno: "Do you realize when I started this show, my hair was black and the President was white?"
Jay Leno: "There were some tense moments yesterday here in Los Angeles with President Obama. A female reporter...carried, kicking and screaming, away from Air Force One after she insisted on handing President Obama a letter. They picked the woman up, forcibly, carried her away. Same thing they did when Joe Biden tried to get on the plane."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
