Media analyses cast the growing debate over Bush-era anti-terror tactics (including possible congressional and Justice Department investigations) as putting President Obama's policy agenda at risk. The Christian Science Monitor says the "growing clamor in Washington for investigations...is putting...Obama in a difficult political position." The Democratic party's "liberal base could revolt if Obama tries to block a look at the past," and yet "such an investigation could also damage the prospects for Obama's healthcare and energy plans, polarizing lawmakers along party lines and making it more difficult to attract GOP votes for his agenda." The AP notes that "Congressional demands for an investigation grew" yesterday, presenting "a delicate dilemma for the...administration."
The Washington Post, quoting "US intelligence and congressional officials," reports that the CIA ran the "secret program" at the heart of the current controversy "for nearly eight years," but "current and former intelligence officials said the program never progressed to the point where notifying Congress was required." Likewise, the New York Times notes that "officials and some Republican lawmakers said that the spy agency was not required to brief lawmakers on specifics about the program," as "the program was only nascent, and because Congress had already signed off on the CIA's broad authorities after the Sept. 11 attacks."
The Politico reports this morning that the House Intelligence Committee "is expected to launch a full-scale investigation into charges that the CIA concealed a covert spy program from Congress, according to congressional sources." Roll Call says that "Democrats who spent weeks defending" Pelosi "after she accused the CIA of lying to lawmakers about its interrogation of suspected terrorists are" now "going on offense," with "events" giving them "momentum to...shape debate on issues of CIA credibility."
On the CBS Evening News, Rep. Pete Hoekstra was shown saying: "I'm sure that there's a lot of programs that we've never been briefed on that an Administration may have thought about doing but never implemented." In an interview with the Washington Times, Liz Cheney said the calls for a congressional probe "appear to be an attempt by Capitol Hill Democrats to give political cover to embattled House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."
CIA Program At Issue Involved Hit Teams To Kill Al Qaeda Leaders AFP reports that the CIA "refused Monday to comment on reports that it had drawn up a top secret plan to kill members of the Al-Qaeda terror network, a program which was then halted by new CIA boss Leon Panetta." The Los Angeles Times says that according to "former US intelligence officials," the "secret CIA program halted last month by Director Leon E. Panetta involved the establishment of elite paramilitary teams that could be inserted into Pakistan or other locations to capture or kill top leaders of the Al Qaeda terrorist network."
Panetta's Support Within CIA In Jeopardy? The Wall Street Journal reports that CIA director Panetta's "decision to kill the assassination initiative has put him in a tough spot" as "lawmakers' rapid-fire calls to investigate Bush-era efforts like the secret assassination program threaten to undermine that support."
Media reports cast President Obama's meeting with key lawmakers as an effort to renew the momentum in Congress for healthcare reform. Most media outlets portray Obama's renewed effort positively, with the Washington Post, for instance, comparing his style and resolve to that of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, some outlets focus on the barriers to reform efforts, such as the Wall Street Journal's focus on divisions in the Democratic Party that are hampering the process in the House.
Bloomberg News reports President Obama on Monday said "that while the administration and Congress are closer 'than we've ever been' to completing health-care legislation, he is 'under no illusion' about what will be needed to finish the package." The AP reports the meeting with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi "comes as Obama, newly returned from an overseas trip, must refocus on his top legislative priority: a sweeping health care bill to bring down costs and cover the uninsured."
NBC Nightly News reported the White House has "a clear the deck mentality right now, all about healthcare." ABC World News reported, "Republicans and moderate Democrats have been increasingly expressing concern about the price tag of a trillion dollars over a decade. Liberals worry the President might abandon his proposal for a government run plan to compete with private insurers to drive costs down. The President had one message for all of them." Obama: "For those naysayers and cynics who think that this is not going to happen: don't bet against us."
The New York Times reports after a "weeklong overseas trip that pushed him to the fringes of Washington's health care debate," Obama "moved aggressively to reclaim control." The Los Angeles Times reports with "divisions among congressional Democrats threatening to stall his healthcare overhaul, President Obama moved aggressively Monday to shore up support, meeting with senior Democratic lawmakers and labor leaders at the White House and stressing that it's time for action."
The Washington Post reports the "the tough talk in the Rose Garden gave way hours later to behind-the-scenes Lyndon B. Johnson-style lobbying, as Obama pledged in a pair of private meetings with Democratic lawmakers to stake his political capital on this year's top agenda item."
House Efforts Complicated By Democratic Divisions The Wall Street Journal reports the "effort to pass a health-care overhaul is being frustrated by divisions among Democrats over a wide range of issues, from how to pay for the measure to its impacts on small business and rural areas."
Roll Call reports even as Speaker Pelosi "sought to put a sunny face on the legislation, she confronted fresh concerns from another large bloc of Democrats worried about the public insurance plan at the heart of the bill." The Hill reports Speaker Pelosi said House Democrats "will introduce their full healthcare reform bill Tuesday," and she acknowledged "she has much work left to do to win over members of her own caucus."
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To positive media coverage, including the lead stories on all three network newscasts, Judge Sonia Sotomayor yesterday addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee. ABC World News reported that Sotomayor "took the witness chair to answer critics who said she will let her feelings and empathy trump her impartiality." Sotomayor was shown saying, "Many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy: simple, fidelity to the law." The AP says Sotomayor gave "a polite but firm rebuttal to Republicans who have criticized her 2001 comment that a 'wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences' might make better rulings than a white male."
Analysts overwhelmingly predict that Sotomayor will easily win confirmation. The CBS Evening News, for example, reported, "The Judge raised her right hand today and swore to tell the truth. And even among Republicans, the betting is the next time...Sotomayor takes an oath, it will be as an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court."
USA Today reports that "in her remarks, Sotomayor said, 'The progression of my life has been uniquely American,' that of a child of Puerto Rican parents who moved to New York during World War II." CNN's The Situation Room reported, "This round may be remembered most for questions about whether Sotomayor would make decisions as a 'wise Latina' or based on 'empathy.'"
The Los Angeles Times reports that "Democrats have the 60 votes necessary to thwart any Republican filibuster attempt." Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy "went as far as to pledge Sotomayor 'will be confirmed,' and he suggested that Republicans would oppose her at their political peril." The Politico says that "it sometimes seems that the person being scrutinized is not the Supreme Court nominee but the man who appointed her. ... At least two Republican senators have referred to the 'Obama standard' for voting on would-be justices, singling out then-Sen. Obama's approach to the confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito in January of 2006."
In a similar piece titled "Republicans Walk Fine Line Questioning Sotomayor," the Washington Post says the hearing "opened...against the backdrop of demographic changes that continue to alter the nation's politics. What drama exists this week is less the question of whether she will be confirmed than what the first Latina Supreme Court justice might contribute to those changing politics."
The New York Times says that Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions "lashed into Judge Sotomayor's record, saying, 'I believe our legal system is at a dangerous crossroads.'" And "other Republicans furthered the same theme."
Poll Finds Sotomayor's Favorable Rating At 23% The CBS Evening News reported that in a CBS News poll "out tonight, only 23% have a favorable opinion" of Judge Sotomayor, "down ten points since President Obama nominated her. Nearly three times as many say they are undecided." Sotomayor's "23% favorable rating is seven points higher, by the way, than Samuel Alito's and lower than John Roberts when their confirmation hearings began."
The New York Times recounts that "after taking repeated fire from Taliban fighters holed up in a building last week, a group of American Marines in southern Afghanistan called in airstrikes to wipe out the threat. But the Navy F/A-18 fighter pilots who responded worried that bombing the militants could hurt civilians, and suggested a different solution to the ground troops." The pilots "roared in low and fast, without firing a shot, in a deafening pass that frightened the militants into silence."
Meanwhile, the CBS Evening News reported the Taliban "has launched a new offensive to destabilize the country and intimidate voters before the upcoming August elections. After the Taliban captured one small town in eastern Afghanistan, US and Afghan forces engaged them in a dramatic firefight to take it back."
The AP reports, "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is blaming an exhaustive White House vetting process for the fact that the Obama administration has not yet named a person to run the US Agency for International Development." Clinton "told USAID employees on Monday that several people had turned down the job due to overly burdensome financial and personal disclosure requirements that she called a 'nightmare,' 'frustrating beyond words' and 'ridiculous.'"
The New York Times calls Clinton's comments "a rare burst of public frustration with the White House," which "declined to comment on the matter." The Washington Times reports, "Although much of the work on vetting and clearance is done by the FBI, the White House ethics office has been stricter under President Obama than in some previous administrations." AFP notes that Clinton "complained about the kinds of questions asked." In a blog entry in The Politico, Ben Smith says that Clinton was expressing "frustration at her inability to get Harvard's Paul Farmer into the top slot at that agency."
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The AP reports that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) PAC "raised nearly $733,000" between its launch in January and the end of June, according to campaign finance reports, while McClatchy says it is estimated she has raised another $200,000 since she announced her resignation on July 3. Roll Call noted SarahPAC "ended the month of June with $456,700 in cash on hand." The Politico adds that the "majority of the money raised by SarahPAC so far has come in the form of 'unitemized contributions,' meaning donations of less than $200 each." Meanwhile, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, Palin argues against "President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan," saying it is "an enormous threat to our economy."
The State reports that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's (R) "chief of staff, Scott English, called the governor's cell phones 15 times during the governor's secret trip to Argentina to visit his lover last month. But" Sanford "never picked up." Meanwhile, "Sanford's communications director, Joel Sawyer, worked to minimize the fact the governor had been out of touch with his staff for about four days."
The Washington Times reports Elizabeth Cheney, former Vice President Cheney's daughter, "who has emerged as a fierce critic of President Obama's foreign and national security policies," said yesterday that she is considering a run for office at some point. The Times adds Cheney, "a lawyer and State Department appointee who worked on the 2008 Republican presidential campaign, has attracted national attention as a chief defender of the George W. Bush administration's policies -strongly endorsed by her father - on enhanced interrogation methods.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois GOP Chief Andy McKenna "said Monday he'll bow out" of the Illinois Senate race if Rep. Mark Kirk (R) enters the contest. The AP says McKenna's decision "greatly reduces the chances of a Republican primary battle. The GOP is hoping to launch a strong challenge for the Senate seat currently held by" Illinois Sen. Roland Burris (D), "who announced on Friday he would not run for a full-term." The Hill reports, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) "is running on the Democratic side, and businessman Chris Kennedy (D) could also jump in the race. But there is plenty of unrest over which direction the Democratic primary is headed, making Kirk's clear primary an advantage at this point."
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Conan O'Brien: "Today, the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor got under way. ... And, of course, people have opinions on both sides. Critics of Judge Sotomayor claim that she has a bias against white people." But "this morning, she proved them wrong by showing up at the hearings wearing a Coldplay t-shirt and carrying a yoga mat."
David Letterman: "They began the confirmation hearings down in Washington for a new Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. Anybody see it? Something always goes haywire. The hearings for the confirmation were delayed...until security could quiet down all of the Chuck Schumer groupies."
David Letterman: "President Obama" is "going to be working in the broadcast booth during the All-Star Game. Everybody says, 'Oh, that's cute.' But let me tell you something. You know the economy is bad when the President has to take a second gig."
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