March 29, 2004
Monday Stories
AP. Cheney tackles Kerry's plans to cut taxes
USAT. Gas prices continue to climb; Prices go up another 3 cents to a record-high average of $1.80 per gallon; demand likely to remain high
Guardian. Pentagon counts the psychological cost of Iraq war as survey reveals suicide levels
USAT. Talk radio's dial will get a turn to the left
Reuters. Bush slammed for leading US down 'dead-end'
Transcript. Condoleezza Rice on '60 Minutes'
LAT. Campaign Gold Awaits Kerry in California Visit
LAT. Immigrant Paperwork Delays Grow
LAT. U.S. Shutters Iraqi Newspaper
AP. Commission bears down on Rice to testify
CNN. Rice: 'Nothing to hide' from 9/11 commission
BGlobe. Kerry urges Rice to testify on 9/11
BGlobe. Bush aims to unsettle Kerry
AP. Pressure mounts for Rice to testify
DetFP. Clarke tells White House to declassify his e-mails
ChicST. GOP allies press Rice to testify publicly on 9/11
Commentary
Philip J. Trounstine. Bush's press slaves: It's time for the Washington press corps to probe candidate Bush just as enthusiastically as they have John Kerry
James Pinkerton. Shooting the messenger: Conservatives should hail former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, but instead they're smearing him
Kirk Bowman. Beach Blanket Bushy; The president's support is declining in the really deep South
Jules Witcover. Kerry up, Bush down in seesaw campaign
Tom Maertens. Clarke's public service
Seattle PI. Head Start, as is
Dan Carpenter. Making the poor the point
EJ Dionne JR. Bush lacks remorse for 9/11
Ronald Brownstein. Discrediting Clarke Won't Stop the Debate He Helped Start
Sheryl McCarthy. The casualties of Iraq include GI suicides
AJC. Sentencing discrepancy impossible to overlook
AJC. Optimism absent from energy bill
Hamster Numbers: Social Justice
-National Urban League.
Comedy Monday
"At a speech yesterday at the Reagan Library, Dick Cheney says John Kerry doesn't have the judgment to be president. And Cheney's seen firsthand what can happen when a guy doesn't have the judgment to be president." Jay Leno
"Richard Clarke says the White House ignored warnings about al- Qaida before 9/11 and rushed to war in Iraq. In response, the Bush administration revealed to the news media that Clarke's wife works for the CIA." Jake Novak
"Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said there was no conflict of interest in going hunting with his friend Dick Cheney. Some people find this hard to believe. How could Dick Cheney have a friend?" Rob Bates
"Three different women on the show have done that to me now. Flashed me. First there was Drew Barrymore. Of course, Courtney Love. And historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, oddly enough." David Letterman
"The White House announced that it's sending a company of troops to Kosovo. So far we have sent American troops to Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and now Kosovo. President Bush says the goal is to send as many soldiers overseas as we have jobs." Jay Leno
Feel the magic of the Virtual Stapler!
Strongbad Email - Flashback!
Fark: Photoshop Bill O'Reilly doing something unlikely
TheOnion.com: Bush Urges Iraqis To Pass Amendment Banning Gay Marriage
BAGHDAD—In a private meeting with Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, President Bush urged the Iraqi Governing Council president to amend the recently ratified Iraqi constitution to protect the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. "The Iraqi constitution, signed just a few short weeks ago, will usher in a new era of democratic freedom in Iraq," Bush said. "But there are some unlawful and unholy acts that the constitution's original drafters could not have possibly intended to protect." Bush then told al-Ulloum he must act quickly and decisively to preserve his country's most sacred tradition.
Chappelle's Show
Fun at Kneehigh Park! Hey Kids! Welcome to Kneehigh Park! Life's tough when you live in a garbage can and have a syringe lodged in your head.
Click down for comics
Continue reading "Comedy Monday"
Rice Lies on "60 Minutes"
From the good people at The Center for American Progress:
FACT CHECK: Condi Rice's 60 Minutes Interview, 3/28/04National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes in an effort to quell growing questions surrounding the Administration's inconsistent claims about its pre-9/11 actions. Not only did Rice refuse to take Richard Clarke's lead and admit responsibility for her role in the worst national security failure in American history, but she continued to make unsubstantiated and contradictory assertions:
RICE CLAIM: "The administration took seriously the threat" of terrorism before 9/11.
FACTS: President Bush himself acknowledges that, despite repeated warnings of an imminent Al Qaeda attack, before 9/11 "I didn't feel the sense of urgency" about terrorism. Similarly, Newsweek reports that his attitude was reflected throughout an Administration that was trying to "de-emphasize terrorism" as an overall priority. As proof, just two of the hundred national security meetings the Administration held during this period addressed the terrorist threat, and the White House refused to hold even one meeting of its highly-touted counterterrorism task force. Meanwhile, the Administration was actively trying to cut funding for counterterrorism, and "vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism" despite a serious increase in terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001.
Source: "Bush At War" by Bob Woodward
Source: Newsweek & vetoed request - link
Source: Refusal to hold task force meeting - link
Source: Only two meetings out of 100 - linkRICE CLAIM: "I don't know what a sense of urgency any greater than the one we had would have caused us to do anything differently. I don't know how...we could have done more. I would like very much to know what more could have been done?"
FACTS: There are many things that could have been done: first and foremost, the Administration could have desisted from de-emphasizing and cutting funding for counterterrorism in the months before 9/11. It could have held more meetings of top principals to get the directors of the CIA and FBI to share information, especially considering the major intelligence spike occurring in the summer of 2001. As 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick said on ABC this morning, the lack of focus and meetings meant agencies were not talking to each other, and key evidence was overlooked. For instance, with better focus and more urgency, the FBI's discovery of Islamic radicals training at flight schools might have raised red flags. Similarly, the fact that "months before Sept. 11, the CIA knew two of the al-Qaeda hijackers were in the United States" could have spurred a nationwide manhunt. But because there was no focus or urgency, "No nationwide manhunt was undertaken," said Gorelick. "The State Department watch list was not given to the FAA. If you brought people together, perhaps key connections could have been made."
Source: Slash counterterrorism funding - link
Source: CIA knew 2 hijackers in the U.S. - linkRICE CLAIM:“Nothing would be better from my point of view than to be able to testify, but there is an important principle involved here it is a longstanding principle that sitting national security advisors do not testify before the Congress.”
FACTS: Republican Commission John F. Lehman, who served as Navy Secretary under President Reagan said on ABC this morning that "This is not testimony before a tribunal of the Congress…There are plenty of precedents for appearing in public and answering questions…There are plenty of precedents the White House could use if they wanted to do this.” 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick agreed, saying “Our commission is sui generis…the Chairman has been appointed by the President. We are distinguishable from Congress.” Rice's remarks on 60 Minutes that the principle is limited to "sitting national security advisers" is also a departure from her statements earlier this week, when she said the principle applied to all presidential advisers. She was forced to change this claim for 60 Minutes after 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste “cited examples of non-Cabinet presidential advisers who have testified publicly to Congress." Finally, the White House is reportedly moving to declassify congressional testimony then-White House adviser Richard Clarke gave in 2002. By declassifying this testimony, the White House is breaking the very same "principle" of barring White House adviser's testimony from being public that Rice is using to avoid appearing publicly before the 9/11 commission.
Source: Quote from Tony Snow Show - link
RICE CLAIM: "Iraq was put aside" immediately after 9/11.
FACTS: According to the Washington Post, "six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 2-and-a-half-page document" that "directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq." This is corroborated by a CBS News, which reported on 9/4/02 that five hours after the 9/11 attacks, "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq." The President therefore did not put Iraq aside -- he merely deferred it to a second phase, after Afghanistan. To the question of Iraq or Afghanistan, Bush replied: let's do both, starting with Afghanistan. In terms of resources, the Iraq decision had far-reaching effects on the efforts to hunt down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. As the Boston Globe reported, "the Bush administration is continuing to shift highly specialized intelligence officers from the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to the Iraq crisis."
Source: September 17th directive - link
Source: Rumsfeld orders Iraq plan - link
Source: Shifting special forces - link
March 28, 2004
Sunday Stories
AP. Violence across Iraq kills 20, including a U.S. Marine and a cameraman
AP. 2 British Guards Reported Shot in Iraq
SFC. When the wedding bells stop ringing; From heartfelt gifts and unexpected support to stony silence, newlyweds return home to a wide range of reactions
SFC. Outsourced UCSF notes highlight privacy risk; How one offshore worker sent tremor through medical system
LAT. FBI files on Kerry reported stolen
WP. Rwandans Are Struggling To Love Children of Hate
WP. Bush's Efforts to Offset Clarke Stymied; Republicans Say Administration Struggling for Momentum After Ex-Aide's Assertions
WP. U.S. Plan Seeks to Build Civilian-Run Iraqi Army: Prospective Leaders Being Trained in Washington
NYT. 9/11 Panel Provokes a Discussion the White House Hoped to Avoid
NYT. Virginia Political Shocker: Republicans for High Taxes
NYT. Plan to Battle AIDS Worldwide Is Falling Short
LAT. Chipping Away at Loyalty in Bush Country; President still has strong support in conservative bastion, but 9/11 has also introduced doubt
Knight Ridder. Kerry assails attacks on Sept. 11 testimony
ChicST. Earlier Clarke testimony may be declassified
honoluluadvertiser. Nisei soldiers hailed for 'showing us the true meaning of courage'
Commentary
NYT. QUESTIONS FOR HANS BLIX: What Weapons?
Thomas Oliphant. Did Clarke's zeal backfire?
Jimmy Breslin. Rice keeps door closed to the public
Dan Inouye. Is 'No Child Left Behind' law best way to help student achievement?
Hamster Numbers: Software Jobs
From the Economic Policy Institute:
Software jobs, which pay some of the highest wages in America, have fallen sharply since 2000. These jobs have disappeared despite the fact that software sales to U.S. businesses in 2003 were up 4% over 2000. Comprehensive data on the number of U.S. software jobs that have moved overseas is hard to come by, but persuasive indirect evidence points towards the significant movement of software jobs to India (the most prominent of many countries to which U.S. software work is being moved) ... Domestic software-related jobs, however measured, have declined significantly in recent years. U.S. jobs in software-producing industries declined by 128,000 (10%) between 2000 and 2004, while jobs in software occupations shrank by 154,000 (5%) from 2000 to 2002 (the last year data were available).
Military Families Say Army Headed For Retention Problem
Caused, of course, by the Iraqi war, reports WP.
March 27, 2004
Saturday Day Stories
Newsweek. Poll: Blow for Bush
NYT. Democrats Issue Threat to Block Court Nominees
AP. Study: Airports May Soon Be Overcrowded
AP. GOP Moves to Declassify Clarke Testimony
AP. Specter Waits for States on Gay Marriage
WP. GOP Wants Look At Clarke's Words; Frist Calls for Opening '02 Testimony To Explore 'Entirely Different Stories'
WP. Faulting EPA, D.C. Seeks $26 Million; Lead Problem Blamed on Federal Decisions
eastbayexpress. The AXT Way: Meet Xuan Wen Li. Fremont semiconductor firm AXT, Inc. poisoned him with arsenic, then fired him — just as it did with up to 500 other Chinese immigrants
NYT. Leaders of G.O.P. Try to Discredit a Critic of Bush
AP. Rice Discusses Terror, but Not Under Oath
NYT. Up to 16 Die in Gun Battles in Sunni Areas of Iraq
Commentary
MoveOn.org. Bush Administration MisleadsAbout Pre-9/11 Intelligence
David Donnelly. Industrial Money Laundry-ing
Kurt Vonnegut. False Advertising
Rep. Barbara Lee. Transparency Now
Craig Aaron. Bought and Paid For
Guardian. Interview: Richard Clarke
NJ Star-Ledger. No exemption for Rice
Buzzflash. David Cay Johnston, Author of "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich -- and Cheat Everybody Else"
Andrew Greeley. The Catholic factor: Will John Kerry's fellow Catholics turn out for him the way they did for the last JFK?
Susan Goldsmith. Fighting a Third World Menace; Big Pharma's greed didn't stop Children's Hospital's Dan Granoff from creating a meningitis vaccine for Africa's poor
Yogesh Rajkotia. Prescription For Change: Until there's drug-price control, the run to the northern border will be the rule
Quote
"If the Bush administration had gone after Osama bin Laden with anything akin to the energy it is expending to discredit Richard Clarke, the story of America's response to terrorism might have been dramatically different." John Nichols.
GOP Funding Nader Run
Well geeee, why would Republicans want to fund the real deal lefty ideological run?! I'm sooo confused! Dallas Morning News:
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is getting a little help from his friends – and from George W. Bush's friends.Because we all know Ben Stein is just a Naderite at heart.Nearly 10 percent of the Nader contributors who have given him at least $250 each have a history of supporting the Republican president, national GOP candidates or the party, according to computer-assisted review of financial records by The Dallas Morning News.
Among the new crop of Nader donors: actor and former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein, Florida frozen-food magnate Jeno Paulucci and Pennsylvania oil company executive Terrence Jacobs. All have strong ties to the GOP.
Democrats have warned that Mr. Nader's entry in the race could help Mr. Bush by drawing votes from John Kerry. Some analysts say Mr. Nader's third-party candidacy four years ago siphoned off Democratic voters and cost Vice President Al Gore the White House.
"Republicans are well aware that Ralph Nader played a spoiler role in the 2000 election. And there is no reason why they wouldn't want to encourage and help him do so again in 2004," said Jano Cabrera, a spokesman for the Democrat National Committee.
Hamster Numbers: Uninsured
"Nearly 44 million Americans were uninsured during 2002, the Census Bureau estimates--almost a 6 percent increase over 2001. That’s more than 15 percent of the population. And those numbers tell only part of the story. Millions more Americans are uninsured for short time periods or have skimpy coverage with low benefit limits or high deductibles. Lifetime benefit limits of $1 million or less are quickly exhausted when catastrophic illness or injury occurs. Minority-group members, young adults, and people with modest incomes are much more likely to be uninsured than others. The National Academies’ Institute of Medicine has reported that lack of insurance often means people simply do not get care for serious medical conditions. Uninsured women with breast cancer, for example, are 30 to 50 percent more likely to die from it than are insured women." -Consumers Union
Don King Helps Out GOP
In a Kerry bashing cartoon. Well, you gotta get the huge Don King vote somehow.
March 26, 2004
Friday Stories
AP. Daschle: Bush aims to defame Clarke
NYT. Ex-Aide's Book Corners Market in Capital Buzz
AZ Rep. Bush visiting Phoenix today
AZ Rep. Ariz. lawmakers likely to push for federal gay marriage ban
AZ Rep. Math teacher takes up Dem challenge to McCain
AP. AG: SF officials violated separation of powers in gay marriages
Delaware State News. Minimum pay hike pitched: Wage would rise to $6.65
Clarion-Ledger. Pickering gives '60 Minutes' interview
SaltLakeTrib. GOP rivals put Walker in hot seat
DetFP. Soldiers get more help to cope with stresses of war
The Hill. Dean backs Kerry, urges younger voters to do same
The Hill. Dem complaints pay off with nine probes
AP. Conservatives Win Big With Fetus Bill
AP. FCC Adopts New Rules for Satellite TV
Houston Chron. Indictment threat on DeLay's mind
Guardian. Bush jokes about search for WMD, but it's no laughing matter for critics
BGlobe. Democratic VIPs boost Kerry, raise record $11m
BGlobe. Bush adds to coffers in Kerry's backyard
BGlobe. GOP greets Bush; so do 2 Democrats
SFC. Newsom wows 'em at bash in Washington
AP. Bush's joke about weapons of mass destruction draw criticism
NYT. Rice Is Agreeable to Return for More of 9/11 Panel's Queries
NYT. Kerry to Propose Eliminating a Tax Break on U.S. Companies' Overseas Profits
WP. Neither Silent Nor a Public Witness: Presidential Adviser Rice Becomes a 9/11 Focal Point as Contradictions Appear
WP. House Approves $2.4 Trillion Budget Plan: Resolution That Would Curb Spending Still Provides for Tax Reductions
Commentary
Jimmy Breslin. Only One Guy with Guts in the Bunch
Salon. Republicans for Kerry? After enduring a sustained offensive from conservatives, Republican moderates are quietly mounting a counterattack against Bush, DeLay & Co
Eric Boehlert. A former FBI translator told the 9/11 commission that the bureau had detailed information well before Sept. 11, 2001, that terrorists were likely to attack the U.S. with airplanes
Dennis Jett. Searching for Colin Powell: The real Powell Doctrine is self-interest as national interest
Thomas Geoghegan. John Kerry, international man of mystery? By wrecking the Western alliance, President Bush has paved the way for a President Kerry to rebuild it
David Corn. The 9/11 Bog
John Gartner. The Army's Chemical Weapons Conundrum
Bill Berkowitz. Will the Bush-endorsed anti-same-sex marriage amendment drive gays from the GOP?
Trudy Rubin. Clarke is angry -- with plenty of reason
SFC. Save Haiti from its ills
James O. Goldsborough. Nader A party of one
Steve Chapman. President Bush's big mistakes in the war on terrorism
Paul Krugman. The Medicare Muddle
Bob Herbert. The Wrong War
NYT. The Wrong Target
E. J. Dionne Jr. Democracy's Revenge
Derrick Z. Jackson. A fatal distraction
BGlobe. A law left behind
AJC. Rice should testify before panel
Kerry Promises 10 Million Jobs
From a speech in Detroit, Michigan:
Last August, I proposed a new jobs credit that would give manufacturers a break on the payroll taxes for every new worker they hire. I believe we should expand it to industries outside manufacturing where jobs are endangered by outsourcing – so that we help create more jobs, whether it comes to cars or computer software or call centers.More on John Kerry's jobs proposal.Second, the savings from ending the tax incentives for outsourcing can also expand jobs tax credit to cover all small businesses and their employees. For most small business owners, that means that if they create jobs, they will pay lower taxes in a Kerry Administration than they do under President Bush.
Third, savings can finance a 25% tax credit for small businesses when they provide health care for their workers. The rise in health care costs under this Administration has hit everyone hard, but no one harder than small business owners and their employees. As the Chair of the Small Business committee in the Senate, I saw again and again how small businesses can be the engine of job creation – and those jobs are the ones most likely to be created here and to stay here.
Fourth, if we are willing to close loopholes and abuses in our tax system, then we can afford to lower taxes in the right way to spur growth and jobs. With the savings I proposed today, we can and should reduce the corporate tax rates by 5% – to improve competitiveness and to narrow the difference between corporate tax rates here and overseas. Some may be surprised to hear a Democrat calling for lower corporate tax rates. The fact is, I don’t care about the old debates. I care about getting the job done and about creating jobs in America.
Finally, I won’t let America wage the fight for our economic future with one hand tied behind our back. No one should misunderstand me: I am not protectionist – but I am a competitor. American workers are the most competitive in the world – and they deserve a government that’s as competitive as they are. We will demand our trading partners play by the rules they’ve agreed to and show them that America means business when it comes to enforcing our trade agreements. The Bush Administration has refused to enforce our trade agreements. That not only costs jobs; over time, it threatens to erode support for open markets and a growing global economy. And it deprives us of one of the most important tools we have to safeguard our own workers and our environment – and to raise standards internationally.
Other Funny Bush Joke
Remember this one?
Bush, in the weeks before September 11, pledged to honor the sanctity of the Social Security lockbox except in the event of recession, war, or a national emergency. But after "everything changed" on 9/11, he reportedly gloated to his budget director, Mitch Daniels, "Lucky me--I hit the trifecta!" At the time, this comment (a variation of which is being recycled for laughs at current GOP fundraisers) seemed merely offensive. But in light of revelations that Bush's August 6 briefing memo was titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.," Bush's "luck" and weird prescience are worth more than passing scrutiny.
GOP Criticizes Herseth for Associating with Sites Like Hamster
As first noted by Daily Kos, GOPers are criticizing Stephanie Herseth for receiving donations from liberal blogs like this site. AP:
Republicans have accused Democratic U.S. House candidate Stephanie Herseth of maintaining a secret Web page to receive campaign donations raised from ads on liberal groups' Internet sites.Crap, I suck. =(But a Herseth campaign official scoffed at the charge, saying the Web page is not secret and can be found easily with a standard search of the Internet.
Herseth faces Republican Larry Diedrich in a June 1 special election to fill the vacancy left when Bill Janklow resigned as South Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House.
Jason Glodt, executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party, said the Herseth campaign arranged the special Internet donation site to prevent most South Dakotans from knowing about Herseth's relationship with such liberal groups.
The Herseth Web page takes campaign donations from people directed there from Internet sites called "blogs," which are online bulletin boards that feature journals, opinionated articles and messages.
"There's a reason she's got that secret site. She doesn't want to advertise the fact she's doing this," Glodt said Thursday.
"I think the real point is you judge a person by the friends they keep, and look where she's focusing her fund-raising efforts," Glodt said. "Anybody can look at these blogs and the content, and realize the values they are promoting are completely contradictory to the South Dakota values she purports to represent."
However, Herseth campaign spokesman Russ Levsen said that particular Internet page merely takes donations from people who find out about the campaign when they visit political blogs that feature Herseth ads.The "secret page", with about a dozen blogs listed. Crazy liberal Instapundit is listed too. Hm .."I would dispute the premise that it's secret because it's an open site on the Internet that anybody can get to," Levsen said.
The supposedly secret Web site is one of the first results when an Internet user does a standard search for the terms "blog" and "Herseth" on the Google search engine, Levsen said.
Most of the donations that result from ads on the blogs are for amounts of less than $50, Levsen said. "This is grass-roots politics."
Make a donation today, big or small, remember the .04 addition!
Military Families Not Amused
Good comedians know there's some material they shouldn't touch. Is Bush a good comedian? A funny guy? Well, some in the Washington press corps may think he is, but military families don't seem to think so. NY Daily News:
George Medina, 43, of Orange County, who lost a son in Iraq, heard about Bush's remarks when his outraged daughter, an Army sergeant, called him yesterday. "She was very upset," Medina said."This is disgraceful," Medina continued. "He doesn't think of all the families that are suffering. It's unbelievable, how this guy tries to run the country."
His 22-year-old son, Spec. Irving Medina, died Nov. 14 in Baghdad when an explosive device struck his convoy.
Charles Celestin, 28, of Coral Springs, Fla., and Irving Medina's brother-in-law, blasted the commander-in-chief's remarks.
"To be poking fun; it's just a travesty to the soldiers who lost their lives. I think it's disrespectful," he said ... The President's dinner act also bombed with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan). "It's disgusting that during his little performance on stage, the President seemed to forget that people are dying in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction he lied about," Nadler said.
Hamster Number: Wages
From Center for American Progress and Moving Ideas.org:
The average wage of new jobs created this coming year is forecasted to be $35,855, significantly lower than the $43,629 average wage of those jobs lost between 2001-03.
The Bush Administration has helped keep wages down, opposing an increase in minimum wage and advocating cutting overtime for approximately 8 million workers.
March 25, 2004
Thursday Stories
AP. Soldier Suicide Rate in Iraq Jumps
SacBee. U-turn urged in smog battle; State air regulators may soften a plan to reprogram big diesels to reduce pollution.
CNN. Bush officials: Saudi antiterrorism efforts much improved
AP. Bush Casts Kerry As Tax Raiser in TV Ad
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Timber wolf comes off state's 'threatened' list
AP. N.C. Democrats out-raise GOP
StarTrib. Anti-Semitic incidents reached 5-year high in 2003
AP. Democrat abandons run to unseat Brownback
AP. Unborn Children Given New Status in Iowa
Fairbanks Daily News. Alaskans seek more money from firm for Valdez spill
CSM. Melting glaciers: unexpected boost to rising oceans
CSM. Guess who's coming to protest? A growing number of unlikely environmentalists are taking action where it matters most: at home
CSM. The Arnold Effect: Senate race tests his coattails
CSM. Bush, Kerry, and green differences
LAT. Fresno's GOP Mayor Balks at Schwarzenegger's Agenda
SFC. Families and friends of victims waiting for answers -- and accountability
AP. Bush targets himself and those elusive weapons of mass destruction at dinner
SFC. Clarke rejects attacks by GOP; STANDS BY STORY: Ex-aide embraced by families of 9/11 victims
AP. Pelosi says supports gay marriage, Newsom's action
WP. At Iraqi Port, Progress Is Matter of Perception; U.S. Role Disappoints Dockworkers
WP. Medicare Official Cites Cost Warning; White House Given Data, He Says
NYT. Democrats Arrange Rare Convergence of Party's Stars for Fund-Raiser
San Mateo CTimes. No Child Left Behind changes shot down
AP. ACLU, couples sue to uphold gay marriage
Reuters. Rice Accuses Clarke of Conflicting Stories
Reuters. EU Slaps Record Fine on Microsoft
Reuters. Bush Rejects Allegations by Former Aide Clarke
NYT. Supreme Court Hears Arguments on 'Under God' in Pledge
Commentary
AJC. EPA mustn't be industry lapdog
AJC. Allegations of Bush critic offer troubling view of Iraq
Peter Singer. Bush's Meandering Moral Compass
Marie Cocco. Military is limited in fighting terror
SFC. A credible Clarke
Ruth Rosen. Bush's female troubles
Farhad Manjoo. Thou shalt not make scientific progress
Thomas Schaller. Opportunity Costs: Why Bush doesn't want the public taking the opportunity to think about the costs of Iraq
Matt Bivens. New GOP Talking Points on Environment
Garance Franke-Ruta. Safety Numbers: President Bush says we're winning the war on terrorism. As with so many things, however, his math doesn't add up
Jeff Dubner. Demographic Derby: Former Clinton official Maria Echaveste discusses immigration reform, ethnicity in America, and the upcoming election
Matthew Yglesias. Counter Intelligence: After taking office, President Bush could have done more to stop al-Qaeda and terrorism. Here's why he didn't
Patrick Leahy. The Dawn of Micro Monitoring: its Promise, and its Challenges to Privacy and Security
Robert Dreyfuss. A New Folk Hero: Richard Clarke emerged from Wednesday's 9/11 hearings with his credibility and integrity intact
Paul Waldman. Bush's 9/11 Balloon is Punctured
Bill Press. Which Foreign Leaders Endorse Bush for Reelection?
Joel Connelly. Bush seems intent on clearcutting park funding
Suzanne Goldenberg. With election close, Bush will not risk putting pressure on Sharon
Toledo Blade. Obsessed on Iraq
Paul Knox. Please, no second term for the Iraq-obsessed Bush
Guardian. Enemies of the truth
Gail Sheehy. Four 9/11 Moms Watch Rumsfeld And Grumble
Sandeep Kaushik. Will Howard Dean's Second Act Succeed?
Lame Bush
From Political Wire and CAP:
"Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America, to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people." Bush. AP
"on August 6th [2001], [Bush] received a one-and-a-half page briefing advising him that Osama bin Laden was capable of a major strike against the US, and that the plot could include the hijacking of an American airplane." NBC News, 9/10/02
"U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July 2001 that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations." The warning came at the same time "U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush that bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes." LA Times, 9/27/01; ABC News, 5/16/02
Dem Fundraiser Says Bush Believed Iraq Main Threat
From Daniel Schorr in the CSM:
A Texas Democratic fundraiser, speaking not for attribution, told me about the lunch he recently had at the home of former President Clinton in the New York suburbs. Clinton recounted his last meeting with President Bush over coffee, just before the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2001.Well, then I guess the Bush war on terrorism is a success.
The outgoing president counseled his successor that he would face five challenges in the international arena - the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, the Al Qaeda terrorist threat, a nuclear-armed North Korea, the India-Pakistan confrontation, and the Saddam Hussein dictatorship in Iraq.Clinton was surprised at Bush's response. He said he disagreed with Clinton's order - that he considered Saddam Hussein to be the primary threat that he would have to deal with.
Lobby to Your Mama
Who knew I've been spendin' all my GW life livin' in a lobbyist paradise?
Several lobbyists told The Associated Press they need to raise at least $10,000 when trying to get a freshman lawmaker to attend one of their events, $15,000 or more for veterans and at least $50,000 for a congressional committee chairman or leader.Yeaaa, I wish people would pay me to get educated.
Getting lawmakers to attend is the key reward for the lobbyists. And the longer they want the lawmaker to stay, the more money they're expected to raise.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America Wildcatters Fund plans a $500-a-person breakfast next week to raise money for Washington Rep. George Nethercutt, a Republican member of a House energy subcommittee who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
"We're going to take every opportunity to educate members of Congress about the domestic energy industry," association spokesman Jeff Eshelman explained.
Republicans Love the Troops
I guess, in their own special, lack-of-funding way. From the CAP's Progress Report:
The Army Times reports the conservative-dominated House Budget Committee "was determined March 17 to just say no when Democrats offered a slew of ways to improve military pay and benefits by cutting tax breaks for the wealthy." Conservatives on the committee rejected a proposal that would have provided "$1 billion for expanding health-care benefits for reservists and their families; $1 billion to improve military housing; $350 million for targeted pay raises for enlisted members; $141 million in danger pay and family separation allowance increases; $50 million to improve family support programs for reservists; $14 million for public schools near military bases that teach many military dependents."
Bin Laden: High Priority
Win a copy of Sean Hannity's latest book from the CAP!
Yesterday, on Hannity and Colmes, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said "the assertion that somehow the Bush administration wasn't paying attention when we came into office is just false." But, despite Rice's comments, we were unable to find a single instance where Rice, Vice President Cheney or President Bush said "al Qaeda" or "bin Laden" in public between Bush Inauguration and 9/11. (The closest thing we could dig up – despite extensive searches on Nexis and the White House website – was a routine written extension of an executive order dealing with the Taliban.) During the same period, however, we were able to identify roughly 400 times that Rice, Cheney and Bush publicly mentioned "tax relief" or "tax cut." Prove you're better than the Progress Report! Send any instance of Rice, Cheney or Bush uttering the words "al Qaeda" or "bin Laden" in public between 1/20/01 and 9/10/01 to pr@americanprogress.org. The first person to submit a successful entry (which we can verify) will receive a free copy of "Deliver Us From Evil" by Fox News Anchor Sean Hannity signed by the members of the Progress Report team.
Late Night TV
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, Comedy Central
We 3/24: Jamie Foxx
Th 3/25: Al Franken
Mo 3/29: Jennifer Beals
Tu 3/30: Helen Mirren
We 3/31: Karen Hughes
Th 4/1: Johnny Knoxville
Franken will also be on Conan, 4/1
Bush Misquotes Kerry Quote
From the people at Spinsanity.org:
During a March 6 interview with the New York Times, Kerry stated that "the final victory in the war on terror depends on a victory in the war of ideas, much more than the war on the battlefield. And the war - not the war, I don't want to use that terminology. The engagement of economies, the economic transformation, the transformation to modernity of a whole bunch of countries that have been avoiding the future."This, of course, isn't the only thing the Bush campaign is mischaracterizing about Kerry. Jonathan Alter:In context, it is clear that Kerry was referring to the "war of ideas" when he said he did not want to use the term war, which he then rephrased, describing it as "he engagement of economies, the economic transformation, the transformation to modernity."
Yet the White House has spun Kerry's comments to suggest that he was referring to the war on terror itself, as Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk showed (disclosure: one of us works there). On March 11, for instance, President Bush stated that "my opponent indicated that he's not comfortable using the word 'war' to describe the struggle we're in. He said, 'I don't want to use that terminology." Both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have made this claim repeatedly in the last few weeks, ignoring the fact that Kerry repeatedly referred to the "war on terror" in the interview in question.
The Bush administration now has an old-fashioned credibility gap. If numbers are released saying that the economy is perking up, why should anyone believe them? After all, it counts hamburger flippers as manufacturing jobs. The context of the election only magnifies the issue. New Bush ads charge that Kerry wants to raise taxes by $900 billion. This is a made-up number; Kerry has no such proposal. But even if he did, voters would not be able to take the Bush campaign's word on it, because its word is no longer good.
Bush Gets Little Traction from Millions in Ads
From Daily Kos, this point about recent events:
Bush and company have sunk $18 million in ads, many of them anti-Kerry attack ads, in the past three weeks. And for all their trouble, they get what -- absolutely nothing? How could that be?Not to mention, Bush's '9-11: partisanship during non-partisan times' ad hurt more than helped.Really, given the swing in the past two days, we have two possible culprits. One, MoveOn and the Media Fund are countering the Bush ads, and while their ad buy is much smaller, it's still significant.
But we all know the real culprit. It's the reason the administration went after Clarke as hard as they did following his 60 Minutes appearance.
Kerry has stayed out of the mess, yet it is he who is benefitting the most. And with headlines tomorrow proclaiming, "Terrorism not urgent issue for Bush administration before Sept. 11, former adviser testifies", Bush has additional room to drop.
Hey, Remember the 80s?
"I blame the entire Bush leadership for continuing to work on Cold War issues when they back in power in 2001. It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left office eight years earlier. They came back. They wanted to work on the same issues right away: Iraq, Star Wars. Not new issues, the new threats that had developed over the preceding eight years." --Richard Clarke, on 60 Minutes
Richard Clarke on Larry King Live
Transcript ....
KING: What do you make of Condoleezza Rice's actions through this? Her statements about you, the issuing today of an e-mail you sent her four days before 9/11, which seems to back up what she thinks. What's your overview of that?CLARKE: They're scrambling very hard at the White House. They've got a lot of people -- the vice president, the chief of staff, the national security director, the press secretary, the communication's director. They have five or six people running around doing talk shows and trying to refute me and trying to besmirch me. Larry, I said in the preface of this book, I knew before I wrote this book that the White House will let loose the dogs to attack me. That's what they're doing. That's what they did to Paul O'Neill when he told the truth and I come back to this point that all of this is to get us, rather than being on this show talking about the failures of the Bush administration, instead talking about the flack that they're throwing up every day.
Hamster Numbers: GOP Enviro Cuts
From the House Budget Committee's Democratic Staff:
House Republicans provided only $28.7 billion in discretionary funds in 2005, a cut of $1.5 billion (5.1 percent) from last year's level. Republicans unanimously voted against a Democratic amendment increasing
funding for clean air, safe drinking water, and conservation measures
by $2.2 billion in 2005.From 2005-2009, House Republicans provided 10.5 percent less than what is needed to maintain current services at the 2004 level. More noteworthy, their
funding levels in 2009 will still be $901 million below the 2004 enacted level. Simply stated, the Republican budget cuts the federal commitment to environmental protection.
Stop Tom 'The Exterminator' Delay From Poisoning the House
Receive dirt about the Right, Democratic House news, leadership quotes, quick links, and others. Sign up for the @Stake Activist
March 24, 2004
Wed Stories
Birmingham News. Alabama State's top polluters cited; Watchdog group's report: Worst violators include Army Depot, Sloss
AP. M. Huffington gives $100K to Log Cabin GOP
New Haven Register. Lawmakers say Rowland has little support
Iowa City PC. Senate stops gay marriage measure
Portland PressH. Senate endorses Patriot Act 'review'
Oregonian. Key rules are eased to boost logging
AND. Arkansas gasoline may hit $2 a gallon, experts say
CBS. Michigan Aims To Stop Outsourcing
Pioneer Press. Panel gives 'no' to No Child law
AP. Poll: Bush, Kerry Even in New Mexico
BGlobe. Romney's national profile rises
WP. Charity Tied To DeLay Is Questioned; Group Asks Lawmakers To Demand Ethics Probe
WP. Democratic Spending Is Team Effort: Groups' Ads Level Field for Kerry
WP. Clarke to Testify on 9/11 Today; Author of Book Critical of Bush Bridged Two Administrations
The Hill. Bush takes offensive on Foster
The Hill. Tax hawks cooling to Norquist
The Hill. Two ethics groups dog DeLay charity: Democracy 21, Common Cause seek Hefley ruling
Editor and Publisher. Trudeau Ends Contest
Guardian. Powell denies ignoring 9/11 warnings
AP. Rumsfeld Certifies Need for Base Closures
AP. Bush Admin. Defends Its Free Trade Record
AP. AP Poll Shows Bush, Kerry in Close Race
TIME. The Medicare Mess: The Medicare bill backfires on the GOP
AP. Gay congressman speaks out against same-sex marriage ban
AP. Government leans toward stretching out power plant cleanup of mercury pollution
AP. Gasoline Prices Hit Record High
Commentary
Joe Conason. Richard Clarke terrorizes the White House
Jack Bass. That old-time "Southern strategy": How President Bush sent a message with his court appointments
Helen Thomas. Justifying invasion a full-time job
Danny Schechter. Stern's loose lips give Bush the slip
Newsday. On Iraq, listen to Clarke
Ronald Brownstein. Focus on Foe May Hurt Bush; The president has been busy going after Kerry, but history suggests that boosting his own approval rating is his real ticket to reelection
Miami Herald. Lost in election snafus: Voter confidence
Richard Roeper. By FCC standards, Oprah more dangerous than Stern
Derrick Z. Jackson. The forgotten victims of the war in Iraq
Robert Kuttner. Fix economy by targeting tax cheats
Boston Globe. Richard Clarke's warnings
Steve Perry. Karl Rove's Moment: How "Bush's Brain" hijacked Washington, D.C. and politics-as-usual
LCV. Bush Administration Anti-Clean Water Policies Threaten the Health of Waters, Americans Treasure
Democracy 21. Democracy 21 Sends Formal Complaint to Ethics Committee and All House Members Challenging Majority Leader DeLay's "Charity Scheme
Regis T. Sabol. The Ghost of 9/11 Rises
Frederick Sweet. Bush Creates National Security Catastrophe
Robert O. Boorstin. The Canary in the Coalmine
Campaign for America's Future. Bush Medicare Report Misleads
Miles Harvey. Welcome to Armageddon: A joint investigation by Salon and Rolling Stone reveals why the Bush administration hasn't found any weapons of mass destruction: It's looking in the wrong place
Mary Lynn F. Jones. Friendly Fire: A secretive, one-party government alienates everybody -- even Republicans on the Hill
John Nichols. When Rupert Murdoch Calls...
Mark David Agrast. The Federal Marriage Amendment: The Speech the President Should Have Given
Ehsan Ahrari. A War (At Any Cost) President
John Kerry. Bush and Cheney in the Tank
Richard Clarke KOs the Bushes?
This is what Fred Kaplan writes in Slate:
Richard Clarke made his much-anticipated appearance before the 9/11 commission this afternoon and, right out of the box, delivered a stunning blow to the Bush administration—the political equivalent of a first-round knockout.Why the KO?The blow was so stunning, it took a while to realize that it was a blow. Clarke thanked the members for holding the hearings, saying they finally provided him "a forum where I can apologize" to the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones.
And so now here's Clarke, in an official, nationally broadcast forum, announcing: I failed, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Which, as one member of the panel noted, is more than any official in the Bush administration has said to any victims of the far more devastating 9/11 attacks ... "There's a very fine line that anyone who's been in the White House, in any administration, can tell you about," Clarke replied. Someone in his position had three choices. He could have resigned, but he had important work yet to do. He could have lied, but nobody told him to do that, and he wouldn't have in any case. "The third choice," he said, "is to put the best face you can for the administration on the facts. That's what I did."And he's a Republican! The book.Well, Thompson asked in a bruised tone, is there one set of moral rules for special assistants to the White House and another set for everybody else?
"It's not a question of morality at all," Clarke replied. "It's a question of politics." The crowd applauded fiercely. To invoke another sports metaphor: Game, set, and match.
20-year Old James Gilbreath for Texas House
The College Dems blog on 20-year old George Washington U student James “Jake” Gilbreath and his run for State Representative in Texas’s 10th District.
Back of the Bus for Thomas
In an interview with Geov Parrish, Helen Thomas comments on her current treatment by the Bush White House. You may remember that one of her books is "Front Row at the White House." But no more!
Bush has held fewer news conferences than any modern-day president, but, Thomas says, even his administration’s twice-daily White House press briefings have become politicized. “He won’t call on me, and I’m in the back row now so I’m ignored . . . They don’t like my questions. That’s okay, just so somebody asks them, but they just don’t want me to ask questions . . . If I was a favored columnist, I’m sure I’d be in the front row again. But I have the prerogative of asking the questions, I do try. I do think all of us [in the press] have laid down on the job early on [after 9/11]. Some of us are coming out of a coma. But nobody’s being challenging enough. We are adversarial. We aren’t there to worship at anybody’s shrine. We’re there for accountability.”So what about the Bush admin?Thomas also bemoans the trends in journalism that abet nonaccountability: the emphasis on entertainment and noise, the talk shows where hosts and guests dish out opinions without ever giving audiences the unvarnished facts.
“People think talk show [hosts] are journalists, but they’re not,” Thomas scoffs. “They’re getting just plain opinion. I think people are much better served when we get a straight news story, even though I’m a columnist now. My opinion isn’t worth anything.
“I wrote for 57 years for UPI. I was never accused of slant. I wrote dull copy.”
“We’ve always been manipulated and managed, back to when I began with Kennedy and certainly before, but never to this extent,” Thomas says by phone. “The secrecy in this administration has reached the highest levels. That’s never been seen before. Everybody has to be on board with this president. Nobody plays devil’s advocate . . . There is no search for answers in this president.”But what does she know about presidential administrations?
Clarke: ‘We failed you'
Statement to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, from NBC:
In his opening statement before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Clarke told relatives of victims in the audience: “Your government failed you, those entrusted with protecting you failed you and I failed you.”“Although I continued to say it [terrorism] was an urgent problem, I don’t think it was ever treated that way” by the Bush administration before Sept. 11, he said.
RNC to Visit MTV
Nothing gets the attention of the kids like the GOP's Reggie the Registration Rig
For young Americans who care more about G-Unit than the GOP, choosing their favorite music videos on MTV's "Total Request Live" may be as close as they have come to the democratic process.And using buzzwords like hip always helps connect with the kids.Republicans hope to change that by sending their voter registration truck Thursday to two places where Republicans are usually in short supply: MTV and Times Square.
The National Republican Committee's Reggie the Registration Rig is scheduled to visit the "TRL" studio, where the contest between President Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry usually takes a back seat to the vying videos of Usher and Clay Aiken. RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie will be on hand, espousing the youths' right to vote for the right wing.
"Chairman Gillespie has three kids of his own ... so he is no stranger to MTV and 'TRL,"' Heather Layman, an RNC spokeswoman, said. "He's hip enough to know how important it is, so I think he'll have fun."
Poll wise, Kerry has a 9-point lead over Bush with voters aged 18-29, with GOP Ralph taking away a bunch o' votes.
