“You know that the Fondas and [Sean] Penns are going to say, ‘Listen, I’m as American as you are…I just see things differently.’ And I’m willing to give them the benefit of that doubt. I don’t want to say that they’re anti-American.” Moments earlier:
In comments first reported in the New York Observer, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) said Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Biden’s insensitive remarks were roundly criticized, and he has since apologized. The Chicago Tribune explained:
Note to Biden. Well-spoken black people hate it when white people call them “articulate.” It’s the modern-day version of what white people used to say back in the day when they thought that by saying “He’s a credit to his race” they were saying something that a black person would welcome hearing.
Those dated words, like Biden’s comments, were patronizing at the very least. And they also appeared to carry some pretty negative assumptions about the majority of the race.
President Bush may need similar sensitivity training. In an interview today with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Bush echoed Biden’s remarks when asked about Obama. “He’s an attractive guy. He’s articulate. I’ve been impressed with him when I’ve seen him in person,” Bush said. Watch it:
Full transcript: More »
Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Warner (R-VA) have reached agreement on a compromise bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s Iraq escalation policy. Levin and Warner had co-sponsored competing anti-escalation resolutions, both of which risked failing to garner enough votes to break a conservative filibuster.
CNN’s Dana Bash reported moments ago, “What is going on as we speak, behind the scenes, Wolf, is Democrats and Republicans who oppose sending more troops to Iraq are trying to figure out how to join forces, come up with one single resolution that can get them the 60 votes that they need in order to pass that resolution, making clear to the president they disagree with his plan.”
Watch it:
The Levin/Warner compromise is unexpected and very significant. Robert Novak reported Monday that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) had tried and failed to reach agreement with Warner late last week.
This new deal is likely to foil right-wing efforts to prevent the Senate from passing a strong anti-escalation resolution. Conservative leaders “had hoped to divide Senate opinion largely along party lines, to allow Bush to argue that any outright statement opposing his plan was politically motivated partisanship,” the Washington Post reported today.
Full transcript: More »
“Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.” From her final column, published January 12, 2007:
We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) announced Wednesday that his committee would open a formal inquiry into President Bush’s use of “presidential signing statements.” “We are not going to take no for an answer,” said Conyers, vowing “to demand answers from the White House about its intention to ignore the ban on torture when needed and its right to open domestic mail when needed.”
The Bush administration claims that any congressional resolution opposing escalation would hurt the morale of U.S. troops. “It would be, I think, detrimental from the standpoint of the troops,” Vice President Cheney said last week.
Cheney should spend less time on non-binding resolutions and more on equipping our forces. An audit by the Pentagon’s Inspector General released to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) shows that U.S. soldiers have had to go without the necessary weapons, armor, vehicles, and equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan:
The Inspector General found that the Pentagon hasn’t been able to properly equip the soldiers it already has. Many have gone without enough guns, ammunition, and other necessary supplies to “effectively complete their missions” and have had to cancel or postpone some assignments while waiting for the proper gear, according to the report from auditors with the Defense Dept. Inspector General’s office. Soldiers have also found themselves short on body armor, armored vehicles, and communications equipment, among other things, auditors found.
“As a result, service members performed missions without the proper equipment, used informal procedures to obtain equipment and sustainment support, and canceled or postponed missions while waiting to receive equipment,” reads the executive summary dated Jan. 25. Service members often borrowed or traded with each other to get the needed supplies, according to the summary.
More bombshells are likely to come soon. Following a letter last year from Slaughter to the Pentagon, the Inspector General’s office reported two ongoing audits into the procurement of armored vehicles and body armor for American soldiers. “The results of those studies will be available in July and October of 2007, respectively,” Slaughter’s office says.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it wants to “raise the application fee for citizenship from $330 to $595 and the fee for becoming a legal permanent resident from $325 to $905.” In 1991, the application fee for legal permanent residents was just $90. NALEO notes that according to “2000 U.S. Census data, about three out offour Mexican and Central American non- citizen households (74%) have annual incomes of less than $25,000.”
“As one of the key judges at the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas this weekend, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews pulled out his ‘Hardball’ best when it came time to question each of the contestants. ‘Why did Mississippi seem to do a better job than’ Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?” he asked Miss Mississippi. … ‘He asked me where Osama bin Laden is now,’ [Miss D.C. Kate Michael] said.”
A recent poll released by WorldPublicOpinion.org reveals that Iranians are both “very concerned about the danger of terrorism, reject attacks against civilians overwhelmingly, and share strongly negative views of Osama bin Laden.” The findings suggest a basis for diplomacy with Iran.
But the results do sound one important note of caution for the Bush administration. If it pursues permanent bases in Iraq, Iranians understand that it will have a negative affect on stability in the region. The American public, on the other hand, appears to be willing to accept permanent bases:
Recommendation 22 of the Iraq Study Group said: “The President should state that the United States does not seek permanent military bases in Iraq.” So far, Bush has refused to do so.
Last year, congressional conservatives quietly stripped a provision from a funding bill that would have prohibited permanent bases in Iraq. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) pushed a provision through the House — which was accepted unanimously — that put Congress on record as saying the U.S. would not be in Iraq forever. Lee recently pledged to continue pushing for the resolution until it is passed by Congress.
“Ladies and gentlemen: The state of our economy is strong,” President Bush told a Wall Street audience today in his second speech this week devoted to shoring up Americans’ disapproval with the economy.
In an interview last night, Bush was asked why only 41 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy. ABC News’ Betsy Stark said, “Can that be summed up in one word? Can that be summed up as Iraq?” Bush responded, “I think so, yeah,” adding, “We’re in a time of war, and war’s unsettling. War’s negative.”
Stark asked Bush why 67 percent of Americans believe he doesn’t understand the problems of average people. Bush said, “I think it’s ’cause of the war again, and I think people are feeling pretty down about, kind of, things ’cause of the war.”
Watch it:
Americans have plenty of reasons beyond Iraq to be frustrated with the economy and worried about their quality of life. From American Progress’ new State of the Economy report.
– Job growth is the weakest on record. Job growth during the current business cycle, beginning in March 2001, has averaged an annualized 0.5 percent per month, the lowest of any business cycle since the Great Depression. In fact, this is less than a quarter of the average of all prior business cycles since World War II.
– Sharp spike in costs for necessities. From March 2001 through June 2006, prices for the five largest consumption items–medical care, housing, food, household operation, and cars–grew more than twice as fast as they did for the smallest five consumption items. At the same time, college costs continue to soar.
“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government’s domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects,” the AP reports. “The records will be given to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who two weeks ago lambasted Gonzales for refusing to turn over documents that even the FISA Court’s presiding judge had no objection to releasing.”
The conservative newspaper notes that the smears against Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) background are “a sign of the growing indifference Internet ‘journalism’ presents on the question of truth. Rumor is good enough. Bibles of blogging are created based on nothing more than rumor.” In reality, Insight Magazine — run by the Washington Times — started the rumors. Bloggers helped dispel them.
On Monday, NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams interviewed President Bush and asked him a question from Spec. Ryan Schmidt of Forest Lake, MN, who is serving in Iraq: “What if your plan for a troop surge to Baghdad does not work?” Bush avoided answering the question, stating:
Well, I would say to Ryan, I put it in place on the advice of a lot of smart people, particularly the military people who think it will work, and let us go into this aspect of the Iraqi strategy feeling it will work. But I will also assure Ryan that we’re constantly adjusting to conditions on the ground.
Williams didn’t press Bush further, instead switching the topic to Iran. But last night on NPR, reporter John McChesney followed up with Schmidt and asked him whether he believed the President adequately answered his question. Schmidt’s response was a resounding “no.” Listen here:
Schmidt added, “For some of us that are over here, particularly me, my unit, we all feel, what’s the point of us being extended if your initial plan to send more troops over here does not work? What are you going to do, Mr. President?”
(HT: NPR Check)
Admiral William Fallon — Bush’s nominee to replace Gen. John Abizaid as head of U.S. forces in the Middle East — yesterday refused to endorse Bush’s escalation strategy in Iraq. In questioning during his confirmation hearing, Fallon rebuffed repeated attempts by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) –an avowed proponent of escalation — to solicit his endorsement of the new Iraq plan:
GRAHAM: And you would support sending more troops to accomplish that goal?
FALLON: I don’t know how many troops are going to be necessary to effect the outcome that we want. But General Petraeus, in my conversations with him, indicated that he believes he needs these troops now, to get moving…
GRAHAM: And if he said he needed more, you would support him?
FALLON: I don’t know, sir. I haven’t been there yet, and I’m not in a position to make that judgment.
GRAHAM: Well, it’s his judgment about 21,500, does it make sense to you?
FALLON: I will better be able to give you an informed answer when I understand the situation better.
Moments later, responding to a question from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Fallon divulged he’s always “felt more comfortable in smaller numbers” rather than a larger force “decorating the landscape”:
FALLON: I cannot tell you with any degree of accuracy what percentage of troops or what the numbers are that are effective. And I believe that this is pretty judgmental. It’s pretty subjective, in my opinion, my experience. And it’s one that I am very anxious to gain an appreciation for from our ground commanders.
I’ve always been someone who felt more comfortable in smaller numbers of very effective capabilities than a large number of — whatevers — decorating the landscape. So we’ll be really interested in trying to find out where we really stand with these forces.
President Bush said of Fallon, “[He] has earned a reputation as one of our country’s foremost military strategists.” And like many other military strategists, he appears to have deep concerns about escalation in Iraq.
Number of young people who will see Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” documentary this week, as part of Climate Week of Action, the nation’s largest youth mobilization on climate. For more information on what’s happening this week, check out It’s Getting Hot In Here, and see photo petitions from students here.
Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified testified yesterday against the administration official she previously spent 85 days in jail trying to shield. Miller told the jury that “Scooter” Libby was “very irritated and angry” during a June 2003 conversation when he revealed to her that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA.
After months of ethics scandals, Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) was chosen this month “as the ranking member of a panel charged with investigating financial institutions — even as the FBI was looking into his land deals.” The Hill reports that FBI officials have contacted local officials about Miller’s land deals in the last two months.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) goes ad hominem on Al Gore. “Al Gore thinks he can use climate change and global warming — he thinks that’s his ticket to the White House,” Inhofe said yesterday at a Senate hearing on climate change.
A new audit of U.S. reconstruction spending in Iraq shows the State Department “paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel…that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool.” U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million on weapons and body armor that “can’t be accounted for.”
Michael McConnell — Bush’s nominee to be the nation’s new spy chief — works as a $2 million-a-year private consultant with some of the same senior military and intelligence officials he would supervise as director of national intelligence. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said he would raise concerns about McConnell’s ethical entanglements. “I made it clear that I was going to be asking questions about issues relating to his work with contractors.” More »
experts told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing chaired by Russ Feingold (D-WI) today. “I think the constitutional scheme does give Congress broad authority to terminate a war,” said Bradford Berenson, a Washington lawyer who was a White House associate counsel under Bush from 2001 to 2003.
“The Washington Post has quietly retreated from a legal battle with Vice President Cheney by dropping a lawsuit demanding Secret Service logs of visitors to his office and residence.”
Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor during his visit to a Caterpillar factory today. “I’m about to crank this sucker up.” Newsweek notes, “As the engine roared to life, White House staffers tried to steer the press corps to safety, but when the tractor lurched forward, they too were forced to scramble for safety. ‘Get out of the way!’ a news photographer yelled. ‘I think he might run us over!’ said another. … Even the Secret Service got involved, as one agent began yelling at reporters to get clear of the tractor. Watching the chaos below, Bush looked out the tractor’s window and laughed, steering the massive machine into the spot where most of the press corps had been positioned.”
A new report presented to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability Project shows 435 instances in which the Bush administration interfered into the global warming work of government scientists over the past five years. Some other findings of the survey:
– 46 percent of government scientists “personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming,’ or other similar terms from a variety of communications.”
– 46 percent “perceived or personally experienced new or unusual administrative requirements that impair climate-related work.”
– 38 percent “perceived or personally experienced the disappearance or unusual delay of websites, reports, or other science-based materials relating to climate.”
– 25 percent “perceived or personally experienced situations in which scientists have actively objected to, resigned from, or removed themselves from a project because of pressure to change scientific findings.”
James Hansen, the government’s top global warming researcher, has also revealed that the Bush administration tried to prevent him from speaking freely about global warming to the media. In 2004, the administration also had a requirement that “NASA press officers listened in whenever NASA scientists spoke with reporters, either on the telephone or in person.”
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