President Bush today met with leaders of faith-based groups that work with AIDS victims in Africa, and heard from one woman who said that a number of her patients have a problem with alcoholism.
"That alcohol will get you ever time," said Mr. Bush, who is thought to have struggled with alcohol abuse until his 40th birthday (he is now 61).
The president's retort was sparked by comments from Martha Mwape Chilufya, who runs an AIDS treatment center in Zambia. Mrs. Chilufya's husband died in 1999 from AIDS-related health problems.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas often asks questions attacking the Iraq war during on-camera briefings. White House press secretary Dana Perino usually deflects the question and moves on, but today, Mrs. Perino took exception.
The transcript is incomplete in many parts, but the key portion is Mrs. Perino's response, a little more than halfway down.
Q (inaudible): No troops out from Iraq on his watch. I'm talking about all troops.
MS. PERINO: Well, 5,700 troops will be home by the end of the year, so that is some troops coming home. The president said that troop levels are going to be made by commanders on the ground and that we're going to have to talk about --
Q (off mike): -- say.
MS. PERINO: -- return on success. The American people have had a say. They elected a president who is their commander in chief and is making decisions based on what his commanders on the ground are telling him.
Q (off mike): -- the American people?
MS. PERINO: They elected a commander-in-chief, and the president is bringing home 5,700 troops based on recommendations of his commanders on the ground and based on return on success. Hopefully in the future we can bring home more, but it's going to depend on what General Petraeus reports and remember he will come back in March.
Q (off mike):
MS. PERINO: Because he's the commander on the ground, Helen. He's the one who is making sure that the situation --
Q (off mike): -- more people we've killed?
MS. PERINO: Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front-row position bestowed upon you by your colleagues to make such statements. It is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we as the United States are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive.
Q: Do you know how many we have since the start of the war?
MS. PERINO: How many -- we are going after the enemy, Helen. To the extent that any innocent Iraqis have been killed, we have expressed regret for it.
Q :Well, regret it doesn't bring back a life.
MS. PERINO: Helen, we are in a war zone, and our military works extremely hard to make sure that everyone has the opportunity for liberty and freedom and democracy, and that is exactly what they're doing.
Q (off mike): --
MS. PERINO: I'm going to move on.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
The president is traveling only an hour north of D.C. this morning, but he'll feel like he's in the heartland.
More than an hour before the president was due to arrive in Mt. Airy, Md, around 10:30, about 100 residents of the small town were lined up outside Calvary United Methodist Church.
Parents held small children, men in hunting caps held cameras, and two middle-aged women sat in fold-up camping chairs sipping coffee and reading the newspaper.
"It's a small town," said Dan Leiter, 54, who owns an ice cream shop in town. "I would hope people are here to welcome the president."
Mr. Leiter held a sign saying, "God bless you, Mr. Bush," and wore a U.S. Coast Guard Academy sweatshirt. His son is a graduate.
"Have we been attacked one time in the eight years he's been president?" Mr. Leiter said of Mr. Bush. "I only disagree with him on one issue, and that's immigration."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
The White House yesterday said they were "surprised" that a Chinese official disputed their account of a conversation yesterday between President Bush and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, over the denial of entry into Hong Kong to a U.S. aircraft carrier last week.
"We are seeking clarification," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
Mrs. Perino Wednesday said that Mr. Yang told President Bush, during an Oval Office meeting, that a misunderstanding was to blame for the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk's inability to enter port.
But a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry today denied the U.S. account.
"Reports that Foreign Minister Yang said in the United States that it was a misunderstanding do not accord with the facts," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, Reuters reported.
"China approved the visit of the Kitty Hawk group to Hong Kong based on humanitarian reasons. The decision made by the U.S. later was up to them," Mr. Liu said.
Mrs. Perino said the White House was "surprised by that explanation."
"That was not what the president heard from the foreign minister yesterday," she said. "The president was told there was a miscommunication which could lead to a misunderstanding."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
A handful of lucky Navy Midshipmen were allowed in the room today when President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke today at the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis.
One of Middies was Jarod Bryant, a junior whose sister works in the White House advance office.
I asked Jarod how tall he was, and when he said he likes to say he's 5'10", I told him that's not very tall for a quarterback.
"Yeah, but we run the option," he said, smiling.
Indeed. Mr. Bryant ran 27 times against Northern Illinois for 139 yards and a touchdown in Navy's 35-24 victory. He threw only six times, completing three passes for 60 yards.
Mr. Bryant said he is uncertain whether he'll start this Saturday's game against Army, which is Navy's biggest game of the year every year. The first string quarterback, Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, is reported to be ready to play again.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
UPDATE/ 3:50 p.m. -- As the representatives from the 40-plus nations filed out of the Naval Academy's Memorial Hall, ABC's Jon Karl asked Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad what he thought of the peace conference.
Mr. Mekdad shrugged, put out his hands at waist level, and said, "Hopeful."
Here is a complete list of the countries attending today's Middle East peace conference today in Annapolis, at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Representatives from each country are seated in a horseshoe-shaped arrangement inside the large and historic Memorial Hall, facing a stage and lectern at the open end of the horseshoe. The countries are seated in alphabetical order, with the Arab League seated to the left of the stage, if you are facing the stage.
For some reason, the one exception to the alphabetical listing is Portugal, which is at the end, on the right of the stage. Special thanks to Mike Abramowitz of the Post, who jotted these down before Secret Service restricted movement around the room.
Left side:
Arab League
Algeria
Austria
Bahrain
Brazil
Canada
China
Denmark
Egypt
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Italy
Closed end of horseshoe:
Japan
Jordan
Lebanon
Malaysia
Mauritania
Morocco
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Poland
Quatar
Right side:
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sudan
Sweden
Syria
Tunisia
Turkey
UAE
U.K.
Yemen
Portugal
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Here's a shot of the massive press filing center for the Middle East Peace conference in Annapolis today. This is the U.S. Naval Academy's main sports venue, Alumni Hall. White House press are in the back on the right, with Palestinian and Israeli press in the middle. Then some U.S. press who are here with the State Department farther up front.
Much of the TV people and equipment is outside this venue, so that TV reporters can do standups with their backs to Dorsey Creek, the body of water that feeds out to the Severn River next to the Naval Academy.
President Bush will speak at 11 a.m., and reporters were told to get here no later than 8:45 a.m. for the shuttle ride to Memorial Hall. That meant showing up at Navy's football stadium, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, around 7:30 to go through security and board a shuttle bus for the ride over here.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
UPDATE: More from the scene in Annapolis:
This is Bancroft Hall, the main dormitory on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy, which has been emptied of the 4,400 midshipmen today for the Annapolis Conference, the first Middle East peace summit of the Bush administration.
This is Memorial Hall, where President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address representatives from more than 40 nations this morning.
In the upper right hand corner here, you can see one of the holiest artifacts on the Naval Academy's campus, a flag that says, "Don't Give Up the Ship." Below it are names of academy graduates killed in action.
Just prior to the opening of the Annapolis peace conference on Tuesday, the electronic signs along U.S. 50, Interstate 97, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge were lit up with messages to report suspicious activities.
-- Audrey Hudson, Homeland Security reporter, The Washington Times
White House visits today by Mideast leaders, as well as former Vice President Al Gore, are overshadowing an agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments.
President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed a document this morning agreeing to continue their countries' relationship under the United Nations for another year, with the goal of beginning direct bilateral negotiations on security and other matters next year.
"This moves us closer to normalized, bilateral relations between our two countries," the White House document states.
Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the president's war czar, briefed reporters on the agreement this morning, saying that the "basic message" is that "Iraq is increasingly able to stand on its own ... but it won't have to stand alone."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said today.
Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in his home state later in the day to reveal his plans. According to congressional and White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective the end of the year.
Two odd things here: (a) he's not merely announcing an intent to retire at the end of his current term, but to resign within weeks; and (b) the announcement was leaked from the White House.
Conservative bloggers aren't exactly heartbroken over Lott's exit, with Michelle Malkin bidding him "DLTDHYOTWO" ("Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out").
Lott's defense of pork-barrel spending and his support of the "shamnesty" immigration bill — including his attack on the talk-radio "problem" — alienated many conservatives.
The Campaign for America's Future (CAF) -- a liberal group whose founders include union officials, academics and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich -- is using Barbie and Ken to bash the Bush administration:
See what happens when conservative ideology shrinks the Consumer Product Safety Commission, puts cronies in charge and leaves American consumers without protection from products made in factories with no health and safety standards.
Then sign our petition to tell Nancy Nord, the acting CPSC director ,"Since you don't want to do your job, it's time for you to go." She has resisted congressional efforts to empower her agency, working from the same right-wing, anti-regulatory playbook that has led to the agency losing roughly half its staff and budget since 1980.
If you're an anti-war activist appearing on Fox News with Laura Ingraham, it's best to bring some real arguments -- and leave the Che Guevara T-shirt at home:
Miss Taylor's interests, according to her Blogger.com profile, include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Video courtesy of Hot Air, where Bryan Preston says:
They are not merely anti-Bush or even anti-American. They are not merely on the other side in this war. They are and will always be against anything and everything that America does. ... They make common cause with the jihadists now because the jihadists are our current number one enemy. Once the jihadists are defeated, World Can't Wait ... will size up the country's mood, figure out what enemy might be lurking out there with evil designs on us, and Sunsara and her merry band of Stalinist throwbacks will make common cause with whoever that is. It's just what they do.
Almost 50 years after Frank S. Myer equated liberalism with communism, that idea is slavishly repeated by the wingnuts. In today's jargon, "far-left" means both something they disagree with AND communism. ... Laura Ingraham made a fool of herself when she described the protest against Alberto Gonzales as resulting in "mayhem" and further spewed about the Marxist inspiration of the protesters. Hot Air, Van Der Galien and the Washington Times concurred with [Ingraham].
OK, we'll let Meyer rest in peace, and Ingraham, Hot Air and Van Der Galien can speak for themselves. Let us instead focus laser-like on these points:
1. Anyone can click on that video, watch it, and decide which of the participants "made a fool of herself."
2. Miss Taylor (a) is wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt, and (b) represents a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Communist Party. Given these facts, in what sense does one "spew" by taking note of the "Marxist inspiration"?
-- RSM
UPDATE 12:30 a.m. THURSDAY:
OK, just in case Steve J. or anyone else wants to scoff about the relevance of "Marxist inspiration" to Miss Taylor's activism, here is a sentence -- or more accurately, a collection of phrases -- posted to Miss Taylor's blog, discussing the conditions necessary for a revolution:
Once there is a major, qualitative change in the nature of the objective situation, where all of society is in a profound crisis, owing fundamentally to the nature and workings of the system itself -- and along with that there is the emergence of a revolutionary people, numbering in the millions and millions, conscious of the need for revolutionary change and determined to fight for it. (Emphasis added.)
The "system" in question, as Miss Taylor's blog makes clear, is capitalism. One doesn't have to read a lot of Marx and Lenin (though I'm sure I've read more than Miss Taylor has) to recognize that advocating revolution against a capitalist "system," while prophesying an approaching crisis of the aforesaid "system," is Marxism.
Whatever specific grievance Miss Taylor and her comrades in the Revolutionary Communist Party may suggest against "the Bush regime," their stated objective is a Marxist revolution, an objective for which she urges them to "fight."
President Bush said today that no one can understand the pressures of the presidency until he, or she, lives through it.
And that's why Sen. Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, he said.
"She understands the klieg lights and the pressure," Mr. Bush said, in an interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson. "There is no question that Senator Clinton understands pressure better than any of the candidates … because she lived in the White House and sees it first … could see it first-hand."
"Having said that, I do believe our candidate will beat her, if she happens to be the nominee," said Mr. Bush, who conducted the interview at Camp David, along with First Lady Laura Bush.
In the far-ranging interview (full transcript here), Mr. Bush predicted that the current primary system for presidential elections could be reformed to shorten it, said that Sen. Barack Obama's commitment to meet with rogue dictators is "odd," and guaranteed that Congress will give him the federal funding needed to continue the war in Iraq.
Having suffered through months of some of the lowest presidential approval ratings in history, Mr. Bush also indicated that he thinks he may be viewed more favorably over time.
"I spent a lotta time reading about Abraham Lincoln," Mr. Bush said. "Abraham Lincoln had no earthly idea that the Gettysburg Address was a great speech. All he knew is after having given it, he was condemned by a press corps that thought the person that preceded him was much better."
"I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history, that you can't judge a administration immediately … particularly one that has pushed hard for some big ideas, like my administration has done," Mr. Bush said.
Regarding the most pressing current issue — the crisis in Pakistan — Mr. Bush said he was hopeful that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will return the country to constitutional rule, and confident that the country's nuclear arsenal is still safely protected from terrorists and Islamic radicals.
"I think he truly is somebody who believes in democracy," Mr. Bush said of Mr. Musharraf. "He has done more for Democracy in Pakistan than any modern leader has, and one of the reasons you're seeing the blowback that you're getting in Pakistan is because of the reforms that President Musharraf has put in place."
"Do I believe that he's going to end up getting Pakistan back on the road to democracy? I certainly hope so," the president said.
As for Pakistan's nuclear weapons, Mr. Bush said he feels "pretty comfortable" that they are still under Mr. Musharraf's control
"I feel good about it right now," Mr. Bush said.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan says that President Bush knowingly allowed him to present "false information" about the Valerie Plame affair to the press in a small excerpt from his upcoming book that was released online today.
But Mr. McClellan's explosive, if somewhat vague, charge is sure to spark lots of interest and conversation over the coming months.
The excerpt never specifically says what the "false information" was, though it's clear from the context that Mr. McClellan is referring to the many assertions he made that no one in the Bush administration had leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak.
"I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby," Mr. McClellan writes.
"There was one problem. It was not true," he writes.
Mr. McClellan says in the quest to "restore credibility [Mr. Bush] lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," the president and four of his top aides let the press secretary run with a lie.
"I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself," Mr. McClellan writes.
Mr. McClellan is the second former Bush administration official to publicly criticize Mr. Bush this year. In the spring, former Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said he had lost faith in Mr. Bush because of the Iraq war and because of his hard-nosed style of politics.
But Mr. McClellan was closer to Mr. Bush than Mr. Dowd, having worked for the president since the 2000 election. When Mr. McClellan resigned, Mr. Bush said that "one of these days he and I are going to be rocking on chairs in Texas, talking about the good old days."
One former colleague of Mr. McClellan's said he was "very surprised" at the charges, and the timing of the excerpt release.
"I don't know why they came out now when the book is scheduled to be released in April. Perhaps he was jealous of Rove being a journalist and wanted to steal some of the spotlight," the former White House official said, referring to Mr. Rove's recently inked deal to write a regular column for Newsweek.
In a recent interview, Mr. McClellan said he was busy working on the final portions of the book, and offered a dim prediction for Mr. Bush's last year in office. Mr. McClellan said that Mr. Bush would have to stay focused on Iraq and the economy, hoping that neither situation collapses.
"It's such a bitter environment in Washington right now that it's going to be tough for the president to get much accomplished beyond that," Mr. McClellan said. "There's so much bad blood in the water."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Even if the "surge" in Iraq is working, says Rep. John P. Murtha, the war is still hopeless. S.A. Miller reports:
"Look at all the people that have been displaced, all the [lost] oil production, unemployment, all those type of things," said Rep. John P. Murtha, chairman of Appropriations defense subcommittee. "We can't win militarily."
The Pennsylvania Democrat conceded violence was down dramatically and some normalcy restored on Iraq's streets, but he said U.S. victory remains unattainable as long as Baghdad fails to pass national reconciliation laws.
"To change the political law, it doesn't seem to me you need the military stability," Mr. Murtha told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Isn't it funny that when the military situation is improving far more than anyone could have anticipated, Murtha's suddenly decided it's entirely irrelevant?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
UPDATE 7:30 p.m.:
"The Great One," Mark Levin, just led the second hour of his nationally syndicated radio show by playing Martina McBride's rendition of "God Bless America," then reading Miller's story. Speaking of Murtha, Levin said: "This man is subversive."
Bloggers are gathering around Murtha's remarks like hungry pilgrims at Thanksgiving. The Free Republic crew is feasting on the turkey, as are the Villagers with Torches.
Looking at this objectively, you've really got to wonder who is advising Murtha. Again, courtesy of Duane Patterson, here's the transcript of Murtha's opening remarks:
This week, around our Thanksgiving tables, there will be two families: One who say they support the troops, and they do, but they have sacrificed very little. They haven't had their taxes raised, they haven't been drafted, and they don't really participate in the war. The other are military families who have husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in the war theater. It's them who shoulder the burden of the President's Iraq policy. America owes them our thanks in this Thanksgiving weekend.
Any way you slice that pumpkin pie, Murtha is dividing Americans into two categories: Those who support the war, and those who are fighting the war.
This ignores (or, rather, denies) the possibility that there are any troops or their families who support the war. The clear syllogism of Murtha's argument is that support for the war is bad, but volunteering to fight the war is good. But what greater way of supporting the war is there than volunteering to fight it? And there are such men.
So what does "Abscam Jack" do? He serves up a gigantic helping of red meat, just as everybody gets ready to drive to grandma's for Thanksgiving. Those holiday travelers will turn on their radios, and guess what all the talk-show hosts will be talking about? Then, during commercial breaks in the football games, they'll click over to check Fox News, and guess what they'll be talking about?
One thing's for sure: Murtha's given the White House a major reason to be thankful this four-day holiday weekend.
So having your taxes raised somehow makes your support for the war more special? All that does is give Jack more of everyone else's money to play with. To call him "contemptible" is to define that word down.
Wait a minute: Hillary is under attack in the Democratic primaries by John Edwards and Barack Obama (and the anti-war group Code Pink), so she decides to run an ad blaming her woes on Republicans?
Eric Kleefeld at the liberal TPM Election Central site discusses the logic of the ad:
It would seem there are three reasons to run this ad: 1) Republican attacks against her that win over their own loyalists might also turn Dem-leaning independents against Hillary; 2) Going after the Republicans for attacking Hillary could have a rally-around-the-flag effect for Hillary with her own partisans; and 3) The Hillary campaign has been likening the intramural attacks from Barack Obama and John Edwards to those heard from Republicans, so this ad could be seeking to marginalize their critiques.
Surely the Edwards and Obama campaigns will denounce the ad as dishonest, but I wonder what feminists like Garance Franke-Ruta think of tactics like this?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
UPDATE 12:40 p.m.
Delay: "The Left over the last five or six years have been able to put together some impressive coalitions ... We have a lot of organizations," but there are "stovepipes" that hinder communication and coordination. CCM aims to "fill voids in the conservative movement. ... We're not trying to complete with other organizations, we're trying to complement them." CCM aims to provide "the political muscle that the conservative movement sorely needs."
Blackwell: "Our emphasis is to build an infrastructure [that is] not just physical, but virtual. ... This is not a game of subtraction, this is a game of multiplication."
DeLay: "We're not re-inventing the wheel. ... One of the things that concerns me about the conservative movement is the lack of action. ... There's not enough communication and there's not enough action."
Columnist Helen Thomas brought down the house this morning in the White House briefing room.
Ms. Thomas, as the morning, off-camera gaggle wound down, asked White House press secretary Dana Perino what President Bush thinks of former advisor Karl Rove being given a regular column by Newsweek.
Mrs. Perino turned the question back on Ms. Thomas, and asked her what she thought.
"I think it's terrible," Ms. Thomas said.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Interviewed at the Southern Command of the Excellence in Broadcasting Network -- as usual, "firmly ensconced behind the Golden EIB Microphone in the prestigious Attilla the Hun Chair at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies" -- Rush Limbaugh talks about who he is and what he does:
Hat tip to Hot Air, which also provides this video documenting that every "undecided voter" picked by CNN to ask a question during last week's Democratic debate in Las Vegas was, in fact, an operative or activist of some sort:
Give plants a chance?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
About three weeks ago, Ron Rosenbaum of Pajamas Media reported that "a well-connected media person" told him that "everyone" in the political press corps knew that the Los Angeles Times was "sitting on a story, all wrapped up and ready to go about what is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading presidential candidate."
The LA Times denied it, but the bizarre nature of the rumor — Rosenbaum charged that "the elite media knew about it and was keeping silent about it" — left a lot of people scratching their heads.
Several bloggers, including Mickey Kaus, guessed the candidate must be a Democrat; if it was a Republican, the bloggers agreed, the "elite media" wouldn't hesitate to run with the story. But which Democrat? Well, if it was a "leading" candidate, that boiled it down to either New York Sen. Hillary Rodham, Clinton, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards or Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.
This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look vulnerable and Clinton look prudent.
Is this it? Is this the same "potentially devastating sexual scandal" that Rosenbaum was talking about?
A towering mountain, verily an Everest of Irony, looms before us. Would Hillary Clinton dare suggest that marital infidelity renders a man unfit for the presidency? (Wait until R. Emmett Tyrrell hears this one; he'll choke on his martini.)
I don't buy it; [Obama] doesn't strike me as a skirt-chaser. Which means it's either a financial scandal — not a subject Her Majesty would want to introduce into the campaign — or maybe … his prior drug use?
Obviously, Allahpundit is not part of the "elite," because "everyone knows," right?
"If the purpose of this shameless item was to daunt or discourage me or supporters of our campaign from challenging and changing the politics of Washington, it will fail. In fact, it will only serve to steel our resolve," the Illinois senator said. He urged Clinton to "either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none."
"Everyone knows" that the Clinton opposition-research crew is the best in the business. They just brought back veteran operative Sidney Blumenthal, and you don't have to be part of the "elite media" to know that Team Hillary doesn't plan on losing this election.
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
It appears that the U.S.-led peace summit with the Israeli and Palestinian representatives will take place in Annapolis on Monday, Nov. 26, and Tue., Nov. 27, according to sources.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, who is in only his second week on the job, put out an interesting statement today about a civil rights march taking place in D.C.
Mr. Mukasey appears to go out of his way to recognize the marchers, and to assure the public that the Justice Department is investigating incidents of racism, but that "in order to be most effective, these investigations do not occur in the public eye."
It's apparent that the new attorney general wants to do what he can to tear down the perception that civil rights are not important to this administration. Here is the full statement.
STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL MICHAEL B. MUKASEY REGARDING TODAY'S CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH
"In recent months, there have been reports of nooses and other symbols of racial and religious hate appearing in schools, work places, and neighborhoods across the country. These symbols of hate have no place in our great county. As part of the Justice Department's racial threats initiative, the Department — including the Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — is working in partnership with state and local law enforcement and civil rights organizations to investigate aggressively dozens of noose-hangings and other recent racially and religiously motivated threats around the country. In order to be most effective, these investigations do not occur in the public eye.
“The Justice Department shares with those who demonstrate today their objective of bringing to justice those who commit criminal acts of hate; it shares their vision of eradicating hate in our society. At the same time, the Department must follow the law and the principles of federal prosecution in every case it investigates and prosecutes. Although there are limitations and challenges in bringing successful hate crimes prosecutions, the Department takes each case seriously, and is prepared to vindicate the rights of the victims when prosecution is warranted by the facts and by federal law.
"The mission of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is as vital today as when it was created 50 years ago. Those who march today should be commended for highlighting the issues of tolerance and civil liberties. We hope that all can agree that it is the criminals who commit violent acts of hate who deserve the loudest protest. And as long as hatred and racism exist, the Justice Department will continue its hard and effective work on behalf of all victims of hate crimes."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
One high-profile celebrity, when asked about her political views, even had her lawyers declare "our client's rights of privacy and other legally protectable intangible rights" and warn that she should not be labeled a Republican.
So far, just a handful of actors have come forward to support Republican hopefuls.
"Please be advised that Ms. Hatcher is not a Republican, but more importantly does not choose to have her political affiliation or viewpoints on any particular candidate or issue in the current presidential campaign included in your proposed article," lawyer Barry W. Tyerman said in an e-mail.
Hollywood's political climate is under the microscope lately because of the string of anti-war box-office duds (see Christian Toto's story), as well as because of the screenwriters strike.
Linked at the Drudge Report and Memeorandum, Joe's story is generating lots of blog commentary, with Doug Powers talking about "blacklisting" of conservatives in Hollywood; Say Anything calls it "reverse McCartyhism."
Jammie Wearing Fool remarks, "It's nice to see such tolerance and diversity from those who lecture us about tolerance and diversity."
Don Surber dissents, saying "It seems a tad melodramatic. . . . Stories like this just feed paranoia."
Melodramatic paranoia ... or Hollywood reality?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
UPDATE 12:15
In a not-unrelated development, John Edwards will join the struggling proletarian masses on the picket lines . . . in Burbank:
Democratic presidential contender John Edwards will become the first candidate to visit the Writers Guild picket lines, when he visits the NBC lot this Friday.
According to the WGA, Edwards will appear outside NBC's Burbank headquarters around 1:45 p.m.
Writers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your double-shot frappuccinos!
President Bush yesterday announced seven judicial nominees, five U.S. Attorney nominees and five nominees for top posts at the Justice Department.
He then went to the Federalist Society's 25th anniversary gala at Union Station and criticized Democrats for obstructing previous nominees on political grounds.
"It's a sad commentary on the United States Senate. And every time it happens, we lose something as a constitutional democracy," Mr. Bush said of the delays.
Here are the nominees:
FEDERAL JUDGES
Lincoln D. Almond of Rhode Island, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Rhode Island, vice Ernest C. Torres (retired)
Mark S. Davis of Virginia, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, vice T. S. Ellis, III (retired)
David Gregory Kays of Missouri, to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Missouri, vice Dean Whipple (retired)
David J. Novak of Virginia, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, vice Robert E. Payne (retired)
Gene E. K. Pratter of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, vice Franklin S. Van Antwerpen (retired)
Rod J. Rosenstein of Maryland, to be U.S.s Circuit Judge for the 4th Circuit, vice Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. (deceased)
Carolyn P. Short of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, vice Gene E. K. Pratter (upon elevation)
U.S. ATTORNEYS
Edmund A. Booth Jr. of Georgia, to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia for the term of four years, vice Lisa Godbey Wood (resigned)
Gregory A. Brower of Nevada, to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada for the term of four years, vice Daniel G. Bogden (resigned)
Rebecca A. Gregory of Texas, to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas for the term of four years, vice Matthew D. Orwig (resigned)
Diane J. Humetewa of Arizona, to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona for the term of four years, vice Paul K. Charlton (resigned)
Joseph P. Russoniello of California, to be U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California for the term of four years, vice Kevin Vincent Ryan.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT POSITIONS
Grace C. Becker of New York, to be assistant attorney general (civil rights)
Mark R. Filip of Illinois, to be deputy attorney general
Nathan J. Hochman of California, to be assistant attorney general (tax division)
Gregory G. Katsas of Massachusetts, to be assistant attorney general (civil division)
Kevin J. O'Connor of Connecticut, to be associate attorney general
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
The White House today said that past U.S. foreign policy mistakes with regard to Pakistan are influencing its approach to the current crisis there.
"We want to have a long-term relationship with this country. In the past, we have waffled on that and it did not serve us well," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
The U.S. worked with Pakistan to oppose Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. But once the Soviets were defeated, the U.S. issued sanctions against Pakistan over its nuclear-weapons programs.
"We lost ... contact with an entire generation of military leaders, of Pakistani military leaders," Mrs. Perino said. "We need to get back into the business of making sure that we don't just walk away from a country because they made a mistake."
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
"It is not a tidy situation," White House press secretary Dana Perino said this morning when asked about Pakistan.
Mrs. Perino said the White House is "concerned" that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has not rescinded his "emergency rule" order to return the country to constitutional rule and has not said when he will do so, if ever.
President Bush is sending Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to Pakistan later this week, Mrs. Perino said.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Anwar Iqbal's report on Pakistan in today's paper echoes a theme that was sounded by a top Clinton-era diplomat to South Asia during an interview Friday.
"One of the saddest parts of this whole crisis is that the forces of moderation are at war with one another," said Karl Inderfurth, who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asia from 1997 to 2001 and who met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in early 2000.
"The real threat to Pakistan is not the current government or the opposition. The real threat is from the extremist forces in the country that want to establish a theocratic state," Mr. Inderfurth said, referring to Islamic radicals.
"So when Musharraf starts cracking down on lawyers, human rights activists in jail, he's hitting the wrong target," said Mr. Inderfurth, who currently heads the graduate program in international studies at George Washington University.
Reports over the weekend noted concerns by U.S. officials that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists while the government is distracted by Gen. Musharraf's crackdown or if his government falls.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Spotted at Reagan National this morning: Sen. John Thune (R-SD). The senator slipped into the "premium" flyer line at the security checkpoint, and wasn't asked to prove it like other passengers. But he didn't flaunt his status, and smiled politely as he showed his ID and boarding pass to screeners. Maybe that's because he didn't need to — his carry-on bag was clearly labeled. In fact, it had two tags reading "Senator Thune," in case anyone was wondering.
Karl Rove teed off this afternoon on the liberal netroots, the coalition of far-left blogs and advocacy groups who are a new power bloc in the Democratic party.
"The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse," said Mr. Rove, who served as one of President Bush's top strategists until he resigned this past summer, and is a noted technology nut.
"People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog," Mr. Rove said during a speech about politics and the Web at the Willard InterContinental, a hotel just blocks from his former place of employment.
"I'm a fan of many blogs. I visit them frequently and I learn a lot from them," Mr. Rove said. "But there also blogs written by angry kooks."
Mr. Rove cited the results of a study that found that writers and commenters on liberal blogs such as DailyKos.com cursed far more than writers and commenters on conservative Web sites such as FreeRepublic.com.
"My point is not that liberals swear publicly more often than conservatives. That may be true, but that's not my point," Mr. Rove said. "It is that the netroots often argue from anger rather than reason, and too often, their object is personal release, not political persuasion."
Mr. Rove's concluded that such messaging will be ineffective in winning over undecided voters.
"The dark side of the Web can actually turn off voters," Mr. Rove said.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
When last we visited some Democratic staffers at the House Homeland Security Committee, they were getting immunized against Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria, and influenza before venturing out to a couple of NASCAR races.
After receiving a considerable amount of flack for the insinuation that fans carry germs and may have infected the Washington insiders with such third-world illnesses (plus one sexually transmitted disease), the Democrats claimed they weren't just going to NASCAR events, but needed the shots to attend the World Series and other sporting events where a health disaster could strike.
Well, as it turns out, the only events the staffers went to were in fact the NASCAR races, and instead, the committee has invited representatives from other venues to meet with them in the safe confines of Washington, D.C.
"On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, the Committee on Homeland Security will hold a Member-only briefing on sports venue security," reads a memo obtained by The Washington Times.
"Representatives from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association. (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) will be present to respond to Member questions."
The "Member-Only briefing" will be held at the Cannon House Office Building.
I wonder if any of the sporting officials will get the same immunizations before congregating with members of Congress?
— Audrey Hudson, Homeland Security reporter, The Washington Times
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