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Thursday, July 31, 2003
Vice-President Cheney to Raise Campaign Funds in Wyoming
Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to breeze through Utah on Monday for a luncheon for the Bush-Cheney campaign with sights set on raising $300,000.
Cheney will appear at a $1,000-a-plate lunch at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Monday at 11:30 a.m. The menu includes New York steak, mixed greens with tomato and cucumbers, the chef's choice of vegetable and deep-dish Granny Smith apple pie with carmel and shortbread.
Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop and Gov. Mike Leavitt are the honorary chairmen for the event.
''Our goal is $300,000 and I'm really confident that we're going to get there, but because it's summertime, a lot of people are contributing but not attending,'' said Allyson Bell, a volunteer who is organizing the event.
Following the luncheon, Cheney will travel to Bellvue, Idaho, south of Sun Valley, for a $2,000-per-person afternoon reception at a private home.
Bush Jobs and Growth Tour Gains Traction in the Heartland (MARTIN CRUTSINGER, 7/30/03, AP News)
It might not rival the sold-out concert tours of the Three Tenors, but the "jobs and growth" bus tour of the three Cabinet secretaries (Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao) certainly had its moments.
Each stop had been carefully selected by an advance team to illustrate various parts of Bush's $330 billion in tax cuts. The administration is fervently hoping the cuts will finally do the trick in reviving the sluggish economy.
The Cabinet secretaries were photographed admiring a row of 50 black and silver Harley Davidson motorcycles lined up outside the company's Milwaukee plant. A round-table for small business owners was held on the warehouse floor of a Green Bay, Wis., company. Fork lifts served as the photo backdrop.
Backers pressure Gore to run again next year (Alexander Bolton, 7/30/03, The Hill)
Former Vice-President Al Gore is coming under pressure from political supporters and friends to jump into the 2004 presidential campaign even though he ruled himself out in December.
Gore�s spokesperson denied that there was any change of plans, but a former Democratic National Committee official close to Gore told The Hill he believes the former vice president may enter the Democratic primary this fall. [...]
A Time/CNN poll conducted between May 21 and 22 showed that if Gore changed his mind and ran for president, 40 percent of Democrats and Independents who lean Democratic nationwide would vote for him. The Democratic runners-up, Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), and Rep. Dick Gephardt (Mo.), would each draw 7 percent of that vote. [...]
The fluid situation has apparently kept a core group of Democratic fundraisers who played key roles in Gore�s 2000 campaign to remain aloof from the current candidates despite being courted intensely.
Tax Refunds Give Personal Finances a Needed Boost; Stimulate Economy (MICHAEL JANOFSKY, 7/30/03, New York Times)
The refund checks have started arriving, and for many residents here, the $400-a-child tax credit, part of President Bush's latest effort to stimulate the economy, could not come at a better time.
Matt Ross, a father of two, said he intended to pay a few bills and, with school starting in a few weeks, buy new clothes for his children. Robert and Sharee McCutcheon, who also have two children, said their money would go for school supplies and Christmas presents. Roger Kintz, father of two girls, including an aspiring Olympic gymnast who is competing this week in Detroit, said his money would help pay for the trip.
Bridgett Bedwell, the mother of two boys, was thinking about her family dentist. "I'm fixing to have braces for my kids' teeth," she said. "That check really helps me out, especially when the braces are costing me $4,000."
Putting Policy Above Politics: Cabinet Officials Stay Off Campaign Trail
A summer meeting of Republican leaders in New York last week featured not one but two welcoming speeches by Rudolph W. Giuliani. Those appearances by the symbol of the city's response to the World Trade Center attack were another reminder of one big reason the White House chose New York as the place where President Bush is to be nominated for re-election next year.
But as Mr. Giuliani, in a preview of the party's 2004 convention, led the Republicans in lauding Mr. Bush's leadership after Sept. 11, a different message about terrorism and the presidential election campaign was being sent by Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary.
Mr. Ridge said that after talking to Mr. Bush, he had decided to refrain from any political activity. It would be inappropriate, he said, for the cabinet officer so closely identified with the fight against terrorism to step onto the campaign field.
...
For his part, Mr. Ridge said in an interview that the decision to sit out the campaign was one that Mr. Bush strongly endorsed. He noted that the other cabinet officers most intimately involved in national security matters — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft — were all going to refrain from active campaigning.
"This is the right decision for the right reasons," Mr. Ridge said. "I get a lot of invitations from congressmen to do political things, and I tell them, `I don't think it's appropriate.' I've been asked to do fund-raisers, and I've said, `I just don't think I should.' "
President Bush to Raise Funds in Minnesota Next Month
President Bush will bring his re-election campaign to Minnesota next month, and political experts suspect the state will see a lot more of him between now and November 2004.
The White House announced Tuesday evening that Bush will stop in Minneapolis on Aug. 26 as part of a stepped-up campaign schedule.
Bush will attend a fund-raiser, a campaign spokesman said. An administration spokesman didn't return a call inquiring about other events.
But the White House is describing the visit as part of the Bush-Cheney 2004 effort. President Bush's most recent swings through Minnesota have been considered official business, including a June appearance where he promoted his tax-cut plan in Fridley.
Harnessing the Power of the Internet: Dean Continues to Surge
A weekend surge of donations to Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean's Web site marks a growing push for online campaigning, but the Internet is not expected to replace traditional stumping soon.
The former Vermont governor collected more than $500,000 in Internet contributions during the weekend from 9,621 donors — doubling the $250,000 Vice President Dick Cheney raised at a luncheon Monday in South Carolina. Mr. Dean's campaign challenged his supporters to "show Dick Cheney that the grass roots have the power to take on special interests" with a telethon-style call for contributions on his Web site, www.deanforamerica.com.
The site, paid for and maintained by Mr. Dean's campaign, targets individual donors with savvy features, such as pro-Dean wireless text messaging about upcoming appearances and a red baseball icon that fills up as contributions pour in.
The campaign's e-mail list sends messages to nearly 225,000 subscribers.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Text: Bush News Conference on Iraq (July 30, 2003)
QUESTION: Thank you, sir. Mr. President, many of your supporters believe that homosexuality is immoral. They believe that it's been given too much acceptance in policy terms and culturally. As someone who's spoken out in strongly moral terms, what's your view on homosexuality?
BUSH: Yes, I am mindful that we're all sinners. And I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor's eye when they've got a log in their own.
I think it's very important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts, to be a welcoming country.
On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage. And that's really where the issue is headed here in Washington, and that is the definition of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other. And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that. [...]
QUESTION: Mr. President, you often speak about the need for accountability in many areas.
I wonder then why is Dr. Condoleezza Rice not being held accountable for the statement that your own White House has acknowledged was a mistake in your State of the Union address regarding Iraq's attempts to purchase uranium? And also, do you take personal responsibility for that inaccuracy?
BUSH: I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course. Absolutely. I also take responsibility for making decisions on war and peace. And I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence--good, solid, sound intelligence that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
We gave the world a chance to do it. We had--remember, there was--again, I don't want to get repetitive here but it's important to remind everybody that there was 12 resolutions that came out of the United Nations because others recognized the threat of Saddam Hussein. Twelve times the United Nations Security Council passed resolutions in recognition of the threat that he posed. And the difference was is that some were not willing to act on those resolutions. We were, along with a lot of other countries, because he posed a threat. Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an honest, fabulous person, and America is lucky to have her service. Period.
QUESTION: Mr. President, with no opponent, how can you spend $170 million or more on your primary campaign?
BUSH: Just watch.
(LAUGHTER)
You Can Run, But You Can't Hide: Noose Tightening Around Saddam (John Diamond, 7/30/03, USA Today)
U.S. forces are closing in on Saddam Hussein and will allow circumstances to dictate whether he is taken alive or killed, State Department and Pentagon officials said Tuesday...
Two U.S. intelligence officials cited reports from human sources and technical means indicating that Saddam had changed his appearance, including shaving his trademark mustache and growing a beard. They said intelligence analysts estimate he may be moving in Iraq with as few as two bodyguards, a stash of cash and automatic and shoulder-fired weapons.
Tips from Iraqis have alleged that Saddam is staying in old bunkers and the homes of friends and relatives.
Former presidential bodyguard Adnan al-Musslit was arrested in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit with 11 other regime associates. The capture heartened U.S. commanders involved in the search for Saddam.
''When people are on the run, they get tired and start making mistakes,'' said Maj. Josslyn Aberle of the Army's 4th Infantry Division. She said, though, that Saddam ''is a master of hiding.''
Gov. George Pataki of New York Continues to Raise Funds for Bush-Cheney 2004
Gov. George Pataki, already a "Bush Ranger" for personally raising more than $200,000 for George Bush's re-election campaign, shook the money tree again Tuesday with help from the president's sister.
Pataki and Dorothy "Doro" Bush Koch were the star attractions for a $1,000-a-person evening reception at the Armory Center, a facility housing a large auto dealership, restaurants and shops. The private event drew 125 supporters and raised $125,000, according to Tracey Schmitt of the Bush campaign...
The Albany fund-raiser follows a Pataki-hosted reception last month in Manhattan, attended by the president, that raised about $4 million for the Bush campaign. The Pataki camp said the Albany event, plus other fund-raising activity, would push the New York total for Bush above $5 million.
"I believe he's been an outstanding leader and I want the president to get the opportunity to continue to lead our country, and I'm going to do what I can to do that," Pataki told a state Capitol news conference on Tuesday when asked about his fund-raising work.
Pataki is one of just 23 "rangers," according to Bush's campaign web site.
New York City Young Republicans Happy Hour Today!!!
This Wednesday, July 30 at 7:30pm, the NYYRC is hosting A Mid-Summer Night's Republican Happy Hour, with cohosts Gold Coast Young Republicans and the Manhattan Republican Club. The location is Trio, 167 East 33rd Street, at Third Avenue, downstairs room. $10 admission, or free for members of NYYRC, GCYR, and MRC. Any member in good standing can bring a guest for $5.Thanks for the heads-up Kashei!
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
GOP Reaches Out to NYC Hispanics
State Republicans, saying they are strong enough to reach out to previously untapped communities, opened a voter registration office Thursday in a Hispanic neighborhood in upper Manhattan.
"Don't take a single precinct for granted, because we are here and we're here to stay," said incoming Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, who joined Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the opening.
Gillespie directed his comments at state Democrats as the office opened in Inwood, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood near the Manhattan-Bronx border. The RNC, which is conducting four days of meetings in the city, has announced plans to campaign heavily in the Democratic state, hoping for victory in the 2004 presidential race for the first time since Ronald Reagan won here in 1984.
More than 2 million Hispanic residents live in New York City, and Bloomberg said the Hispanic vote will be critical to the party's efforts next year.
Pataki, who was re-elected last year in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-3, said his party's economics and policies are "not just for Park avenue."
"It's aimed at helping every single person in every single community," he said.
Pataki aggressively sought out Hispanic voters during last year's gubernatorial campaign, frequently campaigning under the "Amigos de Pataki" banner in Latino communities.
Pataki, Bloomberg and RNC Chairman Marc Racicot walked through the state GOP Committee's office, which opened between a dress shop and a fruit and vegetable stand. More than 30 neighborhood residents visited the office on Thursday to register as Republicans.
Is "Catholics Need Not Apply" Accusation Accurate?
Juan Non-Volokh things not:
The heart of CFJ’s (Center for Justice) claim, it seems to me, is not that any Senators or public interest groups opposing Pryor are motivated by anti-Catholic bigotry as such. Rather, it is that some Senators and groups have adopted a standard – a “litmus test,” if you will – that operates as a de facto bar against the confirmation of devout Catholics (among others) to the federal bench. Specifically, some have suggested that anyone who believes abortion is morally wrong in all, or nearly all, cases and that Roe v. Wade led (in Pryor’s words) to the “slaughter of millions of innocent lives” is unsuited for the federal bench. I think this is a reasonable interpretation of the views of some, but by no means all, Pryor opponents. The New York Times, for example, labels such a position “extreme” (as it did in a June 23 editorial) and has repeatedly cited Pryor’s views on abortion as exhibit A in its opposition to his confirmation. The Times also cited the abortion issue as reason to oppose Michael McConnell, since confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The various abortion rights groups are also clear on this point: they oppose any and all nominees that are opposed to abortion. Some Democratic Senators have said, or at least suggested, much the same thing.
If this is in fact the standard – if some of Pryor’s opponents believe that deeply felt, religiously inspired opposition to abortion, disqualifies a nominee for confirmation to the federal bench – then it is the functional equivalent of a “Catholics Need Not Apply” sign, in that it will bar devout Catholics who follow church teachings (among others) from the federal bench. This does not, however, justify accusing Pryor’s opponents of anti-Catholic bigotry, as such. I have seen no evidence that attacks on Pryor are motivated by anti-Catholicism. Nonetheless, I do not think it is inappropriate for Pryor’s supporters to note that the position articulated by some of Pryor’s most vocal opponents would, in practice, exclude devout Catholics and others who believe abortion is murder due to their religious faith.
Catholics Need Not Apply: More Judicial Nomination Folly (Quin Hillyer, 7/29/03, The Shreveport Times)
Democrats continue to not let facts get in the way of their anti-Catholic bigotry and stonewalling Attorney General Bill Pryor's nomination:
With regard to Pryor, two cases illustrate the abuse of anti-Southern stereotypes. First, liberal editorialists chastise Pryor for wanting to repeal the federal Voting Rights Act. Wrong. He opposes only one part of the act that requires only Southern states to secure advance approval from the Justice Department for election changes as minute as moving a polling booth from a school's cafeteria to the gymnasium.
Thurbert Baker, Georgia's black, Democratic attorney general, this year argued before the Supreme Court that the section Pryor opposed was indeed "an extraordinary transgression of the normal prerogatives of the states." Baker strongly endorses Pryor's nomination. So does Alabama's only black, Democratic congressman, Artur Davis.
The other anti-Southern stereotype the left has used against Pryor concerns the notion of the South as a home of Neanderthals prone to brutal punishments. In that vein, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York twice accused Pryor of outrageously "defending his state's practice of handcuffing prisoners to hitching posts in the hot Alabama sun for seven hours without even giving them a drop of water to drink."
Not exactly. Pryor was defending Regulation 429 of the Alabama Department of Corrections, which says when an inmate "refuse[d] to work" or was "otherwise disruptive to the work squad," prison officers were authorized to "handcuff" the inmate to a "restraining bar."
But the regulation provides the inmate could be left on the bar only so long as he continued to refuse to work. "At any time during the day," Regulation 429 stated, "the inmate can tell an officer that he is ready to go to work."
The inmate effectively holds his own key to release. Moreover, prisoners so disciplined are allowed by the same regulation to a nurse's attention, fresh water, hourly bathroom breaks, a sack lunch and any prescribed medication.
On issue after issue, Pryor's record has been distorted.
Bush Dispatches Economic Team to Further Message
Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao were scheduled to spend Tuesday and Wednesday touring Wisconsin and Minnesota, two states the president narrowly lost in the 2000 election, highlighting various aspects of the $330 billion tax cut package that Bush pushed through Congress earlier this year to stimulate a sluggish economy.
The Cabinet tour follows the president's own visits last week to promote his economic program in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two other states where Bush suffered loses in 2000 that he is hoping to reverse next year...
Bush and the Cabinet officials insist that the economy is poised for a significant rebound in growth that will be greatly assisted by $13 billion in increased child credit payments that 25 million American families will receive in the weeks ahead and the fatter paychecks that American workers started seeing at the beginning of July because of lower tax rates.
"When it looked like the economy was still sputtering and wasn't strong enough, when we realized that too many Americans were still struggling to find work ... I convinced the Congress to pass the Jobs and Growth Act," Bush said last week in Michigan. "The jobs and growth plan came at the exact right time in our history."
Appeal Over Rhetoric: Bush Draws Receptive Crowd at Urban League Conference
Bush elicited a polite if not electric reception from the predominantly African-American group in late-morning remarks that highlighted his support for faith-based institutions amid a familiar defense of his administration's policies on the economy and in response to terrorism.And the USA Today reports the following:
The Democrats drew more enthusiastic responses, but the contrast between the sizes of the crowds that heard the president and his challengers provided a visual metaphor for the hurdles the Democrats face in attracting attention to their campaigns.
Bush spoke in late morning before a crowd of approximately 1,500. By the time the Democrats' event started in the early evening, about a half-hour behind schedule, the audience appeared to total not much more than a third of the president's.
President Bush, who has made little headway in winning support from black voters despite an outreach program by the Republican Party, promoted his economic policies Monday at the annual conference of the National Urban League.
"Greater opportunity and hope begins with a growing economy," he told conference delegates...
"Our nation has come a long way, and we have a long way to go." Bush said. "We will not stop, we will not tire until we extend the great promise of America to every neighborhood of America."
"Everyone is watching and listening to this conference," said Rodney Slater, an Urban League board member and Transportation secretary under Democrat Bill Clinton. "This is a tough crowd." Slater said delegates "are going to go home and think about the speech and what the Democrats have to say. Making comparisons, this matters.
"Bush came, and you have to give him credit for it. He's someone who knows how to win, and he's playing the full court. He's not overlooking anyone."
Ethel Mitchell of Clinton, Md., said Bush impressed her, particularly with his emphasis on helping children. "Listening to him makes a difference. I am a registered Democrat, but I'm curious about what everyone has to say."
Bush has not accepted invitations to address the NAACP, a group that is more politically active in Democratic circles. His speech Monday was his second address to the Urban League, whose members are predominantly black but whose activities focus more on government policy than party politics...
After his speech, Bush met privately with Slater, Jesse Jackson and Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. They urged Bush to intervene in the civil war in Liberia, a West African nation settled in the 19th century by former U.S. slaves.
Bush Thanks Japan for Increased Role in Iraq
President Bush phoned Japan's prime minister Monday to welcome parliament's vote to authorize sending Japanese troops to help in the policing and reconstruction of Iraq.
Bush "expressed his respect" to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for his leadership in ensuring the law's passage late Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.
Koizumi replied that the move was one aspect of his commitment to strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance, the statement said.
Coalition of Trrops to Assist in Iraq
The United States on Monday named 30 governments that have agreed to help in Iraq by contributing to military or police operations.
Some of the countries do not have the means to pay for their own contributions so they are talking to the United States about U.S. financial assistance, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing.
The United States is anxious to muster as much international support as possible for its forces in Iraq, who face daily attacks and are costing about $1 billion a week.
The list of governments willing to contribute included many of those who supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March and none of the major opponents of the war.
The countries are: Albania, Azerbaijan, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, El Salvador, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain and Ukraine.
Turning the Corner in Iraq: Oil Exports Reach 750,000 Barrels a Day
In the latest sign that the country is slowly making headway in restarting significant oil production and exports, Iraq is expected this week to finish signing contracts to sell an average of as much as 750,000 barrels of oil a day for the rest of the year, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported.
Iraq, which exported about two million barrels of oil a day before the U.S.- led invasion, has, since the war ended, sold some crude in one-off, spot market deals. The current contracts represent the first time since major hostilities ended that Iraq has committed itself to exporting oil over a number of months, which is known in the industry as term sales.
He Can Run, But He Can't Hide: Closing in on Saddam
A bodyguard who rarely left Saddam Hussein's side and was regularly photographed with the former Iraqi leader was captured in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday along with a security chief and a militia leader, U.S. forces said.
U.S. soldiers captured Adnan Abdullah Abid al-Musslit in Tikrit, the former dictator's hometown, where earlier troops found enough antitank mines and gunpowder for a month of attacks on American forces. The two others captured were Daher Ziana, the head of security in Tikrit, and Rafa Idham Ibrahim al-Hassan, a leader of the Saddam Fedayeen militia, Lt. Col. Steve Russell said Tuesday.
Mr. al-Musslit was "one of Saddam's lifelong bodyguards," Col. Russell said, but the former dictator wasn't found in the house forces stormed to capture the top bodyguard.
Winning the War on Terror: Saudia Arabia Continues Its Crackdown
Saudi police said they raided a farm where militants were holed up Monday, touching off a battle with firearms and grenades that killed six suspects and two officers.
Almost weekly raids since militants staged bombing attacks in the capital in mid-May have revealed an extensive network of alleged terrorist cells and weapons caches across Saudi Arabia.
Monday, July 28, 2003
NYC Young Republicans Happy Hour This Wednesday
This Wednesday, July 30 at 7:30pm, the NYYRC is hosting A Mid-Summer Night's Republican Happy Hour, with cohosts Gold Coast Young Republicans and the Manhattan Republican Club. The location is Trio, 167 East 33rd Street, at Third Avenue, downstairs room. $10 admission, or free for members of NYYRC, GCYR, and MRC. Any member in good standing can bring a guest for $5.I got this from Kashai at Spot On. Hopefully I'll be there but with me just never know these days.
Michael Barones Discusses What Has Gone Right in Iraq
One wonders whether the American and world press will be able to ignore most of this progress as it has been ignoring the other progress made since April in Iraq. Stories have focused on the killing of American soldiers, apparently by Baathist elements. But this should not be surprising: the pro-Hitler Werewolves underground shot and killed many American soldiers for months after the surrender of Germany in 1945. News media obsessed with the reliability of intelligence about Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium in Africa have tended to gloss over or ignore the progress set out by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in his July 24 press briefing. It is worth setting out:
» The formation of an Iraqi national army has begun.
» 30,000 Iraqi police have been hired.
» An Iraqi civil defense corps is being formed.
» Coalition forces have captured or killed 38 of Iraq's 55 most wanted.
» Thousands of lower-level Baath Party loyalists have been rounded up or otherwise dealt with.
» The Iraqi Central Bank has been made independent.
» Iraq has returned to the world oil market. All of Iraq's universities have reopened.
» Power and water are, in most places, at prewar levels, and we're making progress in Baghdad.
» The food redistribution system has been restarted.
» Nearly all of Iraq's 240 hospitals and 1,200 clinics are open.
» Over 100 newspapers have begun publishing.
» In all major cities and in 85 percent of the towns, municipal councils have been formed of Iraqis.
» Ambassador Bremer has helped establish a new National Governing Council. It has begun exercising executive authority, appointing ministers, preparing the way for a new national constitution.
All this is tremendously encouraging.
President Bush to Speak at National Urban League Forum
President Bush is expected to arrive at the convention center between 1:15 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. to address the second day of the National Urban League's 93rd annual conference. The candidates forum is scheduled to run from 5:15 p.m. to about 6:30 p.m.
Both the president's appearance and the candidates' event will be open only to registered conference attendees.
Vice-President Cheney FUndraising in South Carolina
First lady Laura Bush headlined a Raleigh fund-raiser last week after the financial reporting deadline that took in $550,000 for her husband's re-election campaign -- about twice as much as Edwards raised in his home state in the past three months
On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney will fly to South Carolina for a $2,000-a-head fund-raiser in Columbia. And organizers are planning three events this fall that would bring two cabinet secretaries and White House political adviser Karl Rove to Charlotte. They're expected to raise more than half a million dollars.
Bush Campaign Manager, Ken Mehlman, Encourages Blogs in Grassroots Effort (Dan Balz, 7/27/03, Washington Post)
The RNC's summer meeting in New York concluded with an exhortation from Mehlman and Bush campaign political director Terry Nelson to build what Nelson called "the best-organized presidential campaign in modern history."
The two campaign officials offered a preview of what they said could become a massive grass-roots organization, using everything from booths at county fairs to bloggers on the Internet, to register new Republican voters, identify strong supporters of the president and turn them out on Election Day 2004 with the help of an unprecedented number of volunteers.
U.S. to Seek New Afghan Aid Package Of $1 Billion (Vernon Loeb and Glenn Kessler, 7/27/03, Washington Post)
The Bush administration will soon propose a $1 billion aid package for Afghanistan aimed at bolstering the government of President Hamid Karzai and countering criticism that U.S. officials have lost interest in rebuilding the country as their focus has shifted to postwar Iraq, senior administration officials said yesterday.
The $1 billion package, which more than triples the $300 million Afghanistan receives, represents new spending on Afghanistan and is designed to fund projects that can be completed within a year to have maximum impact on the lives of the Afghan people before scheduled elections in October 2004, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Among other things, the funds -- to be shifted from existing foreign and military aid accounts so as not to increase the deficit -- would go toward highway and school construction, other infrastructure initiatives, police training, beefed-up development of the Afghan national army, education projects and programs to help women enter the workforce, the officials said.
Barbara Barrett Picked to Be Air Force Secretary (WIre Reports, 7/26/03, Los Angeles Times)
President Bush has tapped Barbara Barrett to serve as secretary of the Air Force. She would be the second woman in history to hold the post if confirmed by the Senate.
Barrett, who taught at Harvard University, will replace James Roche as the civilian leader of the Air Force. Bush in May nominated Roche to become secretary of the Army.
Barrett, who is from Arizona, had served as a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services in the administration of the former President Bush.
Success Breeds Success in War on Terror (John Hendren, Alissa Rubin and Peter G. Gosselin, 7/27/03, Los Angeles Times)
The killing of Odai and Qusai Hussein has led to a surge of tips to occupying authorities, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here Sunday, amid reports that an early-morning raid by U.S. troops in Tikrit missed seizing Saddam Hussein's security chief, and perhaps the former Iraqi leader himself, by a day.
In an additional raid believed to have been aimed at catching the elusive Saddam, American soldiers searched a tribal leader's home in Baghdad on Sunday night but came up empty-handed...
Recent progress, including the raid last Tuesday in the city of Mosul that killed the two Hussein brothers, the Nos. 2 and 3 most-wanted figures of the former regime, has prompted a spate of tips from informants, said Gen. Richard J. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The Tikrit raid followed the Thursday capture of at least five of the Iraqi leader's bodyguards...
The successful tracking of Saddam's sons, after a tip from what U.S. authorities have said was a "walk-in" informant who may receive combined reward of $30 million for the brothers, has buoyed confidence that the critical piece of intelligence on the father is not far behind. There is a $25 million bounty on Saddam.
"There's been a big spike in the numbers coming forward, providing evidence of weapons caches and of where people are," Myers told reporters during a daylong visit to Iraq. "I do talk to the folks that are involved in those operations and it's my opinion, if he's alive, it's just a matter of time. It's a big country, but we'll find him."
Military strategists are banking on the capture or killing of Saddam to demoralize armed resistance that has increasingly targeted U.S. troops and to wipe away that fear that has kept Iraqis from fully cooperating with the American-led administration of Iraq.
GOP House Members Near "Ranger" Status (Jim VandeHei, 7/28/03, Washington Post)
President Bush is getting more than legislative help from his allies in Congress: Several Republican lawmakers are vying to become "Rangers" by raising $200,000 for his reelection campaign.From the same article is one of the most underreported items, I believe, in the 2004 election cycle: Jews for the GOP
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) this week is expected to become the first House member to top the magical mark to become a Ranger -- a designation reserved for Bush's most prolific fundraisers.
...
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the first member of Congress to personally cut Bush a $2,000 check, is on his way to becoming a Ranger, an aide said, though he hasn't hit the mark yet. "Obviously, he won't have any problem reaching it," the Hastert aide said. Another aide said he hit "Pioneer" status on Friday. A Pioneer is anyone who bundles together $100,000.
Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash.), who several Republicans said is interested in a job in the administration, recently became a Pioneer, and intends on attaining Ranger status. Dunn said she's tapping her base of donors and doesn't believe she's draining resources that otherwise might go to fellow House Republicans.
The race for the support and money of Jewish voters is heating up in Congress.
As Republicans grow increasingly confident they can break the Democrats' lock on money and votes from Jewish Americans with strong support for Israel, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) will travel to Israel this week to voice his support for Israel.
DeLay will push what he's calling a "Marshall Plan" for Palestinian territory, which involves direct U.S. assistance to build hospitals, roads and schools -- but no direct funds to the Palestinian Authority.
In recent years, DeLay has become one of the most outspoken defenders of Israel and has been rewarded with a surge in donations from the Jewish community.
College Republicans Meet in Washington, DC Over the Weekend (Rebecca Dana, 7/28/03, Washington Post)
The College Republican National Committee, says Stewart, began in 1892 at the University of Michigan. There are 1,148 chapters at universities around the country, with 100,000 members nationwide. The White House credits the College Republicans, an operation with a million-dollar annual budget, with providing key votes that got Republican congressmen elected in a number of close races, Stewart says. "We are the foot soldiers of the Republican Party," he says.
This year the organization gave 33 college-age field reps, including Amanda Steele, 20, from the University of California at San Diego, a $2,000 stipend and a free laptop computer to spend 12 weeks traveling to college campuses and starting up College Republican groups. All but one of the groups Steele started this year sent representatives to the convention this weekend, she says.
Almost all of the 1,000 attendees, who paid up to $250 for registration plus $149 per hotel room per night, were sophomores, juniors or seniors in college. The national leaders, including Hoplin, a 2001 graduate of Minnesota's St. Olaf College; his new co-chairman, Corinne Schwarz, 22, from the University of Wyoming; and the rest of his cabinet are college graduates who work for the committee full-time.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
Interactive "State of the Parties" with Adam Clymer
This is a link to a New York Times feature of Adam Clymer reading the "Cliff's Notes" version of his excellent features (complete with slides) from weeks ago on the State of the Republican Party and State of the Democratic Party.
New Head of RNC Takes on Democrats During Inaugural Address (Randal C. Archibold and Adam Nagourney, 7/26/03, New York Times)
[E]d Gillespie began his term as the national Republican chairman yesterday with a hard-hitting attack on the Democratic presidential candidates, saying their contest had devolved into a fight over "who can protest the most angrily and who can take their party further back in time."
...
"They offer Americans a steady diet of protest and pessimism," Mr. Gillespie said of the Democrats after being chosen unanimously as the man who will lead the Republicans during the 2004 election. "They're still protesting the 2000 election. Some of their loudest voices protest the removal of Saddam Hussein from power."
"The Democratic Party no longer defines itself by what it is for, but only by what it's against," Mr. Gillespie said as he offered an unmistakable contrast with the characteristically mild farewell address of Mr. Racicot, who is leaving to be the chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign.
Blogs Hit the Bigtime with Bush/Cheney 2004 and Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman
In remarks to the RNC at a meeting in New York, Ken Mehlman had some great words of advice on what we need to focus on to be successful in 2004:
We must prepare for an election every bit as close as the 2000 election.
And the best way we can prepare for 2004 is to use the President’s leadership, his example and his policies to strengthen our party this year.
We must meet Marc Racicot’s goal to register 3 million new voters.
We must echo the President’s message and share his positive vision for America. We need you on talk radio. We need your letters to the editor. We need your emails. And we need your blogs.
Economy Showing Signs of Strength (AP News, 7/26/03, New York Times)
The economy is showing fresh signs of snapping out of its funk: Orders to factories for big-ticket goods registered the biggest increase since the beginning of the year and new-home sales climbed to the highest level on record.
The latest batch of economic news Friday reinforced hopes that a much anticipated revival will take hold in the second half of this year.
"It really is beginning to look as if the train has finally left the station,'' said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "The news was very good and adds to the belief the economy is on the mend.''
Friday, July 25, 2003
Clinton cautions Democrats (James G. Lakely, 7/24/03, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)
Former President Bill Clinton's advice that Democrats should quit harping on President Bush's disputed statement that Iraq had pursued nuclear material from Africa was well-received by many Democrats on Capitol Hill - but not his wife.
"Everybody makes mistakes when they are president," Mr. Clinton said Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," adding that "the thing we ought to be focused on is what is the right thing to do right now."
The comments were widely interpreted as a message to Democratic presidential candidates that their constant criticism of Mr. Bush's Iraq policy is pushing the party too far to the left and away from mainstream voters who still largely support the U.S.-led campaign that deposed Saddam Hussein. [...]
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, ... didn't seem to be on the same page as her husband. She repeated her call yesterday for an investigation into the Iraq-Africa nuclear link.
"I think there should be an independent investigation," Mrs. Clinton said. "I've called for it. How credible are these claims? What else do we need to find out about other claims?"
The Accidental Radical (Jonathan Rauch, July 26, 2003, National Journal)
George W. Bush could end up realigning partisan loyalties and redefining what his party stands for. [...]
"If you can get fundamental reform," the administration official says, "he's willing to put up the dollars to get it." That about sums up the Bush
approach to domestic policy. [...]
"The Republican Party in 1994 tested a proposition," says a White House aide: "that people wanted government to be radically reduced. And they found out that people didn't want government to be radically reduced." Bush saw this, and he saw that the anti-government conservatism of Goldwater and Reagan had reached a dead end; and if there is a single characteristic that distinguishes Bush, it is his willingness to meet a dead end with a bulldozer. In 2002, "he really did set out to have the Republican Party stand for something different," says Michael Gerson, who signed on with Bush in 1999 and is now his chief speechwriter.
Bush's view, expressed in his book and in the 2000 campaign, is that government curtails freedom not by being large or active but by making choices that should be left to the people. Without freedom of choice, people feel no responsibility, and Bush insists again and again, as he put it in the book: "I want to usher in a responsibility era." [...]
The plan, therefore, has both tactical and strategic elements. In the short run, give people things they want; in the longer run, weaken the Democrats' base while creating, program by program, a new constituency of Republican loyalists who want the government to help them without bossing them around. Most important of all, however, is what might be thought of as the meta-strategy. [...]
Conservatives, for their part, believe that today they are the ones who stand for progressive change, in the face of "reactionary liberalism," but they have never been able to convince the public. That is what Bush seeks to do, both by rejecting the mantra of minimal government and by passing reform after reform. Never mind how you feel about any one of his initiatives; as a group, they seek to establish that it is Republicans who now "stand for the idea that the old ways will not work." If the Democrats dig in their heels and fall back on stale rants against greed, inequality, and privatization, so much the better. The voters will know whom to thank for the empowering choices that Republicans intend to give them. As for which is the "party of nostalgia," the voters will also remember who defended, until the last dog died, single-payer Medicare, one-size-fits-all Social Security, schools without accountability, bureaucratic government monopolies, static economics, and Mutually Assured Destruction. [...]
In the book, Bush returns again and again to his theory of political capital. Page 123: "I believe you have to spend political capital or it withers and dies. And I wanted to spend my capital on something profound." Page 218: "I had earned political capital... Now was the time to spend that capital on a bold agenda." His aversion to hoarding approval seems to flow as much from his personality as from his political experience. On page 2 he recounts hearing a sermon that "changed my life." It was, he writes, "a rousing call to make the most of every moment, discard reservations, throw caution to the wind, rise to the challenge." A few pages later: "I live in the moment, seize opportunities, and try to make the most of them."
Bush's mentality seems more like that of an entrepreneurial CEO than of a conventional politician: He tends to look for strategies that cut to the heart of the problem at hand, rather than strategies that minimize conflict. "He doesn't like 'small ball' -- that's his term," one of his aides says.
"My faith frees me," Bush writes, early in his book. "Frees me to make the decisions that others might not like. Frees me to try to do the right thing, even though it may not poll well. Frees me to enjoy life and not worry about what comes next." He clearly is not a man who fears failure.
You may have to register for their e-mail alert to get access to this piece for free, but it's worth it--the best essay on George W. Bush since Bill Keller's
THE LATEST FROM THE OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN!
President Vows a Free and Democratic Iraq, Says Old Regime Will Never Return
On Wednesday, President Bush highlighted the important progress our nation has made to win the war on terror and build a free and peaceful Iraq. Thanking our troops for their service, the President affirmed the noble cause they serve: a democratic Iraq that does not threaten America or our friends and serves as a model of hope and progress throughout the Middle East.
"Saddam Hussein's regime spent more than three decades oppressing Iraq's people, attacking Iraq's neighbors, and threatening the world's peace. The regime tortured at home, promoted terror abroad, and armed in secret," President Bush said. "Now more than ever, all Iraqis can know that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back."
» Read President Bush's remarks on winning the war on terror----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President Bush Promotes Health and Fitness Guidelines
Visiting the Lakewest Family YMCA in Dallas, Texas, President Bush discussed his plans for modernizing and strengthening America's health care system and stressed the importance of a healthy diet and exercise for a healthier America. Joined by Lynn Swann, chairman of his council of physical fitness and sports, the President told the young people gathered, "What works is to encourage people to exercise on a regular basis, and to eat good foods ... An integral part of any health care plan is to encourage people to adopt the habits necessary to avoid disease in the first place."
The President's Healthier US initiative is an important component of his Administration's health care agenda and is founded on four guidelines for a healthier America:
» Be physically active every day, not just once or twice a week
» Develop good eating habits
» Take advantage of preventive screening for blood pressure
» Make healthy choices, including no smoking, no excessive drinking, and no drugs
» Read President Bush's remarks on health and fitness--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President's Corporate Fraud Task Forces Restores Investor Confidence
A year ago, President Bush set up the Corporate Fraud Task Force to combat corporate fraud and punish corporate wrongdoers. Since its inception, the Task Force's actions have helped to restore investor confidence through successful prosecution of corporate criminals and by providing investors with fair and accurate information they can trust. The task force's successes include:
» Obtaining over 250 corporate fraud convictions or guilty pleas, including 25 former CEOs;
» Filing 169 cases of corporate fraud crime against 354 defendants;
» Investigating over 320 cases, involving over 500 individuals or companies;
» Collecting over $85 million in fines, restitution, and forfeitures for corporate wrongdoing.
» Learn more about President Bush's work to strengthen our economy.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpts from President Bush's Remarks to Supporters at the Dallas Bush-Cheney '04 Reception, July 18, 2003
"You're laying the foundation for what is going to be a great victory in November of 2004 ... But I'm going to have to count on you to energize the grass roots and to make the phone calls and to put up the signs and to address the envelopes and remind everybody that our message is so positive and hopeful for every citizen of this state and this country. The political season will come in its own time. But right now, I'm focused on the people's business in our nation's capital."
"In the last two-and-a-half years, our nation has acted decisively to confront great challenges. I came to this office to solve problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future generations. I came to seize opportunities instead of letting them slip away. We are meeting the tests of our time."
"Our greatest security comes from the advance of human liberty, because free nations do not support terror. Free nations do not attack their neighbors. Free nations do not threaten the world with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the deepest need and the deepest hope of every human heart. And we believe that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation."
"We are a strong country and we use our strength to defend the peace. We're an optimistic country, confident in ourselves and in ideals bigger than ourselves. Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At home, we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every corner of America. This is the work that history has set before us. We welcome it. And we know that for our country and for our cause, better days lie ahead."
» Would you like to receive this missive straight from the campaign? Sign up here.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Vice President's Remarks on War on Terror at AEI
Excerpts:
This worldwide campaign began after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, a watershed event in the history of our nation. We lost more people that morning than were lost at Pearl Harbor. And this was the merest glimpse of the violence terrorists are willing to inflict on this country. They desire to kill as many Americans as possible, with the most destructive weapons they can obtain. They target the innocent as a means of spreading chaos and fear, and to shake our national resolve. This enemy holds no territory, defends no population, is unconstrained by rules of warfare, and respects no law of morality. Such an enemy cannot be deterred, contained, appeased, or negotiated with. It can only be destroyed, and that's the business at hand.
For decades, terrorists have attacked Americans - and we remember every act of murder, including 17 Americans killed in 1983 by a truck bomb at our embassy in Beirut; and 241 servicemen murdered in their sleep in Beirut; an elderly man in a wheelchair, shot and thrown into the Mediterranean; a sailor executed in a hijacking; two of our soldiers slain in Berlin; a Marine lieutenant colonel kidnapped and murdered in Lebanon; 189 Americans killed on a PanAm flight over Scotland; six people killed at the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; 19 military personnel killed at the Khobar Towers; 12 Americans killed at our embassies in East Africa; 17 sailors murdered on the USS Cole; and an American diplomat shot dead in Jordan last year.
All of these were terrible acts that still cause terrible grief. Yet September 11th signaled the arrival of an entirely different era. We suffered massive civilian casualties on our soil. We awakened to dangers even more lethal - the possibility that terrorists could gain weapons of mass destruction from outlaw regimes and inflict catastrophic harm. And something else is different about this new era: Our response to terrorism has changed, because George W. Bush is President of the United States. For decades, terrorists have waged war against this country. Now, under the leadership of President Bush, America is waging war against them.
...
Events leading to the fall of Saddam Hussein are fresh in memory, and do not need recounting at length. Every measure was taken to avoid a war. But it was Saddam Hussein himself who made war unavoidable. He had a lengthy history of reckless and sudden aggression. He bore a deep and bitter hatred for the United States. He cultivated ties to terrorist groups. He built, possessed, and used weapons of mass destruction. He refused all international demands to account for those weapons.
Twelve years of diplomacy, more than a dozen Security Council resolutions, hundreds of UN weapons inspectors, and even strikes against military targets in Iraq - all of these measures were tried to compel Saddam Hussein's compliance with the terms of the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire. All of these measures failed. Last October, the United States Congress voted overwhelmingly to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Last November, the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution finding Iraq in material breach of its obligations, and vowing serious consequences in the event Saddam Hussein did not fully and immediately comply. When Saddam Hussein failed even to comply then, President Bush, on March 17th, gave him and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq. Saddam's decision to defy the world was among the last he made as the dictator of that country.
I have watched for more than a year now as President Bush kept the American people constantly informed of the dangers we face, and of his determination to confront those dangers. There was no need for anyone to speculate what the President was thinking; his words were clear, and straightforward, and understood by friend and enemy alike. When the moment arrived to make the tough call - when matters came to the point of choosing, and the safety of the American people was at stake - President Bush acted decisively, with resolve, and with courage.
Now the regime of Saddam Hussein is gone forever. And at a safe remove from the danger, some are now trying to cast doubt upon the decision to liberate Iraq. The ability to criticize is one of the great strengths of our democracy. But those who do so have an obligation to answer this question: How could any responsible leader have ignored the Iraqi threat?
...
Critics of the liberation of Iraq must also answer another question: what would that country look like today if we had failed to act? If we had not acted, Saddam Hussein and his sons would still be in power. If we had not acted, the torture chambers would still be in operation; the prison cells for children would still be filled; the mass graves would still be undiscovered; the terror network would still enjoy the support and protection of the regime; Iraq would still be making payments to the families of suicide bombers attacking Israel; and Saddam Hussein would still control vast wealth to spend on his chemical, biological, and nuclear ambitions.
All of these crimes and dangers were ended by decisive military action. Everyone, for many years, wished for these good outcomes. Finally, one man made the decision to achieve them: President George W. Bush. And the Iraqi people, the people of the Middle East, and the American people have a safer future because Saddam Hussein's regime is history.
...
The United States of America has been called to hard tasks before. Earlier generations of Americans defeated fascism and won the long twilight struggle against communism. Our generation has been given the task of defeating the purveyors of terrorism, who are a direct threat to our liberty and our lives. We will use every element of our national power to destroy those who seek to do us harm. But, as in the past, we will do far more than merely defeat our enemies. In Afghanistan and Iraq and in other places where tyranny has been a fertile breading ground for terror, we will help those who seek to build free, more tolerant, and more prosperous societies.
America's commitment and generosity in rebuilding ravaged lands in Europe and Asia was a hallmark of our foreign policy in the 20th century. It was a good investment for America then -- it is just as wise now. We do this not only because it is right, but because it is essential to our own security, the security of our friends and allies, and to our eventual victory in the war against terrorism. Our soldiers serving so bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan today know they are ensuring a safer future for their own children and for all of us.
In the 22 months since that clear September morning when America was attacked, we have not lost focus, or been distracted, or wavered in the performance of our duties. We will not rest until we have overcome the threat of terror. We will not relent until we have assured the freedom and security of the American people.
Thank you. (Applause.)
More 'Catholics Need Not Apply"
SESSIONS ON PRYOR, ETC. [Kathryn Jean Lopez]What is the thread between Attorney General Bill Pryor, Judge Priscilla Owen, Carolyn Kuhl and James Leon Holmes -- other than they are all being blocked by the Donkeys in the Senate? They are all Catholic.
On a conference call with reporters a few minutes ago, Sen. Jeff Sessions highlighted religion as “the single greatest issue” behind opposition to [Judges] Pryor, Holmes, and Owens. Sessions said that "We cannot have a circumstance in the senate where people who have views which are consistent with mainstream faiths are disqualified for the bench."
Here is the Bill Pryor ad in Rhode Island and Maine
Hussein Sons Came To House to Hide (Kevin Sullivan and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, 7/24/03, Washington Post)
Nawaf Zaidan Nasiri answered the front door of his elegant mansion 24 days ago and greeted a nightmare.
Standing there, he told his neighbors Tuesday, were sons of former president Saddam Hussein, Qusay and Uday, two of Iraq's three most-wanted fugitives, asking Zaidan to repay years of privilege and favors they had doled out to him.
"I answered the doorbell and there they were, right in front of my face," Zaidan told his neighbor, Mukhlis Thahir Jubori, as they sat in a U.S. military Humvee on Tuesday. Thahir recalled their conversation in an interview today. He said Zaidan had told him: "They asked to stay in my house and I could not refuse them. This is a disaster for me."
On Monday night, an informant, perhaps hoping to collect a $30 million reward from the U.S. government for information leading to the capture or death of both men, told the U.S. military that the brothers were in the house. The identity of the informant has not been disclosed.
The information prompted nearly 200 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to swoop down on the house on Tuesday morning, just 12 hours after receiving the tip. When two attempts to storm the house were met with intense small-arms fire from the second floor, the commander on the scene ordered a volley of 10 antitank missiles to be fired at the house, an escalation of force that killed the two brothers and one of Hussein's bodyguards, military officials said today. A fourth occupant, believed to be Qusay's 14-year-old son, Mustafa, apparently survived the missile strikes and shot at the entering troops before he was gunned down, officials said.
Color photographs of the battered and bloody faces of Hussein's two sons taken by soldiers who finally entered the house showed severe injuries to both men, who had grown thick, black beards in an apparent effort to disguise themselves. Even so, the faces of both were clearly recognizable in the pictures, shown briefly to two American reporters by a senior U.S. military official here.
Wipe-Out (Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Steve Chaggaris, Clothilde Ewing, Nicola Corless, Smita Kalokhe and Joanna Schubert, July 23, 2003, CBS News)
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., a potential presidential contender, faces a nearly empty re-election campaign account after a long-time staffer was charged Tuesday with embezzling about $350,000, the Wilmington News-Journal reports.
Roger D. Blevins III, 32, rose to the position of assistant campaign treasurer after nine years as a paid staffer and several years volunteering for Biden. Until last week, when he resigned without giving a reason, he served as secretary for the New Castle County Democratic Party. Now, he faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine for interstate transport of stolen property, allegedly the missing campaign cash.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Bustamante to set ballot date quickly, let court rule on succession process (Aurelio Rojas, July 23, 2003, Sacramento Bee)
Facing the biggest decision of his career, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said Tuesday he will likely take no more than 24 hours from the day the choice is his to set the date for the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis.
But he said he will leave to an independent commission and the California Supreme Court a decision on whether he becomes governor himself -- without an election to determine a successor -- if Davis is recalled. [...]
Bustamante said he would not run to succeed the governor if a successor election is held. But sources say he has also been calling supporters and friends around the state seeking advice about whether he should enter the race.
Last month, Bustamante joined the state's other high-ranking Democrats in denouncing the recall effort and said he did not "intend" to put his name on the ballot.
Yet privately, some Democrats singled out Bustamante as the most likely member of the party to break ranks.
Bustamante is not a prolific fund-raiser, they said, pointing out that the recall's short campaign could be his best shot at becoming California's first Latino governor.
FEC to Consider Lifting Ban On Soft Money for Conventions (Thomas B. Edsall, July 23, 2003, washingtonpost.com)
Committees organizing the 2004 Republican and Democratic national conventions would be able to continue raising and spending "soft money" -- much of it from businesses -- under a recommendation by the Federal Election Commission's staff. The full commission is scheduled to vote on the matter Thursday.
Officials of the host committee in Boston, where the Democratic convention will be held next July, have complained that fundraising was proceeding poorly because many prospective corporate and trade association donors feared the FEC would ban soft-money gifts. Soft money is the term for unlimited and largely unregulated donations that the national political parties were allowed to collect until
the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law took effect eight months ago. Politicians and lawyers have debated whether the ban applies to the committees that are host to the presidential nominating conventions.
The Boston Globe reported this week that the Democratic host committee had raised $1.7 million, $6.3 million less than it had expected to collect by now. Overall, the committee hopes to raise $28.5 million from private sources, $10 million in "in-kind" or non-cash gifts, and $11 million from various government sources.
Officials of the host committee in New York, where the Republican convention will be held in late August 2004, have reported no difficulty raising large sums. They say they have raised $61 million, just $4 million short of the overall $65 million goal.
A Day Later: Thoughts on the Demise of Uday and Qusay
Tacitus has reprinted an e-mail from a Marine in Iraq who discusses the emotion of the troops and succinctly sums up what the Administration should feel:
Our leaders deserve a bow for this one, too, after everyone from buck privates to nine Democratic presidential candidates have called for their scalp: the battle plan is working, the enemy is on the run, and Iraq is already a better place than it's been for 35 years. Only the "Ace of Spades" remains. The theory/ hope here is that high-profile success like this turns off most of the "bitter-enders."
Putting to Bed the Intelligence Non-Issue re: State-of-the-Union Speech (Mark Levin, 7/21/03, National Review)
The linked column is a must read for every media individual or person involved with White House Communications:
Consequently, on December 16, 1998, when Clinton told the nation that he ordered military strikes against Iraq to, among other things, attack its nuclear program, to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening the world with nuclear arms, and to stop Hussein from rebuilding his nuclear weapons program in a matter of months, he had no basis for these assertions. They were utterly false. Moreover, I could find no statements from Secretary of State Albright endorsing Clinton's characterization of Iraq's nuclear capabilities.This isn't rocket science no matter how bumbling this whole non-issue has been handled.
When you contrast Clinton's unequivocal yet insupportable arguments about Iraq's nuclear program with the qualified yet accurate 16-words President George Bush used in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union Address to describe Iraq's effort to secure uranium, the liberal bias of the mainstream media in giving a continuing voice to Democratic charges becomes obvious. The Democrats are, and will remain, unsatisfied with any response provided by the Bush administration. Such is their political strategy. As if to highlight the point, Democratic-party advertisements accusing the president of lying already began appearing on television last week.
Democrats Stuggle to Gain Support for Presidential Candidates (DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief, 7/23/03, Hartford Courant)
The Democrats' inability to keep up with President Bush's blistering fund-raising pace is already affecting the 2004 presidential race in small but telling ways...
South Carolina. The state's crucial Feb. 3 primary, which each of the Democrats has already been stumping hard to win, has been so strapped for funds as to be in danger of being canceled...
South Carolina Democrats borrowed money for the bruising governor's and Senate races in 2002 - both of which they lost - and were $70,000 in debt. Erwin's strategy to raise money includes bringing on a seasoned finance director next week and holding a gala dinner next month.
In the meantime, "I keep dialing for dollars myself," the chairman said. As of Tuesday, he had raised about $85,000...
Bush. Because the president has no major opposition for the nomination, he can use his big bank account to polish his image - at a time when Democrats are likely to be busy differentiating themselves from one another.
This strategy, used by President Clinton in 1995, allows the incumbent to position himself as a caring moderate while members of the other party are busy ridiculing party rivals.
Colorado. Republicans have also tried another tactic to dilute the clout of Bush's foes: denying Democrats visibility. GOP-dominated statehouses tried to eliminate some primaries altogether, and succeeded in Colorado. Gov. Bill Owens, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, boasted he was saving $2.2 million.
Not having the primary hurts, said Julie Dewoody, Colorado Democratic Party deputy executive director. "Candidates just won't come here," she said, thus denying voters a chance to see them in a state Bush carried in 2000 with barely over 50 percent of the popular vote.
The post-primary season. Bush is not expected to take federal matching money. That means he'll be able to use all of the money he raises - expected to reach $200 million - right up until his convention Aug. 30.
The Democrats are likely to be out of money by then - having spent most of their cash to win the primaries and caucuses, on top of having been limited by taking federal dollars...
The Democratic National Convention. While Republican convention organizers have already met their goal of raising an estimated $60 million for their New York City event, Democrats reportedly have fallen behind their 2000 timetable in organizing the Boston convention and are not even halfway toward meeting their target of $49 million.
#11 in Iraqi Most Wanted Captured
The top U.S. commander in Iraq said Wednesday that the head of the Special Republican Guard, Barzan Abd al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid al-Tikriti, had been captured.To see the status of all 55, click on the graphic below (which was produced before #11 was announced).
Sanchez said Sulayman, No. 11 in the deck of the 55 most wanted Iraqi regime members, was detained Wednesday.
Profiles in Brutality: Uday and Qusay Hussein (Judith Miller, 7/22/03, New York Times)
[T]hough very different from each other yet equally despised and feared by Iraqis, Uday and Qusay Hussein — Saddam's two eldest sons — personified the terror of their father's rule.
Their deaths, therefore, are the clearest indication to date that Mr. Hussein's era is over and power has passed to the Americans and their Iraqi and foreign allies...
Iraqi exiles agreed that Uday Hussein, the eldest of five children, personified the government's random brutality. Human rights groups and Iraqi exiles accused him of routinely kidnapping women off the streets, raping and sometimes torturing them, and personally supervising the torture and humiliation of hundreds of prisoners. Such conduct earned him the title "Abu Sarhan," the Arabic term for "father of the wolf."
In October 1988, at a party given in honor of the wife of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Uday bludgeoned to death Kamal Hana Gegeo, a valet to his father. Mr. Mubarak subsequently called the young man a "psychopath."
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Internet Gains Notice as Major Tool in Presidential Campaigns
Political analysts in the United States say the Internet is emerging as a major tool for candidates campaigning for next year's presidential election. They say the World Wide Web is becoming an important instrument for candidates to raise money, spread their message, create momentum and even help organize campaign strategy. Analysts are always looking for new trends in American politics and the use of the Internet to raise money and manpower has become one of the most noteworthy elements of the current campaign.
Millions of dollars are being raised and tens of thousands of people are organizing hundreds of meetings across the country online, using a medium that appears destined to be a major factor in American politics.
One of the more succinct and accurate portrayals of the differences between Democrats and Republicans!
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."Compliments of a Donkey friend of mine in DC.
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."
"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect ME to solve your problem. You're in EXACTLY the same position you were in before we met, but somehow now, it's MY fault.
Winning the War on Terror; Uday and Quasay Hussein Possibly Killed in Firefight (Walter Pincus and Dana Priest, 7/22/03, Washington Post)
U.S. troops searching for leaders from the former Iraqi government killed four people in a firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today and among them may have been the sons of Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials said.
Details of the attack were very sketchy in Washington and there was no immediate confirmation of the deaths. But one intelligence official said, "Among the dead may be Uday and Qusay" Hussein. Another official said that two of the bodies bore strong physical resemblance to the men. Both men were among their father's closest advisers and had been listed as aces in the deck of cards depicting former Iraqi officials being sought by U.S. troops.
The dead did not include Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at his regular briefing that President Bush was aware of the reports and the attack but that they had no confirmation yet of the deaths. He said Bush had been in regular contact with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this morning but would give no details on those discussions.
Before the attack, U.S. troops from the Army's 101st Airborne Division had targeted the home in Mosul, which some wire reports said may have been owned by a Hussein relative. The target was chosen because of information from intelligence agencies who suspected high ranking members of Hussein's inner circle were there.
The resistance was reportedly fierce when the U.S. troops arrived this morning.
Viral Marketing and the Bush Campaign (Patiopundit.com, 7/22/03)
Each campaign puts out a "message of the day." Whoever writes that -- even if it is Karl Rove -- should post it to the blog. Talk about getting your talking points out there unfiltered by the big media. There's a terrific opportunity for Bush, I hope he takes advantage of it. The Dems are sure to.And yes I love the gratuitous praise referring to the "great blogger" at this site (even though I know they are referring to OJ).
RNC Chairman Ready for a Fight (Donald Lambro, 7/22/03, Washington Times)
Ed Gillespie says his job as the Republican National Committee's new chairman will be to "push back" whenever the Democrats attack President Bush, and he intends to be very combative during the next 15 months.
Since Mr. Bush picked him last month to be the next RNC chief, the veteran press secretary and party strategist has been punching back hard. In a series of counterattacks, Mr. Gillespie has called Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts a hypocrite for his criticisms of Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, accused the Democrats of "playing naked politics" with the war to pander to their party's antiwar base, and said their presidential candidates were "tripping all over themselves" to get to the left of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
"Their politics may appeal to their antiwar base, but their lack of policy won't make our country more secure," Mr. Gillespie said in one of about two dozen statements he has released in the past few weeks and e-mailed to hundreds of reporters and news bureaus.
Winning the War on Terror: Saudi Arabia Arrests 16 Al-Queda Terrorists
The Saudi government announced Monday that police arrested 16 al-Qaida-linked terror suspects and used tractors to dig up an underground arsenal: 20 tons of bomb-making chemicals, detonators, rocket-propelled grenades and rifles.
Saudi forces also found night-vision goggles, surveillance cameras, bulletproof vests, passports and forged ID cards.
"These arrests put yet another dent in al-Qaida's terror network," the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said in an embassy statement. "They should serve as a warning to anyone who would jeopardize the security of Saudi Arabia's citizens and residents that we will find them and bring them to justice."
The sweep was the latest in Saudi Arabia's high-profile crackdown on suspected terror cells, launched after the May 12 suicide bombings of Western housing compounds in Riyadh killed 25 people and nine attackers.
The anti-terror raids followed repeated calls by the United States for Saudi Arabia to do more to curb Islamic militancy following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that were blamed on Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group and carried out by 19 plane hijackers -- 15 of them Saudi.
Thousands of Iraqis Vie to Become Soldiers in New Iraqi Army (John Daniszewski, 7/22/03, Los Angeles Times)
They all came Monday — the young, the old, Sunni and Shiite, the Yankee-go-home bunch and the thank-goodness-for-America crowd too — each of them wanting to be a soldier in the new Iraqi army.
Under a blazing sky at the site where Saddam Hussein wanted to build the world's biggest mosque, hundreds of Iraqi men stood in line for hours awaiting their chance to fill out a 19-page application to serve in the first 1,000-man battalion — and earn a steady paycheck.
The U.S.