Morris: McCain is No Front-Runner
Dick Morris on Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential chances: "You can?t be a front-runner for your party?s nomination and win 5 percent of the vote in a regional straw poll, finishing fourth, behind Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Virginia Sen. George Allen. While McCain still leads in the national polls (not counting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani), he is no genuine front-runner. He lacks the requisite enthusiasm he would need among core Republicans to cop that title."
"He is, in fact, more of a stalking horse, a place to store voter preferences while the other candidates for the nomination break through their low thresholds of name recognition."
Bonus Quote of the Day
?Sure, absolutely... I'm voting for the Republican woman.?
-- First Lady Laura Bush, quoted by the AP, when asked if the United States was ready for a woman president. Perhaps she knows something about Condoleezza Rice's intentions
Is Snow Planning His Exit?
A Hotline source says Treasury Secretary John Snow "met with officials at the Office of Presidential Personnel" yesterday morning, "and that Snow's calendar has been cleared for Thursday afternoon and all of Friday."
"While this could be another of the ever-present Snow-retirement and Card-to-Treasury rumors, at least some staffers at Treasury believe their boss may be on his way out the door, and in the very near future."
McCain's 2008 Strategy
Howard Fineman says that to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Sen. John McCain's advisers "want to build out their campaign with members of the Bush circle, and base McCain's pitch on the notion that he is the only sensible, electable and competent commander who can take control of the war on terror."
At last weekend's Southern Republican Leadership Conference, McCainanites "worked closely on straw poll strategy with Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Bush loyalist widely regarded as one of the sharpest strategic and organizational minds in the party. They are wooing him to come aboard officially, which would be a major coup for McCain... Word around the Peabody lobby is that another former GOP chairman, Richard Bond, is part of an unofficial circle of counselors, too."
L.A. Times Rewrites History of Bush Incompetence on Iran
The Los Angeles Times had a major story today reporting that Iran ?may be losing its long-standing reluctance to speak directly with the United States,? but that the Bush administration is rejecting Iran?s overtures.
The Times falsely paints this as a major shift in policy both for Iran (in favor of direct talks) and the United States (against direct talks). The title of the article, for instance, is ?Iran May Finally Be Ready to Talk.?
Actually, as the Washington Post reported in 2004, Iranian officials have made at least three separate efforts to initiate direct talks with the Bush administration. Due to sheer incompetence, all three went nowhere:
Bush has struggled ? thus far without success ? to roll back significant nuclear advances in North Korea and Iran. ? Bush demanded that Pyongyang and Tehran reverse course [away from nuclear weapons], but his national security team could not agree on policies to induce or compel those governments to submit. The stalemate left three secret overtures from Tehran unanswered and a presidential directive on Iran unsigned after 31 months of drafting attempts.
Beyond the ?axis of evil? rhetoric, U.S. policy towards Iran has basically been paralyzed for five years. The L.A. Times should be exposing that history, not whitewashing it.
36. President Bush?s approval rating in a new WSJ/Harris poll, down from 40 in February and 43 in January. March 14, 2006
Fed Chairman concerned about Bush?s fiscal recklessness. New Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: ?The prospective increase in the budget deficit will place at risk future living standards of our country.?
Sen. Feingold said the following to Fox News? Trish Turner:
I?m amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president?s numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. ? Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they?ll say we?d better just focus on domestic issues. ? [Democrats shouldn?t] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question the administration, you?re helping the terrorists.
3%. Percentage of Americans who believe Bush decided to go to war to free the Iraqis or promote democracy, according to a new CBS poll. March 14, 2006
25%. Percentage of Americans who believe the Iraq war was worth the costs, according to a new CBS poll
More Downing Street revelations: In a confidential memo written in May 2003, John Sawers, Prime Minister Tony Blair?s envoy in Baghdad, characterized the U.S. postwar administration of Iraq as ?No leadership, no strategy, no coordination, no structure and inaccessible to ordinary Iraqis.? At approximately the same time, Bush was declaring ?Mission Accomplished.?
Pakistan?s foreign office ?paid tens of thousands of dollars to lobbyists in the U.S. to get anti-Pakistan references dropped from the 9/11 inquiry commission report,? according to foreign service officials in a Pakistani weekly.
Right-wing Christian evangelist Pat Robertson shows no signs of slowing down after losing his seat earlier this month on the Religious Broadcasters? Board over a series of hate-filled comments. Robertson yesterday called Muslims ?satanic? and distanced himself from Bush by declaring Islam is not a religion of peace.
$1.05 million: Amount taxpayers spent last year on leasing vehicles for members of Congress, including ?Lexuses, Lincolns, Cadillacs, an Infiniti, even a BMW 530i.?
Abramoff probe deepens: Senate investigators are reviewing new documents subpoenaed from Abramoff?s former lobby firms, Greenberg Traurig and Preston Gates and Ellis. ?To date, those firms have largely dodged the bullet, pleading ignorance of Jack?s misdeeds. But scandal-watchers say that?s hard to swallow.? expand post ?
Debt clock retired too soon? ?When it shut down, the federal budget was running a surplus. ? The rising debt tally is a reminder, economists say, that the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course.?
Executives from six major oil companies will make what is expected to be a standing-room-only appearance at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where lawmakers will push for an explanation of the companies? huge profits and what they plan to do to ease consumers? soaring energy costs. Will Specter pull a Stevens, or will he swear them in?
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached ?a new record level? and Arctic sea ice ?has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far sooner than predicted.?
Morale is low at the Department of Homeland Security as ?[v]acancies and personnel turnover have reached such high levels?that they may be hampering the agency?s effectiveness.?
And finally: Frederick Malek, the Advisory Committee member of Scooter Libby?s legal fund who infamously counted the number of Jews in a government agency, was arrested as a young man for killing, skinning, barbecuing, and eating a dog.
Making Progress? Bush Backtracks In Assessments of Iraq and Afghanistan
Today, as he often does, President Bush said we are making progress in Iraq and Afghanistan: ?We are making progress in the march of freedom ? and some of the most important progress has taken place in a region that has not known the blessings of liberty: the broader Middle East.?
But a quick review of Bush?s statements today versus his earlier statements about Iraq and Afghanistan reveal that the condition in those countries has deteriorated steadily over time.
AFGHANISTAN THEN:
And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free. [9/27/04]
AFGHANISTAN NOW:
Taliban and al Qaeda remnants continue to fight Afghanistan?s democratic progress. In recent weeks, they have launched new attacks that have killed Afghan civilians and coalition forces. [3/13/06]
IRAQ THEN:
We thank all of the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country. [5/1/03]
IRAQ NOW:
The past few weeks, the world has seen very different images from Iraq ? images of violence, and anger, and despair. We have seen a great house of worship ? the Golden Mosque of Samarra ? in ruins after a brutal terrorist attack. We?ve seen mass protests in response to provocation. We?ve seen reprisal attacks by armed militias on Sunni mosques ? and random violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of Iraqi citizens
Dick Morris on Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential chances: "You can?t be a front-runner for your party?s nomination and win 5 percent of the vote in a regional straw poll, finishing fourth, behind Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Virginia Sen. George Allen. While McCain still leads in the national polls (not counting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani), he is no genuine front-runner. He lacks the requisite enthusiasm he would need among core Republicans to cop that title."
"He is, in fact, more of a stalking horse, a place to store voter preferences while the other candidates for the nomination break through their low thresholds of name recognition."
Bonus Quote of the Day
?Sure, absolutely... I'm voting for the Republican woman.?
-- First Lady Laura Bush, quoted by the AP, when asked if the United States was ready for a woman president. Perhaps she knows something about Condoleezza Rice's intentions
Is Snow Planning His Exit?
A Hotline source says Treasury Secretary John Snow "met with officials at the Office of Presidential Personnel" yesterday morning, "and that Snow's calendar has been cleared for Thursday afternoon and all of Friday."
"While this could be another of the ever-present Snow-retirement and Card-to-Treasury rumors, at least some staffers at Treasury believe their boss may be on his way out the door, and in the very near future."
McCain's 2008 Strategy
Howard Fineman says that to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Sen. John McCain's advisers "want to build out their campaign with members of the Bush circle, and base McCain's pitch on the notion that he is the only sensible, electable and competent commander who can take control of the war on terror."
At last weekend's Southern Republican Leadership Conference, McCainanites "worked closely on straw poll strategy with Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, a Bush loyalist widely regarded as one of the sharpest strategic and organizational minds in the party. They are wooing him to come aboard officially, which would be a major coup for McCain... Word around the Peabody lobby is that another former GOP chairman, Richard Bond, is part of an unofficial circle of counselors, too."
L.A. Times Rewrites History of Bush Incompetence on Iran
The Los Angeles Times had a major story today reporting that Iran ?may be losing its long-standing reluctance to speak directly with the United States,? but that the Bush administration is rejecting Iran?s overtures.
The Times falsely paints this as a major shift in policy both for Iran (in favor of direct talks) and the United States (against direct talks). The title of the article, for instance, is ?Iran May Finally Be Ready to Talk.?
Actually, as the Washington Post reported in 2004, Iranian officials have made at least three separate efforts to initiate direct talks with the Bush administration. Due to sheer incompetence, all three went nowhere:
Bush has struggled ? thus far without success ? to roll back significant nuclear advances in North Korea and Iran. ? Bush demanded that Pyongyang and Tehran reverse course [away from nuclear weapons], but his national security team could not agree on policies to induce or compel those governments to submit. The stalemate left three secret overtures from Tehran unanswered and a presidential directive on Iran unsigned after 31 months of drafting attempts.
Beyond the ?axis of evil? rhetoric, U.S. policy towards Iran has basically been paralyzed for five years. The L.A. Times should be exposing that history, not whitewashing it.
36. President Bush?s approval rating in a new WSJ/Harris poll, down from 40 in February and 43 in January. March 14, 2006
Fed Chairman concerned about Bush?s fiscal recklessness. New Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: ?The prospective increase in the budget deficit will place at risk future living standards of our country.?
Sen. Feingold said the following to Fox News? Trish Turner:
I?m amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president?s numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. ? Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they?ll say we?d better just focus on domestic issues. ? [Democrats shouldn?t] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question the administration, you?re helping the terrorists.
3%. Percentage of Americans who believe Bush decided to go to war to free the Iraqis or promote democracy, according to a new CBS poll. March 14, 2006
25%. Percentage of Americans who believe the Iraq war was worth the costs, according to a new CBS poll
More Downing Street revelations: In a confidential memo written in May 2003, John Sawers, Prime Minister Tony Blair?s envoy in Baghdad, characterized the U.S. postwar administration of Iraq as ?No leadership, no strategy, no coordination, no structure and inaccessible to ordinary Iraqis.? At approximately the same time, Bush was declaring ?Mission Accomplished.?
Pakistan?s foreign office ?paid tens of thousands of dollars to lobbyists in the U.S. to get anti-Pakistan references dropped from the 9/11 inquiry commission report,? according to foreign service officials in a Pakistani weekly.
Right-wing Christian evangelist Pat Robertson shows no signs of slowing down after losing his seat earlier this month on the Religious Broadcasters? Board over a series of hate-filled comments. Robertson yesterday called Muslims ?satanic? and distanced himself from Bush by declaring Islam is not a religion of peace.
$1.05 million: Amount taxpayers spent last year on leasing vehicles for members of Congress, including ?Lexuses, Lincolns, Cadillacs, an Infiniti, even a BMW 530i.?
Abramoff probe deepens: Senate investigators are reviewing new documents subpoenaed from Abramoff?s former lobby firms, Greenberg Traurig and Preston Gates and Ellis. ?To date, those firms have largely dodged the bullet, pleading ignorance of Jack?s misdeeds. But scandal-watchers say that?s hard to swallow.? expand post ?
Debt clock retired too soon? ?When it shut down, the federal budget was running a surplus. ? The rising debt tally is a reminder, economists say, that the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course.?
Executives from six major oil companies will make what is expected to be a standing-room-only appearance at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where lawmakers will push for an explanation of the companies? huge profits and what they plan to do to ease consumers? soaring energy costs. Will Specter pull a Stevens, or will he swear them in?
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached ?a new record level? and Arctic sea ice ?has failed to re-form for the second consecutive winter, raising fears that global warming may have tipped the polar regions in to irreversible climate change far sooner than predicted.?
Morale is low at the Department of Homeland Security as ?[v]acancies and personnel turnover have reached such high levels?that they may be hampering the agency?s effectiveness.?
And finally: Frederick Malek, the Advisory Committee member of Scooter Libby?s legal fund who infamously counted the number of Jews in a government agency, was arrested as a young man for killing, skinning, barbecuing, and eating a dog.
Making Progress? Bush Backtracks In Assessments of Iraq and Afghanistan
Today, as he often does, President Bush said we are making progress in Iraq and Afghanistan: ?We are making progress in the march of freedom ? and some of the most important progress has taken place in a region that has not known the blessings of liberty: the broader Middle East.?
But a quick review of Bush?s statements today versus his earlier statements about Iraq and Afghanistan reveal that the condition in those countries has deteriorated steadily over time.
AFGHANISTAN THEN:
And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free. [9/27/04]
AFGHANISTAN NOW:
Taliban and al Qaeda remnants continue to fight Afghanistan?s democratic progress. In recent weeks, they have launched new attacks that have killed Afghan civilians and coalition forces. [3/13/06]
IRAQ THEN:
We thank all of the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the liberation of their own country. [5/1/03]
IRAQ NOW:
The past few weeks, the world has seen very different images from Iraq ? images of violence, and anger, and despair. We have seen a great house of worship ? the Golden Mosque of Samarra ? in ruins after a brutal terrorist attack. We?ve seen mass protests in response to provocation. We?ve seen reprisal attacks by armed militias on Sunni mosques ? and random violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of Iraqi citizens
