Friday, September 22, 2006
The Morning Grind
 (A first look at today's political news) President Bush met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at 8:45 am ET at the White House. The two leaders will hold a joint press availability 10:10 am ET.
At 10:45 am ET, the President and Mrs. Bush will take part in a photo-op for the 2006 National Spelling Bee Champion. You'll recall Katharine Close of Asbury Park, NJ, won the Bee this year with "ursprache."
The first couple then smile for the cameras at 11 am ET with the 2006 Boys and Girls Clubs of America Regional Finalist and Youth of the Year.
At 1:55 pm ET, another photo op with the recipients of the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.
The House Government Reform Committee holds a hearing today, "CSI Washington: Does the District Need its Own Crime Lab?"
The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook
The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook
"More than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001, including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers," reports the Washington Post.
Plummeting gasoline prices and a buoyant stock market may be weakening the power of the economy as an issue for Democrats less than seven weeks before U.S. congressional elections," reports Bloomberg.
As several polls show an uptick in President Bush's approval ratings, the Washington Times asks "Could [Tony] Snow be responsible for the surge?"
And Kinky Friedman says he was just following "in the footsteps of Richard Pryor" and he was an "an equal opportunity offender" after a blog posted an audio clip of him using a racial slur during a standup routine in 1980. How is his defense playing in Texas? Find out in Hot Topics below!
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Political Hot Topics
(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)
COMMERCE LOST 1,100 COMPUTERS SINCE '01: More than 1,100 laptop computers have vanished from the Department of Commerce since 2001, including nearly 250 from the Census Bureau containing such personal information as names, incomes and Social Security numbers, federal officials said yesterday. This disclosure by the department came in response to a request by the House Committee on Government Reform, which this summer asked 17 federal departments to detail any loss of computers holding sensitive personal information. Of the 10 departments that have responded, the losses at Commerce are "by far the most egregious," said David Marin, staff director for the committee. He added that the silence of the remaining seven departments could reflect their reluctance to reveal problems of similar magnitude. Washington Post: 1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Dept.
BUSH "PLAYING MIDDLE MAN" BETWEEN MUSHARRAF, KARZAI: President Bush is playing middle man in a thorny foreign policy problem that has bubbled up between two U.S. allies in the war on terrorism who accuse each other of not doing enough to crack down on extremists. Bush was to meet Friday with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. He's following up that meeting with talks on Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Then, they'll have a three-way sit down on Wednesday. Bush is working to find a way to defuse the dispute between Pakistan, which is helping the United States track Osama bin Laden and restrain bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, and the struggling democratic government in Afghanistan. Karzai's government is suffering its heaviest insurgent attacks since U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in late 2001. AP via Yahoo! News: Bush aims to calm fray between 2 allies
MUSHARRAF: U.S. THREATENED TO BOMB PAKISTAN "TO THE STONE AGE" IF THEY DIDN'T HELP TERROR EFFORT: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan tells Steve Kroft that after 9/11, the U.S. threatened to bomb his country if it didn't help America's war on terrorism... Musharraf says the threat came from then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was delivered to Musharraf's intelligence director. "The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,'" recalls Musharraf. It was insulting, he says. "I think it was a very rude remark." But he reacted to it in a responsible way, he tells Kroft. "One has to think and take actions in the interests of the nation, and that's what I did." Armitage disputes the language but doesn't deny that the message was strong. CBS News: Musharraf: U.S. Threatened Pakistan
BOTH SIDES "ACHIEVED THEIR AIMS" AS ACCORD REACHED ON TERROR SUSPECTS: The White House and dissident Senate Republicans reached a tentative accord yesterday on legislation that President Bush said would provide for continued tough interrogations of terrorism suspects by the CIA at secret detention sites. The accord, which includes a plan for future military trials of alleged terrorists, also spells out rules for the use of classified evidence as well as information obtained through coercion of some detainees. While the deal is subject to further discussion with House Republican leaders, it resolved the most contentious issues in the Bush administration's high-profile drive to gain congressional backing for its detainee policies before Congress adjourns next week. It also could help settle an intraparty fracas that worried GOP leaders in the run-up to the November elections. Washington Post: White House, Senators Near Pact on Interrogation Rules
TONY SNOW RESPONSIBLE FOR JUMP IN BUSH APPROVAL? Former talk show host Tony Snow took over as President Bush's communications point man four months ago, beefing up the press office staff, honing internal operations and deploying a quick-response strategy. Now, polls show, the president's approval rating has jumped to its highest level since January. Could Mr. Snow be responsible for the surge? "We're just busy going out and trying to be as aggressive as we can in getting the message out," Mr. Snow says. "Part of the challenge is to explain what we are doing and why. ... Sometimes you have to let people know very clearly what the policy is and that is one of our key aims." Washington Times: Presidential ratings rise with new message man
BUSH BEGINS TAX BLITZ, CALLING DEMS "THE PARTY OF HIGH TAXES": President Bush began a blistering new political offensive on Thursday, asserting that if Democrats won control of Congress from Republicans it would mean higher taxes, less money in the pockets of working families and damage to the economy. The speech by Mr. Bush here, in which he belittled Democrats as "the party of high taxes," signaled what Republicans described as a new phase of the White House's fall campaign, as Republicans begin to combine their emphasis on national security with a tough new emphasis on the issue that unites them more than any other, taxes. Mr. Bush's offensive was backed up by a flood of television advertisements on behalf of Republican candidates. New York Times: Bush Leads New Offensive Featuring Economy and Linking Democrats to High Taxes
AS GAS PRICES FALL, DEMS LOSE A CAMPAIGN ISSUE: Plummeting gasoline prices and a buoyant stock market may be weakening the power of the economy as an issue for Democrats less than seven weeks before U.S. congressional elections. A majority of Americans -- 54 percent -- say the U.S. economy is doing well, according to a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll. That's up 4 percentage points from the beginning of August, when the price of a gallon of gasoline was an average of 54 cents higher and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was 4 percent lower. President George W. Bush's approval ratings on handling the economy also rose. Almost 1 in 3 poll respondents said lower gasoline prices have enabled them to spend more on other household items. Bloomberg: Economy Fades as Issue for Democrats on Falling Gasoline Prices
GREAT NYDN HEADER: "ANTI-SEMITIC? ME? PSHAW, IRAN PREZ SAYS": Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poured on the patronizing charm again yesterday, scoffing at suggestions he's anti-Semitic and insisting his country has no plans to build a nuclear bomb. "I'm not anti-Jew," he said during an hour-long talk with reporters at the United Nations. "Jews are respected by everyone, like all human beings. And I respect them very much." Yet the polarizing president later referred to the state of Israel as "an imposition on humanity" and bizarrely dismissed as a flop the pro-Israel rally that drew tens of thousands of people to the UN's doorstep on Wednesday. "After a few days of heavy propaganda... a hundred people, maybe more or less, gathered to support perhaps the Zionist agenda," he said. "I don't even know, were these people paid?" New York Daily News: Anti-Semitic? Me? Pshaw, Iran prez sez
"WHAT MATTERS IS NOT SO MUCH MR. ALLEN'S BLOODLINES BUT HIS HANDLING OF THE NEWS": What may ultimately distinguish [George] Allen from politicians like Madeleine K. Albright and Senator John Kerry, who both learned the full extent of their Jewish histories on the public stage, is the manner in which his narrative has unfolded. It is occupying a place in a campaign that has already left him on the defensive over racial sensitivity and his efforts to incorporate his newly discovered background into a political identity as a Christian conservative. After initially sidestepping questions about his Jewish roots, Mr. Allen played them down and then had his campaign accuse his Democratic rival of anti-Semitism. Only on Wednesday did his mother confirm that she had hidden the family history from her son for decades. New York Times: Volatile Mix: Campaigning and Religions
BUSH RAISES $2 MILLION IN ORLANDO... HARRIS "MISSING FROM THE STAGE": President Bush swept through Central Florida on Thursday night, mingling with the Republican faithful at the Ritz and raising about $2 million for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and the Florida GOP... During his 40-minute appearance, Bush was joined on stage at the Ritz-Carlton in south Orange County by Crist and the president's brother Gov. Jeb Bush. Missing from the stage was U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, who on Sept. 5 won the U.S. Senate nomination with less than 50 percent of the GOP primary vote. Orlando Sentinel: He came. He spoke. He raised $2 million
CLINTON AND SPENCER WILL HOLD TWO DEBATES: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to two debates with her long-shot GOP Senate challenger, John Spencer, next month, campaign aides said yesterday. The face-offs will be almost back to back. The first will be hosted in Rochester by cable news station NY1 on Oct. 20. The next will be two days later, Oct. 22, at WABC's Manhattan studios. The debates are the only ones planned between Clinton and Spencer in their lopsided race, which has the senator, a potential 2008 White House hopeful, outpolling her rival by almost 30 points. New York Post: HILLARY AGREES TO DEBATE FOE
CASEY HOLDS LEAD OVER SANTORUM: U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., is still within striking distance of challenger Bob Casey Jr., but remains burdened by high negative ratings, according to the latest Daily News Keystone poll. Casey, the Democratic state treasurer, holds a 45 percent to 38 percent lead over Santorum among registered voters, with 5 percent favoring Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli and 12 percent undecided. Among likely voters, Casey's lead is 5 points, 46 percent to 41 percent. In the governor's race, Democratic Gov. Rendell maintains a commanding lead over Republican challenger Lynn Swann, 52 percent to 34 percent. Philadelphia Daily News: Poll: Bob leads Rick by 7 points
IA'S VILSACK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Among the throngs of "leaf-peepers" here to enjoy the changing colors of a New England autumn is an Iowa politician with a different quest. Gov. Tom Vilsack arrived Thursday in New Hampshire, as he winds down the last months of his term as Iowa's chief executive and possibly begins a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It is Vilsack's second trip to the state that hosts the nation's first presidential primary in January 2008. New Hampshire is attracting the same early crush of potential candidates in the wide-open presidential race as Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. Des Moines Register: Vilsack resumes courting N.H. votes
MA DEM PARTY CHAIRMAN TAKES BACK "RACE BAITING" REMARK: The chairman of the state Democratic Party said yesterday that Republican Kerry Healey has come "perilously close to race baiting" by raising immigration issues in the campaign for governor, a remark that prompted Democratic nominee Deval Patrick to distance himself from his own party's chairman. Healey's campaign demanded that Patrick seek the resignation of Democratic Party chairman Philip Johnston over the remarks. Patrick refused, but said, "Phil Johnston speaks for himself." Shortly after 8 p.m., Johnston repudiated his own remarks. The unusual exchange took place on the second full day of the general election campaign, which pits Patrick, the state's first African-American gubernatorial nominee, against Healey, who is seeking to become the first woman to be elected governor in Massachusetts. Boston Globe: Race remark draws campaign barbs
BLAGOJEVICH HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE EXPLAINING $1500 CHECK: Gov. Rod Blagojevich acknowledged Thursday he helped get a state job for a friend whose husband wrote a $1,500 check to the governor's daughter, but said it was "ludicrous" to suggest the job and gift were connected. Blagojevich also offered a new, contradictory explanation for the check in his first detailed comments since the Tribune reported two weeks ago that the FBI is investigating the woman's allegation that the gift may have come in return for her job... Blagojevich's office earlier this month said the $1,500 check from Michael Ascaridis was solely "a birthday gift that Mike gave to Amy." In a prepared statement delivered through his attorney almost two weeks ago, Michael Ascaridis also said the gift was only for Amy Blagojevich's 7th birthday. But on Thursday, the governor said he wasn't sure what the money was for and suggested it could have been a christening present for his youngest child, Annie, who was born in April 2003. Chicago Tribune: A new reason for $1,500 gift
KINKY'S USE OF N-WORD IN 1980 ROUTINE CAUSES "FIRESTORM" IN TX: Kinky Friedman's use of a racial slur in his outrage-humor stage show in 1980 caused a firestorm Thursday in the governor's race as critics said the satirist too frequently engages in racially charged comments. The controversy has been smoldering for two weeks, ever since Friedman said many of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees remaining in Houston are "crackheads and thugs." Most of the evacuees are black. On Thursday, a Democratic-leaning Internet site, The Burnt Orange Report, poured fuel on the fire by airing the outtake from Friedman's April 16, 1980, appearance at Rockefeller's in Houston. Friedman said the controversial comment should not be taken seriously because it was part of a stage show meant to offend everyone in the audience. Houston Chronicle: Friedman says use of slur was joke
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