Before the Christmas break, we wrote that Americans' dwindling interest in the Iraq war might be perilous to the national interest, as Alasdair Roberts recently contended in Foreign Policy. Now the war on terrorism -- which even critics of President Bush must admit now includes Iraq -- is back in the headlines, thanks to yesterday's tragic events.
The view from Washington is that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a serious kneecap blow to U.S. foreign policy. To quickly review: President Pervez Musharraf, an ally by necessity, is increasingly unpopular at home and for good reason. (People who live under military dictatorships generally do not enjoy the experience.) Meanwhile, there's a virulent strain of anti-Western, Islamic fanaticism seeping through Pakistan at the moment, which means this White House's usually cherished principles of liberty and democracy do not apply.
The Bhutto-Musharraf power-sharing compromise was seen as the most feasible shot at calming Pakistan's restive populace. In Bhutto, Washington saw a more reliable and transparent ally in the war against extremism, in part because of her shady ethical past. She had something to prove.
Now that she's gone, we're back to where we were, and less than two weeks before Pakistan's elections no less. No doubt there is panic in the Beltway today, if only for the dearth of available options now.
This was apparently a big Facebook controversy, but alas, we missed it: a group of Penn State students apparently dressed as massacred Virginia Tech students at a Halloween party this year. The photos eventually surfaced online -- as all such photos tend to do, note to everyone -- and a Virginia TV station reported the story earlier this month. PSU student paper the Daily Collegianfiled this report Dec. 7. ABC News went up with one of the photos on Dec. 10. Thirty-one people were murdered and the gunman died in the April 16 tragedy, the worst gun massacre in U.S. history.
A roundup of how editorial boards and pundits reacted to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto:
"Bhutto was a flawed and undeniably courageous leader. Her return to Pakistan two months ago raised hopes that her country might find its way toward democracy and stability. Her assassination on Thursday is yet one more horrifying reminder of how far Pakistan is from both -- and how close it is to the brink." -- New York Times
"Ms. Bhutto was the most powerful advocate of secular democracy in her country; she had the courage to confront both Islamic militants and the autocratic government of President Pervez Musharraf.... Her tragic death may open the way to violence and political chaos that could be exploited by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, unless Mr. Musharraf and the country's surviving moderate forces act quickly and wisely." -- Washington Post
Bhutto Assassination: U.S. Policy Unchanged... But For How Long?
UPDATED.
Officials in the Bush administration said that current White House policy toward Pakistan hadn't immediately changed in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, despite questions about whether President Pervez Musharraf had a role in today's attack.
"U.S. policy has always been based on promoting a... peaceful, moderate country" in Pakistan, said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "Our efforts have not been focused on any individuals, but on achieving that goal."
President Bush and Musharraf are to speak by phone today. Administration officials are being careful not to go beyond expressing condolences and general condemnations of terrorism as they monitor the delicate political crisis in Pakistan. Fires broke out as Bhutto supporters rioted in the streets. Islamabad declared a "red alert," meaning police were on guard against violent outbreaks related to her death, but stopped short of imposing martial law.
(For our report on Bhutto's assassination and the initial reaction, click here.)
Administration officials said they would offer whatever help Pakistan needed but that they had not been asked to assist in a pending investigation into the attack. If the White House is questioning whether Musharraf could have provided greater security for Bhutto, as it requested, officials aren't saying. Pakistan's military and intelligence services are riddled with Islamic extremists. Whether that is a result of Musharraf's ineptitude or relish for political expediency is another question observers are asking, but that the White House is not -- out loud, anyway.
"We are going to continue working with President Musharraf," Casey said. "We are going to continue working with the PPP [Bhutto's opposition Pakistan People's Party] and other moderate democratic elements in Pakistan to try to bring us all together to achieve those goals."
Casey continued, "We intend to move forward with current policy."
Outraged supporters of Benazir Bhutto have taken to the streets following confirmation that the Pakistani opposition leader was assassinated today, with at least one province placed on emergency alert.
Bhutto had just spoken at a campaign rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, and had gotten into a car when a gunman opened fire. The apparent assassin then blew himself up. There are conflictingreports on how she was killed. Some witnesses said she had been shot in the neck and chest, while a doctor at the hospital that treated her told the New York Times she had shrapnel wounds but would not confirm she had been directly shot.
At least 15 other people were also killed in the attack, according to various news reports. "Police in Sindh have been put on red alert," a police official told Reuters, referring to Bhutto's home province. "We have increased deployment and are patrolling in all the towns and cities, as there is trouble almost everywhere."
Television footage is showing mobs of people setting fires and destroying property in the streets.
...But That Won't Mitigate A Really Bad Decade In Iraq
In his year-end press conference, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the Pentagon would not be issuing furlough notices "at this time." The branches of the military have had to lay off employees and cut corners while Congress and the White House tussle over continued war funding. The result has been piecemeal funding for the military, as anti-war lawmakers continue to pressure President Bush to accept a withdrawal deadline.
A June Center for Strategic and International Studies report [PDF] advised the Pentagon to stop requesting funding through war supplementals, which aren't included in the defense budget in order to make actual spending appear smaller than it really is. Total U.S. defense spending is only about 4 percent of GDP -- a very low war-time figure. The constantly cash-strapped military need not be so, the authors conclude, and the Pentagon should be asking for much more money with which to fight the Iraq war, the most pressing security problem facing the country.
Gates seemed to dispute the criticism that his department was lowballing Congress in order to provide political cover for the president. "I actually think we had a very thoughtful conversation with the House Armed Services Committee earlier in the year over what percent of GDP devoted to defense and securing the nation should be. I got the impression from both sides of the aisle that it ought to be about 4 percent," Gates said.
"I will be putting out a letter later this afternoon that basically acknowledges that we have to do some planning because we didn't get all the money" requested from Congress, he added.
Thanks to the military's performance in Iraq, officials in the Department of Defense have genuine reason to clink glasses as the year winds down, though they know better than to go overboard in their celebrations.
In his year-end press briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the drawdown of five brigade combat teams (BCTs) by July 2008 was going as planned and should allow for yet more troop reductions. The first of the BCTs returned from Iraq earlier this month.
"My hope is the circumstances on the ground will continue to improve in a way that, when Gen. [David] Petraeus and the Joint Chiefs and Central Command do their analysis in March, will allow a continuation of the drawdown at roughly the same pace as the first half of the year," Gates said in the Pentagon briefing room.
The World Trade Organization issued a decision [PDF] today regarding Antigua and Barbuda's request to impose $3.4 billion in retaliatory measures against the United States for allegedly violating its WTO commitments. The WTO said Antigua can use annual trade sanctions against the U.S. retroactive to April 2006 for the amount of $21 million until the U.S. reaches compliance with the WTO. The WTO also ruled that Antigua's sanctions may target U.S. intellectual property.
"Considering that Antigua and Barbuda were asking for over $3 billion in compensation, and they were only awarded a token $21 million, this decision is a partial victory for the U.S.," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. "However, I remain concerned about how these countries could extract these sanctions from unrelated U.S. companies, like those in the intellectual property and banking industries."
"I will continue to closely monitor this situation and work with other U.S. policymakers and businesses to mitigate the decision's impact on U.S. industries," continued Goodlatte, who sponsored legislation banning online gambling last year.
Greg Frazier, executive vice president of worldwide government policy for the Motion Picture Association of America, warned of possible repercussions from the ruling. "We have made clear from the outset of the case that if Antigua were to suspend its intellectual property rights obligations in retaliation, we believe such a move -- which would be virtually unprecedented in WTO disputes -- would put Antigua at odds with some of its other international obligations as well as raise questions about its eligibility for certain U.S. trade preference programs," he said.
"Also, as a practical matter we have serious questions about how such a decision could be effectively managed to avoid damage beyond the amount of compensation in the WTO decision," Frazier added.
The 110th Congress, led by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, swooped into power in January with ambitious plans for change. But to paraphrase an old saying, the best-laid plans of the legislative branch often go awry... especially when there's a vocal and sizable minority standing in the way at nearly every turn.
At least 50 people were killed in Pakistan today when a bomb exploded inside a mosque during the celebration of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Worshippers inside the Islamabad mosque were observing the holiday with Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Pakistan's former interior minister, whose political party has been targeted before. Sherpao and his family were not injured in today's bombing, but he was also targeted in an April suicide attack near Islamabad that killed nearly 30 people.
"It was a massacre," Sherpao told the New York Times. "I can tell you that." Sherpao is running in the parliamentary elections set for mid-January, which will likely change the balance of power in Pakistan. (BBC News has a profile of Sherpao.)
Earlybird Roundup: Administration Goes To Court Over CIA Tapes
Washington. Despite objections from the Justice Department, the Bush administration will go to court today to discuss the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.
Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled pro forma sessions for the Senate over the holidays, keeping it open and thereby preventing recess appointments.
Environment. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that he intends to sue the federal government over its refusal to allow states to set their own emissions rules.
Neither FOX nor MSNBC bothered to cover Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo's announcement earlier today that he was dropping out of the race for the White House. CNN went to it at first, then cut away so the anchor could discuss the pronunciation of the congressman's surname. This, despite the pivotal role he has played in this cycle's Republican nomination battle.
Reached by phone at his Des Moines hotel room, Tancredo sounded relaxed and content with his decision to close shop. His candidacy, after all, was from the beginning about holding the big-name guys to account on illegal immigration.
"I have dedicated 10 years of my public life to warning the nation of the perilous consequences of massive, uncontrolled illegal immigration," Tancredo told supporters at a press conference this afternoon. "This message unfortunately has fallen on deaf ears in the highest office in the land. Without a president who is committed to securing the nation, we will always remain in jeopardy."
Tancredo's announcement had been expected since yesterday. He said the urgency he felt on illegal immigration compelled him to launch his bid despite what "we knew at the time were incredibly long odds." A nationally obscure figure best known among anti-immigration hardliners, Tancredo said in April that he was entering the race because of "the field, the field."
More on what he told us about Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson after the jump.
A spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee told National Journal today that the committee expects a formal response from Google to a recent letter [PDF] from top Republican Joe Barton of Texas concerning Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising server DoubleClick on Friday.
Barton had addressed 24 questions concerning privacy and consumer protection aspects of the deal to Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google.
"The two staff attorneys who deal with these matters visited Google headquarters earlier this week and have returned to Washington," said Lisa Miller, Republican communications director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "They collected substantial information which now requires analysis. Additionally, we expect Google's formal response to written questions tomorrow. That, too, likely will require a careful reading before we can reach any conclusions."
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch told National Journal that he still has a number of concerns about this transaction, "especially as it relates to competition and privacy."
President Bush's Passive-Aggressive Holiday Greeting
Speaking at his final White House press conference of the year, President Bush congratulated Congress on its 11th-hour legislative achievements while making sure to backhand lawmakers for taking so long to get there.
Returning later to the AMT bill, the president added, "Unfortunately, Congress passed this legislation after a lengthy delay. It is going to add to the time it takes to process tens of billions in refunds. We will work hard to minimize the impact of congressional delay."
And after thanking Congress for sending him new spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan before the New Year, Bush noted that it was "approved at the last minute, nearly three months after the end of the fiscal year." He continued, "When Congress wastes so much time and leaves its work until the final days before Christmas, it is not a responsible way to run the government."
The president later denied that his relationship with the Democratic-led Congress was truly "antagonistic," but his annual pre-holiday address to the press corps encapsulated the testy and wearying push-pull the two branches have been engaged in all year.
The Federal Trade Commission said today it will not block Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising server DoubleClick.
In a 4-1 vote, the commission wrote that "after carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition."
"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, said in a statement.
During its nearly eight-month review of the proposed transaction, the commission found the consumer privacy issues that had been raised are "not unique to Google and DoubleClick," and "extend to the entire online advertising marketplace." An FTC official clarified the decision: Unless the privacy interests raised in a proposed merger are connected to competition, the commission found that it lacks legal authority to block a transaction on these grounds.
Congress. On the final day of the 2007 session, the House approved an AMT patch and a gun bill inspired by the Virginia Tech shootings.
Iraq. More women employed by private contractor KBR have come forward to report sexual harassment and assault while working in Iraq.
Turkey. The Turkish ambassador said the U.S. supplied intelligence to help his country attack PKK targets in northern Iraq.
Economy. The Bush administration declined to charge China with manipulating its currency yesterday, amid pressure from lawmakers to impose penalties on the country.
Nation. Citing new provisions in the recently passed energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency denied a request from 17 states to be allowed to set their own emissions rules.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo will make a "major announcement" from Iowa today, his campaign said yesterday, inviting speculation that the Colorado congressman will drop out of the race. AP reports this morning that "a person close to Tancredo" has confirmed that he will abandon his bid for the GOP nomination.
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details.
Tancredo is perhaps too much of a niche (and not well-enough known) candidate for this race, but he may take credit for ensuring that his battle cry, illegal immigration, is a decisive issue in the GOP nomination fight. His is perhaps the most hard-line position of the GOP contenders -- he has called for an end to legal immigration as well -- and that has forced many of the front-runners to sharpen their own more moderate positions to avoid appearing weak by comparison. In the CNN/YouTube debate last month, he accused his aping rivals of trying to "out-Tancredo Tancredo."
With congressional leaders in attendance, President Bush this morning signed the recently passed energy bill that he said would address the need to reduce U.S. dependence on oil.
"The legislation I am signing today will address our vulnerabilities and our dependence in two important ways," Bush said, first by increasing the supply of alternative fuels and then by raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for automobiles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
"The bill also includes provisions to improve energy efficiency in lighting and appliances," he added. "It adopts elements of the executive order I signed requiring federal agencies to lead by example on efficiency and renewable energy use."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman and ranking member Pete Domenici and House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell were among those at the ceremony. Democrats have vowed to try next year to pass tax provisions and renewable electricity mandates that were dropped from the final version of the bill.
Health care has been a prominent issue on the campaign trail in the U.S. this year, with presidential candidates, particularly on the Democratic side, vowing to expand access to health care coverage for the over 40 million Americans without insurance. According to a new study, these concerns about the quality and availability of health care are also shared worldwide, albeit in different ways.
The global survey [PDF] from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows that while health care ranks high among citizens' political priorities around the world, attitudes toward the issue vary widely according to where people live, their economic status and their experiences with particular diseases.
Overall, the survey of over 45,000 people in 46 countries finds that health is a "local phenomenon." Not surprisingly, respondents in areas hardest hit by disease and malnutrition, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, were more likely to rank health as the top problem for their countries. In other regions, including Latin America, Asia and Europe, crime, terrorism, drugs and pollution were perceived as greater threats than the spread of infectious diseases.
The vice president was not around when the blaze broke out at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. No injuries were reported, and the fire has been put out. Details here, here and here.
Earlybird Roundup: Energy Bill, South Korea Election
Iraq. U.S. military officials say commanders were not aware of Turkey's plans to bomb northern Iraq earlier this week.
South Korea. Former business executive Lee Myung-bak of the conservative opposition Grand National Party was elected president of South Korea today.
Energy.President Bush will sign a bipartisan energy bill today managing tougher fuel efficiency standards in the U.S.
Middle East. The White House announced that President Bush will travel to the Middle East next month to solidify relationships with Arab states involved in the peace process and the effort to pressure Iran on its nuclear program.
Immigration. A federal judge is set to rule by the end of week on an effort to block one of the nation's toughest immigration laws in Arizona.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
WH Lawyers May Have Encouraged Destruction Of CIA Tapes
One day after a federal judge ignored the Justice Department's objections and ordered a hearing into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, the New York Times is reporting that at least four high-ranking White House lawyers may have had a role in the decision to destroy the video evidence.
Citing "current and former administration and intelligence officials," the Times names four White House officials -- former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff David Addington, former senior National Security Council lawyer John Bellinger and former White House counsel Harriet Miers -- who "took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives" from al-Qaida.
The Times' sources reportedly gave "conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed."
The Senate approved $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday, paving the way for President Bush's signature on a roughly $560 billion omnibus spending package.
The omnibus measure was headed for final passage in the Senate and will make a final stop in the House today before going to Bush's desk. The president's aides say Bush will sign the bill, as the addition of Iraq war funds without conditions was the final hurdle.
The war-funding amendment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., passed 70-25. It adds roughly $39 billion to the House-approved package, which contained $31 billion only for Afghanistan operations, with some funding for protective equipment.
Based on a spending rate of about $6.6 billion per month, the cash infusion would appear to give the Army breathing room until around June before another supplemental is needed.
The Bush administration's nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs today gave the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "F" for failing to meet key legislative benchmarks.
"At this time, I would give the Maliki government an 'F'," Mary Beth Long told the Senate Armed Services Committee during her confirmation hearing today. The nascent government has not performed in an "exemplary manner" to pass needed legislation, Long said. If confirmed, Long, who has served as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security for the last two years, would become a top Pentagon adviser on the Middle East, Africa and NATO. She acknowledged the Iraqi government has not yet succeeded in passing de-Baathification legislation or approving hydrocarbon laws including an oil revenue sharing agreement, among other legislative goals.
A temporary standoff on the omnibus spending bill was resolved today after the Senate agreed to vote on an alternative minimum tax patch with offsets, lawmakers and aides said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, addressing concerns of the moderate-to-conservative Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats, had threatened not to send the spending bill to the Senate until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to bring up a fully offset AMT bill. Reid agreed to the change this afternoon, and Pelosi sent over the omnibus bill. "We're going to try to do a vote" on a fully offset AMT bill, Reid said, acknowledging that getting the new version through the Senate would be "a little harder."
President Bush is prepared to sign the omnibus package approved yesterday by the House, so long as Congress approves money he is seeking for the Iraq war. The administration today embraced an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying in a new Statement of Administration Policy [PDF] that unless the McConnell provision is adopted, Bush will veto the bill.
White House press secretary Dana Perino cautioned that aides continue to comb through the legislation. But barring any particularly unwelcome discoveries, Bush will accept the measure, she said.
Fed Proposes New Rules For Lenders To Ease Mortgage Crisis
After months of urging from lawmakers, market-watchers and consumer advocates concerned about the impact of risky subprime loans on the slumping housing market, the Federal Reserve unanimously agreed to propose tighter restrictions on lenders this morning.
The proposal includes "a ban on low-documentation loans and limits on penalties for borrowers who prepay their debts," Bloomberg News reports. According to MarketWatch, the proposed rules would not apply to current borrowers but would instead aim to avoid future lending crises "like the one that has crippled the subprime mortgage industry."
"Our goal is to promote responsible mortgage lending, for the benefit of individual consumers and the economy," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement. "We want consumers to make decisions about home mortgage options confidently, with assurance that unscrupulous home mortgage practices will not be tolerated."
CNNMoney.com and the Wall Street Journal(subscription) have more on the proposal, and the Fed's Web site has highlights. In related news today, the Economist named the subprime mortgage crisis the "biggest mess" in the business world this year.
Buckle up, middle-class America: You really might get hit with the alternative minimum tax after all.
That's contrary to lawmakers' pledge to prevent the tax from sweeping up lower income brackets than originally intended. Leaders on both sides of the aisle agree that an AMT patch must be passed before the holiday break, but The Hill is reporting that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has signaled they may not be able to overcome their differences in time, after all.
According to a new study billed as the first of its kind, states are about $731 billion short of what they need to cover pensions, health care and other long-term obligations for retiring public workers.
The Pew Charitable Trusts report [PDF] covers all 50 states, and examines what states already have in the bank vs. what they will eventually need. Pew estimates that, all told, states will be on the hook for $2.73 trillion over the next three decades. Researchers describe that figure as conservative.
Some states are squirreling away more efficiently than others. Only Arizona, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin were ready to fully fund nonpensions benefits for the next 30 years by FY 2006, the report found. None of the five largest states had saved money for nonpensions benefits.
Several states are taking measures to correct the problem, including raising the retirement age and setting up trusts to pay for retiree health care. Bloomberg and Reuters have more on the study.
Turkish troops who crossed into Iraq early this morning have pulled out, Reuters is reporting.
It is not yet clear why the 300 or so troops would withdraw so quickly, but this week's airstrikes on suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) hideouts have outraged Iraqis. The Washington Post reported this morning that the airstrikes on the Kurdish separatist group, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., were carried out with the Pentagon's assistance.
The incursion came and went as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice toured Kirkuk and Baghdad to apply pressure toward political reconciliation. Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani refused to meet with Rice because of the Turkish assaults, BBC News reports.
After a day of debate on legislation to limit the administration's warrantless surveillance activities, Senate leaders pulled the bill from the floor yesterday and will return to consideration of it when Congress reconvenes in 2008.
Earlier in the day, the Senate had voted 76-10 to begin debate on the bill but had made little headway in resolving issues. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who left the presidential campaign trail for the debate, and Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., led the opposition to the intelligence committee-passed bill under consideration.
The intelligence bill would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the administration engage in electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to September 2001. A rival bill by the Judiciary Committee does not include any protections for phone carriers, who face about 40 civil lawsuits.
Earlybird Roundup: House Passes Omnibus; Turkish Troops Enter Iraq
Congress. The House yesterday passed a massive, earmark-laden omnibus spending bill, which the Senate will take up today.
Economy. The Federal Reserve meets today in Washington to consider proposals for alleviating the subprime mortgage market crisis.
Iraq. Approximately 300 Turkish troops have entered northern Iraq to stem attacks from Kurdish rebels there. The Washington Post reports the U.S. is providing the Turkish military with intelligence to aid in that effort.
Middle East. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Quartet counterparts rebuked Israel yesterday for planning to expand its West Bank settlements.
Nation. The California Assembly took the first steps yesterday toward approving a $14.4 billion health care plan that would cover nearly all residents in that state.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
So, Russia has just delivered the first shipment of 80 tons of uranium fuel rods to Iran's disputed Bushehr nuclear reactor. Now what?
Wait-and-see time, apparently. It is not clear how close the Bushehr facility is to full production capacity. A spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Agency said that Bushehr was 95-percent finished, according to the Los Angeles Times, but Iran has walked a tricky line between simultaneously exaggerating and denying its nuclear capacity for years.
Taking a question on Iran during a speech on the economy this morning, President Bush seemed to welcome news of the arrangement, but with a caveat.
"Interestingly enough, today Russia sent some enriched, or is in the process of sending enriched uranium to Iran to help on their civilian nuclear reactor. If that's the case, if the Russians are willing to do that -- which I support -- then the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich," Bush said. "If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant, then there's no need for them to learn how to enrich," he repeated.
Senate Takes Up FISA Revisions Without Immunity Deal
The Senate today voted 76-10 today to begin debate on legislation that would limit the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance activities, as lawmakers and aides scrambled behind the scenes to prepare amendments and find common ground on several controversial issues.
The Senate agreed to take up a bill approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee that would overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with plans to consider a competing bill backed by the Senate Judiciary Committee as a floor amendment. Significantly, the Intelligence panel's measure would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the Bush administration engage in electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to September 2001. The Judiciary bill does not include any protections for the phone carriers, who face about 40 civil lawsuits.
The unsuccessful effort to prevent the Senate from beginning debate on the Intelligence Committee's version came primarily from Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis.
To no one's surprise, Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that he accepts his top aide's offer of the prime minister's slot should Dmitry Medvedev win the presidency in March. Medvedev is Putin's longtime aide and handpicked successor for the presidency -- an office Putin is barred by law from seeking again.
"If the citizens of Russia show trust in Dmitry Medvedev and elect him the new president, I would be ready to continue our joint work as prime minister without changing the distribution of authority between the positions," Putin said in an address to his United Russia party.
Putin sought to allay concerns that the coming election would amount to just moving the deck chairs, but few Russians are under the illusion that Putin's power would really be capped by the traditional bounds of the much-weaker prime minister's post. Nonetheless, Medvedev, who was formally nominated by United Russia today, is assured a decisive victory in the March 2 vote. Why hasn't Putin's authoritarian power-grabbing dented his popularity? The economy.
Russians can forgive Putin his flaws because their economy is rocketing -- even if Putin isn't exactly responsible for that trend. Here in the United States, the perception that the economy is flagging is threatening to upend next year's elections -- and President Bush's legacy. For the second time this month, Bush devoted a public address to the economy in an attempt to persuade the public that things weren't as dire as they seemed.
"My attitude was if you're paying taxes you ought to get tax relief," Bush told the Rotary Club in Fredericksburg, Va., recalling concerns about the economy after the 9/11 attacks. "If you think about where we were, coming out of 2001, and where we are today, you can't help but say the plan worked.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) this morning signed a bill abolishing the death penalty in the Garden State, making it the first state to ban capital punishment in four decades.
As he signed the bill, which was approved by the state legislature late last week, Corzine declared that "New Jersey is truly evolving." "I believe society first must determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence," he added. "To that, I answer yes. Therefore we must evolve to stop endorsing violence."
In addition to Corzine's moral argument for ending the death penalty, the bill appears to be a largely practical move, as the state has not carried out any executions since 1963. Lawmakers said the eight New Jersey prisoners currently sitting on death row would serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The Colisseum in Rome will be lit this evening to commemorate the new law, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. AP has more on this story, and The Gate has more on changing attitudes toward capital punishment in the U.S.
It was a banner weekend for John McCain, as the GOP presidential hopeful whose candidacy was written off not so long ago by most reporters and pundits scooped up several major endorsements and a fawning profile in the Wall Street Journal.
Three key newspapers in the two top early primary states published glowing editorials backing McCain's bid for the GOP nomination this weekend. In Iowa, a state few are predicting McCain to win, the Des Moines Registerformally endorsed the Arizona senator (as well as Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Democratic side), deeming him "most ready to lead America in a complex and dangerous world and to rebuild trust at home and abroad by inspiring confidence in his leadership."
New Hampshire's Portsmouth Heraldalso backed McCain, citing a quality the three-term senator has long trumpeted: "McCain will tell you the truth," the board writes, "even if it costs him the election."
Earlybird Roundup: Omnibus Bill, Ohio Voting Study, Turkish Airstrikes
Congress. Democrats may begin voting as early as today on a new $516 billion omnibus budget package that meets President Bush's spending target, but has a greater emphasis on domestic programs.
Washington. The destroyed CIA interrogation tapes have set up a turf battle in Washington between the courts, Congress and the Bush administration.
Nation. A long-awaited study has found "critical security failures" in all of Ohio's voting systems, prompting a call for reform from Ohio's secretary of state.
Iraq. Turkish warplanes bombed several villages in northern Iraq yesterday as part of an effort to combat Kurdish rebels based in that region.
World.King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has pardoned a female rape victim whose sentence of 200 lashes had sparked international outrage.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
We said in our liveblog coverage of the final Democratic presidential candidates debate yesterday that the military component of the "surge" strategy in Iraq was working . An Iraq war vet who is now ex-military and a foreign-policy wonk in Germany weighs in (unedited):
Primacy of the Iraq war as an issue has slipped, but not because a tapering off of violence. It is still pretty constant, just down a little from the bloodiest season we've had since Nov 04 when the second Fallujiah was going on.
Jim Cramer & Ron Paul: The Interview Of The Century So Far
It's nearly the weekend, but we urge you all to run home and TiVo the following: Rep. Ron Paul sits down with Jim Cramer on "Mad Money" tonight(!!!).
No shouting or renting of garments, according to an early transcript. Paul and Cramer both HATE the Fed in a big way, and that's topic No. 1 in the interview.
"I always feel like I'm out there by myself criticizing this institution that everybody thinks is like a holy temple, when the reality is these are just men and women like you and me except for they're making policy with no checks and balances," Cramer tells the GOP presidential candidate. "I wish you the best of luck, sir, with your campaign. You are changing things with what you're saying."
Do we have another convert to the Ron Paul Revolution? Will Cramer be Ron Paul's very own Oprah? The magic begins at 6 p.m. EST and re-airs at 11 on CNBC.
Memo To Congress: Maybe Try Doing Things Another Way
Just a year after voting for a partisan makeover, Americans think Congress is the pits. The main reason: that body's seeming inability to get anything done.
Considering all those lengthy floor debates and filibusters don't seem to get bickering lawmakers much closer to compromise, perhaps the ladies and gentlemen of the House and Senate ought to try settling their differences the old-fashioned way.
Fingers point to strategist Mark Penn for allegedly running Hillary Rodham Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination as if she'd already won it: here, here and here.
Curiously, these blame-the-strategist whisperings always seem to start when candidates are in mortal danger. Where were all these off-the-record critics earlier in the fall, when we first started to see that Clinton would actually have to, *gasp*, fight for the nomination? Might this not just be Camp Clinton's way of deflecting blame for the campaign's missteps away from the candidate?
Source Says Iraq IG Searched E-Mails To Find Press Leaks
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen and his aides reviewed employee e-mails in May to see if someone in the office was leaking damaging information to the media, according to a former employee familiar with the agency's internal probe.
The former agency employee said the review of e-mails lasted two days and did not violate federal law. This source also said the method of finding the leak was consistent with an agency policy that says employees "imply their consent to disclosing the contents of files or information" on agency equipment they use. The former employee described the internal probe to counter charges by other former employees that Bowen and top aides engaged in a far more extensive open-ended review of employee e-mails over a period of months.
Some former employees said they believed their e-mails were reviewed to dig up dirt on their activities or to assess their loyalty. Those allegations and other charges have generated an FBI investigation of Bowen and other officials, CongressDaily reported. In an exclusive interview yesterday, Bowen called the charges baseless.
Flanked by the vice president and the rest of his Cabinet-level officials, President Bush cheerfully reminded Congress of the mountain of legislative work they must tackle before departing for the holidays.
"I thank the Senate and congratulate the Senate for passing a good energy bill," Bush said at a press conference on the White House lawn. "Now the House must act."
Bush emerged to speak with reporters this morning following his weekly Cabinet meeting. He scored a victory yesterday when the Senate overwhelmingly passed an energy package minus a Democratic-sponsored $21.8 billion provision that would have reduced tax breaks for oil companies. The overall bill remains tough on automakers, however, and is expected to make it through the House next Tuesday with relative ease.
The FBI is investigating allegations of misconduct against Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, according to former employees and other knowledgeable sources, indicating that a long administrative probe has widened to include the possibility of criminal wrongdoing.
The FBI is looking into claims that the former White House lawyer and aides violated federal law by accessing e-mail accounts of agency employees, several former staffers told CongressDaily. A grand jury has been empaneled in Virginia as part of the probe, the sources said.
Among the employees whose e-mail accounts were allegedly accessed is former Ambassador Robin Raphel, a respected career diplomat who worked as a deputy to Bowen until early this year. Denise Burgess, a former spokeswoman for the special inspector general's office who has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also has been interviewed by FBI agents, former co-workers said.
In an interview yesterday, Bowen said neither he nor anyone in his office has been notified they are targets of an investigation. He said he is legally prohibited from confirming the existence of an investigation, but he denied wrongdoing. "I am confident that this is going to amount to nothing," he said. Bowen also acknowledged the investigation has become a drag on the organization. "It takes up time and money that should be spent on Iraq oversight," he said.
Congress. The House narrowly passed an intelligence bill yesterday that would ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other extreme interrogation techniques.
Iraq. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had harsh words for her Republican colleagues yesterday, saying they "like" the Iraq war and "want this war to continue."
Middle East. In the wake of a car bombing that killed a top Lebanese military official earlier this week, President Bushis urging Syria and its allies to stop attacks "aimed at intimidating the Lebanese people."
Terrorism. A Miami judge declared a mistrial for six defendants in a homegrown terrorism case yesterday. Meanwhile, U.K. investigators believe foiled attacks in London and Glasgow earlier this year were linked to al-Qaida.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 today to hold former White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with subpoenas in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings scandal.
"This is not a step I have wanted to take," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. But, he went on: "White House stonewalling is unilateralism at its worst, and it thwarts accountability. Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and abusing it should have remedies and consequences."
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., crossed party lines to vote with the committee's 10 Democrats in favor of the citations, though Specter acknowledged that the vote was "highly likely to be a meaningless act."
4:10. All over, no more debates until next year, hurray!
Up until a couple of months ago, there seemed to be a critical mass of Democratic support building behind Clinton, in part because of her metamorphosis into a suddenly "human" and likable politician and the assumption that the Clinton machine could best take on the Republican nominee next year. The political press carried on that change vs. experience debate all summer and into the early fall.
But now the nomination fight has been upended, and polls [PDF] show(subscription) that Obama and Edwards are viable in general election matchups, too. That eliminates for some voters their primary thesis for supporting Clinton, and it's why she's been struggling to stay afloat this month.
Most of us can look forward to relaxing with family in a week or so, but for the presidential contenders and Iowans it's closing arguments time. One thought to keep in mind: Part of the shifting around in this field and in the GOP as well is that the Iraq war has largely dropped out of the debate. Iraq no longer dominates the front page because of the decrease in violence and because of the campaigns. That changes in March at the latest, when Gen. David Petraeus is due back in Washington to report on the ground situation. We know the military part of the surge is working, but we are not much farther than we were in September on political reconciliation. The "what's next?" question is still hanging out there, unanswered. The GOP front-runners have more or less indicated loyalty to the Bush administration's policies, so answers will have to come from the Democratic field.
It's a sort of truism in lawyering circles that if you become a household name, you're doing something very wrong. This week, the ABA Journal has several cases in point.
In an apparent bid to show that it can compete with general-interest rags in cover-shot gimmickry, the usually super-serious magazine of the American Bar Association has named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as its 2007 Lawyer of the Year... and Gonzales' successor Michael Mukasey as 2008's Lawyer of the Year.
"The top legal story of 2007 was unquestionably the unraveling of support for the Bush administration's expansive view of presidential power during wartime, and with it, the slow-motion destruction" of Gonzales, ABA Journal's cover story reasons. "And now, all those problems have been dumped in the lap of the new AG.... How he'll deal with them -- in the middle of a presidential campaign, no less -- promises to make him the top legal newsmaker of 2008."
Certainly, Gonzales' collapse is one of the biggest stories of 2007. But Lawyer of the Year?
With tens of thousands of U.S. troops still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans will be sending their thoughts, prayers and charity dollars this holiday season to non-profit organizations catering to wounded veterans and their families. But a report from the watchdog American Institute of Philanthropy and tax filings examined by the Washington Post show that some of the nation's largest veterans charity groups have either mismanaged the donations they've received or spent very little of them on actual care for wounded vets.
The findings have outraged some lawmakers in Washington, who are holding their first hearing on the matter in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. "We need to make sure that the generous contributions of Americans to veterans will help veterans and not line the pockets of fundraisers and these organizations," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told the Post.
ABC News recently interviewedDaniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, about the watchdog group's charity report card.
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov accused the Kremlin of squashing his presidential campaign by making it impossible for him to meet election requirements.
The outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin said that he was being prevented from holding supporters meetings in Moscow. According to BBC News, "Under Russian election law, presidential contenders who are not affiliated to one of four major parties that won seats in parliament must provide the details of two million supporters across the country. Such contenders must also organise an 'initiative group' meeting of at least 500 supporters before a December deadline."
Senate Democratic leaders failed again this morning to get cloture on a House-passed energy bill, falling one vote short on a 59-40 roll call.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the bill would be brought back later today after tax provisions are stripped from the bill. Democrats had already modified the House-passed bill by dropping a renewable electricity mandate on investor-owned utilities.
More details will be available in this afternoon's CongressDailyPM.
House and Senate Democrats have reached a tentative agreement on an overall budget number they think will be acceptable to the White House, limiting FY08 spending to President Bush's $932.8 billion request, plus $3.7 billion for the Veterans Affairs Department.
The mixture of funding within that top line was still in question, with the White House and Republican leaders wary of signing off on any package until they are able to review the details. There is also the delicate issue of funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has still not been resolved.
Inclusion of at least $70 billion for the wars was likely to be a prerequisite for Bush's signature on the bill, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., yesterday did not rule out Iraq funds without strings being part of a final package.
SCHIP.President Bushvetoed another bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program yesterday in a move that effectively killed the Democrats' efforts to dramatically expand the program's reach.
Congress. House Democrats are headed for a clash with the Senate over the alternative minimum tax, as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer pledged yesterday to extend AMT relief without violating PAYGO budget rules.
Administration. In an interview with AP, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice outlined the president's foreign policy priorities for 2008.
Europe. European Union leaders have signed a landmark treaty creating a president and a more powerful foreign policy chief for the EU's 27 members.
Iraq. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday that the security situation was improving, and he praised Syria for its cooperation in keeping foreign fighters from entering Iraq.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
Ohthankgod: Liveblogging The Last GOP Debate Of 2007
4:37. In a post-debate interview on CNN, Huckabee said he apologized to Romney for the Jesus/devil remark while sticking to his earlier insistence that the remark had been taken out of context.
"He was gracious," Huckabee said of Romney's response.
There's nothing in the Times mag feature, by the way, to suggest Huckabee meant anything by that comment beyond an expression of genuine curiosity. Andrew Sullivanfound background for the question on the LDS Web site. Anyone who used to go to Sunday school knows that according to the Bible Satan/Lucifer/the devil was a fallen angel. Before he went evil he was just a regular angel, and in that sense, according to LDS, the devil and Jesus are brothers of a kind. OK, that's enough theology from me.
3:50. It's over, and insane as it sounds it feels too soon. That's a product of there having been a few too many non-contenders on the stage, no doubt.
Did uncommitted Iowans get what they needed here? Depends on whom they're leaning toward. Nothing bad happened to Huckabee, which is exactly what he needed as his viability star rises. Tancredo tried to portray Huck as an immigration flip-flopper, but... he's Tancredo. Lucky for Huckabee, Giuliani only goes there at grave risk to himself.
Romney didn't get a chance to zing Huckabee, but with that ad on the air he may not have needed to. And Huckabee was not asked about that Jesus/devil comment or his own attack-ish ad. The absence of theology in this debate may not be what some campaign prognosticators wanted, but it was classy, for immediate lack of a better word.
White House Open To Emergency Spending, Omnibus Bill
House and Senate Democrats remained deadlocked today over how to complete the FY08 appropriations process, as the White House appeared to open the door to emergency spending increases and to soften its opposition to an omnibus bill.
Senate Democrats as recently as this morning thought they had an agreement to bring up the original bill they negotiated with the House, which splits the difference with President Bush's budget by adding $11 billion to his request. That would have come up Thursday, but sources later said the Senate plans to see what the House is able to pass.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey today instructed the 11 subcommittee cardinals who oversee the remaining spending bills to trim them back to Bush's $933 billion request. Emergency spending could be added, along with additional funds designated as "contingent emergencies" that would require Bush to agree to release the money. It would be up to individual subcommittee chairmen to decide how to implement the cuts. Earmarks will remain, despite an earlier Obey pledge, although at significantly reduced levels.
House Minority Leader John Boehner has raised the prospect of emergency spending, and at the White House today, press secretary Dana Perino said Bush might be open to the idea. "I think that we would consider emergency spending if we needed to at the end of the day," she said. She also indicated, for the first time, that an omnibus bill might be acceptable.
A new Government Accountability Office report [PDF] has found that just 36 percent of all workers participate in a 401(k) or similar retirement plan. For lower-income workers, participation in such plans was practically nil, meaning those workers risk falling off a cliff once they retire.
The returns on 401(k) plans may not be enough to sustain retirements, the report also found. The typical balance of such accounts was $22,800, the Los Angeles Times reports. Stretched to cover the retirement years, that is barely enough for many Americans to live on.
The report doesn't factor in Social Security benefits, however, so the overall outlook is not so dire. Still, the low participation and return levels could add momentum to an already existing push for automatic or mandatory enrollment in defined contribution retirement plans.
MarketWatch and Reuters have more on the GAO report. Though the prevailing wisdom is that Americans spend too much and don't save enough, some economists argue that Americans are actually saving more than they need to live comfortably after retirement. The New York Times reported on that school of thought in January.
Investors were relieved this morning after the Federal Reserve announced it would be working with four other central banks to correct the global liquidity crisis.
The Dow tanked yesterday after the Fed's cautious decision to cut the benchmark funds rate by a quarter-point, instead of the more dramatic half-point some investors had been hoping for. The deal announced today includes the Bank of England, Bank of Canada, European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The banks will auction short-term funds in order to reinfuse markets with much-needed cash. As of 10:06 a.m., the Dow had rebounded 195 points.
Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply
Congressional investigators are expanding their inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the CIA's videotaped interrogations, as members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence complained about not getting enough answers during a closed briefing yesterday with CIA Director Michael Hayden.
Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said after the briefing that he plans to call CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and John Rizzo, the agency's top lawyer, to testify by next week "at the latest" on the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the tapes in 2005.
Rockefeller said it is possible he will also call Jose Rodriguez Jr. to testify. Rodriguez has been identified as the official who, as head of the spy agency's national clandestine service, ordered the videotapes destroyed. "This is a beginning," Rockefeller said.
The House intelligence committee is scheduled to hear from Hayden during a closed session today.
Earlybird Roundup: Bombs In Iraq & Lebanon, Last Debates In Iowa
Iraq. Three car bombs claimed at least 26 lives and left scores wounded in a mainly Shiite city in southern Iraq today.
Lebanon. Meanwhile, a top military general and his bodyguard were killed in a bombing in Beirut during the morning rush hour.
White House. The Bush administration maintained its tough stance on Iran this week and expressed confidence that the international community was supportive of continued sanctions.
Campaigns. The presidential candidates are preparing to meet for their final debates in Iowa this week, sponsored by the Des Moines Register. The Gate will be liveblogging the GOP and Democratic events today and tomorrow, respectively, beginning at 2 p.m. EST.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
It's too soon to know for sure, but indicators so far point to a North African Sunni terrorist group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (QIM), as the culprit behind today's twin bombings that killed more than 60 people in Algiers. U.S. and European intelligence agencies have been tracking al-Qaida-affiliated groups in North Africa for some time because of well-founded fears that it will be the next frontier in the war against Islamic terrorism.
The current incarnation of QIM is not even a year old. In January, the Algeria-based Islamic extremist group Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials as GSPC, announced it was changing its name because its membership in al-Qaida had been formalized.
Washington counts Algeria's democratically elected government as an ally in the war on terror, and provides financial assistance [PDF] via the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative. QIM counts Western-friendly Algiers as its enemy, and in May the group released an audio message telling Algerians that participation in this year's elections would make them "the traitors in this great sin" of their leaders' "tyranny and infidelity and their fight against religion." A series of bomb explosions apparently targeting the elections resulted in dismal turnout for the May 17 vote.
Huge, HUGE endorsement for Mitt Romney, from a publication that has often seemed downright hostile to the former Massachusetts governor.
"Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest," National Review's editors write.
Assessments on Romney's rivals: Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee are too polarizing within the party, John McCain could unify the party but is too moderate, Fred Thompson is conservative enough but has run a boring campaign.
On the religion issue: "For some people, Romney's Mormonism is still a barrier. But we are not electing a pastor."
The Federal Reserve nicked the benchmark federal funds rate for the third quarter in a row, but not by the half-point many investors were hoping for. The quarter-point cut brings the rate down to 4.25 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted after the announcement, ending the day down more than 225 [UPDATED 5:17] 294 points. The decision indicates that the credit crunch is having a rippling effect throughout the broader economy, in the Fed's view. The interest rate was also cut a quarter-point to ease bank borrowing.
"Incoming information suggests that economic growth is slowing, reflecting the intensification of the housing correction and some softening in business and consumer spending. Moreover, strains in financial markets have increased in recent weeks," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. Citing higher prices on energy and other goods, the committee added, "Some inflation risks remain, and" the committee "will continue to monitor inflation developments carefully."
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was the man of the hour in the press scrum before the Senate's Tuesday party luncheons. With a key part of the energy bill related to taxes headed to a vote and the fate of an alternative minimum tax fix and a measure blocking cuts for doctors in his hands, the Finance Committee chairman found himself surrounded by reporters three deep. Baucus expressed confidence that he could get the necessary 60 votes for the energy tax measure that would cut subsidies to energy companies. Democrats campaigned on the issue in 2006.
After the lunches, reporters crowded around Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., who is retiring by the end of the month. In one of his last tête-à-têtes with the press as a senator, Lott trumpeted the value of dealmaking, which has been in short supply on Capitol Hill this year.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would push the Senate to accept President Bush's domestic spending total and $70 billion for the wars, reflecting Republican confidence that Bush and the GOP hold the upper hand in the appropriations fight. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would wait to see what the House approved for the appropriations endgame before weighing in on the GOP plan. Most senators said there was no appetite for a continuing resolution into next year, meaning a final deal likely will be cut.
Not counting the week between Christmas and New Year's, when presumably even Iowans will want to leave politics behind in favor of eggnog and football, the presidential candidates really have only about two weeks left of campaigning in the crucial caucus state -- and it shows. John Edwards is rolling up his sleeves for an eight-day Iowa bus tour. Barack Obama's showing off his most glamorous accessory. And yesterday, for the first time in his prolific ad campaign, Mitt Romney went negative.
The GOP contender became the first on either side of the aisle to purchase air time for an attack ad this week amid the continued rise of Mike Huckabee in both Iowa polls and national surveys of likely Republican primary voters. Romney's new spot blasts Huckabee's record on an issue that has proven to be a lightning rod for Republicans in Iowa -- immigration. Today's Ad Spotlight(subscription) has more details on the ad. Meanwhile, perhaps blunting the ad's blow to Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor was endorsed by Jim Gilchrist, founder of border security group the Minutemen, in Iowa this morning. MSNBC has more.
Even in the blogosphere, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gets a little tetchy.
From a post dated 11/18/07: "Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed. But this doesn't ‎mean that I have not been keeping my promise of spending fifteen minutes per week ‎on it. As a matter of fact, I have spent more than the allocated time on the blog."
Hear that, world? Now back off. Ahmadinejad's most recent post is dated 12/1, so it looks as if the president's a little busy these days. If you'd like to send him a little note -- what's Persian for "wassup?" -- there's a comments section. The blog is available in Persian, Arabic, English and French. (Hat tip: IHT)
Now on to North Korea. A fewdevelopments here, but if you are keen to know what life is like inside the Hermit Kingdom, NPR producer Madhulika Sikkadescribed her recent visit on "Morning Edition" today.
Dems Back To Square One After Omnibus Plan Scuttled
Democratic leaders headed back to the drawing board this week on a massive spending bill covering every Cabinet agency except the Pentagon, after a White House veto threat this weekend scotched chances for a deal.
House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., said he wants to reduce FY08 spending bills to the president's overall $933 billion target, while eliminating all lawmakers' earmarks, as well as President Bush's own budget priorities, such as additional funding for the Iraq war.
"We might as well simply go down to the president's levels on those bills so that at least if we're going to lose, we might as well lose with clarity, so that people understand who's responsible for those inadequate investments," Obey said.
Earlybird Roundup: CIA Tapes, Mahdi Army, Ice Storms
Washington. A senior intelligence official told the New York Times that CIA lawyers approved the destruction of hundreds of hours of interrogation tapes.
Congress. The recurring battle over the "fix" to the alternative minimum tax is taking longer than usual this year.
Iraq.Muqtada al-Sadr, the cleric who controls the Mahdi army, has been quiet since the summer but is now reportedly gathering his forces in Baghdad and Shiite areas in the south.
Nation. An ice storm is sweeping across the Midwest. At least 17 deaths have been blamed on the storm.
World. Cuba has promised to cooperate with U.N. monitors and sign two agreements guaranteeing civil and political rights.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
Two car bombs exploded in Algiers this morning, killing at least 47 people. One of the bombs exploded in a street that contains offices for both the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N. Development Program.
CNN reports that 10 U.N. workers were killed in the blast. A spokesman for the refugee agency also said the building itself sustained "extensive damage." The other explosion occurred outside a court building in a nearby neighborhood 10 minutes before the bomb near the U.N. offices.
Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said today that a suicide bomber detonated the blast in front of the U.N. office.
No individual or group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks in the Algerian capital. In April, another bomb in Algiers killed more than 30 people; the northern African branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility for that attack.
Univision Debate Postmortem: The Six Amigos (Plus Ron Paul)
So, our liveblog effort was a bust thanks to my lack of high-tech closed-captioning, but it doesn't look as if we missed a whole lot in the way of fireworks. Because the immigration debate has been alienating Latino voters, it was in everyone's interest last night to promote Brand GOP (as opposed to Brand Me). Most of the seven candidates present did that, but at the expense of specifics.
In other words, this was a very broad-strokes debate. The Republican candidates have been vying for months to prove just how tough they can be on closing the borders, etc., which is sort of mandatory, as they're trying to win over mostly white, conservative base voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. Then they found themselves in Miami last night before a sea of Latino Americans -- the fastest-growing bloc of voters in the nation. In order to hew to what they'd been saying about immigration reform up until last night, some of which may not have gone over well in this crowd, they had to fiddle with their rhetoric.
That translated to lots of talk of freedom and no trading barbs on sanctuary cities or sanctuary mansions. The central mission was to not tick anyone off, and on that score they probably succeeded.
New Jersey is poised to become the first state to abolish the death penalty in 40 years. The Democratic-majority Senate has just approved legislation repealing the death sentence, which the state Assembly is set to approve on Thursday. Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has indicated he will sign it into law within the month.
Today's vote may portend a wider, mostly blue-state trend (but increasingly red-state, too) of re-examining capital punishment. Progress in DNA technology [PDF] and recent revelations that some deeply held tenets of criminal forensics are seriously flawed are leading legislatures to embark on cost-benefit analyses of the death penalty. More state government leaders are coming around to the view that having capital punishment on the books as a law enforcement tool is not worth the risk of executing the wrongly convicted.
Closer to the Beltway, Maryland seems best positioned to follow New Jersey's example in the near future. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has called on lawmakers to enact a repeal, and the state has had a de facto moratorium in effect since a state Supreme Court decision one year ago.
Executions are in a sort of holding pattern across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court in September agreed to take up the constitutionality of lethal injections on Eighth Amendment grounds. That case, as with most cases that come before the court these days, is expected to be a nail-biter, with Justice Anthony Kennedy making the final call.
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that federal sentencing guidelines for drug crimes were nonbinding, giving judges some breathing room on sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine. Writing for the majority [PDF], Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg drew on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recommendations that the 100-to-1 cocaine-crack possession ratio established by Congress be revised.
In 1986, Congress set much harsher penalties for crack cocaine offenders out of fear that use of the drug was fast becoming an epidemic in urban areas. The disparity in penalties can be seen in U.S. prisons, where blacks are disproportionately represented while powder cocaine offenders, who are mostly white, get off relatively easily.
Some activists have called the lopsided U.S. drug policy blatantly racist, but that was not really a calculation in today's decision. "A district judge must include the Guidelines range in the array of factors warranting consideration, but the judge may determine that, in the particular case, a within-Guidelines sentence is 'greater than necessary' to serve the objectives of sentencing," Ginsburg wrote. "In making that determination, the judge may consider the disparity between the Guidelines' treatment of crack and powder offenses."
The Los Angeles Timesfollowed up on the nine federal prosecutors ousted in a politically tainted DOJ sweep last year. Most are on to new jobs in private firms, and several have been honored for standing up to the "loyal Bushies" who orchestrated their firings.
Reports the Times: Paul Charlton, "now a partner in a Phoenix law firm, says that as a group, the attorneys have fared much better than the department officials who orchestrated their demise."
Perhaps the best known of the bunch, David Iglesias, will be out with a book about the scandal next year.
The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney had been sentenced to 30 months for lying to federal investigators during a probe into the outing of former CIA officer Valerie Plame. President Bushcommuted Libby's sentence in July, fueling speculation that the former top White House aide would eventually receive a full pardon.
"We remain firmly convinced of Mr. Libby's innocence. However, the realities were, that after five years of government service by Mr. Libby and several years of defending against this case, the burden on Mr. Libby and his young family of continuing to pursue his complete vindication are too great to ask them to bear," an attorney said in a statement.
Libby's decision to drop his appeals bid will renew speculation that Bush plans to grant a pardon on his way out of office in January 2009. House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., asked AG Michael Mukasey last week for all remaining interview transcripts from the now-closed investigation.
Al Gore formally accepted his Nobel Peace Prize this morning in Oslo, Norway, delivering the official Nobel lecture to a silent, serious crowd in the opulent city hall. He shared the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. group of 3,000 members.
Echoing "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary that earned him the prize, Gore's speech offered warnings to the world about the effects of global warming. "The Earth has a fever, and the fever is rising," he said.
Gore singled out his own country multiple times, noting that the warming crisis is being "most heavily influenced by two nations that are now doing nothing, the U.S. and China" -- two of the largest carbon-dioxide emitting countries. "Each country should stop using the other's behavior as an excuse for stalemate," he added.
Earlybird Roundup: Omnibus Bill, Extended Tours, Colo. Shootings
Administration. The White House slammed Congress this weekend for putting together a massive omnibus spending bill months after the end of the fiscal year.
Military. The Pentagon is under pressure to revise extended deployments that keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 15 months instead of 12.
Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise stop in Afghanistan today as NATO forces recaptured a Taliban stronghold. Brown also visited Iraq over the weekend, two weeks before his country's forces are to pull out of Basra.
Nation. Colorado authorities have "reason to believe" that deadly shootings at a missionary complex and a church are linked.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
After months of U.N. talks about the future of Kosovo yielded few results, leaders of the region today said that they will begin the process of declaring independence from Serbia without an official agreement. A U.N. deadline to settle the issue expired today with no agreement in sight.
The U.S., EU and Russia had tried to mediate talks between Serbia and Kosovo, but most people expected Kosovo to announce its independence in May regardless; now, it looks as though the announcement could come sooner. EU leaders now say they are close to having a unified position to recognize Kosovo's independence.
"From today, Kosovo is starting intense consultations with its international partners with the aim of coordinating steps for declaring independence, and the official demands for recognising independence," Skender Hyseni of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team told reporters.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians have long chafed under Serbia's control. The U.N. has controlled the tiny province since 1999, when a NATO force stepped in to end a bloody campaign against the Albanians led by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 during his trial for war crimes.
The Detroit Free Press has a useful Q&A about the history of Kosovo, and Bloomberg News has more on Europe's reaction.
7:46. Just had to update with this: LOTS of applause in this crowd for a question about Hugo Chavez, Washington's least favorite South American leader. Have no idea what question was posed to Paul w/r/t to Chavez, but his response inspires waves and waves of boos. What just happened here? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
7:28. Well, I got my closed captioning to work -- and the captions are en Espanol. Sorry, readers, but looks like I'm going to have to abort this mission. Truly a first in Gate history.
That said, I am just dumbfounded that the producers would change the format of the Republican debate in such a way that many non-Spanish-speaking Americans would not be able to tune in. There are so many questions about where some of these candidates -- Romney, Giuliani -- really are on immigration reform. That isn't the case in the much more unified Democratic field -- questions about driver's licenses notwithstanding.
We'll have a roundup of reaction to the debate tomorrow. Daily Kos has a Spanish-speaker watching; you can check out their (hotly partisan) liveblog coverage here. The Corner was also stymied in its coverage attempt. Somewhere, Tom Tancredo is doing la cucaracha in front of a TV set.
Sure, she can move Tolstoy, but can she move middle-aged white women to the Jan. 3 caucuses? We'll get our first clues this weekend when Oprah Winfrey, probably the most famous woman in America, joins Democratic candidate Barack Obama on the campaign trail.
The Oprah and Obama show, as it's already being dubbed, hits Iowa tomorrow and South Carolina and New Hampshire on Sunday. Tickets for the Columbia, S.C., rally went so fast that it was moved from an 18,000-seat venue to an 80,000-plus capacity football stadium.
The political press already gets excited when celebs team up with politicians because, well, they're celebs. The Oprah-Obama moment, however, takes us into completely untested and somewhat bizarre waters. Oprah is probably the most famous and beloved woman in America. "Beloved" may actually be a little weak. If you are not already acquainted with her daytime talk show, the feverish, high-decibel fervor her alarmingly ecstatic audience frequently displays might be a little frightening to watch. So much so that this "SNL" parody doesn't seem that far off the mark.
The premise that women in early primary states will run screaming at the top of their lungs toward the Obama camp once they get a glimpse of him with Oprah, then, becomes not a little offensive. Maybe, dare we say, a lot offensive.
State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, who has faced congressional scrutiny over claims he improperly blocked investigations by his office, announced today he will resign effective Jan. 15, 2008. In a statement, Krongard, a longtime private-sector auditor who took his job without government experience, said he would not comment on controversy over his performance.
"I have said publicly ... everything I have to say on these matters," he said. "I have nothing further to say at this time." But in his letter to President Bush, Krongard lamented "the grave threat to public service posed by the current rancor and distrust between and among the political parties, the legislative and executive branches of government, the media and various interest groups." Krongard also said he leaves office "with concerns regarding inherent structural and conceptual defects in the inspector general position."
Krongard has been accused of obstructing a Justice Department investigation of Blackwater Worldwide. He recused himself from any inquiries into Blackwater's work after it was disclosed his brother, Alvin, was serving as an adviser to the private contractor that protects U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
TPM wants to know what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell meant when he said the following during a re-election campaign stop in Grayson County, Ky., last week.
Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other aisle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.
Emphasis ours. Was McConnell really shrugging off the deaths of nearly 3,890 American soldiers since the Iraq war began four-and-a-half years ago, as TPM implies? It depends on where you are on the war.
President Bush has delivered an early holiday gift to federal employees by ordering agencies shuttered on Christmas Eve. Per NJ's Brian Friel, federal employees most recently had an extra Xmas-related day off in 2003 and in 2001.
***
Executive Order: Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2007
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2007, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 below.
Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2007, for reasons of national security or defense or other public need.
Sec. 3. Monday, December 24, 2007, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.
The Senate has voted 53-42 to end debate on an energy package that President Bush has threatened to veto because of its tax provisions. That's short of the 60 votes required, and forces lawmakers back to the drawing board with just a week or so to go before the holiday break.
The House bill is geared toward reducing consumption and raising efficiency standards, but also nixes a $13.5 billion tax break for the oil and gas industry. It passed yesterday 235-181. But the White House said it would veto the bill because of the industry tax hike, which "single[s] out specific industries for punitive treatment."
The Senate in particular has a mound of appropriations legislation that has stalled, prompting Majority Leader Harry Reid to threaten to keep lawmakers in Washington during Christmas week. Bush has taken to scolding lawmakers loudly and often in recent weeks, and the appearance of stagnation has led to approval ratings for Congress lower than the highly unpopular president's.
CongressDaily(subscription) has a report on yesterday's House vote. Check back this afternoon for its report on today's Senate vote.
Bali Summit Rattled By Earthquake & Dubious Progress
The 10,000 attendees of the U.N.'s two-week climate change conference got a reminder of the Earth's fragility today, when an earthquake hit 150 miles southwest of Bali, Indonesia.
The quake wasn't strong enough to cause damage or injury -- just 5.4 on the Richter scale -- but the walls and floors in the complex hosting the conference shook for about 10 seconds. Attendees from 190 countries are working on striking a deal to address global warming and other international environmental concerns.
Organizers of the conference may have been struck another kind of blow, as well: A U.N. official said today that it's unlikely the U.S. will agree to any binding deal to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention on Climate Change, said the discussion started "very enthusiastically," but several developing nations along with the U.S. will probably reject the standards and the international community has failed to agree on an approach to global warming.
Earlybird Roundup: Energy Bill, Calif. Ballot Measure, IMF Cuts
Congress. Ignoring a veto threat from President Bush, the House yesterday passed a sweeping energy bill(subscription) that could curb oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Nation. A California measure that would have changed the way the state counts its electoral votes will not appear on a June ballot.
Administration. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seeking to convince Russia to get on board with U.S. plans to increase pressure on Iran.
Senate Passes AMT Patch Without $50 Billion In Offsets
The Senate yesterday passed a one-year fix to the alternative minimum tax by an 88-5 vote after Democrats dropped demands that the $50 billion cost of the provision be offset to meet the pay-as-you-go budget requirements.
The action sets up a confrontation with the House, where Democratic leaders have continued on a fully offset AMT provision, so as not to run afoul of PAYGO rules. The House is expected to add offsets to the Senate package and send it back early next week, according to a House Democratic aide.
Such a move would further delay a final resolution of the AMT, which the IRS has estimated will affect 25 million taxpayers in 2007 unless Congress enacts a patch.
Report: CIA Destroyed Tapes Of Terror Interrogations
UPDATED.
The CIA in 2005 destroyed video evidence of at least two interrogation sessions involving al-Qaida operatives, "current and government officials" tell the New York Timesin a report posted online today. The agency's destruction of the tapes is possibly illegal, as lawmakers and the executive branch are engaged in a battle over information about the methods and techniques used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects.
In a memo obtained by AP, Director Michael Hayden said the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of interrogators and their families. The House and Senate were briefed on the process, Hayden said, and the CIA's internal watchdog signed off, in "the absence of any legal or internal reason to keep them."
But: "It's a big deal, it's a very big deal," says American University law professor Daniel Marcus in the Times.
President Bush told worried homeowners today that help would be on the way -- once the Senate stopped sleeping on the housing foreclosure threat.
"The federal government is taking several regulatory actions to make the mortgage industry more transparent, reliable and fair," Bush said, as he announced a plan to stop the housing market implosion struck by his administration and the mortgage lending and services industries. "The U.S. Congress has the potential to help even more. It's been three months since I made proposals... and Congress hasn't sent me a single bill to help homeowners."
"If members are serious about helping" struggling homeowners, Bush continued, they will pass legislation as soon as possible.
The House has passed two housing fixes, both of which have stalled in the Senate. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, seemed to rail against the leadership in his own party when he recently complained that "the increasing inability of the United States Senate to function is becoming a threat to governance."
In a second press conference shortly after the president spoke, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson echoed calls for Senate action.
"We've done our part. We need a bill now, as do hundreds of thousands of Americans," Jackson said. "Combining our administration's action and passage of this bill could help 800,000 families in fiscal year 2008."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today sought unanimous consent to pass a one-year patch for the alternative minimum tax without offsets, after failing to get cloture to proceed to a House-passed bill that would have offset the $50 billion cost of the AMT fix.
The Reid offer, which Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called a "huge concession" to Republicans, drew an immediate GOP objection on the Senate floor. A GOP aide said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is "running the traps" and Republicans will likely sign off on the offer by the end of the day. The only question is whether senators who had sought to offer amendments to the AMT package -- including Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. -- will go along with the consent request.
The cloture motion failed 46-48 on a straight party-line vote, with the exception of Reid, who changed his vote to preserve his right to ask that the bill be reconsidered.
-Martin Vaughan, CongressDaily, with Christian Bourge contributing
See today's CongressDailyPM(subscription) for the full story. National Journal profiled the Democrats' tax reform efforts in a cover story last month.
Romney Stands Firm On Mormon Faith, Stresses 'Tolerance'
UPDATED.
In a speech meant to mark a turning point in his bid for support among evangelicals, Mitt Romney declared that as president he would serve the U.S. Constitution, not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that religious faith ought to be a permanent fixture in the public square.
"I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law," Romney said, speaking at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Adding that some voters might want him to sever Romney the politician from Romney the Mormon, he said, "That I will not do. I believe in my Mormon faith, and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers -- I will be true to them and to my beliefs."
Romney's address veered deeper into the topic of his faith, and its contrast to other faiths, than was previously indicated by his campaign. He was addressing the topic in more detail than he has since announcing his bid for the presidency because of a threat to his standing among Republican primary voters by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a Baptist minister. Huckabee has raised a meager fraction of what Romney has so far this cycle, and his sudden rise in the polls is attributed to support from evangelical voters who distrust Romney because of his faith.
Romney was speaking before a preselected audience of supporters, but the tenor and content of his speech was quite obviously directed at skeptics. "Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it," Romney said. "But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers of convenience."
Alexander, Kyl Elected In Senate GOP Leadership Shuffle
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee was elected Republican Conference chairman today, replacing Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who moved up to minority whip, aides and lawmakers said.
Alexander defeated Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina 31-16; Kyl was elected unanimously. The shuffle was prompted by Minority Whip Trent Lott's announcement that he would resign from his Mississippi Senate seat by the end of the year.
See CongressDailyPM(subscription) later this afternoon for more details.
In an unusually personal move, President Bush sent North Korean leader Kim Jong Il a letter, according to a Pyongyang news agency.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill reportedly handed over the letter yesterday during a meeting with North Korean diplomats. Hill was in China to give a briefing on his three-day visit to the region to discuss Pyongyang's continued uranium enrichment and a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. After inspecting the reactor complex yesterday, Hill told reporters that its dismantling is on track. U.S. inspectors have been overseeing work on the plant, which North Korea agreed to shut down earlier this year.
Contents of the letter were not disclosed, but Korea expert Noriyuki Suzuki speculated in Reuters reports that it "was aimed at backing what Christopher Hill had been telling to the North Koreans in the past negotiations... The letter must contain the basic U.S. stance that Washington is ready to drop North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, improve relations and normalize diplomatic relations with North Korea on condition that the North disable and abandon its nuclear weapons programs."
Earlybird Roundup: Iran Retraction, Omaha Shooter, Subprime Plan
Administration. The White House announced yesterday that President Bush was told in August that Iran might not have an active nuclear weapons program; Bush said Tuesday that he hadn't been aware of the intelligence.
Congress. Blue Dog Democrats told their party leadership yesterday that they would not approve new AMT legislation without it meeting PAYGO rules first.
Iraq. A new spate of violence swept the country during Defense Secretary Robert Gates' visit, with four car bombings killing more than 20 people.
Nation. A 19-year-old opened fire in an Omaha shopping mall, killing himself and eight others.
Economy. The stock market is holding its breath this morning in anticipation of Bush's announcement of a new five-year plan to freeze interest rates for some borrowers in an effort to address the subprime mortgage crisis.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
Romney To Skirt Specifics Of Mormonism In Favor Of 'Common Cause' Appeal
Excerpts of the "Faith in America" speech Mitt Romney is delivering this morning indicate that the Republican presidential candidate does not plan to address or explain the contrasts between his Mormon beliefs and those of evangelical Christians. Rather, he will argue that he shares the "moral principles" and goals of those belonging to other "churches in America," and that as president, he will lead their fight against "the religion of secularism."
"There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution," Romney will say, according to his campaign. "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.
"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the founders -- in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places," Romney will also say. "Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"
This is a departure from the famous speech to Protestants delivered by John F. Kennedy in 1960, which was mostly based on a secularist appeal. It's a risky strategy, because some evangelicals who are already skeptical of Romney because of his faith want to hear him acknowledge and address the differences in their doctrines. At the same time, the "common cause" argument helped reconcile evangelicals with Catholics, a group that was met with similar skepticism back when Kennedy was elected the first Catholic president.
Romney is set to deliver his speech at 10:30 a.m. EST at the George Bush Presidential Library. Check back for our coverage.
The Supreme Court Web site has a transcript [PDF] of this morning's oral arguments; C-SPAN has audio(its Web site does not isolate audio links, sorry) (try this link).
On first blush, it looks like this decision comes down to Anthony Kennedy (must be Wednesday). See analysis from Lyle Denniston, Marty Lederman and Orin Kerr for more.
It looks like President Bush will also participate in tomorrow's joint press conference at the Treasury Department. Secretary Henry Paulson and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson are scheduled to speak at 1:45. A source told the Wall Street Journal(subscription) that the plan will apply to "certain loans originated between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 31, 2007, that will reset between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010." Those borrowers, presumably, will be allowed to pay back their loans at their current interest rates. We'll report on the confirmed details of the plan after tomorrow's presser.
In related news, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a 90-day freeze on foreclosures and a voluntary five-year freeze on interest rates to help borrowers hang on to their homes. In an interview on CNBC, she said she would also consider legislation that would force the mortgage industry to work with borrowers at risk of foreclosure.
Gates Urges Patience But Sees Iraq's Stability 'Within Reach'
UPDATED.
On an unannounced visit to Iraq today, Defense Secretary Robert Gatessaid he believed "that a secure, stable Iraq is within reach," but he cautioned that "much remains to be done" to bring full stability to the country.
Underscoring his pleas for patience, Gates' comments came as a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. Reuters reports that 15 people were killed in that attack and eight more were killed in bombings in three other Iraqi cities today.
The defense secretary has remained cautious in his assessments of the progress being made in Iraq. His visit this week, the sixth he's made since taking over for Donald Rumsfeld a year ago, comes amid a recent spate of positive news coming out of the war-torn country. Pentagon officials said Gates is on the ground to assess whether reported declines in violence and cooperation from Iran in preventing arms imports are accurate, and whether those improvements can be sustained in the long term.
"Senior defense officials said the jury is still out on both fronts, and the Pentagon is being cautious not to declare victory yet in either case," AP reported this morning.
When asked what issues matter most to them, Americans usually name the Iraq war, the economy and health care by a mile [PDF]. Yet immigration has been dominating the debates in both parties. What gives?
See GOP candidate Tom Tancredo's new campaign ad above. It is the most gruesomely graphic scare spot we've seen yet this cycle, and as much as you might want to turn away -- don't. This ad may well indicate that illegal immigration will be 2008's flag-burning/gay marriage, which in previous cycles had a very real effect on election outcomes despite Americans' protest that those concerns weren't part of their Election Day calculus.
Bush: U.N. Security Council On Board With Iran Policy
President Bush sought today to quell skepticism over his administration's Iran policy following a new U.S. intel report [PDF] stating that the regime most likely stopped pursuing nuclear arms four years ago.
Speaking to reporters on a snowy tarmac in Nebraska, Bush said, "On the way out here I spoke with my team, who gave me a report on conversations the secretary of state and national security advisor have had over the last couple of days with their counterparts in the U.K., Germany, France and Russia. These countries understand that the Iranian nuclear issue is a problem, and continues to be a problem, that must be addressed by the international community."
In a press conference yesterday, Bush said that his administration's policy on Iran -- that it must disclose all about its nuclear activities and cease enriching uranium or face consequences as severe as military force -- remains the status quo, despite the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusions. But the intel community's assessment that Iran stopped pursuing nukes out of fear it would meet the fate of neighboring Iraq has led analysts to conclude that Washington no longer has the leverage it requires to get its P5+1 partners in the U.N. to keep pressure on Tehran.
Earlybird Roundup: DOJ Posts, Bush's Israel Trip, Kabul Bomb
Congress. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., lashed out at the Bush administration for failing to appoint new people to fill top jobs at the Justice Department, preventing the Senate from filling lesser positions.
Administration.President Bush will make his first trip to Israel as president next month.
Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the new NIE suggesting Tehran is not actively pursuing a nuclear weapons program a "great victory" for his country.
Afghanistan. Thirteen people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a bus carrying soldiers in Kabul, marking the third such bombing in a week.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
House and Senate Democrats are drafting what could be a $520 billion-plus spending package they hope will drive an end to the budget stalemate and this session of Congress, including funding for 15 Cabinet agencies through the end of FY08.
President Bush is threatening to veto the measure over domestic spending increases he does not want. In a bid to woo GOP backing, as much as $30 billion might be added to tide the Pentagon over until March.
No funds would be allotted specifically to Iraq. But the extra money would allow the Pentagon to continue operations in Afghanistan, improve critical "force protection" needs such as body armor and armored vehicles, and cover a shortfall that threatens to curtail child care at domestic bases and other services.
As we had hoped, this afternoon's Democratic debate in Des Moines sponsored by NPR and Iowa Public Radio left little room for petty politics and applause lines (largely because there was no live audience) and brought the conversation back to the issues. Three main issues, to be exact: Iran, China and immigration.
Debate moderators Steve Inskeep, Michele Norris and Robert Siegel said they chose to narrow their questions to those three broad topic areas in order to dig deeper into the candidates' positions and allow more time for follow-up. The heavy focus on foreign policy and immigration largely left out the talking points that Democrats have focused on throughout this year of campaigning: Iraq, climate change, health care and economic burdens on the middle class (although at the end they candidates were given time to discuss what they'd do to improve the economy over the four years of their first term).
Instead of standing at podiums, the seven candidates were seated at a V-shaped table. (Bill Richardson was attending the funeral for a Korean War soldier whose remains he helped repatriate back to the U.S. earlier this year.)
The format largely had the intended effect: The candidates were civil, the discussions were substantive (for the most part) and the moderators did their best to coax straightforward answers from the candidates. And maybe it's just us, but there's something about the radio format that made everyone (well, almost everyone) sound more presidential. Here are some of the highlights:
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has asked the Iowa attorney general's office to investigate the funding source behind a group calling itself TrustHuckabee.com.
That group is actually a front for a Delaware-based PAC called Common Sense Issues. All the leading GOP campaigns, includingMike Huckabee's, deny engaging in push-polling tactics.
In a letter [PDF] to Attorney General Tom Miller, Romney's campaign counsel accuses the apparently pro-Huckabee group of placing robocalls to Iowans without properly identifying itself. New Hampshire's AG is already investigating robocalls that highlight Romney's Mormon faith.
...where officials might learn a thing or 10 from Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and even Macao(!). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released the results of its 2006 testing of 15-year-olds' math and reading skills from around the globe; the Financial Times and Washington Post have writeups.
"The US, the world's largest economy, is below the OECD average in science and maths, and fails even to make the tables in reading because a misprint in the test confused too many students and invalidated the results," FT reports. Ouch.
Just as an increasingly third-world epidemic threatened to shatter China's move toward superpower status, changing public attitudes and determined prevention efforts appear to be pulling the Asian giant back from the brink. Shanghaiist has a roundup of recent optimistic headlines on AIDS in China, while noting Beijing still has a ways to go. The Atlantic's James Fallows gets a shout-out here, for noticing on Sunday a rare photo of President Hu Jintao shaking hands with (i.e., touching) an AIDS patient.
State-run Xinhua news agency reported earlier this week on a celeb-studded AIDS-awareness march along the Great Wall. The main obstacle in China's fight against HIV/AIDS is its rapid spread in impoverished and remote regions of that country. The U.N. recently estimated that between 30 and 50 million people in China are at risk of contracting the disease, GayWired reported last week.
Al-Arabiya television has broadcast video of five Britons missing since May 29 in Iraq, BBC News reports. In the tape, dated Nov. 18, gunmen threaten to kill one of the hostages if British troops do not begin pulling out in 10 days.
The kidnapping is just coming to light because the U.K. Foreign Office had asked the media to back off on coverage while it negotiated the men's release, according to BBC News. The gunmen say they are from a group called the Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq. The hostages are four guards and a computer expert.
President Bush denied that he was aware of new intelligence that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program before this week, but said the news would not change White House policy toward the "axis of evil" nation.
"Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," Bush said in a White House press conference. "The NIE said Iran had a hidden, covert nuclear weapons program. What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?"
Bush said that earlier this fall, when the White House was ratcheting up pressure on Tehran, he was unaware of indications that Iran had stopped its weapons program in 2003, even though the intelligence community had been working on the new report [PDF] for months. According to U.S. intelligence agencies' latest consolidated findings, Iran stopped pursuing nukes in 2003 in part because of pressure applied by the U.S. and its allies as well as the Iraq war. The report notes that Iran has never disclosed its nuclear capability, and that it would be difficult to know if they decided again to weaponize the fissile material they already possess.
"We know that they're still trying to learn how to enrich uranium," Bush said. "I view this report as a warning signal."
"This is an opportunity to rally the international community," the president continued. "The best diplomacy is one in which all options are on the table."
NPR Democratic Debate: Can't We All Just Get Along?
Tired of the politics of presidentialdebates? NPR to the rescue! Teaming up with Iowa Public Radio, NPR News had scheduled two back-to-back primary debates this week in the Hawkeye State, exactly one month from the first-in-the-nation caucuses. But due to scheduling conflicts with several of the GOP contenders, NPR had to cancel the Republican event originally slated for yesterday. That's a shame, considering the raw deal the candidates got from their CNN/YouTube debate last week. (NPR says it is working with the candidates to reschedule for early next year.)
This afternoon, the Democratic contenders will assemble in the snow-covered plains of Des Moines as scheduled to discuss the issues with Robert Siegel and Michele Norris of "All Things Considered" and Steve Inskeep of "Morning Edition." The last time the Democratic field gathered on the debate stage in Iowa, they spent much of the time discussing exit strategies for Iraq and questioning Barack Obama's readiness for the White House. Since then, however, the tone of the race has changed dramatically, with the campaigns becoming increasingly aggressive, particularly against front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Just When You Thought The Campaign Couldn't Get Weirder...
... Ron Paul will be appearing on "The View" today (provided he doesn't get pre-empted by President Bush). Looks like Barack Obama's not the only one courting the desperate housewife vote. We just wish Rosie O'Donnell were still around for this.
Here's what the ladies had to say about Rep. Paul back in May. "The View" airs at 11 a.m. on ABC in the Washington area.
Congress.President Bush and legislators remained at an impasse over war spending, appropriations bills, taxes and more yesterday.
Iraq. A new GAO report casts doubt on the readiness of Iraqi security forces, claiming the process for evaluating security units is unclear.
Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates embarked on his third trip to Afghanistan yesterday -- the same day as a suicide bomber killed four people, including two policemen. Meanwhile, U.S. forces said they killed five Taliban soldiers.
After yesterday's announcement that a new National Intelligence Estimate shows Iran's nuclear program was frozen in 2003, Iran today heralded the revised assessment. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki praised the U.S. decision to "correct" its 2005 claim that his country was still actively engaged in developing its nuclear program.
Israel, on the other hand, is sounding the alarm, arguing that the NIE sharply diverges from Israeli intelligence reports, and even if the program had been halted in 2003, it has now been restarted.
The new NIE "complicates eventually launching a military operation against Iranian nuclear installations and makes it more difficult to justify an Israeli attack," Iran specialist Efraim Kam told Agence France-Presse.
President Bush is set to give an address from the White House at 10 a.m. to criticize Congress for failing to pass legislation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Iran and the NIE report are likely to take center stage. Stay tuned.
From the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Star: "One new addition to this year's parade was not well received by many. Santa Claus was not allowed to greet the crowd with his traditional 'ho, ho, ho.' Instead, Santa was told to say, 'ha, ha, ha.'"
Click here if you haven't already guessed the reason.
Thanks to Wonkette, we just learned that CNN/Los Angeles Times/Politico are hosting a Republican candidates debate on Jan. 30, forcing us to send out a third revised debate schedule to the Gaters in a week. Can we all agree to cap the debates now? Obviously, we get why they are important and useful, otherwise we wouldn't be covering them, but some poordecision-making on the part of certain debate producers (hi, CNN) has us questioning our will to live continue paying as much attention as we are.
Alas, paying attention is why we get paid the big bucks. Tune in tomorrow for coverage of NPR's Democrats' debate. We expect the questions to be smarter and fairer than in forums past, so it will certainly be worth following. Also worth reading: the Times' Tim Rutten's indictment of last week's CNN/YouTube debate.
[UPDATE 5:19] Ways in which the media are unhelpful to electoral politics Part II: "Hardball" has image consultant John Neffinger on as a guest for the umpteenth time to speculate wildly about the presidential candidates based on their body language, facial expressions and other attributes vital to running the world's largest superpower.
"He looks like Kevin Spacey, don't you think?" Chris Matthews just said of Mike Huckabee.
Just when we thought war with Iran wasinevitable, along comes a new National Intelligence Estimate telling us: Never mind!
"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program," the declassified version of the report [PDF] reads. But then: "We also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons."
What to make of all this?
The U.S. intelligence community believes "with moderate-to-high confidence" that Iran currently does not possess nuclear weapons. On the other hand, we know North Korea has as many as 10 bombs; it tested one last year. So why has the Bush administration been pointing all of its guns at Iran? Because of the neighborhood it's in. A potentially nuclear-armed Iran spells more immediate trouble for U.S. interests than a definitely nuclear-armed North Korea -- 28,000 U.S. troops on the peninsula notwithstanding.
Democrats and conservatives alike are highly critical of the different policy tracks President Bush has taken on these two problems. While the NIE indicates that the White House will have to lay off a bit on its rhetoric toward Iran, it seems that total transparency (with regard to IAEA inspectors, etc.) is still the baseline.
President Bush lashed out at Congress in a brief address to reporters this morning, once again chastising lawmakers for failing to pass emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and 11 spending bills to keep the federal government operating.
As legislators return to the Hill after two weeks off for Thanksgiving, Bush noted that "there's two weeks to go before they leave town" again -- "not enough time to squeeze in nearly a year's worth of unfinished business." Bush has been playing the scolder in chief for more than a month now as partisan squabbles over everything from Iraq to earmarks have kept Congress from passing many major bills on the table.
This morning he specifically took aim at a maneuver by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to keep Congress technically in session -- a senator conducted 30-second pro forma sessions every other day -- and thereby block any potential recess appointments by the White House. "If 30 seconds is a full day, no wonder Congress has got a lot of work to do," Bush quipped.
"And I love these slickster politicians begging the votes from the granny oligarchy of Iowa. These guys used to getting everything they want begging these ladies to put down their knitting needles and listen."
Afghan Support For U.S.-Led Coalition Trending Downward
The ongoing military and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan rarely make front-page news, but it would be unwise to neglect the country's continuing challenges, not the least of which are a resurgent Taliban and increasing opium production [PDF]. A new poll [PDF] from ABC News, BBC and German broadcaster ARD, conducted in face-to-face interviews with over 1,300 Afghans, finds that broad popular support remains for the initial toppling of the Taliban and the continuing presence of coalition forces. But there are also some troubling signs, such as the steady erosion of that support, growing anxiety about the Taliban and increased reports of violence in some regions.
See today's Poll Track (subscription) for analysis of this rare glimpse into Afghan public opinion.
In a speech at the Office of Thrift Supervision National Housing Forum today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed that he was close to finalizing a deal with lenders to put the brakes on home foreclosures across the country.
"We are working aggressively and quickly, utilizing available tools and creating new ones, to help financially responsible but struggling homeowners," Paulson said.
The secretary also called on Congress to act before heading back home for the holidays in two weeks.
The U.S. is now the lone holdout on the Kyoto Protocol, following new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's decision to ratify it. The Bush administration shows no indication it will cave to international pressure to sign on to mandatory emissions caps. The Sydney Morning Herald has details on the summit in Bali, and today's Wall Street Journal(subscription) has a must-read backgrounder on the negotiations.
Washington.President Bush has challenged Congress to deal with a slew of bills before the upcoming holiday recess.
Courts. The Bush administration is balking at providing all the information it promised about former lobbyist Jack Abramoff's visits to the White House.
Iraq. The military is worried that Iraq won't be able to reabsorb the thousands of refugees returning to their homes in Baghdad and across the country.
Venezuela. Voters rejected a proposal that would have allowed President Hugo Chavez to amend the constitution to qualify himself to lead indefinitely.
World. Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party was victorious in yesterday's parliamentary election, but some observers are saying the elections were subject to fraud and vote-rigging.
See Earlybird(subscription) for more of this morning's headlines.
The Senate plans to take up legislation as early as this week to rein in the Bush administration's spying powers, even though major differences remain between members, and at least two Democrats are vowing to put up procedural roadblocks.
But any floor action on the legislation is expected to be crammed into an already-tight schedule before the end of the year.
"I think it is extremely unlikely that it will be pushed off until January," one aide said. "We fully expect to deal with this in the coming work period."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the floor a bill approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee to revamp the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, his spokesman said, and a second bill approved by the Judiciary Committee will be offered on the floor as a substitute amendment.
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The 110th Congress, led by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, swooped into power in January with ambitious plans for change. But to paraphrase an old saying, the best-laid plans of the legislative branch often go awry... especially when there's a vocal and sizable minority standing in the way at nearly every turn.
Washington. Despite objections from the Justice Department, the Bush administration will go to court today to discuss the 
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Speaking at his final White House press conference of the year, President Bush congratulated Congress on its 11th-hour legislative achievements while making sure to backhand lawmakers for taking so long to get there.
In a 4-1 vote, the commission 
A campaign spokesman said he could not provide details. 
After being 
Putin sought to allay concerns that the coming election would amount to just moving the deck chairs, but few Russians are under the illusion that Putin's power would really be capped by the traditional bounds of the much-weaker prime minister's post. Nonetheless, Medvedev, who was formally nominated by United Russia today, is assured a decisive victory in the March 2 vote. Why hasn't Putin's authoritarian power-grabbing dented his popularity? The economy.
It was a banner weekend for John McCain, as the GOP presidential hopeful whose candidacy was written off not so long ago by most reporters and pundits scooped up several major endorsements and a fawning profile in the Wall Street Journal.
No 
Flanked by the vice president and the rest of his Cabinet-level officials, President Bush cheerfully reminded Congress of the mountain of legislative work they must tackle before departing for the holidays.
The FBI is looking into claims that the former White House lawyer and aides violated federal law by accessing e-mail accounts of agency employees, several former staffers told CongressDaily. A grand jury has been empaneled in Virginia as part of the probe, the sources said. 
4:10. All over, no more debates until next year, hurray!
It's a sort of truism in lawyering circles that if you become a household name, you're doing something very wrong. This week, the ABA Journal has several cases in point.
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4:37. In a post-debate interview on CNN, Huckabee said he apologized to Romney for the Jesus/devil remark while sticking to his earlier insistence that the remark had been taken out of context.
Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said after the briefing that he plans to call CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and John Rizzo, the agency's top lawyer, to testify by next week "at the latest" on the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the tapes in 2005. 
It's too soon to know for sure, but indicators so far point to a North African Sunni terrorist group, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (QIM), as the culprit behind 
Not counting the week between Christmas and New Year's, when presumably even Iowans will want to leave politics behind in favor of eggnog and football, the presidential candidates really have only about two weeks left of campaigning in the crucial caucus state -- and it shows. John Edwards is rolling up his sleeves for an eight-day 
So, our liveblog effort 
In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said that federal sentencing guidelines for drug crimes were nonbinding, giving judges some breathing room on sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine. 
Al Gore formally accepted his Nobel Peace Prize this morning in Oslo, Norway, delivering the official Nobel lecture to a silent, serious crowd in the opulent city hall. He shared the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. group of 3,000 members. 
7:46. Just had to update with this: LOTS of applause in this crowd for a question about Hugo Chavez, Washington's least favorite South American leader. Have no idea what question was posed to Paul w/r/t to Chavez, but his response inspires waves and waves of boos. What just happened here? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
President Bush has delivered 
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Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill reportedly 
On an unannounced visit to Iraq today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates 
Speaking to reporters on a snowy tarmac in Nebraska, Bush said, "On the way out here I spoke with my team, who gave me a report on conversations the secretary of state and national security advisor have had over the last couple of days with their counterparts in the U.K., Germany, France and Russia. These countries understand that the Iranian nuclear issue is a problem, and continues to be a problem, that must be addressed by the international community."
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has asked the Iowa attorney general's office to investigate the funding source behind a group calling itself TrustHuckabee.com.
President Bush denied that he was aware of new intelligence that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program before this week, but said the news would not change White House policy toward the "axis of evil" nation.
From the 
Just when we thought war with Iran 
As legislators return to the Hill after two weeks off for Thanksgiving, Bush noted that "there's two weeks to go before they leave town" again -- "not enough time to squeeze in nearly a year's worth of unfinished business." Bush has been playing the 
