The heat is on the Bush administration right now to deliver on Social Security and what do they do? Backtrack and hedge their bets. The Washington Post's Jim VandeHei and Jonathan Weisman report in a very well-written article.

President Bush is privately expressing support for limits on the cost and risk of partially privatizing Social Security, in an effort to mollify nervous Republicans and win over dubious Democrats, according to White House aides and congressional Republicans. [emphasis added]

The key to this graf is that VandeHei and Weisman are willing to tell their readers the truth: George W. Bush is in favor of privatization, not personalization (or whatever else they want to call it). The two crack reporters continue:

Bush, who plans to make Social Security the centerpiece of tomorrow's State of the Union address, has privately told GOP lawmakers and aides that he would support phasing in changes to the system to keep deficits under control over the next several years and push individuals who opt for private accounts into more conservative investments, such as bonds, as they near retirement to mitigate long-term risks, the sources said.

The crux of this piece: Bush is already so concerned that his plans for privatizing Social Security can't pass that he's moving to funny accounting methods to try to woo fence-sitters.

Don't underestimate the President; he's gotten out of sticky situations before. Nevertheless, momentum is moving away from him now and he's running scared. Democrats need to enjoy it while they can because the battle will only get harder.

David Espo has an interesting article on the AP wires at this hour on the new CBO report on Social Security. The central point of the report is that the program's trust fund, originally believed to run out in 2042, will now survive at least until 2052, a vast improvement.

When I checked Yahoo! News, to my chagrin the headline to the article read as follows: "Social Security to Be Depleted by 2052." Not only was this disingenuous (the trust fund will run out that year, not the program itself), it belies the point of the article. Social Security is getting safer, not less secure.

I promptly called the national desk of the Associated Press to demand a correction (as I had successfully done in the past). I explained to three people in the New York bureau exactly how this headline not only conflicted with Espo's article but was more importantly untrue. To my surprise, they agreed.

After making a follow up call to the Washington bureau, I was pleased to find that the headline on the electronic wire was changed within minutes. What's more, the new headline is not swayed by the Bush administration's indoctrination. On both Yahoo! News and AP.org, the new headline reads "New Soc. Sec. Estimates More Optimistic."

It's not often that a small blogger can effect change in a news organization the size of the Associated Press. Tonight is proof that anyone with the will to fact-check the mainstream media can ensure that the American people are not bombarded with the President's spin.

Could Democratic Senator Mark Dayton be in trouble? CQ Today's Midday Update (free email service) reports:

The Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE reports, "Minnesota Sens. Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman both took hits to their public image in the past year, with their job approval ratings falling below 50 percent, according to the latest Minnesota Poll. Dayton, a Democrat who's up for reelection next year, took the heaviest blow: His approval rating declined by 15 points in a year, from 58 percent to 43 percent. The approval rating for Coleman, who just began his third year in office, fell by 7 points, from 54 to 47 percent." That is a "sharp turnaround for both senators, who had healthy increases in their approval ratings the last time their performance was measured in a Minnesota Poll, in January 2004."

[The original article can be found here].

Dayton needs to start raising his profile in the state and more importantly begin to bring in substantial campaign funds. The Gopher State may have gone for John Kerry in 2004, but the margin was not large enough to call this an easy win for Dayton. If you want to give the Senator support, visit MarkDayton.org.

From the AP:

Sen. Hillary Clinton collapsed during an appearance here Monday before delivering a speech on Social Security.

Colleen DiPirro, president of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, told WBEN-AM radio that Clinton told the crowd she was feeling weak and had had a stomach virus. Clinton started to speak then collapsed, DiPirro told the radio station.

Clinton was scheduled to speak Monday at a Catholic college despite protests from anti-abortion groups and reluctance from the Catholic diocese. She was expected to discuss health care, not her pro-choice stance on abortion — the cause of the protesters' anger.

Several hundred people were waiting to hear that address. There were also hundreds of protesters waiting at the college.

Let's pray for her safe recovery.

[Update 10:23 AM Pacific]: MSNBC reported that Clinton has not been taken to a hospital and she plans to deliver her afternoon speech as previously planned.

CQ Weekly's Daniel Link and Michael Teitelbaum take a gander at Donald Trumps political donations in the Jan. 31 issue of the magazine (page 214; no link available). They write:

Between his third wedding and the start of the third season of “The Apprentice” this month, Donald Trump seems to be everywhere again. His hard-charging business mystique is well-known, but we don’t hear much about his big-giving political style. In politics, as in business, Trump is a big spender. In the past six years he has bestowed $77,000 in direct and non-federal contributions on political party committees — and has spread that largess fairly evenly among them. Smartly, too: His only donation to a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2004 primaries was $2,000 to John Kerry (he also hedged that bet with a $2,000 gift to President Bush.) And he gives strategically: He sent $5,000 to Mark Foley, the GOP congressman for West Palm Beach, Fla., the locale of Trump’s Mar-a-Largo estate. He also sent $4,500 to Harlem’s Charles B. Rangel, the House’s top tax-policy Democrat. Trump is not the only “Apprentice” cast member on the federal donor rolls. George H. Ross, his tough right-hand man, gave $2,000 to the Kerry campaign — though the other boardroom bully, Carolyn Kepcher, gave nothing. Neither did former Clinton appointee and contestant turned C-list celebrity Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

Link and Teitelbaum report that Trump split his money between the two parties relatively evenly ($34,400 for the Dems, $31,750 for the GOP), though he gave $9,000 to the Democratic leadership and no money to the Republican leadership. Even for someone who (amazingly) doesn't watch "The Apprentice," this is still interesting stuff.

Kudos to patachon over at dKos for finding this piece:

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote :
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

patachon has provided the entire piece, but if you'd rather buy it from the Times, click here.

Reader John D. passes this along:

I know this is off topic, but I thought I'd help spread the news about the new Pacific Northwest Portal - the new information gateway and media center for progressive Oregonians, Washingtonians, and Idahoans.

View a "newswire" for each state as well as the nation, and check out the top 4 headlines from 12 different blogs - 4 from Washington, 4 from Idaho, and 4 from Oregon - including Basie!

The site also includes a directory of progressive sites in the northwest and a very comprehensive list of newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations for each NW state.

Check it out at www.nwportal.org.

The site has been up in the links section under Oregon blogs for some time. It's a great resource, so check it out.

As chosen by Taegan Goddard:

"We will build a statue for Bush. He is the symbol of freedom."

-- Ali Fadel, the new mayor of Baghdad, quoted by the New York Post. Fadel's predecessor "was gunned down Jan. 4 when militants opened fire on his armor-covered BMW as it traveled with a three-car convoy."

Evidently, it is never too early to begin campaigning for the Presidency. Just ask these two politicians:

One of President Bush's most vocal opponents in the Senate is weighing a 2008 run for the presidency.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County on Friday that he'll decide whether to run after "going around the country" working to return a Democrat to the White House.

Link.

Democrats aren't the only ones jockeying for position. The GOP field could be just as wide open, leaving room even for a man from "liberal tax-achusetts."

The road to the 2008 Republican presidential nomination runs through Upstate South Carolina.

At least that's what Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and several other leading Republicans appear to be counting on.

A political action committee founded by friends and supporters of the Republican governor donated $43,000 to 57 state candidates and party organizations in the run-up to the 2004 election, according to filings at the state Ethics Commission.

More than 40 percent of that money, donated by the Commonwealth PAC, went to Upstate politicians and party organizations.

South Carolina, of course, is home to the first primary following Iowa and New Hampshire; it is also the state in which George W. Bush slowed John McCain's momentum en route to picking up the Republican nomination. Although Romney's bid began quite poorly with a lackluster speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention, money talks, and it appears as though he gave a lot of it to South Carolina pols.

Sunday was one great step towards Democracy.

In a bid to block Howard Dean, the executive board of the Association of State Democratic Chairs recommended the endorsement of Donnie Fowler. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times has the story:

The recommendation, to be voted on by the entire association on Monday, reflected turmoil among Democrats as Dr. Dean seeks to portray his election on Feb. 12 by the Democratic National Committee as inevitable, and his opponents move to rally around a candidate to block him.

[...]

The association had sought to keep all its members from making an endorsement in hope of arriving at a consensus. But Dr. Dean picked off some influential chairmen - in particular, Scott Maddox of Florida - in a move that added momentum to his bid but stirred resentment among some state party leaders.

Dr. Dean's allies played down the significance of the vote, suggesting it was a gesture of respect for Mr. Fowler's father, Donald Fowler, a former Democratic chairman. One of his associates said Dr. Dean would rather face Donnie Fowler than Martin Frost, the former representative from Texas and a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who Democrats said emerged this weekend as the third of the top three candidates.

They said they viewed Mr. Frost, 63, given his stature and experience, as a stronger challenger for the job than Mr. Fowler, who is 37.

This race is certainly shaping up to be hotly-contested, and though Dean is on the inside track to victory, it is far from over. For more information, check out the major candidates' sites:

• Howard Dean
  
• Donnie Fowler
  
• Martin Frost
  
• Simon Rosenberg

The Washington Post's Christopher Lee sets to the task of answering this surprisingly difficult question:

There is a 17-word, one-sentence provision in federal law that appears to warn federal agencies away from hiring public relations firms -- the sort of arrangement that recently landed the Education Department in hot water with Congress.

"Appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose," states the provision in the U.S. code.

Such language seemingly would have put the kibosh on the Education Department's $1 million-plus contract with the public relations firm Ketchum Inc. to promote President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, an effort roundly criticized by some in Congress as propaganda. After all, the Education Department is not like, say, the Defense Department, to which Congress grants millions of dollars each year specifically for military advertising and recruiting.

Alas, it is not that simple.

Lee explains that the aformentioned 1913 law is difficult to enforce due to its perceived ambiguity. As currently read, the statute dictates that while it is illegal to produce propaganda labeled as third-party reporting (such as the fake video news releases by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), it is difficult to prove guilt in less obvious cases.

The GAO is investigating the Armstrong Williams case to see whether the Education Department acted improperly and illegally. It is unclear how they will rule, however. Check out the piece though; it's a must read for Monday.

All too often, the left takes the alliance between conservatives and the religious as a unchangeable fact, though in reality this is not the case (check out Jim Wallis' God's Politics for a more thorough discussion of this topic). As the AP's Suzanne Gamboa reports, for instance, religious groups have come out in opposition to a new GOP proposal on immigration.

Several faith-based groups oppose a Republican-sponsored immigration and border security bill that could move quickly through the House with a spending package for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The groups say the bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner proposes asylum law changes that would hurt refugees fleeing religious persecution and should be debated in full committee hearings.

[...]

Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries, said Sensenbrenner's asylum provisions are based on a false premise that the threat of terrorism is reduced by making asylum benefits less accessible.

[...]

Other religious groups opposing the asylum changes are the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and World Relief, a program of the National Association of Evangelicals. They are joined by Human Rights First and Amnesty International.

It is imperative to the ultimate success of the Democratic party for liberals and progressives to be willing to align with the religious right when possible, and the issue of immigration appears to be one upon which the groups can find agreement. The two-party system in this country does not need to be based on religiosity, nor does abortion have to be the only issue that matters to the pious. If the left can reach out on immigration, care for the downtrodden and hungry, and other such issues, the Republicans' already tottering 51% majority will melt away.

Talk about mismanagement!

The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found.

The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred between October 2003 and June 2004, according to an audit by a special U.S. inspector general.

The findings were released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Bowen issued several reports on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004.

Link.

How can $9,000,000,000 just get lost? Before the Congress approves another $80 billion for Iraq, George W. Bush must explain to the American people how the poor leadership within his administration led to the loss of $9 billion.

Although recent polling from Quinnipiac College indicates that either US Senator Jon Corzine or acting Governor Richard Codey could easily defeat major Republican challengers, a bruising primary battle between the two could have derailed the path to victory. The situation in New Jersey has changed, however, as the AP's David Porter reports:

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who took office after his predecessor revealed a gay extramarital affair, has decided not to seek election to the post, a close adviser said Sunday.

Democratic Assemblyman John McKeon said Codey made up his mind Friday night, when he notified his family and political allies.

"I think he's at peace with it," McKeon said. "The fact he's decided not to run adds to his credibility as a stabilizing force during a tumultuous period in our political history. In my view, it was a very courageous decision."

Codey is expected to make an official announcement Monday and endorse Sen. Jon Corzine, the only declared Democratic candidate in the race. A spokesman for Codey did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press Sunday.

New Jersey should be an easy win for the Democrats this year. The real test between the two parties will occur in Virginia as both parties forward competent and charismatic leaders. Make sure to check in with Basie! for full coverages of both races.

The recent flow of news out of Israel has been almost wholly positive, and today's story is no different. The AP's Peter Enav reports from Tel Aviv:

Israel will transfer security control over several West Bank towns to the Palestinians in coming days, Israel's defense minister said Sunday, hours after he met with a top Palestinian security official to work out the details of Israel's troop redeployment.

Israel has informed Palestinian officials that it is ready to withdraw gradually from all West Bank towns and to return to positions it held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.

Such a pullback is part of the long-stalled "road map" peace plan, which both sides now say they are ready to implement.

The news out of Iraq is unfortunately not as positive today as Iraqis head to the polls. AP's Mariam Fam writes from Baghdad:

Iraqis voted Sunday in their country's first free election in a half-century and insurgents made good on threats of violence, launching three deadly suicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations across Iraq. At least 17 people were killed, including five policemen.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny." The country's mostly ceremonial president, Ghazi al-Yawer, said it was Iraq's first step "toward joining the free world."

Despite the heavy attacks, turnout was brisk in some Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad — a mixed Sunni-Shiite area — 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

Hopefully peace can emerge in both Israel and Iraq within the near future. I am certainly praying for it.

For those interested...

FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sens. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Rice.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), and Rice.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.); former Iraqi Governing Council members Ahmed Chalabi and Adnan Pachachi; Jalal Talabani, secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak Rubaie; Barham Salih, Iraq's deputy prime minister for national security; Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institute; retired Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong; retired Maj. Gens. James Marks and Don Shepperd; former Coalition Provisional Authority adviser Brett McGurk; pollster John Zogby; Iraq out-of-country voting program members June Chwa of Detroit and Jeremy Copeland of Maryland; Feisal Istrabadi, Iraq's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, and Rice.

Link.

For the record, that's 6 Republicans and 3 Democrats, not to mention 9 pro-Bush Iraqis. Fair and balanced lineups, I guess.

That's how Tom Wolfe views Bush's inaugural speech:

The president had barely warmed up: "There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants ... and that is the force of human freedom.... The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. ... America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one..." when - bango! - I flashed back 100 years and 47 days on the dot to another president. George W. Bush was speaking, but the voice echoing inside my skull - a high-pitched voice, an odd voice, coming from such a great big hairy bear of a man - was that of the president who dusted off Monroe's idea and dragged it into the 20th century.

"The steady aim of this nation, as of all enlightened nations," said the Echo, "should be to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail throughout the world the peace of justice. ...Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called it peace. ...The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we shun unrighteous war. ... The right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right cannot be divorced."

Tom Wolfe is the author of many books including most recently I Am Charlotte Simmons.

A rocket or mortar hit the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad late Saturday on the eve of Iraq's landmark elections, killing two people and wounding four, a U.S. Embassy official said.

One round fell into the Embassy's compound in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military said an explosion at the site was being investigated.

Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan confirmed the embassy had been hit in an attack and said there appeared to have been casualties, but could give no details.

The second official then confirmed that two had been killed and four injured.

Link.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two casualties, as well the many injured survivors.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for Governor a year and a half ago, his campaign made strong indictments against the "special interests" that controlled Sacramento. As The Los Angeles Times' Jordan Rau reports, the Governor has apparently changed his mind and is now freely aligned with special interests.

While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared war on Sacramento's "special interests," he has helped one of California's most effective business lobbies — car dealers — accelerate to new levels of influence in the Capitol. Dealerships are among the most regulated sales industries in the state, with lemon laws that dictate precisely how they may market their products and a state board that can ban dealers from moving within 10 miles of another showroom peddling the same make of car.

Still, they have always made good mileage in Sacramento, going back to when Los Angeles dealer Holmes Tuttle was one of Ronald Reagan's earliest boosters and closest confidants. And in the last year, their political machine has been souped up.

After the dealers and the rest of the auto industry helped underwrite Schwarzenegger's 2003 gubernatorial campaign, giving him more than $1 million through his first year in office, the Republican sided with dealers last year by killing their most hated piece of legislation, which would have restricted their loan practices.

The dealers played a central role in the passage of Proposition 64, which limits lawsuits against businesses. Dealers financed a third of the campaign's $12-million cost, and Schwarzenegger stumped for it in the final weeks of the fall election.

Schwarzenegger is a deft politician, and the sooner the people of California realize this, the better off they will be.

The Portland economy has been one of the slowest in the state to recover from the Bush recession, and though it is beginning to turn around, job growth has not yet met the demand. A new major addition to the Port of Portland could change that, however. The Oregonian's Alex Pulaski reports:

Toyota solidified its ties with Portland on Friday, unveiling a $39 million auto-processing facility on the Willamette River's east bank.

The offices, shop areas and massive parking lot on 85 acres at Terminal 4 will enable Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. to funnel one of every four of its U.S. imports through the Port of Portland. After Long Beach, Calif., Portland is the company's leading gateway to this country.

The Port of Portland, with 358,000 autos imported last year by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, is the West Coast's top vehicle port.

Friday's opening ceremony was a welcome celebration for the Port. The public agency lost two of its three trans-Pacific container lines last year. But it continues to attract less lucrative bulk cargo and automobiles, linking Asia with the Midwest through rail lines.

With the losses of the major container shipment companies, many warehousing and industrial jobs were lost in the city. With the addition of Toyota, and possibly other companies in the near future, it is very possible that many of these high paying jobs will return to the city. It is incumbent upon new Mayor Tom Potter to foster strong relationships with Asian companies to try to lure them to the Rose City so the economy can grow and people can have good jobs.

Just one day after the Salem Statesman Journal reported on an adopt-a-road sign sponsored by the American Nazi Party, reader Notorious J.E.S. from over at BlueOregon.com informs us that the sign is gone. Cara Roberts Murez has the whole story in this morning's Statesman Journal:

A pair of signs proclaiming that the American Nazi Party has adopted a road in rural Salem are gone.

Marion County commissioners have not changed their stance on allowing the group to participate in a volunteer litter cleanup program, but the signs were vandalized this week and won’t be replaced unless Nazi party members pay to have the county install new ones.

Commissioners and county staff, meanwhile, have been inundated with angry e-mails and phone calls from people in Salem and all over the United States wondering why the county allowed the group to sponsor cleanup on a stretch of Sunnyview Road NE between Cordon Road and 82nd Avenue.

“It’s been a wide variety of people — walks of life and also geographically,” said Marion County Public Works Director Jim Sears. “How would I characterize it? It was pretty intense.”

As reader Eric notes, freedom of speech should not be abridged in this case or any other, and one solution could have been for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to perform cleanup on the miles before and after the Nazi sign as a sign of protest. While I don't condone people taking the law into their own hands by removing the signs, I understand their position and do not fault them for their feelings.

President Bush already lost one nominee to head the Homeland Security Department (a position I and others like to call the "Defender of the Homeland"). Is he in risk of losing another? The trio of David Johnston, Neil A. Lewis and Douglas Jehl do the tough reporting in a story in Saturday's New York Times.

Michael Chertoff, who has been picked by President Bush to be the homeland security secretary, advised the Central Intelligence Agency on the legality of coercive interrogation methods on terror suspects under the federal anti-torture statute, current and former administration officials said this week.

Depending on the circumstances, he told the intelligence agency, some coercive methods could be legal, but he advised against others, the officials said.

Mr. Chertoff's previously undisclosed involvement in evaluating how far interrogators could go took place in 2002 and 2003 when he headed the Justice Department's criminal division. The advice came in the form of responses to agency inquiries asking whether C.I.A. employees risked being charged with crimes if particular interrogation techniques were used on specific detainees.

Johnston, Lewis and Jehl indicate that Chertoff should have no trouble being confirmed by the Senate regardless of these policy recommendations. Most likely the Democrats will reserve their most stringent attacks for Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales who held a much more central role in crafting America's torture policy.

President Bush might not believe a burgeoning trade deficit matters but he's simply wrong. Just ask the Commerce Department:

Economic growth slowed in the final quarter of 2004 to levels not seen in two years, the Commerce Department reported today, capping a nonetheless expansive 12 months for the American economy.

The department estimated that the gross domestic product, the measure of overall economic activity in the United States, grew at a rate of 3.1 percent in the October-to-December period versus an anticipated rate of 3.6 percent and a 4 percent rate in the previous quarter.

For the year, growth came in at 4.4 percent in the advance estimates released by the department.

The culprit in the final quarter, the department said, was the country's trade deficit.

Link.

Perhaps its time for the President to start fostering the type of economy that creates jobs in America, not overseas. The only way for him to do that is to begin telling the truth to the American people, and bribing journalists is not a good start.

It could happen...

Speculation reaches us from a well-placed source that President Bush’s thoughts may be turning to his buddy, Sam Brownback, as a possible next Bank president.

[...]

We reckon that a Brownback candidacy would play well with Bush’s base at home (there'd be rejoicing in the Corner); disastrously with pretty much everyone abroad.

Not sure how seriously Brownback is being considered, but worth watching…

Update: In Kansas, they're wondering whether they might need to start looking for a new senator...

Link.

As Chris Bowers notes, if Brownback leaves the Senate, Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius could appoint a member of her own party, meaning Harry Reid just might have a little easier job.

This 2001 article ought to make your Friday a little better:

In the issues of December 16th 2000 to November 10th 2001, we may have given the impression that George Bush had been legally and duly elected president of the United States. We now understand that this may have been incorrect, and that the election result is still too close to call. The Economist apologises for any inconvenience.

The Economist, "An election correction," November 15, 2001

As chosen by CQ Today's Midday Update (free email service):

"My grandfather believed Social Security should be simple, fair, guaranteed, earned and available to all Americans. ... He was adamant that Social Security was an insurance program, not an investment plan or a welfare plan."

-- James ROOSEVELT Jr., grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed Social Security into law in 1935.

An Army helicopter crashed in southwest Baghdad on Friday night, and the fate of the crew was not immediately known, a U.S. military official said.

U.S. military officials do not believe the helicopter was hit by hostile fire, Lt. Col. James Hutton said.

The OH-58 Kiowa helicopter usually carries a crew of two pilots and is unlikely to carry large numbers of passengers.

Link.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the men who were in the helicopter. Let's pray that they are delivered into safety.

Yesterday, hundreds of people converged on Southern Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This morning, The Salem Statesman Journal runs this troubling story:

Marion County has allowed a Portland-area skinhead group to adopt a rural Salem road as part of a volunteer litter clean-up program.

The signs proclaiming that Sunnyview Road NE between Cordon Road and 82nd Avenue is sponsored by the American Nazi Party NSM were installed Monday.

County officials say they were legally advised that excluding the organization would violate a constitutional right to free speech. Their choices, they said, were: allow the group to join the program, remove all of the signs from the program or refuse the group and risk a lawsuit.

Commissioner Sam Brentano said he wanted to turn the organization down anyway and face whatever lawsuits came.

He was outnumbered by commissioners Patti Milne and Janet Carlson. The commissioners did not vote on the issue, but gave staff direction by consensus.

Today, I am not proud of my state.

Spelling Bees are supposed to be a fun way to help children to learn creatively (just watch the hilarious documentary Spellbound to get an impression). Now, evidently, they might be unlawful.

Karen Adams always enjoyed receiving her invitation. The WPRI-TV news anchorwoman and Lincoln resident looked forward to penciling in the school district’s spelling bee in her appointment calendar.

But there’s no note in her calendar this year. The Lincoln district has decided to eliminate this year’s spelling bee -- a competition involving pupils in grades 4 through 8, with each school district winner advancing to the state competition and a chance to proceed to the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C.

[...]

The administrators decided to eliminate the spelling bee, because they feel it runs afoul of the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Link.

The Republicans really wrote a great law here. Really.

Illinois Republicans are beginning to rue the day they invited Alan Keyes to their state. The Chicago Sun-Times' Michael Sneed runs a story that's sure to delight the state's Democrats.

Rumble is former Republican U.S. Senate candidate/nightmare Alan Keyes is eyeing a bid for governor.

Let us pray for deliverance.

Keyes, whose religious and political views give moderate GOPers the shakes, is not only back . . . he's conducting the first meeting of his "Cook County United" gathering of 40 to 50 of Cook County's best conservative activists in his Loop office tonight!

Don't miss dinner.

Sometimes, Republicans just make it too easy for the Democrats. It doesn't happen often, but it's fun to watch when it does.

Potential foes are beginning to line up for Hillary Clinton in New York as the Democrat prepares to seek a second term in the Senate. Already, an ambitious District Attorney (no, not Law and Order's Fred Thompson who is a former Senator himself) has decided to challenge Hillary. Now, a relative of Richard Nixon has joined the mix. The New York Times' Michael Slackman reports:

The prospects of a Kennedy-Cuomo clash ended when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this week that he would not run against Andrew M. Cuomo for state attorney general. But now New Yorkers face the possibility of another clash of political families, this one pitting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton against Edward F. Cox, a son-in-law of President Richard M. Nixon.

Mr. Cox, who married Tricia Nixon in the Rose Garden when her father was president, has told friends and Republican Party insiders that he is considering running against Mrs. Clinton in 2006, they said.

Mr. Cox, 58, was busy making funeral arrangements for his mother, Anne, who died on Tuesday, and he referred questions to a friend who is his adviser. The friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Cox is out there "testing the waters."

California might be the land of celebrity politicians, but New York is getting closer. Connecticut, not wanting to be left out, could find itself with a celebrity politician soon.

This is a huge scoop for Russ.

In his first television interview since the presidential election, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) will appear live on "Meet the Press with Tim Russert" for the full hour this Sunday, January 30, 2005.

The exclusive interview will cover a wide range of topics including the day's historic elections in Iraq, the senator's own trip to the region, his view on Bush's second term agenda, and his plans for his political future.

Sen. Kerry's last "Meet the Press" appearance on April 18, 2004, came thirty-three years after his very first appearance on the program as a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Earlier in the campaign cycle, Sen. Kerry announced his intentions to run for the Presidential nomination on "Meet the Press" on December 1, 2002.

Link.

As if it weren't enough that word finally reached the American people that the administration bribed at least two columnists in return for positive coverage, yet another case of Presidential impropriety has emerged. The progressive online magazine Salon.com breaks the huge story:

One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed.

Responding to the latest revelation, Dr. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at HHS, announced Thursday that HHS would institute a new policy that forbids the agency from hiring any outside expert or consultant who has any working affiliation with the media. "I needed to draw this bright line," Horn tells Salon. "The policy is being implemented and we're moving forward."

[...]

To date, the Bush administration has paid public relation firms $250 million to help push proposals, according to a report Thursday in USA Today. That's double what the Clinton administration spent on P.R. from 1997 to 2000. Shortly after Williams' contract came to light, the Democrats on the Committee on Government Reform wrote a letter to President Bush demanding that he "immediately provide to us all past and ongoing efforts to engage in covert propaganda, whether through contracts with commentators, the distribution of video news releases, or other means." As of Thursday, a staffer on the committee told Salon, there had been no response.

Someone needs to go to jail for this. Frankly, in previous administrations someone in the President's inner circle would at least get fired for the breach of the public's trust, but with a media that has been beaten in to submission by the right wing spin machine (that is those who haven't been bought), no one is probably going to get caught for this. It's sickening.

The array of GOP voices speaking out against some of George W. Bush's plans have been well documented around the blogoshpere, from comments by moderate Republicans like Arlen Spector and Rob Simmons to conservatives like Bill Thomas. Now The Washington post runs a front page article by Mike Allen detailing the division in the President's party.

When President Bush flies to this mountain resort Friday to meet congressional Republicans, he will encounter a party far less malleable and willing to follow his lead than it has been for the past four years.

Bush is accustomed to getting his way with Congress and finished his first term without suffering a major defeat. But mid-level and rank-and-file Republicans have begun to assert themselves on issues including intelligence reform, immigration and a major restructuring of Social Security, the centerpiece of his second-term agenda.

[...]

Such independence was much rarer when the party's prospects for keeping control of Congress were tied to Bush's political health, and his reelection was everyone's priority. But now that Bush has run his last campaign, he is being bolder in calling for legislative action than many lawmakers who must run every two years are willing to be.

That leaves the success of his second-term agenda very much in doubt.

Check out this entire must-read piece. It delves into all of the important issues surrounding Bush's difficulties in his second term and is well-written.

But the question is will he?

Abusive tax shelters, inflated deductions and other misdeeds cost the U.S. Treasury little when compared with money lost because some employee benefits and wages escape taxation.

The government could collect $164 billion more in tax revenue over the coming decade if it changed laws that exempt some employee benefits from the taxes that pay for Social Security and Medicare, according to a study released Thursday by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

The panel, which provides technical expertise to tax committees, detailed six dozen changes that could increase the amount of money flowing into the U.S. Treasury, including ways to close the gap between taxes owed and taxes collected.

Link.

If Bush truly wants to half the deficit during his term -- something he's pledged to do regardless of the nation's skepticism -- he will need to raise new revenue somewhere. These suggestions are not abrasive and could begin to cut the deficit. Let's hope the President shows some sensibility and acts on this report.

President Bush, through his proxy Michael Powell, attempted for the last four years to limit the regulations on media ownership to the point that monopolies would all but be expected. Today, however, the President shifted course. The New York Times' Stephen Labaton has the scoop:

The Bush administration has decided to abandon the effort by Michael K. Powell, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to relax the regulations that have prevented the nation's largest media companies from growing bigger and entering new markets, government officials and industry lawyers briefed about the decision said today.

In a final slap at Mr. Powell, the Justice Department will not ask the United States Supreme Court to consider a decision last year by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that sharply criticized the attempt to deregulate the rules and ordered the commission to reconsider its action.

Big media companies have been urging the administration to get involved in the case. But its decision not to recommend that the Supreme Court take the case sharply reduces the odds that the justices would intervene. The court had set next Monday as a deadline for the parties to file their initial papers in the appeal.

Officials said one reason the administration decided not to seek Supreme Court review is that some lawyers were concerned that the case could prompt the justices to review related First Amendment issues in a way that could undermine efforts by the commission to enforce indecency rules against television and radio broadcasters. Over the last year, the agency has issued a record number and size of fines, and has been pressed by some conservative and other advocacy groups to be more aggressive.

After considerably limiting the freedom of press through systematic bribes and payola, the Bush administration finally gave in to the will of the American people and ensured that the media would remain free -- for now.

It is not often that this blogger agrees with the President, but when credit is due, it must be given. Kudos to President Bush, even if his action was forced by the political situation.

Pollster John Zogby takes to the task of finding out who Americans want to be the next Chief Justice (not that this matters, of course, because it's the decision of the President and Senate). Here's what he finds:

Sandra Day O’Connor tops a list of potential Chief Justice nominees should ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist retire, a new Zogby International poll reveals. The survey also shows the High Court's two most conservative justices not faring quite as well individually, but polling a slightly higher combined 21% to O'Connor's 18%. Zogby International polled 944 likely voters from December 17 to 21, 2004. The margin of error is +/- 3.2 percentage points.

O'Connor was the top pick from a list of Republicans considered possible Chief Justice nominees. The list included everyone from sitting associate justices to long-shots like outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani placed second, the favorite of 14% in the poll.

Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, who, along with Rehnquist, make up the most conservative grouping on the Court, took a combined 21% in the poll—Thomas taking 13% and the remaining 8% going to Scalia. Both men have been at the center of frequent speculation as possible successors to Rehnquist.

Link.

Also making the list: Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft and former Senator (and current Law and Order "District Attorney" Fred Dalton Thompson.

Not much I can say about this:

Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written account.

A draft manuscript obtained by The Associated Press is classified as secret pending a Pentagon review for a planned book that details ways the U.S. military used women as part of tougher physical and psychological interrogation tactics to get terror suspects to talk.

It's the most revealing account so far of interrogations at the secretive detention camp, where officials say they have halted some controversial techniques.

The Economist is not a particularly liberal publication, though is it not particularly a fan of George W. Bush (it endorsed John Kerry in 2004). In its coverage of the President, the periodical tends to be evenhanded and fair, so the article in this week's issue entitled "Shock and Awe" is noteworthy.

Yet the gap between Mr Bush's rhetoric and what is actually happening, or is likely to happen, is embarrassingly wide. The day after his “freedom speech” his officials fanned out to explain that he didn't really mean anything specific. In Iraq things are not going according to plan—if indeed the administration actually has a plan (see article). Tax reform has been sidelined to a commission, with action this year, next year, sometime. His attempt to privatise part of the Social Security system is in trouble even before it starts.

The gap between ambition and follow-through at home can partly be blamed on the fact that Mr Bush has yet to start revealing the details of his policy. But in foreign policy, the contradiction looks well established. Neo-conservatives, who loved the inauguration speech, claim that Mr Bush is undermining it through the people he has appointed. Condoleezza Rice, the newly confirmed secretary of state, needs watching. Bob Zoellick, her chosen number two, seems to know far too many foreign ambassadors. As for Nicholas Burns, touted for number three, he lives in Belgium. And now Douglas Feith, one of the few neocons with real power, is leaving the Pentagon “for personal reasons”.

Check out the whole piece (it's free) and to get an idea of the degree to which this President will go to deceive the nation. Pass it on to your friends, as well, because the Economist carries a lot of weight in the arena of political discourse.

A day after New York state GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik announced his intention to try to convince Rudy Giuliani to run against Hillary Clinton for the United States Senate, a new Republican voice emerged from the fray. New York Daily News' Joe Mahoney reports:

When Sen. Hillary Clinton runs for reelection in 2006, her opponent might just be another high-profile attorney from Westchester.

Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro is considering challenging the former First Lady, according to political insiders.

The GOP crimefighter, who is running for reelection this year, is not publicly discussing plans for higher office.

But Pirro has a dizzying fund-raising schedule and the enthusiastic backing of Gov. Pataki. "We love Jeanine," said a source in Pataki's camp.

Giuliani is almost undoubtedly not running against Hillary. The former New York Mayor has his sights set on a run for the Presidency, and a bruising political battle against Hillary Clinton -- one he very well might lose -- would only inhibit his chances at gaining the GOP presidential nomination.

Pirro could turn out to be a solif candidate for the Republicans, but most likely it will be to no avail. Hillary unsurprisingly maintains strong support in the New York City area. More unusually, she also has a base in upstate, something no Dem in the state has had for some time.

Unless Giuliani enters the race, don't expect too much from this race; even if Rudy does run, smart money is still on Hillary to prevail.

Representative Katherine Harris, who as Florida Secretary of State fudged enough records to slip George W. Bush into the White House, is planning a bid for the US Senate this year. Standing in her way is popular former astronaut and current Senator Bill Nelson, so Harris will have to raise substantial amounts of money for a campaign. As a result, the Florida Republican has been forced to take money from some extremely shady sources. Adam C. Smith of the St. Petersburg Times has the story:

While raising money in New York on Dec. 12, she received 10 $2,000 checks from people related to or connected to a New York rabbi and campaign fundraiser dubbed "the Brooklyn Bundler" who was indicted on charges of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money intended for disabled children.

The donors came mostly from Brooklyn, N.Y., but also from executives of an Iowa slaughterhouse that was at the time facing allegations of inhumane treatment of animals.

PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan campaign finance information service, on Wednesday noted the bundled contributions to Harris and how they follow the fundraising practice used for years by Rabbi Milton Balkany. His ability to deliver campaign checks to politicians years ago earned him the nickname the Brooklyn Bundler.

Balkany also has emerged as a controversial political player. Last year federal prosecutors opted to defer prosecution of Balkany for allegedly misappropriating $700,000 in federal grant money, after he agreed to pay back the money and accepted travel restrictions. The politically connected rabbi and private school leader also was implicated, but not charged, in a case involving bribery of federal prison officials to improve the living conditions of certain prisoners, according to the New York Daily News.

Anyone who would take money from a man indicted for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from disabled children does not deserve to serve in the halls of Congress. Katherine Harris should be ashamed. Even further, she should be run out of office (a real possibility considering she only got 55% of her district's vote after spending $3.4 million).

The pharmaceutical industry "invested" millions of dollars in GOP campaigns in 2004 in the belief that their immense profits would diminish should Democrats take power. PhRMA's greatest fear: a prescription drug reimportation plan that would allow American consumers to pay the fair international price rather than an inflated domestic one. Now it appears that their investment might not pay off despite GOP wins. Bloomberg has the story:

Eight U.S. representatives and senators, including five Republicans, introduced a bill that would allow Americans to import cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries. Yesterday, Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine won a promise from Majority Leader Bill Frist for a hearing on their own proposal.

``We have for the first time people in the Senate and in the House who are on the same page,'' Representative Gil Gutknecht, the Minnesota Republican who wrote the House bill, said today at a press conference at the Capitol in Washington. ``This is a new day in this whole debate.''

Lawmakers are responding to pressure from voters and state governors dismayed by U.S. drug prices that are rising 10 percent a year, while governments in Canada and elsewhere keep prices as much as 70 percent lower. Ten governors, including four Republicans, last week wrote to Frist, a Tennessee Republican, urging passage of a drug-importation measure. [emphasis added]

The GOP is simply wrong on this issue. The Democrats know this. The American people know this. Even some Republicans know this. It's time for drug companies to stop bilking the American people, and if the President isn't willing to do anything about it, he and his party will be held to account in 2006.

President Bush has promised to end the practice of paying journalists in return for favorable coverage, but as I have argued previously, this is too little too late. House Democrats, mindful that Bush's feet must be held to the fire, are taking proactive steps to ensure that the President will indeed hold true to his promise. CNN has the story:

Meanwhile, several Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday designed to stop what they termed taxpayer-funded "covert propaganda campaigns" violating a provision included in annual appropriation acts since 1951.

Under the new bill, dubbed the Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act of 2005, the prohibition on propaganda would become a permanent part of federal law.

Federal agencies would also have to notify Congress about public relations, advertising and polling contracts, and the funding sources of all federally funded public relations materials would have to be disclosed.

[...]

The group also released a investigative report prepared by Democratic committee staff that found the Bush administration spent more than $88 million on contracts with public relations agencies in 2004, a 128 percent increase from 2000.

Propaganda is a detriment to the American Democracy, and unless action is undertaken soon, dire consequences will surely ensue. The Democrats are on the right track here, but they must create an effective method of conveying this drive to stamp out corruption and bribery to the American people.

President Bush has laid out an ambitious second-term agenda in an effort to drastically change America's social contract, but overreaching has long been the bane of Presidents, from FDR to LBJ, Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan.

Josh Marshall has already documented the many instances of GOP defections on Social Security privatization. Now The New York Times sets to the task of examining attacks by some Republicans on two of the Presidents other initatives: Clean-Air and Immigration. To begin, Michael Janofsky writes "Climate Debate Threatens Republican Clean-Air Bill":

The Congressional battle over how to reduce air pollution from power plants began anew on Wednesday with consideration of the approach most favored by the White House.

But after three hours of testimony on that initiative, the Clear Skies Act of 2005, it was obvious that nothing had diminished the concerns that scuttled an earlier version of the legislation. Indeed, one co-sponsor conceded that without major compromises, the new bill was most likely doomed.

"If everybody's hunkered down, it's the same old story we've had for the last five or six years," said the lawmaker, Senator George V. Voinovich, Republican of Ohio. "Then it's goodbye."

Though the Republicans increased their numbers in both houses of Congress, they are far from possessing overwhelming majorities. As a result, even a handful of fainthearted members of their caucus can derail even the most well-planned political moves. Such is the case with reshaping the Clean Air Act.

The GOP as a whole might be wedded to corporations and thus stringently opposed to regulation, but individual members -- including conservatives the likes John McCain, Judd Gregg and John Sununu -- are staunch conservationists. As a result, it might be impossible for the President to ram through another measure to curtail environmental law.

On another issue, the President could see defections from the right rather than the left. In Thursday's paper, The Times' David D. Kirkpatrick writes about George W. Bush's immigration woes.

The battle within the Republican Party over immigration policy was joined Wednesday as President Bush vigorously promoted his proposal for a guest worker program and conservatives in Congress introduced an alternative proposal to tighten immigration restrictions.

At a news conference, President Bush said again that he considered his guest worker proposal "a priority" even though Senate Republicans left it off their list of top goals. "A program that enables people to come into our country in a legal way to work for a period of time, for jobs that Americans won't do, will help make it easier for us to secure our borders," Mr. Bush said, adding: "I know there is a compassionate, humane way to deal with this issue. I want to remind people that family values do not end at the Rio Grande border."

Party conservatives, however, have strenuously opposed a guest worker plan since Mr. Bush introduced the idea in 2001, even staging a losing revolt over its inclusion in the party platform at the 2004 Republican convention. Many conservatives call the president's ideas "amnesty" - a term Mr. Bush disputes - because his plan includes ways for currently illegal immigrants to obtain temporary worker permits.

Bush won in 2004 on the basis of overwhelming conservative support, and his approval rating is in fact still buoyed by the right. Nonetheless, in order to govern he must at least make token gestures to the center, such as this immigration initiative. This puts him in an extremely difficult situation. George W. Bush might be one of the most deft politicians in the nation -- indeed only Bill Clinton more of a knack for connecting with the multitude of Americans -- but on these two issues, even he might not succeed.

Charges of ethical problems relating to campaign financing for State Rep. Dan Doyle (R) have been swirling around the state of Oregon for some time, but they reached a climax today as the Joint Ways and Means Chairman was forced to resign. The AP's Brad Cain reports:

State Rep. Dan Doyle resigned as co-chairman of Legislature's powerful budget committee Wednesday after a state investigation into his campaign finance report.

The announcement came from House Speaker Karen Minnis, who said Doyle asked to be removed from the Joint Ways and Means Committee so he could "devote his full attention" to the investigation.

[...]

On Monday, the secretary of state's office began investigating whether Doyle had diverted re-election campaign money to personal use, which is prohibited by state law.

State investigators also are looking at whether the Salem Republican intentionally made false statements on his campaign finance report — which would be a criminal offense under state election laws.

A corrupt Republican... you don't say! Doyle is innocent until proven guilty, of course, but if it turns out that he was purposefully misleading in his campaign finance filings to divert funds, he should go to jail.

President Bush has avoided doling out any responsibility for the mess in Iraq -- Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz kept their positions, Condi Rice was promoted, George Tenet was rewarded with the highest honor in the nation -- but it appears as though one member of the administration is finally being kicked out of office: Douglas Feith. Here's the Financial Times' take:

Douglas Feith, the controversial undersecretary for policy responsible for postwar planning in Iraq, announced on Wednesday that he would leave his position this summer.

Commenting on Mr Feith’s planned resignation, Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, said on Wednesday, “Regretfully, he has decided to depart and he will be missed...I hope he will stay until an appropriate replacement is found.”

Mr Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, the number two man at the Pentagon, are both controversial advocates of the Iraq war.

If Mr Wolfowitz resigns or moves, one candidate touted as a replacement is Stephen Cambone, undersecretary for intelligence. Mr Cambone has been instrumental in pushing Mr Rumsfeld’s goal of transforming the military.

Perhaps it's time for the entire civilian team at the Pentagon to move on.

In the wake of the scandals surrounding the Bush administration's bribes to journalists such as Armstrong Williams, a furor -- however small -- is emerging amongst those who believe in the freedom of the press. The AP reports that the President today attempted to assuage these people's fears.

President Bush on Wednesday ordered his Cabinet secretaries not to hire columnists to promote their agendas after disclosure that a second writer was paid to tout an administration initiative.

The president said he expects his agency heads will "make sure that that practice doesn't go forward."

"All our Cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying commentators to advance our agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet," Bush said at a news conference.

Frankly, this is too little, too late. It probably would have been too late even if the President did this weeks ago when the Armstrong Williams case came out, but now that a second case has emerged, it's obvious that this is merely a political move without any real significance.

This is one of the worst scandals in recent memory and it is a blight upon the Presidency. Bush and his cronies must be investigated because it is indeed illegal to submit the American people to propaganda. If they are not, the freedom of the press in this country will be placed in serious jeopardy.

CQ Today's Midday Update (free email service) reports that the gubernatorial race to succeed Jeb Bush in Florida is becoming one to watch in 2006.

The Orlando SENTINEL reports that "at least three Florida Democrats appear ready to run for governor next year, but few other clear signals emerged from a closed-door gathering of party leaders" on Monday at the home of Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla. About a dozen Democrats met "to explore ways to avoid free-swinging primary contests in the 2006 elections." However, the paper said, "Strong indications are that U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa, state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua and Lawton 'Bud' Chiles III of Orlando, son of the late, two-term Democratic governor, are planning to run, according to those who attended. Betty Castor, who lost the U.S. Senate race to Republican Mel Martinez last November, joined the meeting by conference call and told participants she 'remains very interested' in the governor's race, participants said."

The original article is available here [free subscription required].

Joshua Micah Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has been keeping track of the so-called "Conscience Caucus," the group of Republicans in opposition to the privatization of Social Security. Josh writes today that there might be a new member in this group: Oregon's own "moderate" Republican Gordon Smith.

From today's CQ ...

A second moderate Republican on the Finance Committee, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, would not commit to supporting Bush’s plan, and added that the administration has not marketed it well.
...

"I’m philosophically open to [Bush’s plan]; I’m not signed up to it,” Smith said.

Both Snowe and Smith said they like the idea of “add-on” Social Security personal accounts funded from a source other than Social Security’s payroll tax revenue.

...

"A lot of us expressed that the White House started the debate, but the media and the other side are finishing the debate,” Smith said. “He needs to go back on offense.”

Sen. Smith: If you can protect me, you have my vote. Otherwise, I'm in the Caucus. I may even get a TPM T-Shirt out of it.

When I called the Smith office this morning regarding his position on Social Security, the answer I received was somewhat ambiguous. Nevertheless, the quotes provided in the CQ piece give me hope that Smith isn't on board for privatization/

The District of Columbia, with a population larger than that of Wyoming, does not have a voting member in the House and has no representation in the Senate. A new bill from a Utah Congressman would change that, though. The Ogden Standard-Examiner's Heidi Burton reports:

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, wants the District of Columbia to get representation in Congress -- but only if Utah gets a fourth seat in the bargain.

Bishop is co-sponsor with Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., of a bill that would give the district a seat in the House of Representatives in return for another Utah seat.

"It would give us the extra seat we should have had at the turn of the decade," Bishop said. "I'm looking at it very selfishly. I want the extra seat for Utah. ... It's probably not the grandest of motives I've ever had for a bill."

Utah narrowly missed earning another seat based on the population census of 2000. Utah is bound to get another representative or maybe two after the next census, Bishop said, but this bill would speed up the process.

It's time for the District of Columbia to finally gain the representation it deserves. Hopefully this bill, or one like it, will draw the bipartisan support necessary for passage.

It was almost comical when James Dobson came out last week in opposition to SpongeBob Square pants for alleged homosexuality (it's a cartoon), earning him the name "SpongeDob Stickypants," but it's outrageous when the nation's Education Secretary engages in similar activity. The AP reports on this first act by Margaret Spellings, the new Ed. Secy.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.

The episode of "Postcards From Buster," which has not yet run, shows the title character, a bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont, a state that recognizes same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.

There is really something wrong with these people.

A U.S. military transport helicopter crashed in bad weather in Iraq's western desert Wednesday, killing 31 people, all believed to be Marines, while insurgents killed five other American troops in the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began.

Militants waging a campaign to derail Sunday's election carried out at least six car bombings and a flurry of other attacks on schools to be used as polling stations, political party offices and Kurdish sites, killing or wounding more than two dozen people.

Link.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these soldiers.

This is perhaps the most corrupt administration since Warren Harding, maybe since Ulysses S. Grant. President Bush has proved that graft isn't dead. Tonight's news, however unsurprising, shows once again that there are no limits this administration's malfeasance.

Word leaked out this month that the administration bribed conservative commentator Armsrong Williams to promote its No Child Left Behind law. When pressed by a reporter, then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige admitted that this practice was standard. Howard Kurtz breaks a story in Wednesday's Washington Post which indicates that Bush's payola -- secretly paying members of the media for coverage -- is more widespread than previously believed. In "Columnist Backing Bush Plan Had Federal Contract", Kurtz leads:

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.

"The Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples" and "educate teens on the value of delaying childbearing until marriage," she wrote in National Review Online, for example, adding that this could "carry big payoffs down the road for taxpayers and children."

But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

This activity by the Bush administration is worse than unconscionable; it's illegal. Kudos to Kurtz for outing this portion of the scandal, but more must be done. The American people must know exactly how many people were paid for favorable coverage. My guess is that when they do find out the staggering amount of bribery that has taken place, a mere apology -- which we have yet to receive -- will not be sufficient.

One of the major reasons why I supported Arlen Specter was that I believed he would be a much more palatable Judiciary Chairman to moderates and liberals than the uber-conservative Jon Kyl. As it turns out, I was right. Check out this piece entitled "Specter adds more fuel to the fire" by The Hill's Alexander Bolton:

In less than a month, new Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has already exasperated social conservatives and frightened members of the business community with controversial staff hires, statements and policy positions.

The start of Specter’s tenure as chairman, following a blow-up last year over public comments he made questioning the confirmation of anti-abortion-rights judicial nominees, may augur a rocky future for Specter, whom many conservatives dislike for being too centrist.

But despite their concerns, leading conservatives say they will suspend final judgment on Specter until he is given a chance to manage the confirmation proceedings of President Bush’s court nominees.

Activists on the right are buzzing about two recent controversial hires by Specter: Hannibal Kemerer, a former assistant general counsel with the NAACP, and Carolyn Short, who is married to Joe Torsella, who ran as a Democrat in Pennsylvania for Congress. Specter hired both to serve as counsels on the committee.

Especially irksome to conservatives is a report filed with the Federal Election Commission showing that Short donated $500 to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) 2000 campaign.

And many conservatives view the NAACP as overtly partisan. Departing from the tradition of past presidents, Bush had refused to meet with the group because of its ties to Democrats.

Specter is doing an amazing job so far as Judiciary Chairman: just look at how enraged the right is at his actions. Although some Democrats don't like to admit it, a moderate Republican is preferable to a conservative one.

Slate's Robert Bryce writes about this highy unusual alliance.

The alliance of hawks and environmentalists is new but not entirely surprising. The environmentalists are worried about global warming and air pollution. But Woolsey and Gaffney—both members of the Project for the New American Century, which began advocating military action against Saddam Hussein back in 1998—are going green for geopolitical reasons, not environmental ones. They seek to reduce the flow of American dollars to oil-rich Islamic theocracies, Saudi Arabia in particular. Petrodollars have made Saudi Arabia too rich a source of terrorist funding and Islamic radicals. Last month, Gaffney told a conference in Washington that America has become dependent on oil that is imported from countries that, "by and large, are hostile to us." This fact, he said, makes reducing oil imports "a national security imperative."

Ending America's dependence on Middle East oil should be one of America's top priorities, regardless of the ideological bent to which it is attached. If environmentalists can ally with the neoconservatives on this issue, far be it from anyone to complain.

These people expect us to believe that they'll half the deficit?

The White House will project that this year's federal deficit will hit $427 billion, a senior administration official said Tuesday, a record partly driven by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The official, among three who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the estimate was a conservative one that assumed some higher spending than other analysts use. Last February, the White House projected that the 2004 shortfall would hit $521 billion, only to see it come in at $412 billion.

[...]

Even so, the number was among a blizzard of figures released Tuesday that illustrated how federal deficits remain a problem that Bush and Congress must reckon with.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that thanks to tax cuts and hurricane aid passed since its last calculations in September, the 10-year deficit had worsened since then by $503 billion, not counting war expenditures [emphasis added].

Link.

If you figure in the cost of the war, the CBO predicts next year's deficit at a whopping $448 billion, the highest ever. This is worst fiscal record in the history of America.

The Burnt Orange Report has the story:

Martin Frost now has 15 public endorsements of DNC members. Today, Frost announced the endorsement of 14 of the 15 of the Texas DNC members along with the endorsement of New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid (also a DNC member).

The 14 Texas DNC members endorsing Martin Frost are as follows:

Chairman Charles Soechting, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Hon. Yvonne Davis, Hon. Senfronia Thompson, Commissioner Oscar Soliz, Mayor Ron Kirk, Gabrielle Hadnot, Vice Chair, Norma Fischer Flores, Jaime Gonzalez Jr., David Holmes, Sue Lovell, John Patrick, Betty Richie and Bob Slagle

For more information on the DNC Chairman race, check out Jerome Armstrong's Cattle Call. Although Jerome has Frost moving down, these endorsements could help him become the anyone-but-Dean vote.

2004 was a spectacular year for Western Dems, especially in Colorado. Conversely, it was a very bad year for the GOP in many of the region's states below the Presidential level. As a result, heads are beginnning to roll.

The head of Colorado's Republican Party announced Tuesday he won't seek another two-year term in March.

Ted Halaby's announcement came just months after the GOP lost control of a Senate seat and a House seat and, for the first time in 42 years, both houses of the state Legislature. Many party officials blamed Halaby, party chairman since 2003, for the November losses.

Link.

For more information about the region's politics, check out my interview with Gary Hart.

Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, D-N.Y., lives on a houseboat on the Potomac called the Unsinkable II. He says the original Unsinkable sank.

From CQ Weekly's Midday Update [free email service]

"Like any consumer out there, marijuana users want the most bang for their buck..."

-- Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force Sgt. John Flood on the increase in sales of Canadian marijuana in the United States.

Link [via Hotline's Wake-Up Call].

Is there no end to the insanity of these men?

The co-author of the Swift Boat veterans' book that attacked Sen. John F. Kerry plans to move to the Bay State this year so he can challenge Kerry for his Senate seat in 2008.

"I'm going to do it," said Jerome Corsi, 58. "I've got serious political aspirations now."

Corsi, who has had to apologize for inflammatory comments he made about Islam, the pope and Judaism, lives in New Jersey but plans to establish residency in Boston this spring.

Though not a veteran himself, Corsi co-authored "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry."

Link.

These guys need to get a life.

In a sad day for "Camelot"-afficionados and progressives around the country, Robert Kennedy, Jr. has changed his mind on a possible run for Attorney General in New York. The Times' Jonathan P. Hicks reports:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmental lawyer and the son of the onetime senator from New York, said on Monday that he had decided not to run for state attorney general after having considered a bid for several months.

Mr. Kennedy said he had concluded that a successful campaign would have left him too little time with his wife and six children and he was unwilling to make that sacrifice. He said he had spent the last few weeks conducting meetings with politicians throughout the state and other members of the Kennedy family before making his decision.

In a two-hour interview at Mr. Kennedy's sprawling home here, he insisted that his decision had nothing to do with the prospect of his running against his brother-in-law Andrew M. Cuomo, who is getting a divorce from Mr. Kennedy's sister Kerry.

His famous name and stunning resemblance to his father aside, RFK, Jr. would have been a great star within the Democratic party on his own account. Hopefully he'll consider a bid in the future.

President Bush frequently invokes the memory of 9/11 to help advance his policies, from action in Iraq to tax cuts for the wealthy. Ironically, when it comes to Homeland Security spending -- something actually necessary for the prevention of further terrorist attacks -- he won't invoke the attacks and in fact is willing to shortchange key programs. USA Today's Mimi Hall reports on one such major cut.

President Bush will not ask Congress for enough money to add 2,000 agents to patrol the nation's borders in his 2006 budget, even though he signed a bill last month authorizing the increase.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday that Bush's new budget, to be released in early February, will propose a "good incremental increase" in the number of agents. But he made it clear the number would not approach 2,000. The new agents were to be the first hires toward doubling the size of the force over five years.

As part of a sweeping intelligence bill passed in December, Congress called for nearly doubling the size of the Border Patrol by adding 10,000 agents over five years. The agency has about 11,000 agents; 90% work along the southern border with Mexico.

But in an interview with USA TODAY, Ridge scoffed at the notion of adding so many agents and said it would be an inefficient use of precious homeland security dollars.

Putting feet on the ground to ensure terrorists cannot infiltrate the country is inefficient? That must be the same reason why the country is spending $280,000,000,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan but not nearly enough on port security.

The insurance industry has long been pro-Republican and supported both of George W. Bush's bids at the White House. It would thus come as a suprise to many that the industry will fiercely oppose any bid by the President to overhaul the tax code in favor of investments. CQ's Jill Barshay reports [no link available]:

The GOP’s supply-side tax agenda to spur savings and investment will probably have the side effect of killing the core of the life insurance industry. The White House has floated the idea of eliminating taxes on savings in any form. If that were to happen, Americans would have little need for the tax-sheltered savings products that make up two-thirds of the insurance business. Call it collateral damage.

[...]

No business — not housing, not retail, not health care — is more vulnerable or stands to lose more than insurers if President Bush succeeds in overhauling tax law. Even a mere tweak in the tax code instead of a wholesale rewrite might squash the industry, which collects $389 billion a year in premiums and annuity purchases and makes an additional $170 billion a year off its reserves and other investments.

[...]

[Former Oklahoma governor and insurance industry lobbyist Frank] Keating is warning that inchoate ideas swirling about Washington to slash taxes on savings might be “calamitous for the nation.” He vowed to be “very aggressive this year” fighting to preserve the special status that has long benefited insurers.

Companies that own large chunks of the insurance industry, such as General Electric Co. and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., are retaining lobbyists for the coming fight. Also joining in are the trade associations for independent insurance agents who sell policies and annuity contracts.

Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum reported in The Washington Post in December that any tax reform effort won't begin in earnest until 2006 due to widespread opposition, and the President's efforts at privatizing Social Security are foundering with limited GOP support and strong opposition from the Democrats and AARP. The War in Iraq isn't going particularly well, and the dollar is as weak as ever. This is not the way George W. Bush wanted to start to his second term.

The New York Times' Edmund L. Andrews and Richard W. Stevenson write that the administration is already so worried about their ability to pass any legislation to privatize Social Security that they have gone back to the drawing board -- even before any legislation has been introduced. They write,

The Bush administration, facing opposition from Democrats and unease among Republicans over its plan to overhaul Social Security, is looking at new ideas for cutting future benefits that would hit wealthy retirees harder than those in the middle or bottom ranks of wage-earners, people involved in the discussions say.

[...]

Over the last few weeks, the White House has seen the debate over Social Security take off, but not always in ways that appear helpful to Mr. Bush's goal of quick action to create personal investment accounts within the retirement system and deal with its long-term financing problems.

Cutting benefits, even for the wealthy, could be a non-starter for AARP and other groups dedicated to the survival of Social Security. The President must thus have the full support of his entire Republican base to ensure passage of his privatization plan, though as David D. Kirkpatrick and Sheryl Gay Stolberg write in another Times piece in Tuesday's paper, Bush's Evangelical base might not be on board yet.

A coalition of major conservative Christian groups is threatening to withhold support for President Bush's plans to remake Social Security unless Mr. Bush vigorously champions a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The move came as Senate Republicans vowed on Monday to reintroduce the proposed amendment, which failed in the Senate last year by a substantial margin. Party leaders, who left it off their list of priorities for the legislative year, said they had no immediate plans to bring it to the floor because they still lacked the votes for passage.

But the coalition that wrote the letter, known as the Arlington Group, is increasingly impatient.

It's tough to be the President...

Although the administration would have the American people believe that there is an exit strategy for Iraq -- that the US Armed Forces will be able to leave at some point in the future -- all indications are that there is no end in sight to America's involvement in the country. Bradley Graham writes on page 1 of The Washington Post that troop strength won't even diminish in the next two years.

The U.S. Army expects to keep its troop strength in Iraq at the current level of about 120,000 for at least two more years, according to the Army's top operations officer.

While allowing for the possibility that the levels could decrease or increase depending on security conditions and other factors, Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace Jr. told reporters yesterday that the assumption of little change through 2006 represents "the most probable case."

Recent disclosures that the Pentagon plans to beef up training of Iraqi security forces and press them into action more quickly has fueled speculation that the Bush administration could be preparing to reduce the number of U.S. troops significantly this year. As more Iraqi troops join the fight, the thinking goes, U.S. troops could begin to withdraw.

But Lovelace's remarks indicated that the Army is not yet counting on any such reduction. Indeed, the general said, the Army expects to continue rotating active-duty units in and out of Iraq in year-long deployments and is looking for ways to dip even deeper into reserve forces -- even as leaders of the reserves have warned that the Pentagon could be running out of such units.

America cannot leave its troops in Iraq indefinitely. Although the General's candor is appreciated -- the administration is loath to tell the American people the entire truth -- Americans would be happier if he could give them any idea as to when the troops will come home.