BUSH YEARS FORGOTTEN

	Sunday » August 31 » 2008
BUSH YEARS FORGOTTEN Even though George Bush's approval numbers remain low, they might be willing to cut John McCain some slack at the convention Steven Edwards Canwest News Service Friday, August 29, 2008 CREDIT: CNS 'Perhaps the best thing Bush can do is to admit at long last, that there may have been some mistakes along the way - and any gesture like that could score some points for McCain as the president also reaches out to conservatives to reassure them he is worth fighting for in the general election,' said Costas Panagopoulos of New York's Fordham University. ST. PAUL, Minn. - Senator John McCain faces the delicate task of accepting the political baton from George W. Bush while maintaining a certain distance from the departing U.S. president as the Republican national convention begins Monday. Bush was set to speak on the first day of the four-day gathering at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and what he says will be keenly noted by Democratic strategists as they seek to brand a McCain presidency as a continuation of the Bush White House. With Bush's approval ratings among the lowest of any sitting president, such a label is seen by supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, as political ballast that will sink McCain. But despite the unpopularity of many key Bush administration policies, electorates can react in surprising ways. McCain's strategists hope Bush will navigate a fine line between shoring up the traditionally maverick Republican's credentials with the party's still-wary conservative wing, while leaving him room to compete against Obama for the backing of independents. "Voters tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses, and even though Bush's approval numbers remain low, they might be willing to cut him some slack at the convention, given that his term as president is coming to an end," said Costas Panagopoulos, director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy at New York's Fordham University. "Perhaps the best thing Bush can do is to admit at long last, that there may have been some mistakes along the way - and any gesture like that could score some points for McCain as the president also reaches out to conservatives to reassure them he is worth fighting for in the general election." Bush administration officials quietly have been respecting just such a strategy, saying little even in the face of McCain camp criticism of the White House record - such as occurred in a television ad that suggested the country had slipped over the past four years. What's more, Bush and McCain have barely been seen together for months, and the president will have returned to Washington by the time the Arizona senator arrives at the convention ahead of his nomination acceptance speech towards the close of the event Thursday. Also speaking on the first day - before departing - will be Vice-President Dick Cheney, said to have been one of the most influential presidential deputies in U.S. history, and the personally popular first lady, Laura Bush. Many conservative Republicans openly questioned McCain's suitability as their party's nominee during the primary, disdainful of his diverging stance from their positions on several social and other themes. A newly emerged draft of the party's 2008 platform, which will be debated during the convention, contains differences with McCain on issues including immigration, stem-cell research and climate change. But Panagopoulos says Republicans as a whole, recognize that a split during the convention is "too big of a risk." "Party platforms are very important for a small group of activists at conventions," he added. "Beyond that, voters rarely know what's included in party platforms, and candidates rarely endorse every plank in them." The Republican primary wasn't nearly as divisive as the Democratic one between Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton. And illustrating how contentious that fight became, a television ad paid for by the Clinton camp suggesting Obama remains unready for America's top political job is now being used by the McCain campaign against the Democratic nominee. So too, is Clinton's comment last March that Obama's experience amounts to little more than a "speech he gave in 2002" - while McCain's is abundant. In a hint that the Republican convention will be filled with more such attacks, scheduled speakers Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, have already hit media circuits, arguing Democratic divisions continue. Giuliani, who himself competed in the Republican primary, seized on Clinton's address Tuesday endorsing Obama at the Democratic party convention in Denver. While Clinton's handlers said the speech showed that unity was now the watchword, some commentators said it failed to examine Obama's leadership qualities or record. "I think she gave a very good speech from her point of view and our point of view, but not necessarily Barack Obama's point of view," Giuliani told Fox News. "She never really answered the key question, 'Is he prepared to be president?' Which is the issue she put out there, rather dramatically, during the primaries." Romney, who was runner-up to McCain in the Republican primary, flew to Denver to argue that Obama was unfit for election. "Barack Obama is a charming and fine person. He has a loving family," he told journalists. "But he's not ready to be president." It could be that some of the mud is sticking as a flurry of polls in the days ahead of Obama's acceptance speech Thursday showed McCain inching ahead of his Democratic rival after trailing. Indeed, the brief turnaround - though reversed in the wake of Obama's speech - is likely to boost Republican morale at the convention. "What it means is that Republicans can turn up with a bit more optimism than they have had for a long time," said David Epstein, a political-science professor at Columbia University. "They had slumped shoulders for most of the spring and summer as polls showing them down, and (their own) lack of enthusiasm about the candidate made you sometimes think they were going to surrender without a fight. But now they will see chinks in the armour of the Obama phenomenon, and some possible route into what could be a successful campaign against him." It's a safe bet to say the Republican convention will not reach the same levels of razzmatazz as the Democratic one, which concluded with Obama addressing a crowd of about 84,000 from a set flanked by Greek columns that was meant to invoke the White House. McCain - who turned 72 on Friday - is sure to use his acceptance speech to invoke his ordeal as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, something he often does to demonstrate his patriotism. He even used it in recent days to counter Obama's sniping over the number of houses he owns with his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship. Obama had accused the Arizona senator of being out of touch with ordinary people after he was unable to say in an interview how many properties they own. "I spent five-and-a-half years in a prison cell without . . . I didn't have a house," he told Jay Leno in a recent appearance on the Tonight Show. A bid to inject some star power into the start of the convention will come with an address by actor-turned-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a dig at the Democratic party, Joe Lieberman, elected an independent senator for Connecticut after the Democratic party machine prevented him from again running under its banner because of his support for the war in Iraq, also will speak. "There are several things that every convention does - such as introduce their candidates, and start sounding themes for the November election," said Epstein. "McCain has less work to do introducing himself, compared to Obama, since he is more of a fixture on the national stage, but he'll have more work to do defining himself as separate from Bush - the millstone around his neck." McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate could lead some of Hillary Clinton's former supporters to vote for the Republican ticket, some analysts say. Still, the "fundamentals favour Obama tremendously," said Panagopoulos, as majority dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and concerns about the economy and general direction of the country suggest voters seek change - which happens to be Obama's buzzword. "The fact that (some recent) polls are so close right now may reflect Democratic weakness as much as Republican strength," he explained. "For many voters, the jury is still out on Barack Obama because there are still questions about his experience, while the Republicans have chosen someone who can reach out and appeal to moderates. "It means it will be a very close general election." © Canwest News Service 2008

Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Bush May Not Attend Republican Convention Because of Hurricane

August 30, 2008 9:12 PM

ABC News' Jennifer Duck reports: As Hurricane Gustav strengthens and threatens the still recovering Gulf Coast, the White House is reevaluating the president's plans to attend the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

President Bush continues to get updates from national and local officials on the ground in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama on the Category 4 storm.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters on a conference call, "We continue to evaluate the track of the storm, and I know there is tremendous interest in whether we'll have any scheduling changes. There is not a scheduling change to speak of tonight, but at the White House we are making contingency plans should the president decide against traveling to Minnesota for the RNC convention."

The president is expected to speak Monday night in St Paul.

Perino added, "This is a very serious storm and the president is asking people in the region to listen to their local officials, heed their warnings, and evacuate if asked."

Bush faced great criticism for the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when he first surveyed the damage by flying over the area on Air Force One and told then-FEMA Director Michael Brown he was doing a "heck of a job."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/08/bush-may-not-at.html

McCain close by distancing Bush

• Story Highlights
• Voters weighing up risk of change of Obama against experience of McCain
  
• McCain web site and ads asking what an Obama presidency would be like
  
• McCain also promoting differences between himself and President Bush
  
• Obama asking Reagan's question: Are you better off now than four years ago?
  

By CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider

Economists have devised elaborate forecasting models to predict this year's election. What goes into the models?

The economy (bad). The president's popularity (low). Attitude toward the war in Iraq (weary). Desire for change (high). Put 'em all together, stir briskly and what forecast comes out? A huge Democratic landslide.

Strange, then, that the polls are showing a close race. Why? Two reasons -- John McCain and Barack Obama.

Imagine what this campaign would look like if President Bush were running for re-election, or if Vice President Dick Cheney were running to succeed him.

Landslide would be an understatement. But McCain is not part of the Bush Administration. He takes pains to make that clear. "We've disagreed over the conduct of the war and the treatment of detainees, over out-of-control government spending and budget gimmicks, over energy policy and climate change," McCain said in June.

A whopping three quarters of Americans believe things are going badly in the country, according to the latest CNN poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation.

Voters who feel that way have a very low opinion of President Bush (21 percent approval). But their displeasure does not seem to extend to McCain. Fifty-six percent say they like McCain.

Obama has a problem, too. He's new, he's young, he's relatively inexperienced and he doesn't have strong national security credentials. His race? That doesn't seem to be nearly as big a problem. At least as many whites seem to be voting FOR Obama because he's black -- and therefore a political outsider -- as are voting against him because he's black.

Still, a lot of voters see Obama as risky business. Democratic Obama blames the problem on Republicans. "What they're going to try to argue is that somehow, I'm too risky," Obama said last month. "We know we didn't do a good job, but he's too risky."

McCain's negative ads are keeping the focus on Obama. Obama dominates the Republicans Party's web site. By nearly two to one, voters say they are paying more attention to what kind of President Obama would be than what kind of President McCain would be. The election is turning into a referendum on Obama.

It's supposed to be a referendum on President Bush and the status quo. The country's mood is as bad now as it was in 1980, when Jimmy Carter was running for re-election and Ronald Reagan promised change.

People saw Reagan as risky, too. The 1980 election was close until the last week of the campaign, when Reagan asked voters, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Here's Obama, addressing voters in Florida last week: "I want to ask you a simple question, maybe a familiar one. Are you better off now than you were four years ago, or eight years ago?"

Obama is promising change. The downside of change is risk. If you want change, you have to take risks. The two go together.

All AboutDemocratic Party • Barack Obama • John McCain • Republican Party

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/14/ct.change.risk

SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close

Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.

� 2008 Cable News Network

Bush hits Russia on 'bullying and intimidation'

Image via Wikipedia

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Friday accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation" in its harsh military treatment of Georgia, saying the people in the former Soviet republic have chosen freedom and "we will not cast them aside."

Bush ratcheted up his rhetoric against Moscow as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Tbilisi, Georgia to pursue a diplomatic solution to the week-old crisis. Standing alongside Rice, pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili said he had signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia that protects Georgia's interests despite concessions to Moscow.

Rice said all Russian troops "must leave immediately" and said she had been told that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign an identical pact.

The rush of events came as Bush began a two-week holiday from Washington. He left the White House after his remarks and flew to his ranch in Texas. Rice is to arrive there early Saturday to brief the president about the showdown between Moscow and Tbilisi over two separatist provinces in Georgia.

"Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected," said Bush, speaking just outside the Oval Office.

With just five months remaining in his administration, Bush faces one of his biggest foreign policy challenges in dealing with a suddenly assertive Russia, along with unfinished wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deeply troubled search for peace in the Middle East. Bush's influence is waning as the world turns its attention to the race to determine who will succeed him.

Bush said that Russia, with its air, sea and land attacks in Georgia, had damaged its relations with the United States and other Western powers.

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," the president said. "Only Russia can decide whether it will now put itself back on the path of responsible nations or continue to pursue a policy that promises only confrontation and isolation.

"To begin repairing relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must respect the freedom of its neighbors," Bush said.

The White House has hedged on what consequences Russia might face. The administration is considering expelling Russia from international groups such as the Group of Eight industrialized nations. Questions also have been raised about U.S. cooperation with Russia in space.

"We need to see where this all ends up," White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe said on Air Force One, flying to Texas with Bush. "We are hopeful that we can continue cooperation with the Russians — and that's across the board. But a lot of this depends on Russia, and what Russia's actions are in the near future. Right now their actions have been inconsistent ... with the fundamental principles of a Europe whole, free and at peace. So cooperation on a wide range of issues going forward depends on the actions that Russia takes."

Even before the crisis in Georgia, tensions between Washington and Moscow have been rising over disputes such as the independence of Kosovo, NATO's expansion toward Russia's borders and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Moscow was infuriated when the United States and Poland reached a deal Thursday to install a U.S. missile defense base on Polish territory.

Still, Bush said, "The Cold War is over. The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us."

The United States has rushed humanitarian aid to Georgia, using U.S. military planes that put American forces in the midst of the showdown with Moscow.

"Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said.

The president said Americans might be perplexed why the United States had drawn a line in the sand in defense of Georgia, an impoverished country that is largely unknown on the world stage.

"In the years since its gained independence after the Soviet Union's collapse, Georgia's become a courageous democracy," Bush said. "It's people are making the tough choices that are required of free societies. Since the Rose Revolution in 2003, the Georgian people have held free elections, opened up their economy, and built the foundations of a successful democracy."

Aligning itself firmly with Washington, Georgia sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush visited Georgia in a show of solidarity and promised that the United States would stand with the former Soviet republic.

"The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world, and we will not cast them aside," the president pledged on Friday.

Bush on Friday called President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia to talk about the situation in Georgia.'

Hosted by

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Bush begins raising money for McCain

By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush starts raising money for John McCain's campaign next week, but with the three fundraisers closed and McCain attending only one, there will be almost no chance for the public to see the outgoing and incoming Republican party leaders together.

The White House announced Friday that Bush will be the main attraction at events for the likely GOP presidential nominee on Tuesday and Wednesday in Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah. In addition to building up the McCain campaign account, the fundraisers will also benefit the national Republican Party, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

All are being held in private residences, and one in Utah is being hosted by McCain's former GOP rival, Mitt Romney, a potential vice presidential pick for the Arizona senator.

During the Bush presidency, the press has nearly always been banned from fundraisers in private homes. Former President Clinton sometimes allowed the press into such fundraising settings, at least for his remarks.

Bush press secretary Dana Perino said the fundraisers are closed because it has been the McCain camp's policy to close all money events. "That's their practice and we will respect it," she said. She added, however, that it is possible the two men would appear together waving at television cameras in Arizona upon arrival or departure of the president's plane.

The press has nearly always been banned from Bush's fundraisers in private homes. Former President Clinton sometimes allowed the press into such fundraising settings, at least for his remarks.

Bush's low approval ratings have raised questions about whether he will help or hurt McCain, especially as the Democratic candidates have argued that a McCain administration would amount to a third Bush term. In the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll last month, 28 percent approved of the job Bush is doing, his lowest rating ever in the survey.

Bush and McCain have not been together since March 5, when the president officially announced his endorsement of the likely GOP nominee in the White House's Rose Garden. Officials have declined to elaborate on how much they might campaign together, either to raise money or do traditional campaign rallies.

But the White House and the McCain operation have been coordinating their messages behind the scenes. Perino said a few of Bush's people have been designated to trade information with McCain's aides.

"We want to make sure that we're not stepping on each other's toes or getting in the way of something that they want to accomplish," she said.

For instance, McCain and Bush gave Cuba speeches this week, McCain's on Cuba's independence day, Bush's a day after. Bush announced a minor change in policy, and Perino said the White House offered to give McCain's camp the details ahead of time. However, she said, no one from the campaign called back to take them up on it.

Bush has headlined numerous fundraisers for the Republican National Committee this election cycle, starting last year. That money will certainly be used in large part to boost McCain's campaign. But the events next week are the first involving Bush that directly funnel cash into McCain's campaign.

During Bush's three-day trip, he is also holding official presidential events at a Mesa, Ariz., cable company Tuesday and at the U.S. Air Force Academy commencement Wednesday. Under the complicated formula for allocating the cost of presidential travel when he is doing party events, the presence of official events on his schedule dramatically reduces the cost to McCain's campaign for Bush's campaign appearances.

Hosted by

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder By Vincent Bugliosi, Vanguard Press Posted on May 24, 2008, Printed on May 24, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/86232/ The following is an excerpt from Vincent Bugliosi's new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. With respect to the position I take about the crimes of George Bush, I want to state at the outset that my motivation is not political. Although I've been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for "the little guy"), my political orientation is not rigid. For instance, I supported John McCain's run for the presidency in 2000. More to the point, whether I'm giving a final summation to the jury or writing one of my true crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. Therefore, my only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others. This is why I can give you, the reader, a 100 percent guarantee that if a Democratic president had done what Bush did, I would be writing the same, identical piece you are about to read. Perhaps the most amazing thing to me about the belief of many that George Bush lied to the American public in starting his war with Iraq is that the liberal columnists who have accused him of doing this merely make this point, and then go on to the next paragraph in their columns. Only very infrequently does a columnist add that because of it Bush should be impeached. If the charges are true, of course Bush should have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office. That's almost too self-evident to state. But he deserves much more than impeachment. I mean, in America, we apparently impeach presidents for having consensual sex outside of marriage and trying to cover it up. If we impeach presidents for that, then if the president takes the country to war on a lie where thousands of American soldiers die horrible, violent deaths and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, even babies are killed, the punishment obviously has to be much, much more severe. That's just common sense. If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he'd still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did. Let's look at the way some of the leading liberal lights (and, of course, the rest of the entire nation with the exception of those few recommending impeachment) have treated the issue of punishment for Bush's cardinal sins. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote about "the false selling of the Iraq War. We were railroaded into an unnecessary war." Fine, I agree. Now what? Krugman just goes on to the next paragraph. But if Bush falsely railroaded the nation into a war where over 100,000 people died, including 4,000 American soldiers, how can you go on to the next paragraph as if you had been writing that Bush spent the weekend at Camp David with his wife? For doing what Krugman believes Bush did, doesn't Bush have to be punished commensurately in some way? Are there no consequences for committing a crime of colossal proportions? Al Franken, on the "David Letterman" show, said, "Bush lied to us to take us to war" and quickly went on to another subject, as if he was saying "Bush lied to us in his budget." Sen. Edward Kennedy, condemning Bush, said that "Bush's distortions misled Congress in its war vote" and "No president of the United States should employ distortion of truth to take the nation to war." But, Senator Kennedy, if a president does this, as you believe Bush did, then what? Remember, Clinton was impeached for allegedly trying to cover up a consensual sexual affair. What do you recommend for Bush for being responsible for more than 100,000 deaths? Nothing? He shouldn't be held accountable for his actions? If one were to listen to you talk, that is the only conclusion one could come to. But why, Senator Kennedy, do you, like everyone else, want to give Bush this complete free ride? The New York Times, in a June 17, 2004, editorial, said that in selling this nation on the war in Iraq, "the Bush administration convinced a substantial majority of Americans before the war that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked to 9/11 … inexcusably selling the false Iraq-Al Qaeda claim to Americans." But gentlemen, if this is so, then what? The New York Times didn't say, just going on, like everyone else, to the next paragraph, talking about something else. In a Nov. 15, 2005, editorial, the New York Times said that "the president and his top advisers … did not allow the American people, or even Congress, to have the information necessary to make reasoned judgments of their own. It's obvious that the Bush administration misled Americans about Mr. Hussein's weapons and his terrorist connections." But if it's "obvious that the Bush administration misled Americans" in taking them to a war that tens of thousands of people have paid for with their lives, now what? No punishment? If not, under what theory? Again, you're just going to go on to the next paragraph? I'm not going to go on to the next unrelated paragraph. In early December of 2005, a New York Times-CBS nationwide poll showed that the majority of Americans believed Bush "intentionally misled" the nation to promote a war in Iraq. A Dec. 11, 2005, article in the Los Angeles Times, after citing this national poll, went on to say that because so many Americans believed this, it might be difficult for Bush to get the continuing support of Americans for the war. In other words, the fact that most Americans believed Bush had deliberately misled them into war was of no consequence in and of itself. Its only consequence was that it might hurt his efforts to get support for the war thereafter. So the article was reporting on the effect of the poll findings as if it was reporting on the popularity, or lack thereof, of Bush's position on global warming or immigration. Didn't the author of the article know that Bush taking the nation to war on a lie (if such be the case) is the equivalent of saying he is responsible for well over 100,000 deaths? One would never know this by reading the article. If Bush, in fact, intentionally misled this nation into war, what is the proper punishment for him? Since many Americans routinely want criminal defendants to be executed for murdering only one person, if we weren't speaking of the president of the United States as the defendant here, to discuss anything less than the death penalty for someone responsible for over 100,000 deaths would on its face seem ludicrous.** But we are dealing with the president of the United States here. On the other hand, the intensity of rage against Bush in America has been such (it never came remotely this close with Clinton because, at bottom, there was nothing of any real substance to have any serious rage against him for) that if I heard it once I heard it 10 times that "someone should put a bullet in his head." That, fortunately, is just loose talk, and even more fortunately not the way we do things in America. In any event, if an American jury were to find Bush guilty of first-degree murder, it would be up to them to decide what the appropriate punishment should be, one of their options being the imposition of the death penalty. Although I have never heard before what I am suggesting -- that Bush be prosecuted for murder in an American courtroom -- many have argued that "Bush should be prosecuted for war crimes" (mostly for the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo) at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. But for all intents and purposes this cannot be done. *Even assuming, at this point, that Bush is criminally responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 people in the Iraq war, under federal law he could only be prosecuted for the deaths of the 4,000 American soldiers killed in the war. No American court would have jurisdiction to prosecute him for the one hundred and some thousand Iraqi deaths since these victims not only were not Americans, but they were killed in a foreign nation, Iraq. Despite their nationality, if they had been killed here in the States, there would of course be jurisdiction. **Indeed, Bush himself, ironically, would be the last person who would quarrel with the proposition that being guilty of mass murder (even one murder, by his lights) calls for the death penalty as opposed to life imprisonment. As governor of Texas, Bush had the highest execution rate of any governor in American history: He was a very strong proponent of the death penalty who even laughingly mocked a condemned young woman who begged him to spare her life ("Please don't kill me," Bush mimicked her in a magazine interview with journalist Tucker Carlson), and even refused to commute the sentence of death down to life imprisonment for a young man who was mentally retarded (although as president he set aside the entire prison sentence of his friend Lewis "Scooter" Libby), and had a broad smile on his face when he announced in his second presidential debate with Al Gore that his state, Texas, was about to execute three convicted murderers. In Bush's two terms as Texas governor, he signed death warrants for an incredible 152 out of 153 executions against convicted murderers, the majority of whom killed one person. The only death sentence Bush commuted was for one of the many murders that mass murderer Henry Lucas had been convicted of. Bush was informed that Lucas had falsely confessed to this particular murder and was innocent, his conviction being improper. So in 152 out of 152 cases, Bush refused to show mercy even once, finding that not one of the 152 convicted killers should receive life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Bush's perfect 100 percent execution rate is highly uncommon even for the most conservative law-and-order governors. Vincent Bugliosi's most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. His forthcoming book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, is available May 27. © 2008 Vanguard Press All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/86232/

Georgia's President Takes Bid To Join NATO to Washington

WASHINGTON -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned NATO countries not to appease Russia by rejecting his country's hopes to join the alliance.

Following a White House meeting Wednesday, he was sanguine that President George W. Bush could persuade NATO allies to put Georgia on track for membership when Bush attends NATO's summit in Bucharest, Romania, April 2 to 4.

A strong supporter of Georgia's aspirations, Bush is expected to meet resistance from some European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Georgia's chances of joining a program leading to NATO membership will require the unanimous support of all 26 member countries.

Bush said he would press the issue at the summit.

"I believe that NATO benefits with a Georgia membership. I believe Georgia benefits from being a part of NATO," Bush said at a joint appearance with Saakashvili.

Saakashvili said efforts to resolve differences with Russia over Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia had become entangled in Russia's disagreement with Western countries over Kosovo. Russia has warned that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia last month, and the West's recognition of it, could fuel other separatist movements.

On Thursday Saakashvili met U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had just returned from Moscow.

The State Duma will vote Friday on a resolution calling for the Kremlin to consider recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia if Georgia joins NATO. The resolution is not binding.

AP, Reuters

US House panel chair probing Bush proviso on Sudan

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday that he would hold a hearing on whether President George W. Bush had undermined a new law designed to promote divestment from Sudan by expressing reservations about it as he signed it.

Rep. Barney Frank said the February 8 hearing will focus on the "negative implications" of the statement Bush issued late last year, as he signed the new law allowing state and local governments to divest from companies doing business with Sudan.

In a document called a "signing statement," Bush expressed concerns that the law could interfere with his right to direct foreign policy, and said he would not allow it to do so.

"As the Constitution vests the exclusive authority to conduct foreign relations with the federal government, the executive branch shall construe and enforce this legislation in a manner that does not conflict with that authority," Bush said in the statement.

The February 8 hearing will be held by the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, which Frank chairs. Frank plans to call witnesses from the grass-roots organizations that had sought the legislation.

"We will have people from the (Save) Darfur movement, who will say, he's undercutting the very reason we wanted the bill," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Reuters.

The legislation was aimed at pressuring Sudan to end the violence in the Darfur region, where 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in a four-year conflict that Bush calls a genocide.

Some 20 U.S. states have initiated divestment efforts because of the conflict. But the effort in Illinois was challenged in court, so the new law seeks to provide a legal framework for state and local governments, mutual funds and pension funds to divest from companies involved in Sudan's oil, mining, power and arms industries.

"The purpose (of the law) is to tell people they can go ahead and divest, without fear of being sued," Frank said.

But, he said, if Bush reserves the right to overrule the law, people will still be afraid to divest in companies that do business with Sudan.

Bush has frequently used signing statements to express reservations about laws. Some of his critics have argued that he has used them to expand presidential powers.

U.S. companies are generally barred from investing in Sudan already, so the divestment mostly affects foreign companies.

The Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations, has asked investors to divest their holdings in companies such as Malaysia's state-owned Petronas, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, and PetroChina Co Ltd, whose parent company, China National Petroleum Corp, is helping Sudan drill for oil.

© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved. | Learn more about Reuters

Bush Signals Troop Level May Stay Stable

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 1, 2008; Page A05

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 31 -- President Bush asserted Thursday that he would not be pressured into making further troop cuts in Iraq beyond the five combat brigades already scheduled to come home by the middle of the summer.

"We have come too far in this important theater, in this war on terror, not to make sure that we succeed," Bush told a friendly audience at an event sponsored by a conservative think tank. "I will be making decisions based upon success in Iraq. The temptation, of course, is for people to, you know, say, 'Well, make sure you do the politically right thing.' That's not my nature. That's not exactly what we're going to do."

The comments were the latest indication from the administration that it may keep the number of troops in Iraq at roughly the same level they were before last year's buildup of U.S. forces, possibly through the end of Bush's presidency. Under existing plans, the levels are gradually falling about 5,000 troops a month, from roughly 160,000 to 130,000 by July -- or approximately where they stood before Bush sent reinforcements to Iraq seeking to curtail spiraling sectarian violence.

Last fall, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates suggested that troop levels could continue falling, reaching 100,000 by 2009. But U.S. commanders in Iraq have suggested they would like to see a pause to determine whether recent security gains have taken root, and in recent statements -- such as his comments here -- Bush has indicated that he looks favorably upon such an approach.

The continuing signs that there will be a sizable U.S. troop presence in Iraq beyond the Bush presidency is becoming an increasing source of consternation for Capitol Hill Democrats, who have complained of recent steps from the White House to forge a long-term U.S. plan for Iraq.

"Presidents in the past such as Dwight Eisenhower knew that success meant creating a proper diplomatic environment in order to end a nation's military involvement," Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) said Thursday in response to the president's comments. "We are emphatically not seeing that kind of leadership from George W. Bush."

Democrats have criticized White House plans to forge a long-term security accord with the Iraq government, saying Bush wants to tie the hands of the next president -- a characterization the White House sharply disputes.

Democratic lawmakers have also complained about the "signing statement" Bush issued Monday in signing the defense authorization bill, in which the president suggested he might ignore language that bars funding for permanent U.S. bases in Iraq as well as U.S. control over Iraqi oil resources.

White House officials said their primary concern was that the bill's language regarding oil revenue could theoretically inhibit them from protecting Iraqi oil fields should that become necessary. "The bottom line is this: We do not need and we will not seek permanent bases in Iraq," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "This is our policy and has always been our policy."

In statements this week, lawmakers castigated Bush for his latest signing statement. "The suggestion that he may disregard a law overwhelmingly approved by Congress, coupled with the president's intent to sign a long-term agreement obligating the United States to defend the Iraqi government from internal and external threats, only reaffirms to Americans that there is no end in sight to the war in Iraq," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Bush was in Las Vegas to continue three days of fundraising for the Republican Party and to highlight his recent State of the Union message. He also addressed the criticism that improvements in Iraqi security over the past year have not produced a corresponding political reconciliation, noting the recent passage of a law allowing former Baathists to return to government service, Iraqi work on developing a budget and the sharing of oil revenue throughout the country.

"You're watching a democracy evolve," Bush said.

"And it's important that we help them."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102420.html

'Confident' Bush pushes economic stimulus, free trade

TORRANCE, California (AFP) — President George W. Bush pointed Wednesday to a startling slowdown in US growth as he urged passage of a stimulus package and free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Backed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bush preached confidence in the face of downbeat new data showing that US Gross Domestic Product grew at an 0.6 percent annual crawl in the fourth quarter of 2007.

"I hope you're confident about our economy. I am. We've got some short-term issues to deal with. Fourth-quarter growth slowed to 0.6 percent. In other words, there's signs that our economy is slowing," he said.

"But in the long-run, you've got to be confident about your economy," Bush said as he toured the Robinson Helicopter Company, which boasts of being the world's top producer of civilian helicopters.

The stimulus package, agreed to by the House of Representatives and the White House, has stalled as the US Senate mulls expanding it. And the free trade pacts face opposition from Bush's Democratic foes, who run the Congress.

"If you're truly interested in dealing with the slowdown of the economy, the Senate ought to accept the House package, pass it, and get it to my desk as soon as possible," said the president.

On trade, the unpopular president faced an uphill battle: Democrats have expressed a wide range of objections to the trade deals on human rights, labor rights, and environmental grounds.

They have resisted the treaty with Colombia amid charges that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government tolerates crimes and human rights abuses by right-wing paramilitary groups.

On South Korea, leading Democrats have complained that the US ally still blocks US beef imports -- which, while not technically part of the agreement, are a major irritant.

"Free trade means good-paying jobs for Americans, and so Congress needs to pass these agreements, for the sake of economic vitality," said Bush, who acknowledged "a tough vote" ahead but mounted a defense of Uribe.

"He inherited a tough deal, a tough situation, where he's fighting off drug lords, drug traffickers, people who are manufacturing drugs that come and pollute our kids, and he's taking the fight to this enemy, and he's an ally, and he wants this free trade agreement passed," said Bush.

"If we turn down this free trade agreement, it'll hurt our relations in South America," he added, warning that rejection would embolden messengers of "false populism" -- a reference to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"We need more trade," agreed Schwarzenegger, who declared that the three accords "will strengthen our economy, and create jobs and help the workers."

Ports in California, which has been hard-hit by the housing slump, handle roughly 43 percent of total US container activity, and there are more than two million trade-related jobs in the state, according to the governor's office.

With nine months before the November US elections, the president also used the first day of a four-state swing to raise millions of dollars for Republican candidates, hoping to help his party hold the White House and retake Congress.

Bush, vastly unpopular with the US public, nonetheless expected to scoop up roughly five million dollars through California, Nevada, Colorado and Missouri, before returning to Washington on Friday.

The trip included the president's first overnight stay in the glittering gambling paradise of Las Vegas since he took office in January 2001 -- he has raised money there before, but never bunked down in "Sin City."
Hosted by Google
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Bush comes to the 'hood

www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-md.kane30jan30,0,6250322.column
baltimoresun.com
Bush comes to the 'hood

Gregory Kane

January 30, 2008

Jason Hines had his question all ready yesterday for President Bush, who came a-callin' to Baltimore and talked to nine members of Jericho, a re-entry program for nonviolent, adult male ex-offenders.

Hines said he had served a year and a half for a theft conviction. His parole and probation officer recommended Jericho, which helps ex-offenders find jobs and housing once they get out of prison. Since the Episcopal Community Services of Maryland runs Jericho, it comes under the category of what's called a "faith-based initiative."

That's what brought Dubya to town; that's why he wanted to talk to Jericho. But there was something else on Hines' mind besides a job, or housing, or faith-based initiatives.

"I asked him about voting rights for felons," Hines, 32, said. "He informed me that that was something that was not going to be done across a broad level. He told us that anyone who's really passionate about their voting rights should write their senator or congressman, explain the circumstances about why they committed the crime and express remorse."

This is the second year for the Jericho program. It was funded from a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Prison Reentry Initiative. The second year will be officially completed at the end of February; the third will run from March of this year through February of 2009. Jean Cushman, the executive director of ECSM, said there is money to fund a fourth year.

So perhaps Hines' question should have been: "Mr. President, wouldn't programs like this be easier to fund if the federal government weren't spending billions on the war in Iraq?"

But this was not a day to embarrass Dubya. Hines and other enrollees in the Jericho program said they were impressed with the president. He spoke to them about his own addiction to alcohol. He told them that his favorite food was enchiladas and that he hadn't given much thought to his post-presidential plans.

Then Bush autographed their GED certificates, address books or anything else they had handy. He gave them all official presidential pins, which they sported proudly on their shirt pockets. At the end, according to Jericho staffers who witnessed the scene, the guys in the program wrapped their arms around Bush as if he'd been one of their buddies from around the way and posed with him for snapshots.

You read that right: George W. Bush became a "Homey for a Day."

"I had mixed views about him," Hines said of his feelings for Bush before his visit. "But now I see him as a man just trying to do a job. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown. I was also impressed by his faith."

Pierre Leftfel just did a six-month stretch in Baltimore's city jail for a drug conviction. Leftfel said the president's message about personal uplift struck him the most.

"He said 'Give yourself a chance. Things will work out. When things look like they're bad for you, never give up. They'll get better at the end. Always look to your higher power.'"

Bush's talk about his alcohol addiction hit home for Leftfel, who has been a drug addict for half of his life. Leftfel said he's also sold drugs. There's a theory that says addicts have to hit bottom before they find the fortitude to kick their habits. Leftfel's bottom was when he found himself, at the age of 43, doing yet another stint in jail.

He wanted "to stop coming back to prison, going in and out," Leftfel said. "I'm too old for this right now."

Whether they felt they were too old or just plain tired of making Maryland's jails or prisons a second home, some 365 people have enrolled in the Jericho program, according to ECSM. Of that number, 237 have been placed in jobs.

The recidivism rate for Jericho participants, according to ECSM, is 22 percent, compared with the Baltimore rate of 52 percent. Some 67 employers in the Baltimore area have hired program participants in fields as varied as installing cables, warehouse work, steel manufacturing, construction, trucking, maintenance and hotel and restaurant work.

Jericho's numbers are a drop in the bucket of ex-offenders who need help returning home from prison, if the data provided by ECSM are correct. About 9,000 people are released from Maryland prisons every year. There should be more programs like Jericho, not fewer. There should be much more money allotted to them, not less.

None of the participants in the Jericho program asked Bush how much more money could have been diverted into re-entry programs if we weren't spending money for a war in Iraq, but the president can be certain of one thing:

Someone, somewhere will very soon ask him precisely that question.

greg.kane@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

Bush Tells Congress to Put Economy Ahead of Politics (Update1)

By Catherine Dodge and Holly Rosenkrantz
More Photos/Details

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, delivering his final State of the Union address, urged Congress to set aside election-year politics and act quickly on an economic stimulus plan and other measures he said the country needs.

The president said he recognized the anxiety many Americans feel because of the slump in housing, higher unemployment and rising prices for food and gasoline.

``At kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future,'' Bush said in a nationally televised address from the House chamber of the Capitol. ``In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth.''

He called for passage of the $150 billion package of rebates for individuals and tax breaks for businesses and warned lawmakers against altering the compromise reached after extensive bipartisan negotiations. ``That would delay it or derail it, and neither option is acceptable,'' Bush said.

``In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them,'' he said.

Entering his final year in office facing a slumping economy, still dealing with an unpopular war in Iraq and public approval ratings in the low 30s, Bush, 61, offered few new initiatives in a speech that was about equally divided between domestic and foreign policy.

`First Step'

In the Democratic response to the address, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, called the stimulus proposal a good ``first step'' toward meeting the countries economic challenges. The nation isn't as divided as the political debate in Washington suggests, she said.

Bush made another appeal to lawmakers to make permanent his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which he said would bolster the economy, and he vowed to veto any tax increases.

Bush said the federal budget he will submit to Congress next week will keep his administration on target for a surplus in 2012. It will terminate or reduce 151 ``wasteful or bloated programs,'' saving $18 billion, Bush said.

Extending the tax cuts -- and their impact on the budget -- likely will be a matter left to Bush's successor. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week that extending the cuts beyond their Dec. 31, 2010 expiration date would cost more than $150 billion in 2011 alone. Costs would quickly grow in subsequent years, the agency said. By 2013, annual costs would reach $300 billion; by 2016, they would grow to $400 billion, CBO said.

Veto Threat

Bush also vowed to veto any legislation for fiscal 2009 that doesn't reduce special spending programs, known as earmarks, by half.

``The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks -- special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate,'' Bush said.

Among Bush's new proposals is a $300 million program to help children in poor neighborhoods get access to private schools. He also wants to create a $2 billion international fund to speed development of more efficient energy technology in rapidly developing nations, including China and India, to combat climate change. He said his administration is committed to forging an international agreement to limit greenhouse gasses.

He also prodded lawmakers to finish work on pending legislation, such as a renewal of an electronic surveillance law to fight terrorism, legislation to extend his signature education law, the No Child Left Behind Act, and approval of trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

`Unfinished Business'

``We have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done,'' Bush said.

Among the items still awaiting final action is legislation to update the Federal Housing Administration and creation of a tougher regulator for government-chartered mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bush said those measures will help the country ``weather turbulent times in the housing market.''

He also reminded lawmakers that they have ``two other pressing challenges'' that have not been dealt with: revamping the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and resolving the impasse over illegal immigration. Neither is likely to be finished before his term ends.

On foreign policy, Bush made no mention of the National Intelligence Estimate last month that concluded that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Instead, he said Tehran is developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon. He also said Iran is funding and training militia groups in Iraq, supporting Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and backing Hamas's efforts to undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Confronting Iran

``America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf,'' he said.

On Iraq, Bush said his goal for the final year of his presidency is to shift American troops away from leading operations in the country, and toward partnering with Iraqi forces. At the same time, he said he was reluctant to push fast to bring more troops home. ``We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment,'' he said.

Beyond stabilizing Iraq and containing Iran, Bush said he will work to help Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace agreement before the end of the year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington, at cdodge1@bloomberg.net ; Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington, at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net

FOCUS Economic legacy claim problem for Bush State of the Union speech

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- A US president's last State of the Union speech is traditionally where he lays out what he hopes history will see as his legacy. There is little doubt George W Bush would like to claim tonight that the economy is stronger and more prosperous because of his policies, but that would be a tough sell.

Such a claim would simply lack credibility when the country is on the verge of a recession or--according to some economists and most of the public--already in one. But Bush can hardly ignore the economy either.

'He will confidently boast that he will sign into law a bipartisan agreement to legislate an economic stimulus package to counteract the effects from an economy rapidly headed downhill. The fiscal package will be the highlight of his message since it is the most prominent piece of legislation that (can be) enacted quickly and without partisan bickering,' said Brian Fabbri of BNP Paribas. (OOTC:BPRBF)

The stimulus package has to be Bush's focus because the economy has risen to the top of the pubic's worry list and because he's got to promote it heavily if it's to have any prospect of getting through Congress quickly. That's what makes his position so paradoxical.

'He's likely to focus a lot on the near-term challenges and not much on his legacy. He'll be saying his economic legacy is a strong one but on the other hand the economy is so weak we need to adopt a stimulus package,' said Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)(and an economic adviser to Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona).

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino got a direct question on the Bush economic legacy this morning: 'Is the country better off now than it was seven years ago?'
She claimed that Bush wasn't even thinking about his legacy tonight. 'The president doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about that,' she said. 'Look, the president thinks his legacy will shake itself out when people look at the record and history will tell.'
At around 150 bln usd, the stimulus package is big, just over 1 pct of GDP. The intention is for it to be implemented quickly with the first checks going out to taxpayers by May.

'The personal tax rebates alone will be worth almost 100 bln usd, and it is hard to imagine throwing that kind of money at the economy and seeing no result,' according to Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics.

The academic research on tax rebates in 2001 and 2003 showed that between one third and two thirds of the rebates were spent quickly. Now, 'the increased financial pressures on households mean that a greater proportion of the rebates this year will be saved or used to pay down debt,' said Shepherdson.

Mr. Bush has always portrayed himself as anti-deficit and there are some anti-spending initiatives to be included in the State of the Union speech. The cost of the stimulus package is likely to be left out. The Congressional Budget Office has said it's likely to add 75 bln usd to the Fiscal Year 2008 deficit and the same amount in FY 2009.

Merrill Lynch's (NYSE:MER) (OOTC:MERIZ) David Rosenberg, who believes the US is already in recession doesn't see much impact from the stimulus, even combined with Fed rate cuts. 'At the margin, the fact that we are seeing a more aggressive policy response is a positive, but in the overall scheme of things, it doesn't change the recession outlook, though it all may serve to dull the pain,' he said.

Leaving the impression that at least he's trying to dull economic the pain may be the best President Bush can hope for tonight.

wash/ajb
Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.


Newstex ID: AFX-0013-22580856
from
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-22580856.htm

Democrats standing up to Bush on warrantless wiretap bill

Filed by Nick Juliano

In the shadow of the president's final State of the Union address, Senate Democrats are preparing for an 11th-hour showdown with George W. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress over controversial surveillance legislation.
Advertisement

The Senate will vote Monday at 4:30 p.m. on a GOP proposal that would cement an expansion of the president's authority to spy on Americans and free from legal jeopardy any telephone or Internet service provider who helped the country's intelligence agencies to collect vast amount of data on US citizens without a warrant. Anti-immunity activists say they expect the GOP gambit to fail.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) successfully led an effort to block immunity in December, just before Congress' holiday recess, and the Senate returned to the issue last week, considering dual proposals from the Intelligence and Judiciary committees. Last Thursday, Republicans and a dozen Democrats blocked Judiciary's proposal to update FISA without immunity, but the GOP then refused an agreement that would have required a mere 51-vote majority to pass further amendments.

Republicans filed for an immediate cloture vote on the Intelligence bill, which would preclude any amendments from being made. This angered Democrats, and Reid, who encouraged his caucus to support a filibuster of the bill. Reid also filed a 30-day extension of the Protect America Act, which expires Feb. 1.

Although the Judiciary proposal failed on a 60-34 vote, the Republicans' attempt to preclude any further amendments is expected to cost them support from some of the Democrats who joined them in that effort. Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) also have said they will vote against cloture.

Assuming cloture fails, Reid is expected to move forward with a vote on a one-month extension to give the Senate more time to work out its differences. President Bush has promised to veto such a bill.

After they were cowed last August into passing a temporary expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that critics said did too much to concentrate power in the hands of the executive, Congressional Democrats have decided to hit back against the president. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) turned the tables on Bush over the weekend, saying that blame for any gaps in the ability to collect intelligence resides at the White House.

The Senate's debate over a long-term FISA expansion has come in fits and starts over the last few months, since passage of the Protect America Act. Several times the issue was scuttled after left-leaning Senators moved to block a proposal that would grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Those companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, are plaintiffs in 40 or so lawsuits nationwide alleging they violated customers' privacy; administration critics say the lawsuits are the only means for oversight of the wiretapping scheme in the face of an ultra-secretive administration.

Bush has promised to veto any temporary expansion of the PAA, and the administration hopes to use the pending deadline to force Congress into giving into telecom immunity. The House passed an immunity-free update months ago, and Reid has indicated he also will not budge, accusing Bush of "simply posturing" before his final State of the Union, according to the Politico.

"There will be no terrorism intelligence collection gap," Reid said. "But if there is any problem, the blame will clearly and unequivocally fall where it belongs: on President Bush and his allies in Congress."

DEVELOPING...
from
http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=9031

Bush trying to foment discord in Mideast: IRGC commander

Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN - Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari said here on Sunday that U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to the Middle East to invite Arab countries to join the West’s efforts to isolate Iran and to foment discord between the Islamic Republic and its Arab neighbors.

On his recent visit to Persian Gulf countries, Bush branded Iran the leading state sponsor of terror, and said “all options” against Tehran remain on the table.

Bush became concerned about the warming relations between Iran and its southern neighbors, which was a result of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s “successful visits to the Persian Gulf states”, and thus he headed to the region to continue the U.S. policy of “spreading lies, which we have witnessed over the past three decades,” Jafari told Al-Jazeera television on Saturday.

He rejected the idea that the U.S. president was seeking to prepare the ground for a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

The reports of the UN nuclear watchdog and U.S. intelligence agencies, confirming the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, have removed all pretexts for the West to attack Iran, he said.

Bush launched his Middle East tour to divert attention from the United States’ failure in its efforts to gain the international community’s support for its baseless accusations about Iran’s civilian nuclear program, he opined.

Jafari said Iran does not regard Bush’s “meaningless remarks” about Iran’s role in the region as a threat to its security and reiterated that the U.S. president is seeking to sow discord between Iran and Muslim Arab countries.

However, the Iranian military will retaliate against U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf if they are used for an attack on Iran, AP quoted the IRGC commander as saying.

“Of course, if the U.S. attacks Iran, Iran’s first response will be defense with all its might and this might is far greater than (Iran’s) strength at the time of the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime (the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war).”

However, he assured Persian Gulf littoral countries, some of which host U.S. military bases, that only the U.S. forces would come under counterattack and that Iran “would never endanger regional countries.”

“We realize that there is concern among Muslim countries that host U.S. military bases,” Jafari said.

“However, if the U.S. launches a war against us, and if it uses these bases to attack Iran with missiles, then, through the strength and precision of our own missiles, we are capable of targeting only the U.S. military forces that attack us,” he told Al-Jazeera.

The U.S. military has several bases in Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Yemen.

Despite the U.S. military’s supremacy in air power and advanced electronic equipment, Iran can counter any attack just like the Hezbollah forces that achieved victory in the 33-day war against the Zionist regime, Jafari said.

Hezbollah soldiers did not have high-tech weapons but managed to defeat the region’s most advanced and best-equipped military, he added.

He said the U.S. military bases in neighboring countries are not a “source of power” but a “source of vulnerability” for the U.S. troops.

“They believe they have encircled Iran, but they are definitely aware that they are within range of our long-range guns and medium-range missiles.”

Jafari ruled out the possibility of a ground attack against Iran, saying, “I do not think U.S. troops or even its politicians are crazy enough to try that.”

He said the world’s secular powers feel threatened by Iran’s growing “spiritual, political, and revolutionary power” which has created unity and Islamic vigilance in the country and enjoys the support of many Muslims around the world.

Asked how Iran would respond to an attack by the Zionist regime, Jafari said, “Our information about the regime occupying Qods tells us that they would not make such a great and historic mistake.”

However, he said the U.S. and Israel are both pursuing the same objectives and if they are foolish enough to attack Iran, “we will be free to make a decision and we will do what we decide to do, and that is what Israel is worried about.

Bush faces final State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush delivers his final State of the Union speech Monday, its agenda-setting powers diluted by pressing, unfinished business abroad and the fight to succeed him at home.

With not quite 12 months left in his term, the deeply unpopular president is slated to revive a few bold ideas -- like his May 2007 call to double US funding to battle AIDS -- and argue that US-led forces are winning in Iraq.

But he faces a US economy in crisis; the uncertain fate of his suddenly personal, late-game Middle East peace drive; a struggle over ending North Korea's nuclear programs; and tensions with Iran over its atomic ambitions.

"I will report that over the last seven years, we've made great progress on important issues at home and abroad. I will also report that we have unfinished business before us, and we must work together," he said Saturday.

He will urge lawmakers to approve a proposed US economic stimulus package hoped-for by mid-February; make permanent his giant tax cuts, which expire in 2010; and approve free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

Bush is also expected to call on the US Congress to renew his signature education reform law, approve a controversial law allowing warrantless spying on US citizens, and curb its appetite for costly pet projects.

Bush told the USA Today newspaper in an interview Thursday that he would would not wax sentimental over his time in office, partly because "we've got so much going on" that there is little time to dwell on the past.

"Look at the world -- you've got Iraq, Iran, Middle Eastern peace opportunities, North Korea, Sudan, Burma. This is a world that is full of opportunities to spread freedom and hope and opportunity," he said.

But spokeswoman Dana Perino acknowledged a day later that "it is unrealistic" to expect lawmakers to bring Bush's calls for overhauling immigration policy and pension programs back from the dead.

The speech comes not quite three months after the president helped revive Middle East peace talks, and about three weeks after he visited the region in hopes of promoting an agreement to create a Palestinian state by late 2008.

For years, Bush has battled charges of keeping the peace process at arm's length by saying he was the first sitting US president to call for such a state -- but aides say he wants to be able to point to more than words before his term runs out.

Bush, whose time in office was shaped by the September 11, 2001 attacks by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, is unlikely to address the fact that the terrorist mastermind he vowed to capture "dead or alive" is still at large.

And six years after Bush used the same forum to declare Iran, North Korea, and Saddam Hussein's Iraq an "axis of evil," all three countries are still source of major headaches.

In Iraq, Bush's decision to "surge" roughly 30,000 more US troops to the front lines has helped tamp violence down to roughly 2005 levels, but has failed to achieve the policy's two major goals: Political reconciliation and Iraqi security forces taking responsibility for their country by November 2007.

Democrats opposed to the war have watched with alarm as the White House has declared plans to seal a long-term strategic relationship with Iraq by July -- well before the November elections that will decide Bush's successor.

North Korea missed a December 31 deadline to fully disclose its nuclear activities, forcing the White House to quell an unprecedented public insurrection against Bush's diplomatic approach.

US officials worry that Pyongyang may be looking to run out the clock before Bush's successor takes over in January 2009, gambling that the new president will offer the Stalinist state a better deal.

And Iran has continued to resist UN sanctions and global pressure to end uranium enrichment, while Washington has struggled to keep diplomatic partners, especially China and Russia, on board with its confrontational approach.

Bush is expected to travel extensively overseas in 2008, notably next month when he spotlights his anti-AIDS strategy with a trip to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia.
Hosted by Google
Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Pundits in early rush to judge Bush's legacy

Paul Harris
Sunday January 27, 2008
The Observer

Being ignored is bad enough for anyone. But when you are President of the United States it must be doubling humiliating. Yet Democrats are too busy fighting each other to mention him and Republicans fear to be associated with his record.

Now George W Bush - whose successor won't take office until January 2009 - is also suffering the indignity of having his historical legacy unfavourably examined while still having almost a year left of his second term. A slew of books and a planned major film are all starting to judge Bush's place in history even as he keeps the seat warm in the Oval Office.
And so far, the verdict does not look good.

The title of Jacob Weisberg's recent book says it all. The editor of online magazine Slate called his tome The Bush Tragedy. It is an exhaustive look at the Bush years that paints a portrait of disaster. A publicity blurb for the book, ignoring the fact that Bush has 11 months left in power, talks of the president's 'historic downfall'.

Weisberg is not alone in his brutal assessment of Bush's significance as America, and the rest of the world, waits for the Bush era to be over. A book coming out in March is entitled Reagan's Disciple: Bush's Troubled Quest for a Legacy. It has been penned by distinguished Washington reporters Lou Cannon and Carl Cannon and paints a picture of Bush as a man who failed to live up to the expectations of his own party, which had thought he would be a 'second Ronald Reagan'.

To cap it all, film director Oliver Stone has announced plans to rush out a biopic on Bush in time for the November election. Though Bush may take some solace in being played by acclaimed actor Josh Brolin, Stone's record of liberal sympathies mean he is unlikely to get a positive treatment on the big screen. He will join Richard Nixon and JFK as having been the subject of Stone's movies. But both those presidents were dead when Stone made his films. Not still in office.

Experts say the rush to judge Bush's legacy in print and celluloid is a sign of the modern media times and also of Bush's powerlessness. Having lost control of Congress, he is effectively unable to drive any policy forward. Thus his legacy is already in place. 'Bush fatigue has set in. Part of that is him. Part of that is the nature of the modern presidency,' said Carl Cannon.

Cannon points out that Bush's legacy means different things to different people. Liberals will see the war in Iraq, high oil prices, Hurricane Katrina and a lax attitude to the environment and conclude that history will judge Bush as an unmitigated disaster.

However, conservatives will point to deeply conservative judges appointed to the Supreme Court as being of huge and positive historic significance. 'If you are a conservative, Bush's moves on taxes and judges were what you wanted. He walked the walk,' said Cannon. But he added: 'In the long term, Bush's legacy is unknowable. In the short term, he's been great for Democrats.'

Political experts agree that any initial historical judgment on Bush may be premature. The reputations of major figures go through a phase of historical revisionism long after they have left office, with even Nixon having been rescued from the disgrace of his exit from office.

'In 10 years' time, someone will write a book about how brilliant and foresighted Bush was, even though that might be hard to imagine now,' said Professor Shawn Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California at Riverside.

this article is from
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2247533,00.html

Bush skips Kenya in Africa tour as US backs peace talks

Sat, January 26, 2008
By KEVIN J KELLEY
Last updated: 58 minutes ago

President George W Bush will once again skip Kenya in his planned visit to Africa next month.

But this time around, the likely reason for the side-step is the raging violence triggered by results of last month’s presidential election.

The White House announced on Friday that the American leader will travel to Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia and Benin between February 15 and 21.

Prior to Kenya’s December 27 election, there had been hope that Mr Bush might become the first sitting US president to visit Kenya.

A successful round of voting and a peaceful aftermath might well have led the Bush administration to showcase Kenya as a beacon of African democracy.

Democratic reform

But the chaos convulsing the county instead destroyed any chance of Mr Bush stopping in Kenya on a tour intended, in part, to demonstrate US support for what the White House terms “continued democratic reform” in Africa.

Mr Bush also sidestepped Kenya during a five-nation tour of Africa in 2003 that included a stop in Uganda.

President Bill Clinton likewise paid a visit to Uganda but not to Kenya during a six-country visit in 1998. Three former US presidents have visited Kenya, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt nearly a century ago.

The United States meanwhile called for renewed peace efforts by President Kibaki and opposition leader Mr Raila Odinga.

Romney praises Bush, bashes Washington

Print | Close this window
Romney praises Bush, bashes Washington
Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:20pm EST

By Jason Szep

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney often casts himself as an agent of change who would fix a "broken Washington" but he spares an obvious target -- President George W. Bush.

"I salute the fact the president has kept us safe these past six years," he told a rally on Saturday in Florida, whose primary on Tuesday is the next test in the most wide open race for the Republican presidential nomination in 50 years.

A day earlier, speaking to reporters, he was even kinder to the unpopular president, saying that while he differed with Bush at times he still deeply respects him.

"Has the president done everything perfectly? Absolutely not," he said. "But is he a person I deeply respect for his conviction and his appreciation for the country and his desire to do what's right for it? I sure do."

While Bush's job approval rating languishes near record lows of around 30 percent, it is more than double that among core Republican primary voters who could make the difference in Florida's primary.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is aggressively courting that Republican Party base in his race with John McCain, a four-term Arizona senator who Florida polls show is neck-and-neck with Romney.

Florida is the next battle in the state-by-state contests to pick nominees for the November 4 presidential election to succeed Bush.

At campaign rallies, Romney presents himself as an outsider who would fix a "fundamentally broken" Washington. Both Democrats and Republicans, he often says, are to blame.

In Florida's conservative bastion of Pensacola on Friday, he derided "an arrogance that sets into Washington".

"These last few decades have not been kind to Washington and people are tired of it," he said.

MENTIONS THE ELDER BUSH

Like many speeches, he ended the rally with praise for Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, president from 1989 to 1993.

After winning Michigan's primary this month, Romney said he drew inspiration from the elder Bush and former president Ronald Reagan, staying clear of any mention of the current president in a state that continues to lose thousands of auto manufacturing jobs.

But as he campaigns in Florida, a more conservative state, references to the first president Bush are now accompanied with fulsome praise of the current president's handling of national security.

"It is easy and fashionable to point out the failures and conflict of management, particularly in Iraq, and that's going to be the case in any war. But let us not forget this president has kept us safe these last six years," Romney said on Wednesday in Boca Raton.

It's unclear how the multimillionaire former venture capitalist, who is often accused of shifting positions for political convenience on heated issues such as abortion, would handle the branding of being a Bush loyalist in the general election against Democrats, given the president's low popularity.

But he draws heavily on the political network of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother.

His senior policy adviser, Sally Bradshaw, was a chief of staff for Jeb Bush, for example, while his state director, Mandy Fletcher, was Florida political director of President Bush's 2004 campaign and executive director of a Jeb Bush advocacy group.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.