The Note

ByABC News
May 7, 2004, 10:46 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, May 7&#151;<br> -- NOTED NOW

TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)

FUTURES CALENDAR

NEWS SUMMARY

Secretary Rumsfeld and his colleague appear on Capitol Hill today, before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 11:45 am ET, and the House Armed Services Committee at 3:00 pm ET, and you can expect lots of broadcast and cable coverage all day.

Also to be expected: the prison abuse controversy will be the top story in the news all weekend and into next week. (Quiz for Dan Bartlett: when does that drumbeat end and how?)

Plus: look for the first wave of media polls that will gauge where public opinion is on all this.

There is nothing that President Bush and Vice President Cheney hate more than the Washington culture in which the dominant media teams up with scalp-seeking Democrats to focus on personality and blame, rather than the hard work of solving problems.

Will a (wholly hypothetical) call for resignation by Sen. Warner or Sen. Lugar mean more than a (wholly hypothetical) Chafee or Hagel one? All we know is that the press spotlight will shine bright on the first GOPer to call for Rumsfeld to step down, and there are some likely candidates whose capacities to resist that "honor" are quite limited.

Mostly overshadowed -- but not to be overlooked if you want to keep your eye on the longer-term ball:

1. Today's employment number, showing that the economy added 288,000 new jobs in April, better than the median forecast of 150,000. The top line numbers are boffo for Bush re-elect, and you can be sure they will get bigger play on the presidential bus trip than the Rumsfeld follies on the Hill.

2. Buy yourself a Wall Street Journal for: a. the front-pager on the range of Iraqi decisions the President faces b. the editorial staunchly critical of the President for showing weakness on Iraq and challenging him NOT to fire Rumsfeld c. the best take yet on how John Kerry plans to substantively and symbolically try to clear the essential national security bar with voters

3. Teresa Heinz Kerry's must-see-TV star turn with Barbara Walters on "20/20" tonight -- already getting big advanced play because of the would-be First Lady's comments on abortion. LINK and LINK

4. Another POTUS bus trip to two states (Iowa and Wisconsin) that will be among the most battled over of the battlegrounds.

5. John Kerry's attempt to lay down a centrist marker as he keynotes the Democratic Leadership Council's desert gabfest.

6. AP poll numbers joining Gallups and WSJ/NBC in showing a lot of wrong track and job approval problems for 1600.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testifies before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees today. Live coverage on ABC.

President Bush resumes his "Yes, America Can" bus tour in Iowa and Wisconsin today. He speaks at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, holds a Q&A session in Prairie du Chien, Wis. and holds a rally at Copeland Baseball Field in LaCrosse, Wis. First Lady Laura Bush introduces the President at all three events. They spend the weekend at Camp David.

Sen. Kerry addresses the National Democratic Leadership Council in Phoenix before heading to Louisiana for a Jambalaya Jamboree at the governor's mansion in Baton Rouge. Tomorrow he delivers the commencement address to Southern University in New Orleans, La, and on Sunday he travels to Pittsburgh and has no public events.

The Senate continues to debate the corporate tax bill.

Veepstakes watch: Sen. John Edwards speaks at the Ohio Democratic Party Dinner tomorrow night.

America Votes holds its "Election Action Day" tomorrow in battleground states.

The politics of national security: the prison controversy:

The New York Times' Bumiller and Schmitt tell readers "Washington was rampant with speculation over whether Mr. Rumsfeld, who was described by aides and friends as embarrassed and angry, would survive." More: "advisers said that Mr. Bush's dressing-down of Mr. Rumsfeld on Wednesday was not merely public relations. The president was uniformly described as furious at his defense secretary, even as his motive for authorizing his staff to leak the scolding to reporters was intensely debated." LINK

After his "Good Morning America" appearance today, ABC News' Kate Snow asked Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, about his colleagues urging Rumsfeld to "take the fall."

"There are great temptations when as we say here in Capitol Hill there is blood in the water and to blanket everybody. I take the very heavy responsibility I have, with a sense of calmness and fairness, and firmness as I'll conduct this hearing, give the Secretary a chance."

Warner also told Snow that he didn't know there were pictures of the alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib prison until last Wednesday, and saw them for the first time on CBS News' "60 Minutes" last week. He also said that the Taguba report "finally reached us here a few days ago."

He went on to say that today's hearing may be the first, but "there will be others."

Warner's GOP colleagues on the committee, Sens. McCain, Inhofe, Roberts, Allard, Sessions, Collins, Ensign, Talent, Chambliss, Graham, Dole, and Cornyn, will be watched closely during their turns in the questioning today.

The Washington Post's Bradley Graham and David Von Drehle focus on the demands for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, and the divides within the Bush Administration that have gone public. LINK

"Behind the scenes, the White House was taking no action to build support for Rumsfeld in Congress -- because the administration does not think he is in genuine danger, one senior official said. This wait-and-see approach allowed Bush's aides to watch as events unfold. Some Bush advisers weighed the pros and cons of replacing the civilian architect of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The Chicago Tribune's Jeff Zeleny looks at the calls for Rumsfeld's resignation and the President's support for the Secretary of Defense. LINK

The Economist's latest cover calls for Rumsfeld's resignation. "Responsibility for what has occurred needs to be taken -- and to be seen to be taken -- at the highest level too. It is plain what that means." (You'll remember that back in February, the magazine ran a cover on "Why War Would Be Justified.")

The Defense Secretary's staff is described "as in 'full crisis mode' as it helped prepare testimony for the Defense secretary to deliver to the Senate and House Armed Services committees," reports the Washington Times' Scarborough in a piece full of hand-wringing about the Pentagon and its practices and plans. LINK

E.J. Dionne writes that getting rid of Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers isn't enough to fix what's wrong with the system -- the buck stops higher. LINK

The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg examines the "partisan finger-pointing" in Congress, spurred by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. LINK

The Washington Times' Curl and Dinan say "calls for the ouster of Mr. Rumsfeld are likely to die quickly in the Republican-controlled Congress." LINK

Dueling world views on display on this morn's editorial pages:

The New York Times' editorial board thinks its time for Rumsfeld to go, writing "Mr. Bush should start showing the state of his own heart by demanding the resignation of his secretary of defense." LINK

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board chastises the White House for leaking the President's Rumsfeld reprimand, writing "the calculated leak amounted to putting blood in the water." You must read the last paragraph, which closes: "if Mr. Bush fires Mr. Rumsfeld, the voters may well conclude it is time to fire him."

The Washington Post's Mike Allen examines President Bush's apology yesterday, Noting that "A wide variety of officials in the administration had advised Bush to apologize on Wednesday when he gave interviews to two Arab television channels and were puzzled when he did not, senior U.S. officials said. An apology had been recommended in the talking points Bush received from the State Department and elsewhere, the officials said. Senior administration aides then made a push overnight for him to say he was sorry during his news conference with Abdullah, the officials said." LINK

USA Today's Bill Nichols has bullet points masterfully mapping out all of the moving parts on the apology and the calls for Rumsfeld's resignation. LINK

The Los Angeles Times reports from Baghdad that the President's apology has done little "to restore America's tattered credibility over the prisoner abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib detention facility." LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Hook examines the President's leadership style and finds "some critics argue that his administration's tightly held process of setting and sticking by policy...has contributed to some of the problems it faces after the end of major combat in Iraq." Note the GOP Hagel, Kolbe, Shays comments at bottom. LINK

All three men are regular contenders for the LaHood Award, and have a good shot at getting Karl Rove's vote if they keep it up!

Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday that the Justice Department can prosecute civilian contractors for the killing or abuse of military detainees in Iraq, report the Washington Post's Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus. Not only can non-military and former military personnel face charges, Ashcroft decided, but also civilian contractors who commit crimes while working on behalf of the U.S. military can be prosecuted. LINK