The Note: What Doesn't Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

 

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Time magazine brought out a dream team of Duffy, Bennett, Bacon, Burger, Cooper, Shannon, Thompson, and Frank to look at the aftermath of the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the policy changes on defining torture, and what standards they've created for the military, intelligence, and prisoners today. LINK

The inauguration:

According to inaugural officials, both the New York Times and the Washington Post have incorrectly reported that Barbara and Jenna Bush are hosting the Youth Concert. While Barbara Bush works at the Inaugural Committee, neither daughter is an official host of the event.

On Sunday, the New York Times' David Rosenbaum previewed the major policy themes in the President's inaugural address -- namely, the vision of an "ownership society," which includes an overhaul of Social Security, making tax cuts permanent, minimize taxes on investment income, health insurance, and home ownership for low-income families. LINK

Elisabeth Bumiller's profile of Michael Gerson includes few hints about the substance of the President's inaugural remarks, except for this:

"'It was very important for leaders like Truman and Kennedy at the beginning of the cold war to explain directly to the American people what the stakes of the war were and how the government was going to proceed,' Mr. Gerson said. 'We're in an analogous situation: we're at the beginning of another generational struggle. It's to some extent a requirement of leadership for the president to inform Americans about that struggle and how we will proceed.'" LINK

The New York Times' otherwise fine article on the "private" corporate events taking place this week in Washington strikes us as just a bit breathless in tone, though we do like the device of following a single lobbyist -- in this case Alex Vogel -- from legislation writing through Charlie Palmer luncheon with Senators. LINK

And kudos to Mr. Vogel for giving out all those quotes and saying nothing unseemly or untoward!!

USA Today's Jill Lawrence takes a look at the big protests set for Thursday. LINK

Bill Nichols of USA Today used his Bluegrass expertise to profile a family that just loves the inaugural thing. LINK

Many Dems are getting out of town, and Bob Shrum might not even make it to Bob Novak's fete! LINK

On Sunday, the New York Times' John Tierney pondered the question of tone for an inauguration during wartime. LINK

Also on Sunday, the New York Times' David Rosenbaum looked at the historical pitfalls of second presidential terms. LINK

Social Security:

Robert Pear writes up Dan Bartlett's response to Pear's Sunday article on intragovernmental cheerleading for Social Security reform. LINK

On Sunday, George Will made the case that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., as it relates to the unpredictable and fragile airline industry, "should not, but probably will, complicate the task of persuading the public to make necessary changes in Social Security." LINK

Time magazine's Joe Klein tries to piece together why President Bush is expending political capital on Social Security as opposed to tax reform, and says the plan proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) "approaches fiscal sanity." LINK

Iraq: