The Note: Delegating Authority
— -- WASHINGTON, April 5
NEWS SUMMARY
One gets the sense that the details for the Pope's funeral -- less than 72 hours from now -- are still coming together.
Per a Vatican briefing this morning, the funeral will begin at 10 am and end at 1 pm local, time -- that's a 4:00 am ET for the beginning, and segueing right into the morning shows.
Yes, this is an historic event, a religious event, and a sacred event.
But it is, naturally, also a political event.
Just take a look at the state of play of the United States involvement.
Even with members of Congress still scrambling for transportation, seats, and hotel rooms (Note to MOCs: may we recommend a few Roman youth hostels? LINK , and Mayor Bloomberg apparently planning to head out with his own delegation (a "Mo-del"?), the big-stakes focus remains on Casa Blanca.
It appears that President Bush and Mrs. Bush will attend, leaving them three more slots to fill of their Vatican-allotted five. But at this writing, it isn't clear who will occupy them.
Though the youngest is nearly 60, we hope that the ex-presidents still enjoy a good game of musical chairs.
When you've been entrusted with the codes to open the nuclear football, the seats you're vying for are plush leather captain's chairs with the words "Air Force One" embroidered across the headrest.
In an arithmetic lapse that must have colleague Eric Lipton beside himself, the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller writes today that "Mr. Bush will lead a five-member American delegation, including Laura Bush," and then goes on to name six people in total, including 39, 41, and 42, as well as SecState Rice. LINK
A political source The Note bumped into on the 6:30 am ET Delta Shuttle to Reagan National (heaven bless open seating) -- who would speak only on the condition that he not be identified any more specifically than really hoping to sit at Jessica Yellin's table at Wednesday night's Radio & TV Correspondents Dinner -- confirms that the White House has told MOCs that the official United States delegation will be comprised of only five people, and no spouses (other than the First Lady).
So counting POTUS & FLOTUS, that leaves three open spots for four ex-presidents and Dr. Rice, or perhaps a mystery Prominent American Catholic. The source educatedly guessed that Carter would be the one still without a chair when the music stopped -- and that President Ford would not want to travel. That's assuming that 42 is cleared for take off by all interested parties.
Our source -- known merely as "16A" -- further confirms that there is still no clear contours for a congressional delegation, though there is much and sustained interest in there being one.
And getting a seat -- even for someone who leads or has led the Free World -- doesn't guarantee the end to ambiguity and complexity. A source with years of on-site Vatican experience says that if the Church (a real stickler for protocol!!!) seats the world leaders according to rank (measured by years in office), Cuba's Castro will get a much better seat than George W. Bush.
But with no Rick Ahearn, Jim Hooley, Gary Foster, or Andrew Littlefair on hand to smooth this all out, it could be a pretty interesting day or two. LINK
While all of this (or some of this) gets worked out today, President Bush provides a nice bracketing opportunity for his opponents by touring the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, WV at 10:40 am ET and speaks shortly thereafter to a Social Security town hall at the University of West Virginia.
He returns to the White House for a 2:30 pm ET cabinet meeting, with the pool getting sound and photos at the bottom.
The House and Senate officially return from recess today; aside from the party policy luncheons and the chance to pick Sen. Frist's brain at noon, the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from FBI Director Bob Mueller and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the Patriot Act at 9:30 am ET. LINK
The Senate today will vote on a resolution honoring Pope John Paul II, calling him "one of the greatest spiritual leaders and moral teachers of the Modern era" who "campaigned tirelessly for human rights and human dignity throughout the world," according to ABC News' Linda Douglass.
The House focuses on bankruptcy reform, with lots of last-minute lobbying by liberal groups to change the bill.
At 6:00 pm ET, Sens. Durbin and Stabenow, DeMint and Santorum will hold a mock debate on Social Security. Catch it on C-SPAN. LINK
Sen. John McCain speaks around 1:30 pm ET about campaign finance reform at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.
In Arkansas, Wal-Mart makes its case to 100 print journalists, who'll get face time with top executives and a behind-the-scenes tour.
Voters in Kansas decide whether to permit a constitutional ban on gay marriages and civil unions. LINK
A health care forum sponsored by Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business in Phoenix hosts former Sen. John Edwards.
Tonight, the New Democrat Network hosts its spring soiree at Top of the Hill in Washington, DC.
The papal legacy:
The Chicago Tribune's Jeff Zeleny and Mark Silva look at the relationship between President Bush and Pope John Paul II. LINK
The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray rounds up the details of the Senate delegation traveling to Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, as the House remains unsure about its own group. LINK
But, as Noted above, a lot of details remain to be worked out all around.
Bush agenda:
In a classically wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove says the President is in no hurry to choose a new Fed chair. LINK and LINK
On other matters: "Rove said he wasn't sure that Congress would take up a bill soon that would ease immigration policies. Bush wants to let undocumented immigrants work legally, modifying laws so those who take jobs that U.S. workers aren't filling can get legal status. Some Republican lawmakers oppose Bush's plan."
"Rove said the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband and parents fought over keeping her alive until her feeding tube was removed and she died March 31, started a debate that should continue about how such decisions might be part of the law."
"'It's an issue that as a society we ought to engage in,' he said. `This horrible, tragic incident has cause a lot of people to examine what they would do if they were in that same situation and what guidance they would give their families. When we do that, we need to think about what parts of those need to be embodied in law.'''
The Washington Post's Peter Baker wraps the White House meeting between President Bush and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko, and the promises of assistance from the U.S. to the Ukraine. LINK
Poet Baker recounts the touching ceremony yesterday as President Bush posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith. LINK
The Washington Post's Dan Eggen curtain-raises the changes to the USA Patriot Act that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will propose today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including limiting the use of secret warrants for financial documents, library data and other business records to national security investigations, and allowing the people targeted by those probes to challenge them. LINK
Much to Grover's liking, it appears to be a break from Ashcroft-era intransigence.
The Justice Department nearly doubled the rate at which it used the search and seizure power bestowed by the USA Patriot Act over the past two years, report the Boston Globe's Charlie Savage and Rick Klein. LINK
AP includes a look at the unusual bedfellows teaming up to lobby Congress to repeal certain provisions of the law, saying it went too far. LINK
Among the nominees sent to the Senate yesterday by the White House, as noticed by Eagle Eyed Ann Compton:
Suzanne C. DeFrancis, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, vice Kevin Keane.
Sean Ian McCormack, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Public Affairs), vice Richard A. Boucher.
Philip J. Perry, of Virginia, to be General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security, vice Joe D. Whitley, resigned. (Perry is the husband of Liz Cheney.)
Congress returns: the judicial nominations:
The Washington Post's Chuck Babington turns in an excellent assessment of the somewhat difficult situation congressional Republicans find themselves in as they return from recess, facing not only a more tense situation with the mounting criticism against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but also the prospect of a Republican-offered compromise on judges from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, indications that the public overwhelmingly opposed congressional intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, and no real evidence that the recess town hall meetings moved President Bush's Social Security private accounts forward. LINK
Democrats are passing around what Sen. John Cornyn said yesterday on the Senate floor: "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in – engage in violence." See: LINK and LINK
Per the Houston Chronicle: "In response, Cornyn's staff pointed to introductory remarks in which he said that he meant no blanket criticism of the Supreme Court or the rest of the judiciary. Seven of the nine Supreme Court justices were nominated by Republican presidents."
As of on cue, the New York Times chimes in with an editorial condemning what it thinks are too hostile attacks by conservatives on the independent judiciary. Dick Cheney is not mentioned. LINK
The Boston Globe's Peter Canellos writes that by trying to link their frustration with the judiciary in the Terri Schiavo case to the proposed rules changes on filibusters where judicial nominees are concerned, congressional Republicans may be walking into a trap. " . . . the implications of [Leader] DeLay's comments [on investigating the judiciary] are sweeping, and suggest that the Schiavo case may well mark the moment the public became concerned about overreaching by the one-party-controlled government on Capitol Hill and in the White House." LINK
Sen. Kennedy on Monday told Roll Call's staff that the "hysteria" around the Schiavo case will help Democrats by making the case that Republicans have amassed too much power, Roll Call's Paul Kane reports. Kennedy also offered props to Howard Dean's vision of Democratic manifest destiny (expanding the base into the South and West), said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist damaged his 2008 presidential bid with the Schiavo intervention, and offered up some pretty interesting thoughts on rule changes and cloture votes.
House Democrats weren't originally too keen on joining their Senate counterparts to battle Senate Republicans' proposed rules changes on filibusters, The Hill's Hans Nichols reports. LINK
Correction: Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday will present one million signatures of citizens opposed to the "nuclear option," not Social Security, as we wrote yesterday.
The judicial nominations and the outside groups:
Business leaders on K Street (though none publicly) are asking Leader Frist not to go through with the rules changes, The Hill's Geoff Earle reports. LINK
A collection of public interest groups calling themselves the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary holds a conference call today to announce their new campaign to go after Senate Republicans' "nuclear option" -- as liberals call it.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice Action Campaign; Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way Foundation; and Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn PAC will outline their coordinated plans, including grassroots efforts and new national ads to try to prevent the Republican leadership from changing the rules to kill the filibuster.
MoveOn PAC is launching a 60-second radio buy of just over $98,000, set to run tomorrow through Friday. "No on Nuclear" targets Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA); Olympia Snowe (R-ME); Susan Collins (R-ME); Ben Nelson (D-NE); Gordon Smith (R-OR); and John Warner (R-VA).
People for the American Way is spending more than $5 million on its spots, and we hear the other groups are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Script:
Senator Arlen Specter (Snowe/Collins/Nelson/Smith/Warner) stands in his(/her) office.
The Senate chamber is only steps away. There, for two hundred years, the confirmation process for Federal judges ensured that all voices were heard.
But radical Republicans want absolute power to appoint Supreme Court justices who will support their Radical agenda and favor corporate interests over our interests.
Now Dick Cheney may give them what they want using a parliamentary trick so outrageous even Republicans call it 'the nuclear option'.
Fifty-one votes in the Senate can defeat Dick Cheney.
Arlen Specter's vote is vital. Arlen Specter needs to know you support him against the radicals. Call him today . . . and tell him to oppose Dick Cheney's nuclear option.
Paid for by MoveOn PAC, www.moveonpac.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. MoveOn PAC is responsible for the content of this advertisement.
On the Republican side, Boyden Gray's Committee for Justice will coordinate with the Justice Department, the RNC and the White House on all nomination matters. Gary Marx, a former Bush-Cheney campaign coalitions organizer, is setting up satellites for his Judicial Confirmation Network to be ready to sell the President's Supreme Court nomination in states across the country. The Federalist Society will play a key role in war rooming an eventual SCOTUS nomination, and they've hired Creative Response Concepts to help them coordinate a war room. Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation is another major player; Weyrich deputy Marion Harrison is the to-go guy for many members of Congress.
The Committee for Justice has raised about $1.5 million for its work. The RNC will use its grassroots network to stir up base support. The National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are planning activities to promote pro-business nominees but will hold their fire until it is needed and will be reluctant to step into fights that turn into referenda on social values.
Last week, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council teamed to run newspaper ads in the Washington Times and in Nevada (targeting Harry Reid) about "filibuster reform." See: LINK The groups have a month of media planned, and there's plenty of smaller conservative groups in the mix as well.
Yesterday, 181 conservative activists signed a letter to Frist calling on him to return to the Constitution: "We understand that Article I of the Constitution allows the Senate to adopt rules for itself, but that right belongs to this Senate as much as it did to the first Senate. We call for a restoration of Senate traditions, returning to the majority vote on Advice and Consent the Constitution mandates."
"We ask you also to put partisan advantage aside. While there is no doubt that the Minority's filibusters have helped Republicans win recent elections, we are certain that Republicans will do the right thing for themselves and the Nation by ending the partisan obstruction now."
Democrats and Republicans:
We wish we had more time to explicate David Brooks' column today.
It's a must-read, especially for those following the Chait-Goldberg debate about the differences between Republican and Democrats. Brooks dismisses the popular meme that the Democrats lack the GOP's message and communications pyramid to disseminate a tightly crafted message (but is nice enough to avoid the usual 'except for the mainstream media' caveat) or that the GOP's unity over principles has helped it to triumph. Rather, says Brooks, it's the fractious nature of modern conservatism itself.
"As these factions have multiplied, more people have come to call themselves conservatives because they've found one faction to agree with." LINK
"This feuding has meant that the meaning of conservatism is always shifting. Once, Republicans were isolationists. Now most Republicans, according to a New York Times poll, believe the U.S. should try to change dictatorships into democracies when it can. Meanwhile, 78 percent of Democrats believe the U.S. should not try to democratize authoritarian regimes."
But that paragraph suggests that Democrats, too, are shifting, perhaps as a reaction to conservatism or perhaps a reaction to changing world events. And some Democrats will scoff at the idea that they are ideologically more coherent than conservatives, arguing that the conservative echosphere itself is responsible for distilling the myriad forms of modern conservative thought into digestible, delectable morsels.
Food for thought, as it were.
Note to Bill Bradley: please, please call us.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean keynotes the Association of State Democratic Party Chairs meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas this Friday. LINK
Social Security:
Tomorrow, the Treasury Department will host 30 local and national radio talk show hosts for "Social Security Radio Day at the Treasury Department" -- believed to be the first time ever such a radio-athon has been done from the building.
Participating will be a wide array of radio programs conducting interviews in Treasury's historic Cash Room. Nearly 30 programs from throughout the country are participating, including, National Public Radio and stations in West Virginia, Washington state and Pennsylvania.
Cabinet Secretaries, sub cabinet officials and senior White House officials will be providing interviews. And that includes a gal by the name of "Devenish" and fellas by the names "Rove," "Blahous," and "Guitierrez."
Per a Department official, Secretary Snow will be the most senior member of the Administration participating, and has blocked off several hours on his schedule tomorrow for live interviews.
The hosts will be broadcasting live from 6:00 am ET to 8:00 pm ET.
"As the debate over Social Security heats up, the estimated seven million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year," the New York Times' Eduardo Porter reports. LINK
2008: Democrats:
Ret. Gen. Wes Clark brags to his e-mail list about testifying before the House Armed Services Committee tomorrow on Iraq and asks for help by asking of his supporters six questions. He promises to share the results of his survey with the committee.
The AP writes up Gov. Bill Richardson's travel plans to New Hampshire. On June 7 and 8, he'll do two public events (and probably get in a D'Allesandro meeting as well.) LINK
Without Deborah Orin, we might not ever find these types of stories:"A popular Democratic governor from the South has raised eyebrows by saying that Democrats should look beyond Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2008 White House race because people want 'something different.'" LINK
"Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen -- seen by some as a potential dark-horse presidential contender -- said voters are 'kind of dissatisfied' with all current Democratic 2008 prospects, according to the London Sunday Times."
""People love [Clinton] or they hate her, and I don't know in the end how all that plays out. But I sure hope there are other people who would step forward,' he was quoted as saying."
"'It may well be someone that nobody has thought of . . . The sense I get is that people are really hunting around and looking for something different.'"
Orin sez Bredesen's rep doesn't deny the quotes but says they were taken out of context.
Shockingly, Orin fails to point out that Dick Cheney's recent Post quotes on Sen. Clinton were much nicer!!!
Meanwhile, Clinton tells Cindy Adams that Ed Klein's forthcoming book about her will be a "hit" on her. LINK
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack: "no" to the death penalty, "yes" to lifetime sentences for repeat sex offenders, possibly. LINK
John Kerry's PAC takes some of its hard-earned money and spends itself onto page 15A of USA Today, with an advertisement regarding the filibuster fight.
Roll Call's Chris Cillizza reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee can count on $1 million from Kerry, who donated $500,000 from his presidential campaign coffers and promised to raise another $500,000 for candidates last week. The donations bring Kerry's giving total to Democrats this year to about $3 million, with $1.25 million to the DNC, $1 million to the DSCC, $500,000 to Louisiana Democrats and $250,000 to the Washington state gubernatorial recount, Cillizza reports.
On Al Gore's Current, which will kick off Aug. 1: The network will air short news segments, that are produced by staff and viewers alike, viewers can actually upload their own videos to the network. These segments will profile the audience in real time (a quasi reality TV if you will), as to what they Googling and focusing on throughout the day. The network will include news updates that will be shaped by what Google users are searching for the most.
Staff produced news segments will be short and speedy running from 15 seconds to five minutes long. Some already slated shows include, "Current Gigs,'' a job-market show, and a report on spirituality called "Current Soul.'' There will also be segments about parenting, technology, fashion, music, politics, the environment, and relationships.
2008 Republicans:
With a direct mail piece mentioning Gov. Mark Warner's name four times, Sen. George Allen seems to be daring him to run in 2006. LINK
The Daily News' David Saltonstall gets his crack at Tony Carbonetti, suggesting Rudy is not in a New York state of mind for 2006. LINK
But 2008 is another matter.
2006:
Eliot Spitzer gets a chance to defend himself in the Wall Street Journal.
Brian Kennedy, the former Iowa Republican Party chairman, will run for the seat rep. Jim Nussle is vacating, the Quad-Cities Times reports . LINK
Labor v. Wal-Mart:
A coalition of labor and liberal public interest lobbies will soon formalize a multi-million dollar effort to draw attention to Wal-Mart's business practices at home and abroad.
The group will be led by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which has tried unsuccessfully to organize at Wal-Marts, the AFL-CIO, and several other organizations who have for years railed against the country's largest private employer.
The 501c3 component will be called the Center for Corporate and Community Ethics. A 501c4 component launches soon.
Today, UFCW Wal-Mart campaign director Paul Blank is ensconced in an Embassy Suites hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas ready to make the following case to reporters:
--Wal-Mart, opponents allege, doesn't only outsource part of its own labor; it forces suppliers to outsource by demanding, by virtue of its market strength, more and more efficiency. Bad things flow from this.
--In many states, Wal-Mart is not the only the biggest employer -- it has more employees on the dole than any other and sucks needed government revenue.
UFCW will also unveil its new Web site today: http://www.wakeupwalmart.com
Many labor leaders and liberal economists say Wal-Mart's business model is the biggest threat to the U.S's standard of living.
But they acknowledge they'll have to convince Americans to pay somewhat higher prices for quality goods. They do, however, find solace in the groundswell of opposition that arises in many small towns when Wal-Mart decides to move in, which convinces Wal-Mart's opponents that they have natural allies who aren't just liberals and aren't just members of labor unions.
Wal-Mart last year kicked off a very expensive PR effort to counter the rising chorus of dissent. (They sponsor, for example, Good Morning America's Only in America series.) The company argues that it pays its workers good wages, does its best to keep jobs and supplier jobs in the country, has fired bad apples, and contributes significantly to the health and welfare of the American economy.
Less publicly, Wal-Mart has also upped its quotient of Washington lobbyists, sought to press its case with top lawmakers, and are using foundation money to finance pro-business and anti-labor initiatives in several states. http://www.walmartfacts.com
Top Democratic strategists, including Jim Jordan, will coordinate long-term communication and political strategy.
Politics
"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi helped secure $3 million last year for a nonprofit transportation-research organization whose president gave money to her political action committee as the group was paying for a European trip for one of her policy advisers," the Washington Times reports. LINK
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