The Note: Strain on My Face, Sustained Devotion

— -- WASHINGTON, April 22

NEWS SUMMARY
Even in a city in which it has become hyper-cliched to say partisanship and polarization are the rule, Washington is truly in a tizzy of conflict as we enter the weekend.

It's not just the multiple war rooms, the injection of religion, or the universal to-the-mattresses mentality of both sides.

Things are on this day as brutal as they have ever been. (Note: sue us for overstatement if you wish.)

We agree with Ann Coulter -- that Time cover picture is not all that flattering. LINK

But Note that on the real tough stuff -- Bolton, DeLay, Social Security, the filibuster showdown -- one of the chief problems for the governing party is that the MSM is always anxious to lap up situations in which some Republicans/conservatives are off the reservation.

And on all of those fights, some members of the team are indeed wayward.

In an era of such party discipline, of course, it is increasingly rare for such things to happen, and it isn't out of line for even an unbiased media to look at instances of such divisions and make them part of the reporting dynamic. As Bill Clinton can tell you, the same thing was done (but not to the same degree) when he faced heretics within his own party as president.

So while Frist/DeLay/White House public scorn is directed at Leaders Reid and Pelosi and Co., the pressure points are coming more from the likes of Secretary Powell, Sens. McCain, Voinovich, Hagel, and Collins, Krauthammer, the whisperers against DeLay, and a gaggle of GOP skeptics on Social Security.

While the filibuster fight and Social Security are giving the opposition party rare unity, it doesn't mean the Democrats necessarily have any good ideas, any plan for the future, or any capacity to make gains from all this.

Still, various conservative voices on the Internet and talk radio are demanding toughening up on all these issues and no wobbliness, and thus the main event of the political day is a rare public, wide-ranging speech by the person who is arguably the least Weeble-like of any other in town. LINK

Vice President Cheney doesn't wobble or fall down, so watch closely what he says about all this stuff -- and more -- at his 12:45 pm ET luncheon speech at the Republican National Lawyers' national legal policy conference in Washington, DC. The Vice President always has strongly held views and he is a big Bolton man, among other things.

The "big" event of the weekend -- even with the filibuster face off delayed -- is Sunday's Family Research Council's "Justice Sunday" broadcast at 7:00 pm ET. It'll be simulcast on FRC's Web site: LINK.

There is a conference call today by religious leaders opposed to Sen. Frist's participation in the event, including Rev. Robert Edgar of the National Council of Churches at 11:00 am ET.

President Bush will announce his choice of Gen. Peter Pace as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- and the first Marine to be chairman -- in the Roosevelt Room at 10:00 am ET.

The President participates in a service project at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Townsend, TN at 12:30 pm ET, then talks about Earth Day at 1:30 pm ET. He then heads to the ranch in Crawford, TX, where he'll be from this evening until Tuesday. (He meets with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Monday April 25.)

Other speakers at the lawyers meeting besides the Vice President include: retired 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Charles Pickering (9:00 am ET); HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson (10:00 am ET); Deputy Attorney General James Copmey discusses on the USA Patriot Act (10:30 am ET); White House Counsel Harriet Miers (11:00 am ET); and former Attorney General John Ashcroft (4:15 pm ET).

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) addressed the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America conference at 8:00 am ET.

The Senate meets for morning business at 9:30 am ET.

The House is not in session today.

At 10:00 am ET, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid joins Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Max Baucus (D-MT), DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) for a town hall meeting on the impact of Social Security on the African-American community.

At 3:30 pm ET, accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui is expected to plead guilty to charges in connection with 9/11 in U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's court in Alexandria, VA.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi at 1:15 pm ET.

Sen. Joe Biden keynotes tonight's South Carolina Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Columbia, SC. Don't forget that live C-SPAN coverage.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez is the special guest at the Republican Party of New Mexico's Annual Lincoln Dinner, Albuquerque, NM

Social conservative activists gather in Atlanta, GA for the annual Restore America rally.

At 10:00 am ET, Ben & Jerry's unveils the world's largest Baked Alaska to protest drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the Washington Post has dimensions. LINK

Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) will join George to talk about John Bolton's nomination and the fight over the filibuster.

Bolton:
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is operating behind the scenes of John Bolton's nomination to the U.N., but isn't exactly lobbying on his behalf, report the Washington Post's Jim VandeHei and Robin Wright, who write that Powell has offered "a frank assessment" of Bolton to Sens. Chafee and Hagel in recent days. LINK

Reading the tea leaves, VandeHei and Wright remind that Powell didn't sign the letter from seven other former U.S. secretaries of state or defense supporting Bolton, "and his former chief of staff, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, recently told the New York Times that Bolton would be an 'abysmal ambassador.'" Meanwhile, both the President and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar continue to paint opposition to Bolton as partisan.

The New York Times' Doug Jehl describes support for Bolton among Senate Republicans as "crumbling" (!) as he tells the tell of Secretary Powell's lack of enthusiasm for the nomination, as expressed "privately" to some Senators. LINK

Jehl also casts Vice President Cheney as determined to get his man the job.

Paul Richter and Sonni Efron of the Los Angeles Times flesh out the Isikoff/Hosenball blurb yesterday that Thomas Hubbard, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea said yesterday that Bolton may have misled the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a 2003 speech on North Korea, in addition to describing what's euphemistically coined "confrontational behavior." LINK

The Washington Times describes Bush's rebuke of the Senate yesterday. Bolstered by ads from Move America Forward, the Bush Administration is now fixing its nomination efforts on the handful of hesitant Republicans. LINK

Bloomberg's Jeff St. Onge and Roger Runningen get Trent Lott to weigh in thusly: "'The administration needs to aggressively check out these rumors and slam them down pretty hard,' Lott said. He said he would vote for Bolton 'unless something comes out that's inappropriate -- sex or money, or abuse of offices he's held.'"

So let's hope for his sake that Mr. Bolton hasn't had any sex, or made any money.

The Boston Globe's Joan Vennochi ain't buying the "Bolton opposition is just partisan bickering" stance -- particularly given the Republican lawmakers on the fence about him. LINK

USA Today's Bill Nichols looks at the issue of tempers in Washington, and whether Bolton's is any worse than, say, Bill Clinton's. LINK

Filibuster showdown:
The New York Times' Kirkpatrick and Stolberg look at the timing of the constitution/nuclear option, and at the efforts by some on the left (including some religious figures) to pressure Sen./Leader/Dr. Frist to not participate in this weekend's telecast of "A Filibuster Against People of Faith." LINK

As Sens. Kerry and Salazar get in tussles, Note well Frist spokesguy Bob Stevenson's re-stated remarks about what Frist is likely to say (on tape), and how, out of context of the whole program, it is going to be both familiar and legal, more than religious.

Can't tell the players -- or at least their moves -- without a program, so the Washington Post's Chuck Babington and Dan Balz lay out on their paper's front page the high noon expected to come a couple of weeks from now, after the highway bill and recess. The duo walk through the specific choices of Judges Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Richman Owen as the first two of President Bush's judicial nominees to be moved out of committee, Noting Republicans' strategy and Democrats' rock and a hard place in opposing two women, one of them African American, and having to make their case again that their opposition comes on ideological lines. They also look at how the fight is turning up the heat on Republicans. LINK

"In the face of Democratic threats to bring most Senate business to a halt, GOP leaders face conflicting pressures from their constituencies. Conservative groups want action as quickly as possible to change the Senate rules, before there is a possible vacancy on the Supreme Court. Business lobbyists, on the other hand, prefer a delay to give the Senate more time to deal with legislative priorities."

"Some party strategists believe GOP lawmakers might be wiser to let Democrats go ahead with filibusters, arguing that such a strategy actually hurt the Democrats during Bush's first term. But one Senate aide conceded yesterday that Democrats have scored points with the public with an aggressive campaign defending the use of the filibuster and said Republicans need to fight back on that front."

The Gray Lady's Nick Lewis on the Owen and Brown nominations news of day. LINK

Maura Reynolds of the Los Angeles Times Notes that President Bush has been keeping on the down-low in the filibuster fight, and that White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said he hasn't taken a position on the rules change. LINK

"Since Bush has been in office, he has made 215 judicial nominations and the Senate has confirmed 205 of them," Notes the Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman. LINK

"That, Republicans contend, is eminently unfair, especially because the filibustered judges have all been nominees for appellate courts, which are vastly more influential than district courts. Never has the filibuster been used as a systematic tool for blocking a president's judicial nominations, Republicans argue."

More, including passionately clashing partisan comments, from the Washington Times. LINK

John Podhoretz, channeling Laura Ingraham, worries in his New York Post column that Republicans in Washington won't have the spines to do the Right Thing. LINK

Go ahead and be mad at judges -- it's justified, but that's not an excuse to threaten them, even if they could use some humility, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. LINK

David Stout of the New York Times watched the O'Connor-Scalia-Breyer show, in which the Justices opined widely. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Peter Wallsten has a tape of Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and James Dobson of Focus on the Family at a Washington conference in March -- provided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State -- kicking around ways to punish judges and courts they see as opposing their views, including removing them from the bench and cutting off funding. LINK

The Clintons of Chappaqua:
The New York Sun's Josh Gerstein continues his pathbreaking work on the "mystery witness" -- now revealed as Kennedy brother-in-law Raymond Reggie -- who is expected to testify in a case against a former fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Clinton. LINK

"A New Orleans political consultant who is Senator Kennedy's brother-in-law, Raymond Reggie, has been operating in Democratic circles for the last three years as an undercover informant for the FBI, sources close to the matter said yesterday."

"At a federal court hearing yesterday morning, Reggie, 43, who organized fund-raisers for President and Mrs. Clinton, pleaded guilty to two felony charges, bank fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors described check-kiting and loan fraud schemes he operated involving three Louisiana banks, but they did not publicly detail his cooperation with the government . . . "

"Reggie's sister, Victoria, is married to Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. A spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy did not return several phone calls yesterday seeking comment for this story. Reggie is also the son of a prominent Louisiana judge, Edmund Reggie, who was a close friend of President Kennedy . . . "

While others follow Gerstein's story from yesterday, the SunMan has amazing details not found anywhere else.

That includes one of the greatest political kickers of 2005 (just wait until the New York Post follows up on this part!!!)

"Reggie also faces a separate, unrelated state trial in Louisiana next month for allegedly impersonating a police officer. The felony charge stems from a 2002 incident in which Reggie allegedly used a blue light to stop another vehicle."

"'He pulls over a car full of young girls, tells them he's a cop; and wants one of them to get out; tried to get them to follow him somewhere,' the prosecutor handling the case, Kim McElwee, said in an interview."

"Ms. McElwee complained that she has had great difficulty obtaining routine evidence for the case. 'I've never had a case quite like this,' she said. 'People say they have a document. I call back. Not only is the document gone, they're gone. It's bizarre.'"

"Reggie, who has maintained his innocence, has waived his right to a jury trial. Ms. McElwee said the judge will probably acquit Reggie. 'I'm getting entertainment out of this. I'm certainly not going to get a conviction,' she said."

A trio of New York Posties follow. LINK

Gordon Russell and Martha Carr of the New Orleans Times-Picayune try to fill in some detail on Reggie, President Clinton's "go-to guy" in New Orleans -- particularly on his bank fraud case. LINK

Leader DeLay:
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire says about Leader DeLay, "The House leader plans to raise $5 million for 2006 campaign, nearly double his 2004 war chest. With Democrats preparing a media fusillade, 'We are going to be armed,' a DeLay strategist says."

"The Texan cultivates Republican support by sending $144,010 from his political-action committee to other candidates in March. Americans for a Republican Majority collected funds from the political-action committees of Wal-Mart Stores, the NRA and the American Trucking Associations, among others."

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC gave $144,010 to Republican federal candidates last month, AP reports. It gave $10,000 each to the re-election committees of Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Geoff Davis (R-KY), and Joe Schwarz (R-MI). LINK

David Rogers of the Wall Street Journal quotes Speaker Hastert as open to putting the ethics rules back the way they were, meeting privately with Democrats to work it out, and trying to get politics out of the situation.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's 2001 Puerto Rico visit comes under poignant scrutiny: The Washington Times divulges. Additionally, Florida Rep. (Rep.) Tom Feeney's name has been added to the House's ever-lengthening list of alleged transgressors whose trip-funding have been considered suspect. LINK

The Houston Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports that three potential Democratic candidates for DeLay's seat -- former Rep. Nick Lampson, Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan and lawyer Richard Morrison -- are meeting in Clear Lake today to come up with a strategy and draw straws for who will challenge him. LINK

Economy/gas prices:
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee yesterday that he expects tax increases -- though he prefers spending cuts -- to be part of any deficit-reduction program, reports Nell Henderson of the Washington Post. He also said his support of tax cuts in 2001 unintentionally led to policies that moved the budget from surplus to deficit. LINK

Check out page A2 of the Wall Street Journal for these twin nifty headlines: "Saudis Vow Action on Oil Demand" and "New Data Show Brighter Picture of U.S. Economy."

Social Security:
The New York Times' Toner and Stevenson follow up USA Today's Thursday story on Sen. Grassley's decision to try for a partisan bill in the Finance Committee, which the Times' duo Note won't be so easy any way. They also have some of the back and forth between Sen. Conrad (D) and the President, after the two met for an hour. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's Jackie Calmes has fantastic profile of the man Karl Rove says is "our ongoing rabbi," Charles P. "Chuck" Blahous III, the baseball and board game fan who is the top White House staffer on Social Security.

To say that it is one of the most positive profiles ever of a member of the Bush Administration is to understate the case. To say that there is more behind-the-scenes stuff than is normally in stories about the Bush Administration is to state the case. And to wonder how this phrase -- "because even with private accounts, future benefit cuts and perhaps tax increases are needed" -- got in Calmes' story is to create madness.

The Washington Times' James Lakely Notes President Bush's call for a "civil debate" on Social Security and promise that the White House will not attack any idea put on the table. LINK

Big casino budget politics:
This is (secretly) the second-biggest thing in today's Note:

David Rogers, in the Wall Street Journal, says that bicameral progress on Medicaid means "(w)hile big hurdles remain, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) said . . . he believes a budget deal can be reached with the House next week."

Robert Samuelson argues in the Washington Post that what's needed -- and what nobody's doing -- is making value judgments on the government's priorities if the budget problems are ever going to be addressed, much less solved. LINK

Bush agenda:
The Knoxville News-Sentinel previews President Bush's Earth Day visit to Tennessee -- and the criticism environmental groups have leveled against him. LINK

John Negroponte won approval by an overwhelming Senate majority to be Director of National Intelligence yesterday, and was quickly sworn in. LINK

The conservative movement is on the rise, Karl Rove told an audience in Ashland, OH, last night, writes Fritz Wenzel of the Toledo Blade. LINK

Congress:
The House gave the thumbs-up to the energy bill yesterday. LINK; LINK; LINK

Sen. Charles Schumer is prepared to filibuster the energy bill on the Senate floor if the MTBE measure is not abandoned, the Washington Times reports. " 'It is robbing Peter to pay Paul. It makes the air cleaner but pollutes the water,' Mr. Schumer said." LINK

The Boston Herald's Andrew Miga looks more closely at the provision lengthening daylight savings time. LINK

The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman reports that the Senate passed the $81 billion spending bill to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday, bringing the cost of the Iraq war close to $200 billion and the total cost of war and reconstruction since Sept. 11, 2001 to more than $300 billion. LINK

The Boston Herald looks at Congress' plan to probe steroid use in the NFL. "'We want to get a look at how football is handling the problem -- what they're doing right and what they're doing that maybe isn't working,'" said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA). LINK

Values and ethics and morals, oh my:
The Washington Times' Cheryl Wetzstein looks at the consternation among conservative groups over the Connecticut law allowing civil unions, and the push by gay rights activists for full marriage rights. LINK

2006:
No word yet from Gov. Jim Douglas (R-VT) on whether he's going to fire up the Senate campaign engines, though he says he's "not ruling anything out" and admits to getting some inquiries (and maybe pressure) from DC. LINK; LINK

The Schwarzenegger era:
The Los Angeles Times' Peter Nicholas and Robert Salladay turn in a completely fascinating story about the inner workings of the Schwarzenegger administration, and view the involvement of the governor's biggest asset, California First Lady Maria Shriver, in the running of his administration a sign of the trouble his agenda is facing as a result of conflicts among his staff and campaign team. LINK

"Schwarzenegger is reeling after successive policy reversals, gaffes and clashes with well-organized opponents have deflated his once-buoyant approval ratings. The latest setback came this week when he told a newspaper publishers association that the United States should 'close its borders.' He later apologized, explaining that he misspoke because of his imperfect command of English."

"But a range of advisors see the remark as a sign of deeper strains. People with ties to the administration use words like 'dysfunctional' and 'civil war' to describe the atmosphere within the warren of offices where Schwarzenegger and his top aides work."

2008: Republicans:
The New York Times Michael Cooper reads some corn leaves for signs that Gov. Pataki might be thinking about the kind of "national office" that involves interest in the Iowa caucuses -- but, remember, this is a man who likes to keep his options open, and if ties to the DCI group suggested presidential aspirations, half the readers of The Note would be running for the office. LINK

The Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh observes the skid that Gov. Romney's re-election numbers hit (though his personal ratings remain healthy) when he started openly flirting with a presidential bid. LINK

Scot, like the rest of the Boston media -- and perhaps the Governor himself -- remains conflicted over what Romney will do, and should do.

2008: Democrats:
As the Senate agreed to cut off funding for the independent counsel investigation of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, LINK, the Wall Street Journal has a very complicated editorial about John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and a whole lot more.

Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) said he doesn't doubt that Sen. John Kerry is going to mount a presidential bid in 2008, after he alleged that Kerry asked him why he was endorsing Kerry's 2008 opponent when Dayton introduced Sen. Hillary Clinton as "the next great president of the United States of America" when she was in Minneapolis earlier this month. Kerry spokesman David Wade disputes Dayton's story. Kerry visits Minneapolis on May 3. LINK

Former Sen. John Edwards is going to write a book tentatively called "Blueprints: The Architecture of Our Lives," telling the story of people's first homes. LINK

Politics:
The New York Post's Deborah Orin writes up the National Journal's important take on one of the biggest stories of 2004: how New York-area voters were swayed hard by 9/11 toward the President. LINK

Another day, another New York Post story on Al Sharpton's potential legal troubles. LINK

The Seattle Times' David Postman takes a closer look at the more than $4 million in debt acquired by Washington state's political parties in their fight over the gubernatorial election, and reports that Sen. John Kerry's heading to Seattle in May to help raise cash for the Democrats. Kerry gave the party $250,000 from his campaign account in December to help pay for the recount. LINK

Bloomberg's Jonathan Salant and Kristin Jensen take a dandy look at how super-successful Washington lobbyist (and former car parker) Ed Gillespie is now a super-super-super successful lobbyist after his stint as head of the Republican National Committee. LINK

"The Federal Election Commission fined Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's political action committee $10,000 for misstating or failing to adequately report certain financial information," AP reports. LINK

Talking to a Chicago television reporter, retiring Rep. Henry Hyde didn't rule out that the Clinton impeachment could have been payback for the threat of impeachment against President Nixon. LINK

Corrections:
Mistakes -- unfortunately, we've made a few. On Wednesday in our haste we referred to Julie "Masen" of the Houston Chronicle when of course we meant "Mason,"and we got our New York Times Sams mixed up, referring to Roberts instead of Dillon. We apologize for the flubs. On Thursday, we also wrote about the Roll Call story about subpoenas for the organizations run by Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, and our original description made it sound as though the individuals were subpoenaed, which they have not been.