The Note: The Note
— -- WASHINGTON, Aug 9
NEWS SUMMARY
President Bush spends the day at his ranch holding briefings with Al Hubbard, director of the White House National Economic Council and Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The President and his economic advisors are expected to hold a press availability at 12:55 pm ET.
Alan Greenspan and the Federal Open Market Committee will meet at 9:00 am ET to decide whether or not to increase the federal interest rate. Due to strong economic growth, expectations are that the Federal Reserve will choose to hike rates by a quarter of a point to 3.5 percent, the highest in four years. If it happens, it will be the tenth consecutive increase since June 2004. An announcement will be made around 2:15 pm ET.
At 1:00 pm ET, New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is expected to endorse Freddy Ferrer's campaign for mayor -- a campaign he once described as in "free fall."
Clinton vs. Pirro?:
Never underestimate the political media's misogyny-fueled, superficial desire for a "catfight."
How else to explain the press' panting for a "Clinton versus Pirro" Senate race, despite the fact that Pirro is by no means a lock for the GOP nomination?
And despite the fact that this amazing sentence appears deep in the New York Times' Pat Healy's front-page story: "Ms. Pirro repeatedly declined yesterday to outline her positions on abortion, gay rights, Social Security private accounts and stem-cell research. When asked if she considered herself a Bush Republican, she declined to embrace that description, too."
And just you wait to see the pushback on Pirro's centerpiece "Hillary Clinton is just using the Senate to run for president" charge.
The coverage today is all about tactics and positioning and tick tocks and spouses, but is the Empire State and national press really going to hold the bar this low on issues and policy?
We meant to ask that rhetorically, but. . .
"It's Gonna Get Nasty," blares the New York Daily News headline.
The New York Post calls it the "War of the Roses." LINK
The one "discordant" voice: the editorial board of the New York Daily News writes that "vote for me because she's running for president" is not going to be enough of a rationale for Pirro's candidacy and urges the Westchester County DA to start developing her positions on the issues that come before the Senate. LINK
The New York Times' has White House officials refusing publicly to express a preference between Pirro and Cox while volunteering on the condition of anonymity that Pirro would be a "strong candidate" and that Cox would be "good as well." In addition to mentioning her husband's baggage, the New York Times Notes that among Pirro's potential liabilities are revelations that her office laid off six prosecutors due to budget pressures in 2003 as it paid $43,920 in overtime to her sole driver and bodyguard. LINK
The New York Post's Fredric Dicker thinks Pirro can't beat Hillary with the simple "doormat" charge. LINK
USA Today's Jill Lawrence on Pirro's effort to present herself as "the only woman who really wants the job" of representing New York in the Senate.LINK
Dick Morris writes that against Pirro, Sen. Clinton will be "disarmed of all her best issues" and that if Pirro posts some early gains, particularly upstate, where it is cheap to do early advertising, Hillary and Bill may read the handwriting on the wall and she may pull out of the race." LINK
"Some Republicans privately suggested Pirro might have been promised a judgeship or important federal post if she loses to Clinton, who polls show would soundly beat the Westchester prosecutor," reports the New York Daily News. LINK
A little-Noticed New York Magazine scoop by Greg Sargent that we should have told you about yesterday: Ms. Pirro's mother was diagnosed with cancer a month ago, which the daughter says quite understandably delayed her decision making. Our hopes and best wishes are with the family. LINK
The Daily News sidebar on the "controversial husbands:" LINK
The New York Post on Pirro's huge 'albert'ross: "Albert Pirro -- convicted tax cheat, admitted philanderer, father of an out-of-wedlock child, and accused leaker of info from his wife's office to the mob -- was nowhere to be seen yesterday as his tough-talking, crime-fighting spouse was announcing she will take on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. . . But of all the potential opponents Pirro faces in the various races, Hillary Clinton would be the least likely to go on the attack over Al Pirro. After all, there's plenty of dirt for Pirro to sling back about Bill Clinton." LINK
The New York Post's ed board wishes Pirro well but considers her "hardly ideal." LINK
The New York Post's John Podhoretz thinks Sen. Clinton should leave the Senate if she wants to be president given the abysmal record of Senators making it directly to the White House. LINK
Roberts:
During the upcoming confirmation hearings, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) plans to press Roberts on specific cases involving the authority of Congress to pass broad social legislation, the New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. LINK
An anti-Roberts NARAL ad "ignited controversy" Monday by accusing him of supporting violent-abortion "fringe groups" in a case before the court in 1991. The ad will begin running Wednesday on CNN, FNC, MSNBC and a few local stations. NARAL said it will spend $500,000 to broadcast the 30-second commercial between now and Roberts' confirmation hearing, which begins Sept. 6. LINK
Steve Schmidt calls the NARAL ad "outrageously false, bordering on slanderous." LINK
"NARAL plans to spend $500,000 over the next two weeks to broadcast the ad on cable news channels in Maine and Rhode Island, the home states of three of the more moderate Republican senators," report Maura Reynolds and David Savage of the Los Angeles Times. LINK
And here is the official White House line as given to the Los Angeles Times: "'President Bush called for a dignified process, and this type of attack certainly doesn't qualify as dignified,' said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. 'Every word in the ad is false and dishonest, and it comes from a group that is outside the mainstream.'"
A Washington Times review of Roberts' appeals court opinions shows to the paper that he gives the executive branch wide latitude and deferred regularly to the legislative branch as well. LINK
Richard Cohen wonders why conservatives, in light of the evidence available to them, aren't more uneasy about Roberts' work on the Romer case. LINK
"Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee asked the Supreme Court on Monday to consider blocking military tribunals for terror suspects, and to overturn what they called an extreme ruling by Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court," the AP reports. LINK
Bush agenda:
The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman hears Treasury Sec. Snow sound a somewhat discordant Note about the unequal distribution of economic prosperity. LINK
E.J. Dionne, Jr. mines the President's Iraq-related poll numbers and sort of predicts that Mr. Bush finally just maybe won't be able to untie himself from the railroad tracks. LINK
The New York Times' Dick Stevenson on the energy bill signing. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Ed Chen writes of the President's caution "against unreasonable expectations that the law would produce quick results." LINK
One can't help but wonder which 2008 campaign operatives are already imagining what their candidates can accomplish in Iowa and New Hampshire with four weeks worth of an extra hour of daylight beginning in 2007.
The politics of national security:
USA Today's coverage of its latest poll numbers: "American attitudes toward the war in Iraq continue to sour in the wake of last week's surge in U.S. troop deaths, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll shows. An unprecedented 57% majority say the war has made the USA more vulnerable to terrorism. A new low, 34%, say it has made the country safer. The question is critical because the Bush administration has long argued that the invasion of Iraq was undertaken to make the USA safer from terrorism." LINK
Per the New York Times: more than a year before 9/11, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA). LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Gaouette writes up Secretary Chertoff's comments on CNN reasserting his authority over the Pentagon in the event of a terrorist attack in the United States. LINK
Christian groups press Bush about abuses in North Korea, the New York Times' David Kirkpatrick reports. LINK
Atomic activity resumes in Iran amid warnings, the New York Times reports. LINK
The Fitzgerald investigation:
Attorney General Gonzales met with Patrick Fitzgerald and his staff at the US Attorney's office in Chicago on Monday and pledged his full support, reports the Chicago Tribune. LINK
2008:
Per the New York Post's Deborah Orin, Condoleezza Rice would be right up there in the 2008 Republican presidential race with Rudy Giuliani and John McCain if she were to run, a CNN/Gallup poll shows. "Giuliani is the top pick of Republican and Republican-leaning voters at 27 percent, followed by McCain (Ariz.) at 24 percent and Rice at 19 percent." On the Democratic side: Hillary Clinton is the choice of 40 percent, while John Kerry is backed by 16 percent and John Edwards is at 15 percent. LINK
Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe looks at the surprising number of states which could in theory field both major party nominees in 2008. LINK
2008: Republicans:
The Richmond Times-Dispatch takes a look at all the money Sen. Allen (R-VA) is raising from fellow Republican officeholders for his 2006 reelection campaign. LINK
The Boston Globe reports Bay State lawmakers are efforting a bill to strengthen homeowners' rights after the recent eminent domain ruling by the Supreme Court. Gov. Romney's spokeswoman said the Governor "supports Brad Jones's bill and believes it's essential that in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling we take action to protect citizens from the government taking of private property for economic development." LINK
Gov. Romney said he would give close consideration to a proposed Massachusetts bill which would require state churches to disclose their financial statements to the public, reports the Boston Globe. LINK
2008: Democrats:
"Winter Soldier," an anti-Vietnam war documentary, will get its first major theatrical release starting this Friday. The New York Times' David Halbfinger Notes that the film turned up on both sides of the partisan divide last year when John Kerry ran for president. LINK
Per the Des Moines Register's William Petroski: Gov. Tom Vilsack contends that the Hawkeye State's economy is flying high and is nudging U.S. Rep./2006 gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle to see for himself. LINK
New Hampshire:
Tom Fahey of the Manchester Union Leader reports that the Bush Administration will have New Hampshire's back in the soon-to-be-examined-by-SCOTUS parental notification lawsuit. LINK
2005:
The Washington Post reports on Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Jerry Kilgore's attempt to make immigration an issue in the campaign. LINK
The New York Times follows the Philadelphia Inquirer's reporting on potential pitfalls with Doug Forrester's self funding his campaign. LINK
Per the New York Times' Cardwell, Gifford Miller digs into his big campaign war chest and readies his first television ad buy of the season. LINK
2006:
The Montana Democratic Party has gone up on the air for a week with a TV ad linking Sen. Burns (R-MT) to Jack Abramoff. LINK
Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times takes a fascinating look at Rep. Katherine Harris' (R-FL) political guru, Adam Goodman. LINK
Harris will be in Sarasota and Bartow, FL today to launch her listening/announcement tour. LINK
Politics:
Per the Toledo Blade, "Tom Noe used his American Express credit card from Thomas Noe, Inc. -- the same entity he's accused of using as a vehicle to steal millions of dollars from Ohio's rare-coin funds -- to contribute $10,000 to California's governor." LINK
Later today, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman will respond to a report on voter fraud in the 2004 election from American Center for Voting Rights.
"I strongly support your proposal of a zero-tolerance policy toward election fraud and intimidation, and I would encourage Chairman Dean and the Democrat Party to do the same. The position of the Republican National Committee is simple: we will not tolerate fraud; we will not tolerate intimidation; we will not tolerate suppression. No employee, associate, or any person representing the Republican Party who engages in these kinds of acts will remain in that position. Republicans do not need to resort to fraud and intimidation to win, and no Republican who does deserves victory," writes Mehlman in his letter to the report's authors.