"No Favorite Has Emerged . . . "
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2004 — -- 42 Days Until Inauguration Day
There are still a few more dishes to be loaded into the Cabinet, but we now know that President Bush wants U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and former RNC chairman Jim Nicholson to be his new Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
And we know that Secretaries Mineta, Chao, Norton and Jackson have all been asked to stay on, it was announced this morning at the White House gaggle.
Yesterday, of course, the question was what was going to happen to Treasury Secretary John Snow. Today, all answers all the time -- and tons of phrases like "unexpected," "surprise," and "unusual" are being used to describe President Bush's request that he stay on into the second term.
Much of the newspapers reportage consists of writers justifying/reaffirming that -- yes indeedy -- their papers had been told by perfectly good sources that Snow was a dead man walking.
ABC News' Ann Compton reports that last evening, Snow was soaking up congratulations on his surprise retention, but puzzled.
"At a well-attended Christmas party where Vice President Cheney stood sipping white wine a few feet away, Snow explained he was at the White House for the regular weekly economic lunch when Andy Card appeared and ushered him into the Oval Office. President Bush asked Snow to remain on the job and Snow agreed. Was he surprised? 'I'm not going to say anything more,' but his expression confirmed it."
Snow was also questioning why the decision had taken so long, Compton reports.
On the front page of the Wall Street Journal, John McKinnon tick tocks President Bush's decision to keep Snow in place in his second term, using the phrase "unusual public uncertainty" twice in the first four paragraphs to describe the is-he-in-or-is-he-out game. LINK
"For his part, Mr. Snow waited out the storm loyally, relying on a band of allies to make his case for him. White House officials said yesterday that chief of staff Andrew Card had talked to Mr. Snow at least twice over the past two weeks, telling him to pay no attention to the published reports."
Bob Novak applauds President Bush's decision to keep Snow instead of continuing to let him further twist in the wind. Novak writes that the uncertainty over what to do with Snow "questions the myth of a super-competent Bush administration," and that "Bush never has appreciated the primacy of the secretary of the Treasury in economic policy." Hence the (at least for now current) policy of keeping a loyalist who'll uphold set policy rather than someone with an independent power base in the gig. LINK
The New York Times' David Sanger, like virtually all of his Fourth Estate colleagues, Notes the difference between the way the White House handled Snow and other appointments, and writes that "officials said Vice President Dick Cheney had felt out or interviewed potential candidates for the job. The White House apparently did not warm to the alternatives, who included former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas and Gerald L. Parsky, a wealthy lawyer and venture capitalist who served as an assistant Treasury secretary in the Ford administration." LINK
The Wall Street Journal ed board is semi-happy that Snow is staying, but recognizes the primacy of the post in the Administration's active (Social Security and tax reform) and passive (the dollar, the dollar, the dollar) agendas.
Fantasy Cabinet players take Note: Snow stays in the line-up, but Principi is on waivers. LINK, LINK, and LINK
Al Hunt cautions of hubris in the second Bush Administration, Noting the "clear and bold agenda and a reasonably unified party that controls Congress," which is still dicey and could get more difficult still, given Iraq. "A key to securing respectable Democratic support is whether the White House backs off its intent to finance the Social Security transition costs with more borrowing, adding as much as $2 trillion to the sea of red ink already created," Hunt writes. LINK
We leave it to others to muse over the political implications of the Washington Post's Dana Priest blockbuster about the CIA agent who claims his personal life and finances were investigated after he refused to tell untruths about pre-invasion WMD in Iraq. But you should read the story. LINK
The Wall Street Journal's Greg Jaffe writes that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's eye is really on the Pentagon and the structure of the armed services and how they're trained and equipped more than on Iraq, including "a controversial effort to create a list of potential 21st-century real-world crises that the services must be prepared to address. Explicitly defining the possible problems the Pentagon faces will force the services to figure out which competing programs can best deal with the threats and which are anachronisms." LINK
Reports of Secretary Rumsfeld's exchange with troops about armor. LINK and LINK
MoDo does a little dance over the soldier's exchange with Secretary Rumsfeld over armor. LINK
The New York Times ed board -- unlike, apparently, the Empire State's U.S. Senators -- has a few questions for Bernard Kerik . . . LINK
. . . . As does a not-breathless Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. LINK
AP's Alan Fram offers up highlights of the $388 billion spending bill the President signed yesterday. LINK
The Senate voted 89 to 2 Wednesday to approve the intelligence bill, the New York Times' Philip Shenon reports. LINK
The Washington Post's Walter Pincus and USA Today's John Diamond mark the passage of the intel reform bill. LINK and LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Janet Hook writes, "President Bush has gotten a fresh education this week in how to deal with an increasingly feisty Congress as he heads into his second term." LINK
Note that Hook suggests that there was some Tom DeLay "bristling" at the retreat in Virginia when a White House aide allegedly challenged Rep. Hunter's motives.
"It was an octave higher than normal talk, said one source in the meeting."
The New York Times' Adam Nagourney looks at Howard Dean's "unrepentant appeal" for Democrats to be Democrats in his speech yesterday, and Notes "What precisely Dr. Dean is running for is not entirely certain during this period of transformation for the Democratic Party and its better-known leaders. An aide to Dr. Dean said the choice was between running for the chairmanship of the party, or making another bid for the presidency in 2008." LINK
We think this is the only time we've ever seen Dean described as "tanned and cheery."
Dan Balz reports that Dean talked yesterday about how Democrats should and should not try to take their country back. LINK
Balz sees the chair race as wide open (so do we!!!), and Roll Call Notes that Sen. Reid thinks Sen. Dorgan should run.
Peter Beinart talks about the Democratic Party's need to get tough on international matters in a Washington Post op-ed, though we sense less yelling while reading Beinart than while imagining Dean speak. LINK
Deb Orin of the New York Post sets up the Dean/anti-Dean forces in the race for DNC chair. LINK
Joe Biden delivers straight talk on what might be eventually referred to as Biden 2008. LINK
The Boston Globe's Glen Johnson reports that Sen. Kerry will make a pre-(Iraqi) election stop in Iraq on his swing through the Middle East next month. He's expected to meet with National Guard troops from Massachusetts, active duty personnel, embassy officials, military commanders, and members of the Iraqi government. LINK
The Des Moines Register's Tom Beaumont reports that the caucuses are being threatened, and talks about what Iowans will be charged with protecting them. LINK and LINK
John DiStaso of the Union Leader reports that former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen will be on the commission appointed by Terry McAuliffe to assess the party's primary and caucus system -- likely to defend the Granite State's first-in-the-nation status on the panel against the key supporter of Michigan jumping into the lead position, Sen. Carl Levin. LINK
Sir John also reports in his final item that Gov. Pataki's TV ads are getting some play in the Granite State -- a must-read in various offices.
The Boston Globe's Joan Vennochi thinks about the idea of Romney 2008, but wonders what he thinks about 2006, even as she is totally unenthusiastic about the Democratic field for governor. LINK
John Broder of the New York Times looks at how gay rights groups are re-thinking their strategies and goals in the face of the passage by 11 states of laws banning same-sex marriage. After a leadership shakeup, the Human Rights Campaign is turning its attention to a "selective and incremental" approach to nuts-and-bolts rights issues, including Social Security survivor benefits, hospital visitation privileges and tax breaks. LINK
And, not that there's anything wrong with it, but Mike Berman isn't gay.
The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse looks at the Teamsters' proposal Wednesday to "slash the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s budget and finance a four-year campaign of political and union organizing in swing states to help elect a pro-labor president," looking to use half of the $90 million unions give to the AFL each year for labor recruitment. LINK
The Washington state gubernatorial recount sounds like this: one, two, three, four . . . LINK
Rep. Conyers wants to look at the media's exit poll data from Election Day. LINK
Dean Broder examines Gov. Pawlenty's healthcare experiment in Minnesota. LINK
The Los Angeles Times' Richard Schmitt reports that Judith Miller and Matt Cooper "appeared to find at least one sympathetic member on a federal appeals court panel Wednesday." LINK
But that lede suggests more optimism for the pair than the questioning overall yielded in most accounts.
The Governator announces he will not release his tax returns to protect the blind trust he set up to avoid conflicts of interest. LINK
The New York Times' David Kocieniewski reports that Sen. Corzine is throwing a dinner tonight to thank New Jersey Dems who worked on the presidential campaign -- and conveniently sets up his run for governor of the Garden State. New Jersey Democratic officials are stealing his thunder a little bit, however, with a Newark presser urging acting Gov. Richard Codey to run. LINK
Howie Kurtz reports on Air America's arrival in the capital. LINK
Zell is going to be on K Street (not the show). LINK
Richard Leiby reliably reports that Alex Castellanos has a stuffed toy wolf in his office. We won't even get into the deer head. LINK