Bill Safire sounds like he's making a distinction without a difference:

"When Bush chose Cheney in 2000, that expressed confidence in victory: Cheney was seen not primarily as a campaigner, but as an active participant in the coming administration, which even his fervent detractors admit he has been. Bush was then filling in a gap, too -- his foreign policy inexperience -- but his pick was directed at governing, not campaigning."

Maybe I'm a little quaint when it comes to these things, but my impression was that voters' assessment of your ability to govern kinda matters when you're campaigning for president. The idea that you could somehow separate your ability to campaign from perceptions of your ability to govern seems pretty ridiculous. To take Safire's example, it's entirely possible that Bush wouldn't have won in 2000 without Cheney's implicit reassurance that the new administration was up to the job. Which makes Cheney's selection every bit as "political" as Edwards's, possibly more. (And, of course, trying to create the perception that a pick is non-political is a highly political calculation in itself.)

"The extended Bush family is not just nervous about this election -- there's a lot of disappointment and even disgruntlement with this White House," said the ex-Bush aide. And on one policy where there does seem to be a sense of purpose in the current administration, Iraq, this ex-assistant was deeply bothered by the officials directing it. "These are driven, ideological people, who really have an agenda and are not necessarily troubled by facts or even shaken by them," he said.

Ticking off a list of issues -- from resisting stem-cell research, to Iraq, to the war on terrorism, to the dressing-down that the administration received in a Supreme Court decision declaring that it cannot indefinitely lock people away and deny them a lawyer or a court hearing simply because it has labeled them "enemy combatants" -- the former Bush aide bluntly said: "There is a huge swath of issues that bespeak arrogance and cowboy approaches. It's a kind of [screw] 'em attitude. Not only is there not a recognition that you need broad popular support to govern -- they just don't care."

Rank Among 100 Senators - Ranked Most Liberal Senator

Kerry
1999 - 16th
2000 - 23rd
2001 - 11th
2002 - 8th
2003 - 1st

Edwards
1999 - 31st
2000 - 19th
2001 - 35th
2002 - 40th
2003 - 4th

Associated Press Assistant General Counsel Dave Tomlin told me yesterday that AP reporters began trying to get the documents back in February, but hit roadblock after roadblock.

Tomlin said the AP has been informed that the microfilm in question does indeed exist. Tomlin said that because paper records can vanish and be tampered with, the microfilm "would erase any questions."

The "intelligence committee" of the world's greatest deliberative body has now coughed up a report, and guess what? It is critical of the intelligence community. imagine! what a shock, such a newsworthy conclusion.

Never mind that we have known this for decades, and got confirmation of the most dramatic sort on 9/11.

But what gets me is that it has now become part of the conventional wisdom that Iraq did NOT have WMDs. None at all. Not hardly ever, that is. So when, say, Polish soldiers find some, "coalition authorities" are quick to say, nah, that doesn't count, that's older stuff. As if old WMDs weren't real.

Artillery shells found by Polish troops in Iraq definitely contained the deadly nerve agent cyclosarin, Poland's military has said.

Sixteen rocket warheads found last week in south-central Iraq by Polish troops did not contain deadly chemicals, a coalition spokesman said Friday...

[edit]

The Coalition Press Information Center in Baghdad said in a statement Friday that the 122-millimeter rocket rounds, which initially showed traces of sarin, "were all empty and tested negative for any type of chemicals."

House Republicans yesterday beat back what was shaping up as a successful attempt to rewrite a controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act, by more than doubling the time usually allotted for a floor vote so that House leaders could persuade enough fellow Republicans to change their votes and the outcome. The reversal spared the White House a legislative defeat.

As the official 15-minute voting period finished, the House appeared to have approved by a 213-206 vote an amendment that would have required law enforcement to go to a regular court -- instead of a secret court -- to get permission to demand library and Internet access records of people it is investigating. The amendment, offered by Representative Bernard Sanders, Independent of Vermont, was meant to tighten rules that even initial supporters of the Patriot Act now say gave too much search and seizure authority to the government.

But House Republican leaders, determined to keep intact a counterterrorism law passed a month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, extending the voting time to 38 minutes while they won over enough Republicans to bring the vote to 210-210. The amendment died on the tie vote.

"The contrast [between Edwards and] Cheney just couldn't be more stark on this issue. Who's going to be tougher on terrorists who want to kill you and your family? Cheney or Edwards? It is just going to be laughable."

In the summer of 2001, when much of the Republican and Democratic policy community was obsessed with missile defense, Edwards urged more attention to terrorism. The North Carolina senator had such limited luck pitching an OpEd article on terrorism to major newspapers that the piece, warning of poor cooperation among federal and local law enforcement, ended up in the weekly Littleton Observer, circulation 2,230 -- four weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks.

... Edwards surprised participants in 2002 meetings with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European foreign policy experts, said William Drozdiak, executive director of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund ... "He was hungry for some foreign policy exposure and experience," Drozdiak said. "I was fairly skeptical. I expected a lightweight, but I came away with a favorable impression. He asked a lot of smart questions and actually listened, which is not a noteworthy quality of the Bush people."

Counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke's prepared testimony to the 9/11 Commission: (Note: Vice Pres. Cheney is a standing member of the National Security Council and one of the NSC "Principals" to which Clarke refers below.)

"On January 24, 2001, I requested in writing an urgent meeting of the NSC Principals committee to address the al Qaeda threat. That meeting took place (more than 7 months later) on September 4, 2001. It was preceded by a number of Deputies Committee meetings, beginning in April. Those meetings considered proposals to step up activity against al Qida, including military assistance to anti-Taliban Afghan factions.

"The Bush Administration saw terrorism policy as important but not urgent, prior to 9-11. The difficulty in obtaining the first Cabinet level (principals) policy meeting on terrorism and the limited principals' involvement sent unfortunate signals to the bureaucracy about the Administration's attitude toward the al Qaeda threat."

The Pentagon says military records related to President Bush's service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago were inadvertently destroyed, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Payroll records of "numerous service members," including Bush, were ruined in 1996 and 1997 during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the newspaper said, citing the Pentagon.

Bush's whereabouts during his service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War have become an election-year issue, with some Democrats accusing him of shirking his duty. The destroyed files covered a three-month period.

The destroyed files cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question, the newspaper said. No back-up paper copies of the records could be found, the Pentagon said in notices dated June 25, according to the Times.

Ismail warned "those voices which have drawn the world to the Iraq war not to take it to a new war which it will be difficult to disengage from."

[edit]

"There is a conspiracy targeting the Sudan, its identity and structure and we have to be cautious and ready for every possibility," said Ismail, adding that Khartoum opposed the imposition of sanctions against any Sudanese.

Allowing – that is to say, forcing – judges to conceal their prejudice against gays and lesbians would surely lead to trials with unsuspecting gays or lesbians appearing before a partial judge. Unaware of the prejudice and not knowing that they should seek recusal, this surely would not work to provide a fair and impartial court to those litigants.

Dear Editor:
I got sick on my stomach today as I read the (AP) news story on the Dog attach [sic] on the front page of THE MISSISSIPPI PRESS and had to respond!

AMERICA IS IN TROUBLE!

I never thought that we would see the day when such would be here in AMERICA.

The last verse of chapter one of the book of Romans in our HOLY BIBLE is my reason for responding and sounding the alarm to this. You need to know as I know that GOD in Heaven is not pleased with this and I am sounding the alarm that I for one am against it and want our LORD to see and here [sic] me say I am against it.

I am sorry that the California Legislature enacted a law granting gay partners the same right to sue as spouses or family members. Also, that Hawaii and Vermont have enacted such a law too.

In my opinion gays and lesbians should be put in some type of a mental institute instead of having a law like this passed for them.

I don,t [sic] know but I believe if we vote for folks that are for this we will have to stand in thh [sic] judgement of GOD the same as them.

I am thankful for our Legislators and pray for wisdom for them, on such unbelievable legislation as this.
May GOD bless each one of them in JESUS CHRIST NAME I pray!

Thank you for printing this,

Connie Glen Wilkerson

Bro. Connie C. Wilkerson
[stamped]

In April 2003, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Claude Alexander Allen to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which reaches from Virginia to South Carolina.

Whatever sentiments have formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by the example of others, a different idea has taken place with the people of America, more favorable to the natural rights of mankind, and to that natural, innate desire of Liberty, with which Heaven (without regard to color, complexion, or shape of noses) features) has inspired all the human race. And upon this ground our Constitution of Government, by which the people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, sets out with declaring that all men are born free and equal -- and that every subject is entitled to liberty, and to have it guarded by the laws, as well as life and property -- and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This being the case, I think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution; and there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature, unless his liberty is forfeited by some criminal conduct or given up by personal consent or contract.

Afghan forces arrested three Americans, including a purported former Green Beret, after raiding a jail they were allegedly running in the Afghan capital and finding prisoners hanging from their feet, officials said Thursday.

The U.S. military, facing a widening inquiry into prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents before being detained Monday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday "the U.S. government does not employ or sponsor these men."

Afghan officials also dismissed claims by the apparent ringleader, Jonathan K. Idema, that he was a "special adviser" to their security forces, saying the three had posed as military agents on a self-appointed hunt for terrorists.

The Americans and four Afghans who were detained along with them "formed a group and pretended they were fighting terrorism," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said. "They arrested eight people from across Kabul and put them in their jail."

Another Afghan security official said intelligence and police officials who raided the group's house Monday found the prisoners strung up by their feet.

"They were hanging upside down," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said a report showed the men also were beaten.

As might have been expected, a denial reflex took over in official circles. The immediate reaction in Washington was to disavow any connection with the plane. Secretary of State [George] Schultz said that it had been "hired by private people" who "had no connection with the US government at all." ... [Elliot] Abrams exhibited the most bravado in his first public statement on October 7. He said that "some very brave people" had been willing to bring materiel to Nicaragua, and added: "God bless them ... If these people were involved in this effort, then they were heroes." On October 8, President Reagan denied that there was any US government connection with the flight; he praised the efforts to arm the contras and compared them to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.

The United States is tightening security in the face of a steady stream of intelligence indicating al-Qaida may seek to mount an attack aimed at disrupting elections, the White House said.

... Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the Bush administration based its decision to bolster security on "credible" reports about al-Qaida's plans, coupled with the pre-election terror attack in Spain earlier this year and recent arrests in England, Jordan and Italy.

"This is sobering information about those who wish to do us harm," Ridge said.

U.S. officials do not have specific knowledge about where, when or how such an attack would take place, but the CIA, FBI and other agencies "are actively working to gain that knowledge," Ridge said.

Official Statement of the
Department of Homeland Security:

WATCH OUT. Relax.

SOMETHING COULD HAPPEN. Go On With Your Lives.

TERRORISTS ARE PLOTTING. Security Is Tight.

BRIDGES ARE POSSIBLE TARGETS. No Need for Panic.

WE DON'T KNOW WHEN OR WHERE. Local Officials Have Been Notified.

God Bless America.
For inquiries, please contact the DHS Press Office.

Robinson's self-help/memoir/Reagan hagiography is an All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten for right-wingers. The former White House speechwriter ... illuminates 10 life lessons in a love letter to the Gipper ("How," Robinson asks, "did such a nice guy get to be President?").

By looking at both the historical (supply-side economics, the Cold War, Iran-contra) and the personal (Reagan's beliefs, his relationship with his family), Robinson unearths maxims such as "Do your work" and "Say your prayers." The stories are engaging, and he tosses in dashes of philosophy, such as the nature of good and evil ...

... while Robinson's respect for the former president verges on deification, especially as he glosses over Reagan's shortcomings ("Now, I myself was never able to get worked up over the deficits," Robinson says), this book provides solid, if somewhat obvious, lessons that will appeal to the legions of Reagan fans.

We are inclined to think that Kerry's calculation was correct: Edwards brings real strengths to the Democratic ticket. He is an attractive figure. Voters seem to respond to youth, energy, and good looks. Edwards may also help Kerry appeal to centrist voters: Americans outside the South have a dated perception of how conservative southern Democrats are.

Edwards's campaign speech, though centered on the idea that Americans who are not rich have little hope of making it on their own, somehow comes across as optimistic. So Kerry may find himself competing with Edwards over who can better excite the crowds. The competition may be good for Kerry. Edwards does not much help him win voters concerned about national security -- but Kerry was always going to have to stand or fall on his own in this area.

Republicans will be tempted to make an issue of Edwards's background as a trial lawyer. They should not overestimate the extent to which the public at large shares their dislike of trial lawyers. They make their money, after all, by telling sympathetic stories that win over ordinary people.

Edwards does, however, have weaknesses. He has a very liberal voting record. Kerry-Edwards is the least ideologically balanced ticket the Democrats have run since 1984. Edwards reinforces the protectionist cast of the ticket, and of the contemporary Democratic party. While many voters worry about jobs going abroad, how well does that worrying comport with the optimism that the campaign wishes to project?

The majority of respondents continue to say that the country is headed on the wrong track (48%), while 47% feel the US is on the right track. This response has virtually remained unchanged over the last three months.

July 6-7
Right Track .... 48%
Wrong Track .... 47%
(GAP: 1 pt.)

June 2-5
Right Track .... 44%
Wrong Track .... 50%
(GAP: 6 pts.)

May 10-13
Right Track .... 40%
Wrong Track .... 54%
(GAP: 14 pts.)

April 15-17
Right Track .... 44%
Wrong Track .... 49%
(GAP: 5 pts.)

"[Edwards] has voted against tax cuts, repeal of the absurd OSHA ergonomics rule, a solution to the asbestos crisis, sensible limits on health care liability, repeal of the death tax, development of natural gas resources, terrorism insurance, Medicare reform and Trade Promotion Authority, to name a few. He has voted against the interests of manufacturers and working people time and time again."

"Trial lawyers are the pariahs of the business community, which is more frightened by them than terrorists, China or higher energy prices."

In a victory for big business that could transform Sino-U.S. relations, the U.S. Senate will give final approval on Tuesday to a hotly contested bill granting permanent normal trade relations to China despite stiff opposition from organized labor and human rights groups.

... A bitterly divided House of Representatives approved permanent normal trade relations in May after an unprecedented lobbying campaign by pro-trade business groups eager to tap the vast Chinese market place ... Business groups, which spent millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers, said it would boost exports and create high-paying jobs.

... "This legislation means that we've overcome the rising forces of protectionism," said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers.

France expressed doubt Thursday that international sanctions against Sudan might improve the situation in the violence-wracked western Darfur region.

"In Darfur, it would be better to help the Sudanese get over the crisis so their country is pacified rather than sanctions which would push them back to their misdeeds of old," junior foreign minister Renaud Muselier told Radio France Internationale.

"I am not sure that that position (of sanctions) is the best one given that the (Sudanese) government has started a peace process between the north and the south."

Muselier's comments appeared to undermine moves for sanctions proposed by the United States and Britain.

I'm George Bush and I approve this ad.

It is a dangerous world, filled with war, terrorism and proliferating nuclear weapons. This is a time that demands experience and leadership, qualities that John Edwards simply does not possess.

After having a president who spent nearly half his time in office on vacation before 9/11, we all learned the dangers of having a lazy, inexperienced oaf occupying the White House. Furthermore, our economy is in the tank and our standing in the world has plummeted, all because this same inexperienced president had no understanding of, or idea how to handle, domestic or foreign affairs.

We cannot afford to let that happen again.

Re-elect President George Bush.

Reality is the hottest thing in Hollywood! And the great thing is -- many of us live in it!

Voters who are still undecided between President Bush and Senator Kerry would do well to contemplate how the (U.S. Supreme) Court could differ depending on which man prevails in November.

Extrapolating judicial decisions from the commitments of the President who nominates Justices is fraught with uncertainty. Nonetheless, whatever Ralph Nader may say about the interchangeability of Republicans and Democrats, when it comes to judicial appointments, a clear contrast emerges.

... Three Justices -- Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas -- remain committed to overturning Roe. Meanwhile, two of the Court's three oldest members -- Justices Stevens and O'Connor -- are part of the six-Justice majority for recognizing a constitutional right to abortion.

Should President Bush have the opportunity to name anti-Roe successors to these two Justices -- or to any two or more of the six Justices who oppose overturning Roe -- there is little reason to doubt that he would seize it. The result would be a Supreme Court majority for eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.

... A Bush victory will greatly increase the likelihood that Congress and the state legislatures will be able to ban most abortions at some point in the next four years. In contrast, a Kerry victory will almost surely preserve the status quo of legal abortion ...

On other issues as well, the differences between Bush and Kerry could prove decisive.

For example, last year, a 5-4 majority upheld preferences for disadvantaged racial minorities in law school admissions in Grutter v. Bollinger. The Bush Administration had filed a brief urging the Court to invalidate the program. A Bush victory in November could spell the end for affirmative action in higher education, and also more broadly -- for instance, in nearly all employment contexts as well.

Two years ago, in the case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, a different 5-4 majority upheld a Cleveland private school voucher program, despite the fact that 96 percent of the students who received the vouchers redeemed them at religiously affiliated schools. Should Kerry be elected, his nominees would likely side with the Zelman dissenters in insisting on a stricter separation of church and state.

... The Court is also closely divided on questions of states' rights. In the last seven years, the Court has invoked states' rights to invalidate all or part of the ... Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act; the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Violence Against Women Act; and the Americans with Disabilities Act ... it is fair to say that Bush Justices would be much more likely than Kerry Justices to invoke states' rights to strike down civil rights legislation.

U.S. Removes Two Tons of Uranium From Iraq

In a secret operation, the United States last month removed from Iraq nearly two tons of uranium and hundreds of highly radioactive items that could have been used in a so-called dirty bomb, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday.

The nuclear material was secured from Iraq's former nuclear research facility and airlifted out of the country to an undisclosed Energy Department laboratory for further analysis, the department said in a statement.

THIS WILL BE ALL OVER THE NY TIMES FRONT PAGE TOMORROW -- NOT!

Wilkes said ``a huge range of different isotopes'' were secured in the joint Energy Department and Defense Department operation. They had been used in Iraq for a range of medical and industrial purposes, such as testing oil wells and pipelines.

And

The radioactive sources included "a huge range of all types," including isotopes of the elements cobalt, cesium and strontium, Mr. Wilkes said. Such sources are commonly used to provide radiation for cancer treatments, or for industrial X-rays, he said. They can also be used to sterilize medical equipment or kill bacteria in food.

International attention is finally focusing on the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, but even with 10,000 people dying there each month, we haven't yet dared to call it genocide. To meet some of the people whose lives are at stake — orphans, widows, rape victims — see the slide show of my photos that I've put this web page.

Look them in the eye and try to say this isn't genocide.

"Is there a risk in choosing Mr. Edwards? Sure, Mr. Kerry might drop dead. Then we'd have a very inexperienced president -- again!"

"... Kazakh government repression of independent media reached crisis proportions (in 2002), as journalists were attacked and beaten, threatened with death, and jailed. Media outlets connected to President Nursultan Nazarbaev's political rivals, and journalists who attempted to expose official corruption, were particular targets of the crackdown.

"... President Nazarbaev continued to consolidate economic and financial power while severely curtailing public inquiry into the alleged misuse of government oil revenues ... in late 2001 and early 2002 that the government secretly held approximately U.S.$1.4 billion in a Swiss bank account under Nazarbaev's control. After repeated government denials, on April 4 Prime Minister Imangaly Tasmagambetov confirmed the existence of the account ...

"... police and prosecutors sought to punish those who engaged in religious activity but were affiliated with unregistered religious groups. ... In a particularly disturbing case, on October 27, 2001 police in Kyzl-Orda province beat Asylbek Nurdanov, the leader of an unregistered Baptist church, and forcibly committed him to a mental institution; he was released on November 16.

"... Kazakhstan remained the only country in the region that was not a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights."

"Unless the government and international community act now to protect political freedoms, the country's parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 2004, are unlikely to meet international standards.

"... On November 17, 2003, President Nazarbaev authorized Kazakhstan's signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This is also a welcome step, although as of this writing, the parliament has yet to ratify the treaty."

The extraordinary delays in the Senate are harming the administration of justice -- especially in North Carolina and Michigan.

Eight of these nine vacancies have been open more than 1,000 days.

The North Carolina appeals court vacancy has been open for nearly ten years and is the longest standing vacancy in the country (3,629 days).

One of the Michigan appeals court vacancies has been open more than nine years (3,355 days).

The District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina vacancy has been open more than six years and is the longest standing district court vacancy in the country.

For Clinton's entire eight years in office, not a single N.C. judge was confirmed to the 4th Circuit. The reason was that Jesse Helms unilaterally blocked them all under the "blue slip" process.

"Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, vowed that his group would abandon its neutrality and work to defeat the Democrats."

"I can't thank you all enough for your support, and I can't thank you enough for letting me come by and make my case."

President Bush, speech to the U.S. Chamber, April 16, 2001


"The Chamber urges opposition to any weakening amendments" to Senate Bill 14 that "attempt to implement the Kyoto Protocol through emission caps on, or mandatory reporting of, carbon dioxide" ... or that "mandate significant increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards" for cars.

U.S. Chamber letter to members of the U.S. Senate, May 6, 2003


"U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue is promoting overseas outsourcing of jobs as a way to boost the economy and even increase employment ... Donohue acknowledged the pain for people who have lost jobs to offshoring -- an estimated 250,000 a year, according to government estimates. But pockets of unemployment shouldn't lead to "anecdotal politics and policies," he said, and people affected by offshoring should "stop whining."

Rachel Konrad, staff writer, Associated Press, July 1, 2004


Four years ago, the U.S. Chamber's president said, "Solutions to expand access to (health care) coverage should build upon the successes of the employer-based system." But what Chamber officials didn't say in this press statement is that they aren't even firmly behind the principle that employers should feel obligated to provide health care coverage. In fact, this list from the Chamber's website offers small businesses an equal number of 'pros' and 'cons' as to whether they should offer health benefits. Paperwork "hassles" are among the Chamber’s cons, which include this advice: "There is a way for a small employer to control costs and return certainty to the process: push any additional costs on to employees. While that may solve the financial problems, it creates many others. Even if you don't want to push all the costs on to employees, pushing some of the costs on to them is inevitable."

U.S. Chamber press release, Jan. 13, 2000; U.S. Chamber's Online Small Business Center, accessed July 2004


"The Bush tax cuts had strong advocates here in the Chamber of Commerce, and we're very grateful for the support you provided for the effort."

Vice President Dick Cheney, speech to the Chamber, March 29, 2004

"We heard countless stories about rape, murder and plunder. We talked to rape victims. We saw the scars on men who had been shot. We watched mothers cradle their sick and dying babies, hoping against all odds that their children would survive," [said Wolf]

[edit]

"It is ethnic cleansing. I believe that clearly the seeds of genocide have been sown in Darfur," Brownback said.

Breaux (D-LA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Miller (D-GA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)

Chafee (R-RI)
Collins (R-ME)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Snowe (R-ME)
Warner (R-VA)

Reagan - Judges Confirmed During First Term: 164
Bush I - Judges Confirmed During First Term: 194
Clinton - Judges Confirmed During First Term: 202
GW Bush - Judges Confirmed During First Term: 197

Reagan - Percentage of Nominees Confirmed During First Term: 88%
Bush I - Percentage of Nominees Confirmed During First Term: 73%
Clinton - Percentage of Nominees Confirmed During First Term: 81%
GW Bush - Percentage of Nominees Confirmed During First Term: 88%

The [Kerry] campaign is falling apart. The base needs to be energized. You have got to go with Hillary.

[edit]

O'REILLY: Well, why does she want to be vice president, why would she want that job?

MORRIS: Because somebody is going to have it. If the job were repealed, she'd be fine. But somebody is going to be Kerry's vice president if he wins, and if it is not Hillary, that person is going to be the Democratic candidate in 2012.

O'REILLY: All right. That makes sense. And that is why they don't want Senator -- I'm fogging out, from North Carolina. I can't believe I can't remember.

MORRIS: Edwards.

O'REILLY: Edwards.

MORRIS: Which does Kerry no good. I mean, the South isn't going to vote for a vice president.

O'REILLY: OK. So you believe that Bill Clinton is pushing for the V.P. But Kerry doesn't really like Hillary. There's no -- but JFK didn't like LBJ, so that doesn't...

MORRIS: Exactly. There's no great -- there's no hatred there, I mean, after all, they did help Kerry. Mary Beth Cahill and other people were people who both came from Kennedy and from Clinton. And I think that there's a -- I think that ultimately, Kerry is going to get the message that he's going to be picking knives out of his back all September and October unless he takes a hostage named Hillary and puts her on his ticket.

[edit]

O'REILLY: Listen, I have no -- I think it would be an interesting choice myself. I don't have any...

MORRIS: It would guarantee 100 percent...

Oil prices rose to their highest level in a month on Tuesday ($39.33 a barrel) as supply disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria added momentum to a five-day rally .... U.S. oil has gained almost four dollars since last Tuesday in a rally carried along by Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi's comments that oil prices were "fair."

Southern Baptist church-state specialist Richard Land said he is “appalled” at an effort by President Bush’s re-election campaign that includes seeking possession of the membership directories of churches.

Bush-Cheney ’04 has provided coalition coordinators with a sheet asking them to give their church directories to the campaign, talk to church groups about the re-election effort and distribute “Voter Guides” in the churches. The instructions consist of 22 responsibilities and the deadlines by which they should be completed prior to the Nov. 2 election.

“I’m appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “It’s one thing for the church to have a voter registration drive, to seek to inform church members on public policy issues, to encourage church members to fulfill their Christian duty and vote, and to encourage them to vote their values, beliefs and convictions. It’s another thing entirely for a partisan campaign to ask church members to bring in church directories for use as contact lists by the campaign and to seek to come into the church and do a voter registration drive and distribute campaign literature.”

A leader in the National Association of Evangelicals had a similar take.

It sounds like “an overzealous campaign worker ... stepped over the line of appropriate behavior,” said Richard Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the NAE. “[W]hen party officials, whether Republican or Democrat, do that, it’s simply the obligation of church members to determine what is appropriate, ethical and legal and to say, ‘No.’”

The Bush-Cheney campaign defended the effort.

“By no means are we calling on people to conduct political activity at their places of worship,” campaign spokesperson Sharon Castillo told Baptist Press. “Our approach is peer-to-peer contact.

“We believe that people of faith have the right do engage in the political process,” she said. It is the campaign’s job to identify those religious adherents who support Bush but did not vote in 2000 and turn them out for the election, she said, adding, “We are just trying to engage more of our fellow citizens in the political process.”

The instruction sheet, which was provided to BP by a source other than the Bush-Cheney campaign, includes the following:

-- “Send your Church Directory to your State Bush-Cheney ’04 headquarters or give [it] to a BC04 Field Rep.

-- “Identify another conservative church in your community who you can organize for Bush.

-- “Talk to your Pastor about holding a Citizenship Sunday and Voter Registration Drive.

-- “Begin to organize a voter registration drive at your church.

-- “Talk to your Church’s seniors or 20-30 something group about Bush/Cheney ’04.

-- “Finish calling all Pro-Bush members of your church and encourage them to vote.”

It also instructs coordinators to host on two occasions a “Party for the President” with church members and to distribute voter guides on the two Sundays before the election. It does not specify the source of the voter guides.

The request for church directories to be given to the campaign disturbed Land the most, he said. If he were a pastor, Land said, he would tell members from the pulpit that for them to give their directories to a campaign is a “violation of the trust of your fellow church members and of the body collectively, just as it would be inappropriate to share it with a marketing group.”

Land supports church involvement in voter registration and education. The ERLC is promoting its own effort and Internet site, iVoteValues.com, to encourage Christians to register and for churches to sponsor nonpartisan voter registration and education efforts.

“The bottom line is -- when a church does it, it’s nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it’s partisan and inappropriate,” Land said.

At the height of this yearÂ?s backlash against President BushÂ?s signature domestic policy initiative, 27 state legislatures drafted 54 bills to protest the costs, penalties and unprecedented federal oversight of school policy under the 2002 act.

Fearing election-year fallout, the Education Department made several changes to its rules enforcing the law, which sets out to raise student performance and requires states to give annual reading and mathematics tests to students in third- through eighth-grade and 10th grade.

Behind the scenes, at least 40 state agencies currently are negotiating for even greater flexibility in federal rules to try to reduce the number of schools penalized by the act. Since the law was passed, more than a quarter of the nation's schools have been tagged as 'needing improvement.'

Some analysts predict renewed political furor over the law if the number of penalized schools increases as expected when this year's testing results are released by states through the summer and early fall.

Despite an intense lobbying effort last week by advocates of a constitutional ban on gay marriage, several senators locked in close reelection contests say they have yet to feel pressure from constituents to support the amendment.
...
But although the coalition sent out updates on where Daschle
and other senators it considers to be on the fence on the issue would
be appearing, Daschle campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said gay
marriage was not on the minds of the crowds.

The constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a
union between a man and a woman "didn't come up once," Pfeiffer said.
"We've heard from almost no one."
...
Tom McClusky, director of government affairs for the Family
Research Council, acknowledged that the lobbying effort was an
attempt to influence the election, even if just to let voters know
where each senator stands on the issue.

Sudanese refugees have heard promises before. When the government and rebel groups signed an April 8 cease-fire, some returned to the ruins of their villages to rebuild — only to be attacked all over again.

[edit]

Even if el-Bashir's government is serious about disarming the militias, some humanitarian workers in Darfur privately questioned their ability to contain the armed bands, which roam a vast and desolate region the size of France. In previous disarmament efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, fighters lay down their weapons only to pick them up again soon after because they could find no better work.

Jean-Hervé Bradol, head of Médecins Sans Frontières, also said last week after returning from visiting MSF projects in Darfur that the use of the term genocide was inappropriate, speaking instead of "a mass campaign of repression directed against civilians".

The time has come for decisive action by the West and Africa aimed at preventing a full-scale famine and bringing peace to this long-suffering country.

Cheney said Hussein sent a brigadier general in the Iraqi intelligence service to Sudan to train al-Qaeda in bomb-making and document-forgery. Cheney said Hussein was part of a terrorist threat that was largely unchecked before Bush's presidency.

Two Bush opponents, taken out of the crowd in restraints by police, said they were told they could not be there because they were wearing shirts that said they opposed the President.