With the news of Hillary's big announcement today (I said 'big' not unexpected) The Atlantic has pushed its recent and arguably definitive profile of HRC in front of the magazine's firewall.
--Josh Marshall
Official Conservative Narrative of Hillary Clinton's candidacy takes shape: She's forever doomed to vacillate between "centrist" pro-war position and "left-wing" antiwar stance.
And speaking of "centrism," we've found what may be the ultimate example of a big news org's mindless and reflexive use of the much-abused term. View it here.
--Greg Sargent
A top Democratic donor gives us an insider's view of the behind-the-scenes fundraising battle between Obama and Clinton.
--Greg Sargent
To their credit, corporations do not appear to be heeding Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson's suggestion that they boycott law firms representing Guantanamo detainees:
Instead of Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, DaimlerChrysler, and Pfizer dumping their outside counsel in a fit of political protest, firms have largely gotten support from corporate America and from within their partnership ranks.“Pro bono service and the rule of law are great traditions in the American legal profession, and we at GE have no intention of — and strongly disagree with the suggestion of in any way — discriminating against law firms that represent us on the basis of the pro bono, charitable, or public service that the lawyers in those firms choose to engage in,” Brackett Denniston, senior vice president and general counsel at General Electric, said in a statement. Jenner & Block and Covington, two firms involved in representing detainees, have done legal work for GE.
GE’s not alone in its position.
“I intend to continue to use the firms that regularly represent us. The fact that they engage in pro bono work or work for other clients that I don’t necessarily agree with doesn’t affect my decision,” says William Barr, general counsel of Verizon Communications and former attorney general under President George H.W. Bush. Debevoise & Plimpton and WilmerHale have both represented Verizon and are active in representing detainees.
Stimson has apologized, sort of. He remains on the job.
--David Kurtz
You may recall the President announcing, during his primetime address on Iraq, the creation of a bipartisan working group to coordinate between the White House and Congress on the war on terrorism:
Acting on the good advice of Senator Joe Lieberman and other key members of Congress, we will form a new, bipartisan working group that will help us come together across party lines to win the war on terror. This group will meet regularly with me and my administration; it will help strengthen our relationship with Congress.
Nice touch there, using Lieberman as a wedge.
But Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have refused to be drawn into the Bush-Lieberman dog and pony show, sending a letter to the President yesterday declining the invitation:
We believe that Congress already has bipartisan structures in place, like the committee system and other Congressional working groups such as the Senate’s National Security Working Group, that could produce the result you described in your speech.We look forward to working with you within these existing structures, in a bipartisan and fully consultative way, to make progress on efforts against terrorism and other important matters.
A weak and unpopular President and his token Democrat.
--David Kurtz
A staggering 68 percent of Americans are opposed to the surge, according to the latest Newsweek poll.
--David Kurtz
Want to watch Hillary discuss her decision to enter the race?
We have some video for you here.
How'd she do?
--Greg Sargent
Democrats add calcium to diet; spines stiffen.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV):
Mr. Rockefeller was biting in his criticism of how President Bush has dealt with the threat of Islamic radicalism since the Sept. 11 attacks, saying he believed that the campaign against international terrorism was “still a mystery” to the president.“I don’t think he understands the world,” Mr. Rockefeller said. “I don’t think he’s particularly curious about the world. I don’t think he reads like he says he does.”
He added, “Every time he’s read something he tells you about it, I think.”
Intensifying a war of words over a U.S. troop buildup in Iraq, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President George W. Bush on Friday of playing politics with soldiers' lives, a charge the White House called "poisonous.""The president knows that because the troops are in harm's way that we won't cut off the resources," Pelosi, head of the Democratic-led House, told ABC's "Good Morning America. "That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way."
--David Kurtz
Hillary Clinton launches exploratory committee for 2008 presidential campaign: "I'm in. And I'm in to win."
--David Kurtz
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, was taken to the woodshed by Texas Congressional Democrats in a secret meeting in Washington on Friday:
Members described the meeting as frank and candid, at times testy, though never hostile. They said they reminded Perry, a Republican, that a redistricting plan he helped push through the Texas Legislature had cost their state possible chairmanships of the Agriculture, Homeland Security and Rules committees."We told him now that we are in the majority ... we control a lot of money," said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi.
Uh, well, that's pretty blunt.
--David Kurtz
Sign of the times: The domain address "impeachbush.com" is up for auction at eBay today. Current bid: $25,200.
--David Kurtz
Heckuva job, Brownie:
Party politics played a role in decisions over whether to take federal control of Louisiana and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA director Michael Brown said Friday.Some in the White House suggested only Louisiana should be federalized because it was run by a Democrat, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Brown told a group of graduate students at a lecture on politics and emergency management at Metropolitan College of New York.
Brown said he had recommended to President Bush that all 90,000 square miles along the Gulf Coast affected by the hurricane be federalized, making the federal government in charge of all agencies responding to the disaster.
"Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking we had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor and we have a chance to rub her nose in it," he said.
Paging Sen. Lieberman. Sen. Lieberman? Joe, where are you?
--David Kurtz
Jury selection can be as slow as watching paint dry, but MSNBC's David Shuster teases out some interesting tidbits from week one of the Scooter Libby trial.
--David Kurtz
You got the sense this week that the federal investigations into Republican corruption were going to muscle their way back into the news on a more regular basis.
Former GOP Congressman Bob Ney was sentenced today to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal. (The best headline for that story was "Abramoff Republican Sentenced." Abramoff Republicans. I like that. You had Radical Republicans, Rockefeller Republicans, and now Abramoff Republicans. Sums up the era, doesn't it?)
In other Abramoff news, an indictment of former Bush Interior official Steven Griles appears imminent. Griles has resigned from the lobbying firm of Lundquist, Nethercutt & Griles LLC and from the Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission. He has also beefed up his legal defense team.
Duke Cunningham briber Mitchell Wade, founder of the now defunct defense contractor MZM, is still singing like a canary. His sentencing will reportedly be delayed for another six months so that his cooperation with the feds can continue. That investigation will continue without the involvement of Carol Lam, we learned this week. The San Diego U.S. Attorney whose office was leading the Cunningham investigation and its various outgrowths was pushed out of office by the Bush Administration for reasons which are still unclear and therefore suspicious.
While the criminal justice side of the scandals ground slowly onward, the political house-cleaning swept along in ways large and small. In Washington, the Senate, after the usual jockeying and gamesmanship, passed an ethics reform bill that was tougher than many had expected and than Majority Leader Harry Reid may have wanted. In Texas, the state canceled controversial lobbying contracts with two Tom Delay-connected lobbying firms, vestiges of the headier days of GOP dominance.
For my money, though, the best antiseptic was a return to congressional oversight. The lights and cameras focused on high-profile hearings, like the appearance of the Attorney General before the Judiciary Committee, but the hardest and most important work is done out of the view of the cameras in the myriad of little ways that Congress, when doing its job properly, can hold the Executive to account.
This morning, for example, the Washington Post ran an important story on an effort, later abandoned, by GSA Administrator Lurita Doan to award a no-bid federal contract to a company owned by her former business partner and friend. Before the day was out, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had opened an investigation, and Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) had fired off letters to Doan and the two other principal players in the Post story requesting documents and information pertaining to the contract in question.
The days of wine and roses for our Republican friends are over.
--David Kurtz
Longtime TPM Reader MM comments ...
Scandals as Assessed by the PostPage A1, 1060 words:
Identity of Edwards Home's Buyers Veiled
Assisted-Living Magnates in SEC Probe Paid Candidate $5.2 Million
Page A9, "Findings," 352 words:
Big Tobacco Boosting Nicotine in Cigarettes: Study
--Josh Marshall
Interesting. Some days I'm so busy I don't even get a chance to look at stories that show up on other TPM sites. So just perusing TPMmuckraker here, I see that apparently Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was told that the culling of US Attorneys out west is being done so other GOP toadies can pad their resumes with a high-profile job.
--Josh Marshall
TPM Reader JO, on the U.S. Attorney purges:
A lot of people seem to be getting snowed by the dodge that some of the acting US Attorneys will go through the confirmation process as if it gets rid of the problem, but it really doesn't.Before they changed the statute, the President had no effective way to put a political stooge in as US Attorney for more than 4 months without buy-in from another branch of government (or a year at most via a recess appointment). But now he can, and putting the stooge up for confirmation is a no-lose proposition. If the Senate confirms, great. If they never give the nominee a hearing, they only prolong his tenure. And if they reject the nominee, he can still stay in office until a new nominee is appointed -- which might never happen.
This is a serious blow to effective law-enforcement, and it's going to make morale plummet in prosecutors' offices all over the country.
Has anyone introduced legislation yet to strip this misguided provision from the Patriot Act?
Update: The answer is yes. Senators Feinstein, Leahy, and Pryor have introduced the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act, which would restore to the District Courts the power to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys.
--David Kurtz
I've been visting this site called Alive in Baghdad. It's a videoblog based in the US but staffed by videobloggers in Iraq.
Here's a short segment on Wisam, a recent college graduate who lives in Baghdad but spends most days inside playing video games because it's too dangerous to venture outside.
--Josh Marshall
More on the administration's ousting of US Attorneys: in at least a couple of states, there are signs that they'll be following the normal nomination process, i.e. running their nominees through the Democratic-controlled Senate. We'll see.
--Paul Kiel
You knew it was coming. Greg Sargent on a major hole in Solomon's hit piece on John Edwards.
--Paul Kiel
Hmmm. Seems John Solomon's work isn't necessarily getting rave reviews inside WaPo either. Last night we noted the S-man's deeply lame article on John Edwards' house sale. The gist of the article is that the Edwards sold their DC house actually below the original asking price to a couple that is no friend of unions. And remember, Edwards isn't even in government. The piece breaks new ground in journalistic lameness even in the context of Solomon's already impressive record in that regard.
In any case, a reader brought it up in the WaPo chat this morning with Postie Jonathan Weisman and well ...
Arlington, VA: Can you explain why John Edwards' real estate transaction warrants front page coverage today? I read the article a couple of times, and frankly, I'm at a loss trying to decipher what John and Elizabeth Edwards did wrong. Now, if the buyers used part of proceeds from the questionable stock sale to buy the house, that's the buyers' problem, not the seller. And considering the Edwardses sold the house for LESS than what they were asking, I ask again: what did they do wrong?Jonathan Weisman: Umm, this is, for obvious reasons, a sensitive question. I for one was looking for more of a connection between the Edwards and the buyers. I didn't see it. Frankly, I bought a house from some people named Buckmaster DeWolf and Rosemary Ratcliffe. I love their names but I met them for about 15 minutes as we signed our papers. So what?
That was pretty much our impression too.
Update: We'll have more on this soon. And click here for our past fun with Solomon.
--Josh Marshall
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Update: That's the longest sentence from the Abramoff investigation so far.
--Paul Kiel
John Solomon at it again. And now on the Edwards beat.
And tomorrow the man himself is on Washington Journal.
Late Update: TPM Reader GG chimes in ...
I don't understand the story. Edwards sold his house to a guy who is opposed by the unions that Edwards is seeking support from. Huh? What's the implied scandal? I guess the article is supporsed drive unions away from Edwards? I don't see how the Klassens could be buying or think they were buying influence with Edwards - who doesn't even hold public office right now.I guess it's time to look at Solomon's real estate dealings.
--Josh Marshall
This is funny. The White House Correspondents' Association has apparently asked this year's comedic guest -- Rich Little -- not to give the president any grief since things are so bad for him already. And also no mentions of Iraq.
The president is still recovering from the long dark night of the soul that was last year's Colbert appearance.
--Josh Marshall
The shame of it all. Duke Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes' offices hit the auction block. The wages of muck.
--Josh Marshall
Over at TPMCafe we've been discussing progressive politics online. And apropos of that conversation, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has another report out on Americans' use of the internet. Micah Sifry's got an analysis of it up here with some intriguing findings on how Americans are using the internet for finding political news and engaging in political activism.
--Josh Marshall
Sure, he took bribes. But he also took on the Man.
Bob Ney, a victim of the "the powers that be."
--Paul Kiel
Having trouble keeping track of all the bills being proposed about Bush's escalation plan?
Here's a handy guide to all of them. We'll keep updating it as new bills come in -- and yes, there will be new bills in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, were you aware that all these anti-surge bills are actually good for Bush?
--Greg Sargent
Surveillance court judge: sure, you can see the order for the president's wiretapping program... but it's up to the administration.
--Paul Kiel
When do people wake up to the fact that John McCain is going nowhere in the 2008 presidential race? A new ARG poll shows that over the past year, McCain's support among New Hampshire independents has dropped from 49% to 29%. And ARG President Dick Bennett says those numbers are in line with what he's seeing in other states too.
One suspects (and this may be borne out in more detailed poll data) that the two big reasons for the collapse in independent support for McCain are his status as an Iraq war dead-ender and the fact that he's spent the last three years making nice with right-wingers and right-wing policy initiaitives that independents don't like. Remember too that, despite all the kowtowing, there are big leaders on the religious right who say they'll never support his candidacy for president.
I know a lot of people are saying McCain's a hypocrite and a flipflopper. And, sure, I agree, that's a big reason why his popularity has diminished so dramatically. But isn't it time people start asking whether he'd be a strong presidential candidate or whether he can even win the nomination? His claim to fame, what supposedly makes him such a strong contender is his support among independent voters. But they don't like him anymore.
--Josh Marshall
Someone needs to get Jay Carney to give Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) a chill-pill, I think. As we just updated you below, Sen. Feinstein pressed Attorney General Gonzales on those firings of US Attorneys. And he basically just stonewalled her. Click here to see the exchange. He won't say how many they've pushed out. His dodge was that the question of how many USAs they've canned is a 'personnel matter'.
--Josh Marshall
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) grills AG Alberto Gonzales on the administration's purge of U.S. Attorneys.
--Paul Kiel
McCain flip-flops on ethics reform, comes out in favor of 'astroturf' organizing.
--Josh Marshall
Dems to press Gonzales on US Attorney dismissals; Carney says Don't have a cow.
--Josh Marshall
Today's Must Read: Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki says Bush admininstration criticisms of him only embolden the terrorists.
--Paul Kiel
Republicans use poison pill to derail ethics reform in the senate.
No ethics reform unless the Republicans get a line item veto.
Call it what it is. The senate Republicans don't want an ethics bill. The corruption's just to sweet for them to let go of.
--Josh Marshall
It's not over. Key passage from the article in the Times ...
The administration said it had briefed the full House and Senate Intelligence Committees in closed sessions on its decision.But Representative Heather A. Wilson, Republican of New Mexico, who serves on the Intelligence committee, disputed that, and some Congressional aides said staff members were briefed Friday without lawmakers present.
Ms. Wilson, who has scrutinized the program for the last year, said she believed the new approach relied on a blanket, “programmatic” approval of the president’s surveillance program, rather than approval of individual warrants.
Administration officials “have convinced a single judge in a secret session, in a nonadversarial session, to issue a court order to cover the president’s terrorism surveillance program,” Ms. Wilson said in a telephone interview. She said Congress needed to investigate further to determine how the program is run.
Is it all a sleight of hand?
--Josh Marshall
Sigh. It's hard getting dumped.
Just ask Mark Levin, resident legal mind of nutball right-wing authoritarianism in early 21st century Washington, DC. Actually, the resident legal mind of nutball right-wing authoritarianism these days is really probably John Yoo. But we're talking a bit more the low-brow, second-tier chat show niche here. In any case, here Levin quite rightly has a fit over the fact that the program the administration spent like -- what? -- a year saying was vital to national security (warrantless wiretaps) can now apparently be brought under constitutional supervision without any problem whatsoever.
--Josh Marshall
Paging Wolf Blitzer and other pundits: Please read this the next time you feel moved to say that John McCain "likes straight talk."
--Greg Sargent
Behold! The full text of the nonbinding resolution introduced today by Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
The key line: "it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating the United States presence in Iraq."
--Paul Kiel
Hillary Clinton gets into the anti-surge legislation game.
Update: Here's some video of Clinton at a press conference introducing her bill.
Late update: Now Barack Obama is saying he'll introduce Iraq legislation, too.
--Paul Kiel
Specter confirms that he slipped in the Patiot Act provision on U.S. Attorneys.
--Paul Kiel
From a TPM Reader ...
Here's Press Secretary Tony Snow, today, in the gaggle:"The president has said directly to members of Congress on a number of occasions: 'Take whatever shots you want at me,' he says, 'in terms of politics. You can criticize me all you want, but make sure that you do not do things that are going to weaken the troops.' And he is very passionate and very adamant about that point. Members always say, 'yes, sir, we support the troops.' Therefore, it is going to be incumbent upon members of Congress who feel that that is a priority to figure out how best to express their support for troops."
Huh. That sounds awfully familiar. Where have I heard something like that before? Oh, yeah:
"The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!"
It's the "Otter Defense." You are powerless to resist it.
So, you're free to criticize me as president. But just remember that I embody America. So you're also criticizing America and the troops and probably also the founding fathers.
--Josh Marshall
Attorney General Gonzales: You know the NSA warrantless wiretapping program? Now we've got warrants!
--Justin Rood
Gonzales: No politics behind US Atty decisions. We just thought Karl Rove's chief dirty digger could use subpoena power.
--Josh Marshall
Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to roll out their resolution "expressing opposition to the President’s plan to deepen our military commitment in Iraq" at a 2:30 press conference today.
--Paul Kiel
So who dropped that little-known provision into the Patriot Act that allows the White House to appoint US Attorneys without getting them confirmed by the senate? We've been looking into this. And the hidden hand appears to be that of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- acting at the request of the Bush/Gonzales Justice Department.
--Josh Marshall
Today's Must Read: Deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs Charles Stimson apologizes.
--Paul Kiel
And there she goes. Carol Lam, US Attorney in San Diego, who prosecuted Duke Cunningham and was continuing her investigation into Bush appointee Kyle "Dusty" Foggo at CIA, has resigned.
--Josh Marshall
Shocking. Abramoff pal and lobbyist Grover Norquist lobbies against senate ethics bill.
This after hours post was brought to you by the Escobar Institute for Drug Legalization.
--Josh Marshall
Late to the party: Now President Bush says Saddam's execution looked like "kind of a revenge killing."
Wasn't as fun saying it on day one, bud.
--Josh Marshall
Okay, we've got some background here on that little-known provision of the Patriot Act that facilitated the federal prosecutor purge. Seems it only took the White House four months to start putting the new power to use.
--Josh Marshall
Ahhhh, good analogy. This from an article in the Charlottesville Daily Progress on the debate in the Virginia House of Delegates over an apology for slavery ...
Some delegates believe an apology is unnecessary and a sign of too much political correctness.“The present commonwealth has nothing to do with slavery,” said Del. Frank D. Hargrove, R-Glen Allen, whose ancestors were French Huguenots who came to America in search of religious freedom.
How far do these calls for apologies go, wondered Hargrove, a member of the House Rules Committee that could take up McEachin’s resolution as early as Wednesday.
“Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?” Hargrove wondered. “Nobody living today had anything to do with it. It would be far more appropriate in my view to apologize to the Upper Mattaponi and the Pamunkey” Indians for the loss of their lands in eastern Virginia, he said.
Maybe Dinesh D'Souza has something to say about this.
--Josh Marshall
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) took to the senate floor earlier this afternoon to discuss the White House's firing of US Attorneys around the country and decision to appoint replacements without senate approval. See the video here.
--Josh Marshall
So what other US Attorneys have been fired by the Bush White House so far? Here's the list of seven we've found so far.
As far as we can tell, a running massacre like this is unprecedented.
--Josh Marshall
For those of you who might be interested, Josh has graciously agreed to host my blog, The Horse's Mouth, here at TPM.
You can find the new Horse's Mouth homepage right here.
The blog is mainly (though not exclusively) about political coverage, so if you spot any particularly egregious (or just amusing) media follies, please don't hesitate to send 'em in to talk@talkingpointsmemo.com.
--Greg Sargent
Okay, so we already know that the White House has now taken the unprecedented step of firing at least four and likely seven US Attorneys in the middle of their terms of office -- at least some of whom are in the midst of corruption investigations of Bush administration officials and key Republican lawmakers. We also know that they're taking advantage of a handy provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the White House to replace these fired USAs with appointees who don't need to be approved by the senate.
Given that these new USAs are being plopped into offices currently investigating Republicans and other administration officials and others into states with 2008 presidential candidates, there's certainly ample opportunity for mischief.
So we're looking into just who the White House is appointing.
Well, let's start with the estimable J. Timothy Griffin, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas since December 20th.
If you hadn't heard about Griffin's appointment, don't feel bad, the guy he replaced hadn't either. Griffin's appointment was annouced on December 15th before the then-US Attorney 
Bud Cummins had even been given a chance to resign. Cummins got the call on his cell phone the same day while he was out hiking with his son. Cummins, who subsequently said he got forced out for political reasons, resigned on the 20th, the same day Griffin was sworn in.
So who's Griffin and what experience does he bring to the job?
Well, top of the list seems to be his stint at the White House where he worked for Karl Rove doing opposition research on Democrats. That was until late last year. According to this Arkansas Times report, for the last ten years -- with the exception of two one year stint -- he has always worked as a Republican party opposition researcher digging up dirt on Democrats. Deputy Research Director for the RNC from 1999-2000. Research Director for the RNC from 2002-2005. Oppo Research Director for Karl Rove 2005-2006. Prior to 1999? Well, he was associate independent counsel investigating Henry Cisneros from 1995-96. After that he went to work for Dan Burton on the Hill to investigate Asian money contributions to the DNC.
Back in 2000, when he was in charge of digging up dirt on Al Gore, he apparently had a poster hanging on the wall behind his desk which read: "On my command - unleash hell on Al."
So clearly, Griffin's a pretty apolitical guy.
Now, why would Karl Rove want his top oppo researcher being the US Attorney in Arkansas for the next two years?
And is Ed Gillespie suiting up to take over the Duke Cunningham investigation in San Diego?
--Josh Marshall
Video of Barack Obama discussing his decision to form a presidential exploratory committee.
--Josh Marshall
You've probably already seen some of the news about the Bush White House engaging in a seemingly unprecedented spree of firings of US Attorneys across the coutry. Conveniently, they're being replaced without senate approval under a provision of the Patriot Act. We're digging into now and we're finding a bunch. More soon.
--Josh Marshall
After this interview with Dinesh D'Souza was pointed out to me, I went over to the official TPM book shelf and noticed that we'd received a review copy of The Enemy at Home. So I leafed through the introduction. And D'Souza really does see bin Laden and his sundry cohorts as freedom fighters against abortion, homosexuals and free love in general.
--Josh Marshall
TPM Reader BC ...
Thanks for linking to the Haaretz article on the Syria-Israel peace talks. It sounds like Syria initiated this, and even kept it going through last summer's Lebanon war, then gave up because Israel was reluctant to move out of the realm of the theoretical.Syria's motivations are clear: Bashar Assad doesn't like being an Iranian satellite, and doesn't like being president of a small, poor backwards country wedged between a hostile Israel, a hostile Turkey, a Lebanon on the brink of a nasty civil war, and an Iraq well past the brink of a genocidal civil war.
The reasons for Israel's reluctance are also clear: already politically weak, Olmert did not want to take a huge diplomatic risk without being certain it would be part of a wider push for regional stability backed by the US.
The outlines of a peace agreeement between Israel and Syria are clear. And the benefits for the US and the rest of the region would be substantial. Israel would have the confidence to negotiate peace with the Palestinians. The confrontationist positions (and arms-smuggling routes) of Hamas and Hezbollah would be undermined, and peace-minded Palestinians like Abbas would be strengthened. Syria would be brought into the American orbit, and would start doing its part to quell the Sunni insurgency.
All it would take for this to happen would be some intelligent, patient, engaged, creative diplomacy by the US.
Sigh. Never mind.
Greg Djerejian had a similar thought.
--Josh Marshall
Dinesh D'Souza: The radical Islamists hate us because of our tolerance and liberalism. And they're right to hate us. So do I.
I thought the 'wingers had already got their half dozen uses out of this guy and tossed him in the trash. But I guess he's back. Turns out they've still got him on the payroll as "Rishwain Research Scholar at the Hoover Institution." It'll be fascinating to hear more about D'Souza's new book in which he makes a strategic alliance with Islamist terrorists against fellow Americans.
It's an amazing thing. When D'Souza sees the violent proponents of extremist Islam, he sees allies and ideological kindred spirits. And the American right embraces him.
--Josh Marshall
Roll Call: Sen. Webb (D-VA) to give Dems' official response to Bush State of the Union.
--Josh Marshall
USAToday editorializes about Pentagon Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles Stimson and his attacks on the rule of law. Why hasn't this guy been fired yet? Has anybody asked Secretary Gates about Stimson's efforts to shut down trials for Guantanamo detainees? How about Tony Snow? Anyone in the White House press corps thought to pose this question yet?
--Josh Marshall
Obama to file papers creating an exploratory committee to run for President.
--Paul Kiel