Yesterday, Roll Call, which is like the high school paper for Capitol Hill, reported that the Capitol Hill press corps wasn't all that interested in the McCain/Gramm "nation of whiners" story:
Despite the media hubbub over former Sen. Phil Gramm’s (R-Texas) comments that the U.S. is in a “mental recession” and a “nation of whiners,” only a handful of reporters showed up Thursday to hear Senate Democrats blast the high-profile economic adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
Those Hill reporters are all way too busy to cover the political story of the day. Plus, they might have to be critical of John McCain and miss a chance to ride on the Lap Dog Express.
But, Harry Reid is undeterred by that lack of media interest -- did his part to keep the story going and upped the ante. Reid blasted Gramm -- and McCain today. Nico Pitney at Huffington Post has the story and the video:
"Graham has a view of government which is that government is the enemy, not a friend," Reid said in an interview this afternoon with CongressionalVideo.com. "And, obviously from his comments, he now believes the American people are not his friend either, and he has a low view of the American people. Thinks they're a bunch of whiners."
In fact, Reid said, "every segment of our economy is in deep trouble. Deep trouble. We have the housing market, which is falling apart. We have gas prices which are astronomical, people can't even afford to drive to work in many instances."
The Senate Majority Leader saved some of his powder for his colleague from Arizona. "You tie that in with what McCain has said, that he doesn't understand the economy...and he's relying on someone who says that the economy is in good shape and the Americans are a bunch of whiners. We should all worry about the Republican nominee."
BUT ALL THE WOMEN WON'T HAVE VOTED YET?! Oh that's right, by then they will have. I'm sure there will be some new and creative excuse next week as to why Hillary won't be able to concede just yet. Perhaps she'll need to stay in the race in order to save the whales. More from ABC:
Uncommitted superdelegate and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, visiting San Francisco, told KGO Radio today that he spoke this morning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and last night to DNC Chairman Howard Dean and, "We agree there won’t be a fight at the convention," he said.
In April, Reid had suggested that he, Pelosi and Dean would convene after the last Democratic primary and decide on a course of action to make superdelegates take sides long before the convention. Today he said, "We’re going to urge folks to make a decision quickly – next week," he told Ronn Owens, according to his office.
I'm just having a hard time understanding why Howard Dean seems more interested in sucking up to Hillary than beating John McCain in the fall. Today we have definitive proof, again, of how Hillary is literally and quantitatively hurting our battle to win the White House, and Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid - and the superdelegates - aren't doing nearly enough about it.
From today's Washington Post we learn - as I've been saying for weeks - that Hillary's insistence to stay in the race, even though she's already lost - is hurting the DNC's fundraising in their efforts to take on John McCain.
In a banner fundraising year for Democrats, the struggles of the Democratic National Committee to stockpile cash are frustrating party leaders and complicating efforts to define Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee....
[A]s of the end of April, the DNC had collected $22.8 million this year and had $4.4 left to spend; the Republican National Committee finished April with $57.6 raised and $40.6 million in its accounts.
DNC supporters say several factors have contributed to the shortfall. Among them, they say, are that the protracted race between Obama and Clinton has soaked up funds that would otherwise go the party committee...
One longtime party strategist familiar with the inner workings of the DNC went further, acknowledging that although raising money is always "a difficult thing during a primary" for the DNC, "there is serious concern about their complete lack of fundraising success."...
A high-ranking DNC official who spoke with The Washington Post on the condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation said he worries that the party's impaired financial condition is leaving it powerless to help define McCain.
"Both campaigns have expressed a desire for us to attack McCain," the official said. "We made a small media buy. But we simply cannot sustain the kind of advertising we need right now. We can't even sustain even a national cable buy for a month."
But hey, Hillary has a bruised ego, and she's now hell-bent on convincing her supporters that the election was stolen from her by misogynist voters and superdelegates and mathematicians, so what's a lost presidency compared to Hillary's fragile emotions? Yes, Dean and Pelosi and Reid have talked to Hillary privately. That's nice. It clearly didn't work. Then again, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that Dean, Pelosi and Reid never exacted a "no assassinations-talk" promise from Hillary, so technically she may not have breached their agreement. (Never get into a land war in Asia, and never get into a parsing contest with the Clintons.)
Everyone in the party is afraid of the Clintons. Far too many superdelegates are still not picking a side because they don't want to offend either Hillary or Obama. Take Rep. Clyburn. He's African-American and a superdelegate, and this weekend he expressed outrage at Hillary's assassination comments. But even so, he's still "undecided" as to who should be president. Apparently, hinting at the assassination of a black presidential candidate isn't enough to tip the scales for the most senior African-American member of the House. Maybe he's waiting to hear Hillary's position on slavery.
The superdelegates, our party leaders, are more interested in not offending Hillary than they are in winning the White House in the fall. So, we'll continue talking about "white Americans" and "assassinations" all the way until the convention, ripping our party in two, and defunding the effort to beat John McCain in the fall, because Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the superdelegates don't have the backbone to tell Hillary that it's over.
What more proof do you need that Hillary Clinton isn't slowly wrapping up her campaign gracefully? What more proof do you need as to the damage that Hillary Clinton is causing our party by staying in the race? What more proof do you need as to the venom that is motivating her insistence on staying in the race? Do you honestly still think that she's not capable of dragging this out until the convention? Today proved that she is capable of anything.
It's far past the time for quiet little conversations urging Hillary to play nice. She lost the right to ask for "the benefit of the doubt" ten racist eruptions ago. Dean, Pelosi and Reid should tell Hillary that she has till Monday to gracefully exit the race, or Monday afternoon they are publicly endorsing Obama and calling on her to concede. And then, if she doesn't concede, Dean, Pelosi and Reid should publicly call on all the superdelegates to immediately pick a candidate, or else.
Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid carry a lot of weight in this town. And among Democrats, they carry all the weight. Screw with any of them, and you can lose your political livelihood. It's only a question of how much Dean, Pelosi and Reid care about the permanent alienation of the black community from the Democratic party, and the civil war that Hillary Clinton pretty much guaranteed today with her incredibly offensive comments about June being the month for assassinations.
You gave her her chance. Now it's time to tell her it's over, before the damage is permanent.
Earlier this week, at the Maria Leavey Breakfast with Harry Reid, I asked the Majority Leader about the FEC:
JOE SUDBAY (Americablog.com): Hi I'm Joe Sudbay from Americablog, based here in DC. And I'm interested in the issue of presidential nominations particularly the FEC and what will happen with that. We saw last week that Bush withdrew David Mason who was quoted in the Washington Post earlier this year, saying that John McCain was basically breaking the law. So what do you foresee in general with presidential nominations going forward this session and particularly with the FEC.
REID: I've had private discussions with Bolten, Josh Bolten. I've had many things public in nature, in fact most publicly, we've exchanged a number of letters back and forth. Here's where we are now. We have three Democrats that we are happy to have on the Federal Election Commission. They have three Republicans they're happy to have on the Federal Election Commission. We will not let one of them be approved. His name is Von Splotsky or something like that. So they're going to have to make a decision, they're going to have to replace him or there will be no FEC. And they need it worse than we do.
Yesterday morning, I attended the Maria Leavey Breakfast with Majority Leader Harry Reid. I brought my Flip camera to get video -- and I did (except the sound didn't come through.) So, I waited for the transcript before I posted on the event.
Reid was his usual blunt self, answering questions on the record for the reporters and bloggers at the meeting. He didn't hold back. Nico Pitney posted one account here.
Couple of great lines from Reid. On Republican Senators:
First of all folks understand that the Republicans in the Senate do not represent mainstream Republicanism in the country. Mainstream Republicanism in the country is moderate. The Republicans in the Senate are not moderates, with the one exception of Olympia Snowe are not moderates, they're right wing. And that includes some people who in the past have been moderates, someone you'd think like Arlen Specter. I talk about Arlen Specter in my book briefly and say that he's with us when we don't need him. (Laughter) Which is true, he never votes with us on an important vote. The only one who does is Olympia Snowe.
And on FISA:
As you know the Senate passed a bill that granted immunity, I and the majority of the Democrats opposed that, but there were still enough Democrats to join with the Republicans to pass it. I personally don't believe that the phone companies should have immunity and I certainly don't think Bush and Cheney should have immunity. And that's where we are. They are trying to work something out. These are public hearings, public negotiations most of the time, not all of the time, but remember this is not going to happen unless we have Chairman Conyers and others sign off on it, otherwise you can't get it done. So I think we have some good people involved in this. Hopefully we'll work something out on it. As I said, I think the mad rush for immunity was not intense as it was.
For me, the best moment was the last question asking the Majority Leader to handicap the upcoming Senate races.
After explaining how well all the incumbents are doing, Reid turned to the challengers and open seats. In his own words:
We're ahead in Virginia, I mean Virginia's not even close. We're ahead in New Mexico. We'll probably win in Colorado. We're very concerned about that state always even though Mark Udall's way ahead, because the Republicans, there's more than 100,000 more Republicans than Democrats in that state. It's changing significantly, you have a Democratic legislature, a Democratic governor so we're doing OK in Colorado and I think Udall will win. As we speak we're ten points ahead of Stevens in Alaska. Mayor Begich is in town today, I'm going to go to an event for him later on this morning. We have a primary in Oregon. We believe that Merkley who's speaker of the Assembly, can beat Smith.
We believe that Elizabeth Dole is going to be beaten. The niece of Lawton Chiles, governor and senator from Florida, who is running, she's a state senator, and she's only two or three points behind her right now and I think she's going to win that race, she meaning Kay Hagan.
We have, we got poll results back out of Texas, we're only four points behind in Texas.
We're tied in Mississippi as we speak.
We just have a lot of places to look that are very important. I believe that Maine is going to be our Rhode Island this time. I think Sue Collins who has favorability not nearly as high as Chaffee's, but once Allen starts tying her to what Bush has done Maine which has a very progressive state, are, they're going to turn her out
So we're going to pick up some seats I've only gone over a few of them. We're as I, I think I told you we're competitive as I speak in 11 seats, so I hope that we'll pick up a number, a few of them. I'm kind of a cynic about everything that way I'm not disappointed as often. So I think we'll pick up four seats, five seats.
Let's review what's in play: Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and Maine. Sounds good to me. I'd throw in New Hampshire, Minnesota and Nebraska (after Scott Kleeb wins tonight), too.
It was one of those typical questions from a reporter gaggle on Capitol Hill: Does Harry Reid think the protracted nomination fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will harm the party?
Reid didn't miss a beat.
"It makes me bitter," he deadpanned.
Reid has such a dry humor that you actually have to pause and look at him to make sure he's not being serious when he's attempting comedy. But his usual grimace in front of reporters quickly turned to a grin as he capitalized on the now infamous "bitter" comment made by Obama at a San Francisco area fund raiser.
In all seriousness, Reid said he believed the Democratic nomination "is all going to be over very soon," and he contended that "it has been healthy for our party."
Bush really seems to hate it when anyone questions his failed Iraq strategy. For years, the Republican leaders of the House and Senate never challenged him. Today's release of the National Intelligence Estimate just provides further proof that Bush has failed. We need a change of course. Most of America gets it. Bush still doesn't.
Today's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq confirms what most Americans already know: Our troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and the President's escalation strategy has failed to produce the political results he promised to our troops and the American people.
Our troops have done everything asked of them and more. Unfortunately Iraq's leaders have not. And as today's NIE makes clear, a political solution is extremely unlikely in the near term. Further pursuit of the Administration's flawed escalation strategy is not in our nation's best interests.
Every day that we continue to stick to the President's flawed strategy is a day that America is not as secure as it could be. As the intelligence community reported in another NIE just weeks ago, America's attention is distracted from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which has regenerated its capacity to its pre-9/11 levels. That is why it is so essential that this September, Republicans join with Democrats to change course in Iraq and work to restore our nation's security.
In today’s National Intelligence Estimate, the American people were presented with yet more evidence that the Iraqi government has failed to take the necessary steps to reach political reconciliation. Our military has performed their duties excellently, but the purpose of the escalation in Iraq was to create a secure environment in which political change could occur, and it is clear that the Iraqi leaders have failed to make progress.
We need a New Direction to bring our troops home from Iraq so that America can refocus its efforts against terrorism worldwide.
"The White House's effort to prevent General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker from testifying openly and candidly before Congress about the situation in Iraq is unacceptable. Not only does it contradict the law President Bush himself signed in May, but it appears to be yet another politically driven attempt to avoid giving Congress and the American people an honest and open assessment of a war we can all see is headed in the wrong direction.
"From the very beginning of this war, the Bush Administration has refused to level with the American people about its flawed policy. It has instead done everything in its power to escape accountability and mislead us about the reality on the ground. The result: an open-ended civil war that has taken nearly 4,000 American soldiers' lives and an Iraqi government that refuses to take responsibility for its own country.
"If the President is going to continue to ask American soldiers to fight in this civil war, ask taxpayers to spend $10 billion each month to fund this war and ask the American people for patience as he conducts this war, then those closest to the situation on the ground must give Congress and the American people a frank and honest account of this war free of White House political spin."
Quietly, very quietly, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are getting things done. Now, it's been overshadowed by the Hillary-Obama tiffs, the Gonzalez fiasco, the Petraeus report, even Fred Thomspon's campaign being run by his wife. But still, things seem to be moving in the right direction.
Last night, the Senate passed the S-CHIP health care expansion and the Ethics bill, both with veto proof majorities. These bills are not only good policies, but they make for excellent politics. And now, Democrats can head into the recess with major accomplishments (and momentum) under their belt.
I have to admit, I'm impressed. There were some rough patches in the beginning, but both leaders have really got it together. Democrats having effective leadership? What's next, the Cubs winning the World Series (Sorry John, that's a cheap shot)?
The Chair of Republican National Committee, Robert M. "Mike" Duncan, just launched a full-scale attack on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The funny thing is that the first line of the e-mail could be a fundraiser for Democrats:
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called President Bush "a liar" and a "part of the culture of corruption."
Both true.
Duncan's e-mail devolves into a rant from there. But you have to love the fact that the RNC is attacking Reid for doing something most Republican will never, ever do: Tell the truth.
Yes, Harry Reid had the audacity to say that George Bush lies. George Bush does lie and most Americans know it. Bush lied about the Iraq war -- and just today lied to all of us about Al Qaeda -- again.
The problem for Mr. Duncan and the RNC is that, as the ABC News/Washington Post poll found, even Republicans are abandoning Bush. The Republicans on Capitol Hill are in big trouble. And, it's getting worse by the day.
Look at the Senate. Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans have followed Bush's lead. They've enabled Bush's lies. And, they're going to pay a big political price. Just today, Chris Cilizza reports that McConnell could be in serious trouble in 2008. Last week, Tony Blankley, an editor of Reverend Moon's paper who is also a mouthpiece of the institutional GOP here in DC, basically wrote off the re-election efforts of Republican Senators Susan Collins and Gordon Smith on the Diane Rehm show. Blankley said both of those Senators are in "desperate straits" and "Bush's policy is terribly unpopular and it's going to reflect on them and they are going to lose their re-election bids." Sounds like the GOP brain trust has already decided those two are history.
So, while the RNC is attacking Harry Reid, the GOP, especially the Senate Republican caucus, is falling apart -- because of George Bush and his lies. No wonder they don't want Harry Reid telling the truth.
The Washington press corps just can't believe that Harry Reid called Bush a "liar." Reid is still getting questioned about it. Yesterday, on Face the Nation, Reid explained his rationale:
"When I have dealings with people, and they tell me one thing and do something else, they're not telling the truth, what else do you have to call them? I am a person who calls things the way I see them," Reid said Sunday.
Now, that's not very complicated, but the media can't grasp it. Bush lies to them regularly -- and they report what he says anyway. The Bush team knows the media won't call them liars. It's just not done. So, Bush and his crew have lied without repercussions for years.
Fortunately, Harry Reid doesn't hold back. A lie is a lie -- especially if it comes from George Bush. Most of the media doesn't get that, but more and more Americans do.
Last week, John wrote a post that dissected the so-called compromise bill being offered on Iraq. The perception being pushed by the sponsors was that their bill would implement the December 2006 Iraq Study Group Report. John proved that, in fact, wasn't true. Instead, the bill kept our troops in Iraq indefinitely:
A bipartisan group of Senators has prepared legislation that they want to offer in the next few weeks that would keep US troops in Iraq indefinitely. What's worse, they're claiming that the legislation implements the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, when in fact, the legislation codifies George Bush's current failed policies in Iraq.
The misnamed "Iraq Study Group (ISG) Recommendations Implementation Act of 2007," is being offered by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Robert Casey (D-PA), John Sununu (R-NH) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Probably the most offensive thing about the legislation is that it outright calls for the continuation of the status quo policy of keeping US troops in Iraq until the day that Iraq is 100% ready to stand on its own - namely, never.
You know the way the media works that anything with "moderates" pushing it must be good. This bill isn't -- and if people read the bill, actually read it, they'll know.
Fortunately, Majority Leader Harry Reid seems to have clued in according to today's Washington Post:
Reid said yesterday that he is unsure whether Salazar's bill will come to a vote. "What we do has to be more than something that feels good," he said. "It has to be something that calls for real change in our policy in Iraq."
Reid said he had held numerous talks with Salazar about how to toughen the bill and make it more relevant to current conditions. "Is it going to be something that has some teeth in it? If it is, certainly I'll put my arms around it. And I think most Democrats will," Reid said.
The Republicans in the Senate have never done anything to actually change the course in Iraq. They may be flocking to the Salazar bill because, as it's written now, they know it won't do anything either.
Harry Reid is right. It is time for real change. Senators, especially the Republicans, can't just talk about how bad the war has gotten. They need to put their words into action. It's way past time for that.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today in response to Senator Pete Domenici's call for a new U.S. military strategy in Iraq:
"Senator Domenici is correct to assess that the Administration's war strategy is misguided. But we will not see a much-needed change of course in Iraq until Republicans like Senators Domenici, Lugar and Voinovich are willing to stand up to President Bush and his stubborn clinging to a failed policy – and more importantly, back up their words with action. Beginning with the Defense Authorization bill next week, Republicans will have the opportunity to not just say the right things on Iraq, but vote the right way too so that we can bring the responsible end to this war that the American people demand and deserve.
"As evidence mounts that the 'surge' is failing to make Iraq more secure, we cannot wait until the Administration's September report before we change course. President Bush and the Iraqis must move now to finally accept a measure of accountability for this war, implement the Iraq Study Group recommendations, transition the mission for our combat troops and start bringing them home from an intractable civil war."
