** WHILE BUSH COOLS HIS HEELS, NEW SENATE LEADERS MOVE. SORT OF. While President George W. Bush waits around for a day, he hopes, in Jordan, for his postponed summit with our man in Iraq, incoming leaders of the U.S. Senate are pushing for a new move in the strife-torn country. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, incoming Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller, and incoming Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin want Bush to appoint a special envoy to Iraq. His or her charge? To work with the various factions in the country to gain a ceasefire and a broad-based political settlement.
** President George W. Bush’s scheduled summit today in Jordan with the Iraqi prime minister has just been delayed until tomorrow. Pro-Shiite militia forces have threatened to pull their members out of the country’s parliament, possibly bringing the government down, if the Bush summit went forward.
** OBAMA GETS RELIGION. Rising Democratic superstar and presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) is courting evangelicals. He is slated to appear Friday at one of the biggest evangelical churches in the country, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, a community in Califonria’s Orange County. Pastor Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” is said to draw 20,000 people to weekly sermons there.
Obama and Warren have apparently struck up a seemingly unlikely friendship. The senator’s appearance at Warren’s big evangelical church is part of a two-day summit on the global AIDS crisis scheduled to include U2′s Bono and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. But anti-abortion forces are striking back against Obama’s appearance, since Obama is pro-choice.
** A PREVIEW OF THE POST-IRAQ TERROR WAR. Next week’s Senate hearings on the confirmation of Defense Secretary-designate Robert Gates are likely to provide an early preview of what America’s post-Iraq moves will be in the War on Terror. Gates, a former CIA director under Bush I, will, sources say, be questioned extensively about his ideas on prosecuting the Terror War aside from Iraq, where the US position has dramatically deteriorated.
** FRIST OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is also out of the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. The good doctor is expected to make an announcement later today.
** SUPREMES HEAT UP. Oral arguments take place today before the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. The state argues that the EPA should be regulating greenhouse gases. The Bush Administration EPA argues it does not have the authority. A read of the Clean Air Act indicates that the Bush EPA are wrong. California and other states have joined in the suit, which will not be decided until next spring at the earliest.
Depending on how it goes, and how it is cut, the decision could strengthen or impede California’s leading edge movest to cut greenhouse gas emissions. There is a separate but related case going currently. Automakers have filed suit against California’s 2002 law to cut tailpipe emissions. The case will be heard next January in Fresno.
** Monitor computer memory prices on a daily basis.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices are around $62 per barrel.
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Frist was not going anywhere.
They had better have a strategy for after Iraq. If not they have no strategy, not that they had a strategy in Iraq.
I hadn’t really looked at a Frist for President candidacy but at first blush it didn’t strike a chord.
Why would we expect them to have any strategy? lol
Found a link on blog LA Observed to a Copley News Service article that says Harman won’t be selected to head Intel:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/4772691.html
P.S. did anyone take serious the idea of Frist as a Presidential candidate?
I think Frist was out around the time he was diagnosing Terri Schiavo via closed-circuit television.
Is that a Republican thing?
There was a story in the past few days that mentioned Arnold being impressed with a device that was allowing a doc in SF check up on a patient in Sacramento.
On the heels of Senator Obama, look out for former Senator Edwards, whose book tour brings him to Santa Rosa on Sunday and Pasadena on Monday.
More on the Edwards book tour.
Is Edwards doing an evangelical book tour?
I think it’s a coffee table book about coffee tables. It even has little fold-out legs, in case you don’t have a coffee table.
I think Friday may be the only time you catch the Tommy Boy at a mega-church. Is this event open to the public…or just to radical protesters?
I think they have tickets because it’s a “summit.” Warren apparently doesn’t worry about drawing a crowd.
My girlfriends and eye are going to his book signing on Sunday…I think it is at 1:00pm …it conflicts with a Advent workshop at the Cathedral at 3…That’s the problem with December …there is always so much going on!…
On Obama..
Warren is a progressive he is all about love and people leading productive lives…
There is a movement within Evangelicals and the Catholic Church and among many religious leaders and groups in general to move the dialogue to issues that can unite us as a community, e.g., stopping the spread of, curing AIDS, Immigration,safeguarding the Environment…Rick Warren was one of the first real forces in Africa on AIDS .. I hope Obama is not bullied into not supporting/appearing with him
Religious leaders have a role to play in these debates and issues…I am very thankful and proud of the Catholic Churches role in advocating for reforming immigration..
Tis old english I am researching something about ADVENT!
“My girlfriends and eye”
The Bush “policy” continues its spectacular downward spiral.
What is he going to do with this day he thought would be devoted to summiteering, see the sights in Amman?
Babs -
I hope your friends got their tickets early, when they were only $200 and aren’t buying at the door, where they’ll be $240.
Looks like I watch for it on TV!
Registration for AIDS summit
Obama is sharing a panel with Senator Sam Brownback. There’s a helluva 2008 ticket!
I just read the article you linked on the Pro-Life protesters …they are all identified with the most conservative wing of the Reep party…This is not about abortion this about the Democrats making real inroads into religious communities, even with the Evangelicals this year in this past election! The Reeps conservative wing obviously feel very threatened by a Warren/Obama friendship…I liked the wonderful speech Kerry gave at Pepperdine on his reawakening to what Catholicism means to him…and I like what Obama is doing …this is all good news for DTS voters like me who are turned off by right wing Evangelicals taking over the Reeps and the seemingly harsh sounding secular left which appears at times to dominate the DEMs…
In other Obama news, it seems the Senator will appear on Leno on Friday, as well…
An “Arnold Announcement” in the making?
Showing I’m not anti-Republican by pointing it out, but this is very embarrassing for the White House for the president of the United States to be left cooling his heels waiting on a client prime minister to show up.
The best Iraq exit strategy may be to “let” Maliki ask us to get ready to leave, as an expression of sovereignty and his independence. The alternative may be to have a TRULY hostile regime kick us out after he is deposed. If he’s to have any domestic credibility at all, Maliki needs to not appear to be just another hand-licking puppet. Since Bush has been quite adamant that he’s not going away no matter what, why heel when he whistles? Especially right after the White House leaks a memo dissing him as a wimp?
What matters is getting our troops out while leaving SOME modicum of stability behind. Bush’s bruised ego is irrelevant. He deserves a little embarrassment, this is HIS steaming pile on the rug.
TB …Not the AIDS conf …the book signing!
They moved it up to 12 noon but it still conflicts with my Advent event!…Shoot! Tommy Boy are you going to DC for Nancy’s swearing in? …we need someone to go and report back here on all the glitz and fun!
Edwards Book Signing:
Santa Clara, California
December 3rd, 2006
12:00 PM
Commonwealth Club/Keplers
Santa Clara Convention Center Theatre
5001 Great America Parkway
Edwards on ending poverty:”Besides a higher minimum wage, Edwards said South Carolina workers need stronger laws to help them organize labor unions. He also advocated a universal health insurance system, criticizing the current system for “driving Americans into poverty.”
Edwards said the problem of poverty is not only financial, but also cultural and societal, and solving the problem is not solely a government function. He called on community centers, faith-based organizations and American youth to get involved.” AP 11/29
Obama..I hope he runs …he must be running …it will be so exciting!
My dream ticket is Edwards and Obama!
Mr. Bradley are those press reports true that George Clooney asked Obama to run?
It’s very encouraging to see signs of an emerging evangelical movement which takes more of a “big tent” and “good works” approach to channeling that energy, rather than spewing division and hate in the name of God. Perhaps moderation will catch on there as well? One can only hope.
Obama “gets” religion? OK, I know it’s just a catchy title, but hasn’t he always had it? Obama’s willingness to not just talk about his faith, but seriously incorporate theological concepts, as if they were legalistic ones, into both policy and descriptions of his life story, has always been one of the things that made him interesting and newsworthy. He featured religion prominently in his ’04 convention speech.
On (roughly) the same topic, the Christian Coalition recently drove out their new leader, by refusing to let him expand their agenda to include good stewardship of the Earth and care for the impoverished. I guess there’s nothing in the Bible that could lead somebody with a biblically-based worldview to want to act as a good steward, or help the poor. *sigh* I understand that if you accept the basic premises of the pro-life view, the issues they’re focused on seem pretty significant. But choosing to tackle those, exclusively, seems to fly in the face of what I learned in Sunday school…
OTOH, I had a nice conversation about conservation with an evangelical delegate at the CDP convention this past April. That movement seems to be getting larger and more vocal over time.
Barbara -
Funny you should mention swearings-in…as I may well be out in our Nation’s capitol at that time.
You been going through my Outlook calendar?
Bill, doesn’t the word embarrassing pretty well apply to everything Bush does? The unfolding spectacle of a failing Presidency, something we haven’t had for a generation or two.
An interesting quote from an AP story re: Obama:
“Though still in his first term in the Senate, Obama has attracted national attention for his fresh face, commanding speaking style and compelling personal story.”
That’s really what Obamamania is about – a fresh face. There is little of substance in Obama’s actual positions on pressing issues like ending the US Occupation of Iraq / bringing troops home. He has no foreign policy experience and hasn’t exactly spoken up against or challenged the imperial ambitions of the Bush cabal. He takes a middle of the road position on ‘redeploying troops’ at some vague future date.
Counterpunch.com has an interesting critique: Senator in the Fog
Barack Obama and the Winds of War
http://www.counterpunch.com/ford11292006.html
And hasn’t the past 6 years proved “character” and being “a man of faith” (the concepts Rove hung his campaign strategies on) is trumped by competency?
Four of the last five Presidents came out of statehouses, so are there any Governors on either side of the aisle who are up and comers posied to step on the national stage? Bush 43 was shopped to the insiders partly on the appeal that he wasn’t part of the unpopular Congressional establishment (post impeachment).
It is well and good to dismiss Obama as just a fresh face, but compelling figures in politics are rare. How many do we have now? Giuliani, McCain, Hillary Clinton and ???
Does anyone have a viable position on ending the US Occupation of Iraq / bringing troops home? That is an unfair benchmark to measure Obama against given experts pretty well agree all options are full of risks/grave dangers including ongoing instability of a key region of the world. And yet at the tail end of the campaign Bush chidded Democrats for their failure to have a viable strategy in re Iraq, when it is now clear whatever strategy he ever had is totally unravelling….
Since we’re talking about Washington and various politicians, I thought I’d mention that there’s a fascinating story on the new Sen. Jim Webb in the Post – I’ll post a few paragraphs and then the link. I look forward to following him – I think he’ll shake the place up, and it needs it…
—————
In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate’s Limits
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; A01
At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia’s newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn’t long before Bush found him.
“How’s your boy?” Bush asked, referring to Webb’s son, a Marine serving in Iraq.
“I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President,” Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.
“That’s not what I asked you,” Bush said. “How’s your boy?”
“That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President,” Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.
Webb was narrowly elected to the U.S. Senate this month with a brash, unpolished style that helped win over independent voters in Virginia and earned him support from national party leaders. Now, his Democratic colleagues in the Senate are getting a close-up view of the former boxer, military officer and Republican who is joining their ranks.
If the exchange with Bush two weeks ago is any indication, Webb won’t be a wallflower, especially when it comes to the war in Iraq. And he won’t stick to a script drafted by top Democrats.
———-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801582_pf.html
and additionally, the story in today’s “Hill” – a weekly focused on doings on Capitol Hill. Here’s the Hill’s take on it.
————————
“At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.”
“Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.”
“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.”
“Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t.”
–
Sorry, my name got dropped on that last post – I was the one who posted from the “Hill.”
it’s great to have Webb in the Senate…
Tommy Boy ..I knew you were going!…are you taking a date to that Italian Embassy Dinner! Tell us all about it …is it formal blacktie, business attire????!!!
I have to go tutor now but here is news from today’s C-span allert from my in-box
C-span Nov 30 (7:30 am our time!)
Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA) Presidential Campaign Announcement (10:30am) – LIVE
TOODLES!
P.S. Harmon, the Christian Coalition org leadership are horrid.
They parted from the rest of the Interfaith community on immigration reform…kept silent or opposed…even though the fastest growing group in the Evangelical movement is Hispanic…
It doesn’t matter. they will be left on the sidelines..the rest of the religious community is moving forward on good stewardship of the Earth and care for the impoverished and voting for DEMS that support those values!!! Toodles again! everyone go tutor some kids!
Good on Jim Webb!
James Webb is going to be a great continuing story. One suggestion I was given early this year was to go back to Virginia and write a book about Webb’s challenge. One of those great ideas for an alternate universe self.
I don’t really see what Bush’s moves are beyond temporizing and rhetoric.
Dana said:
Four of the last five Presidents came out of statehouses, so are there any Governors on either side of the aisle who are up and comers posied to step on the national stage?
Well, there was Warner, but he’s taken himself out of contention. A pity. I just don’t see Vilsack, or Richardson, or Bayh (currently Senator, but was a Governor) filling his shoes.
Does having a Sicilian father-in-law grant me access to the Embassy party? I don’t think I’m Bond-ly enough to gain admittance to such swank affairs.
Is that Vilsack announcement tomorrow?
I happened to see him with that Democrat who ran against Arnold. He had a good rap. Seemed like a problem-solver, who had some good results to trumpet on Iowa’s educational system.
Then a guy in the audience started screaming about taxes and was walked out by the esteemed Mr. Emerson.
Now, his support of ethanol may only result from it being mandatory in Iowa…
Hopefully – with Prop 87 as a leading indicator – energy independence and security (based in alternatives) will loom large on the Democratic side of the 2008 race.
Obama talks about it a great deal, and both he and Vilsack appeared in California in support of 87.
We all know about Gore’s support and the support the initiative got from one of the Clintons.
In the parlance of our times, “OMG”
From the LA Times blog…
ANGELIDES HUNKERS DOWN WITH ADVISORS
LMAO! The best the Treasurer can hope for now is a Keyes-ian appearance in the next Sascha Barron Cohen movie…
I saw that.
I don’t need a “thick binder” to provide explanations. Just a sense of reality.
As a further reality check, I’m avoiding writing about the colossal gong show screw-ups there.
But if one simply does not get it, one simply does not get it.
When will you be on tour with New West Notes: The Book?
Aaagh, a dreadful thought.
33rd Street Bistro! That’s where you take your grandmother when she comes to Sacto…Sheesh! Is that where the LA Times blogger reporters dine in Sacto? Speaking of Sacto …it is cold up here you need your mittens and gloves on! It’s really beginning to feel like Christmas is coming!
Barbara,
I can’t understand why you think it’s the least bit chilly up here. Could it be because it’s suppose to drop to 25 this evening? Could that be the reason???? Could it be that the everyflippingthing is going to freeze???
Folks, it ‘taint chilly…it’s downright flipping cold!!!!
Where are Irish coffess??? Hot-buttered rums??? Anything to ward off the cold??? Anything???
Tommy Boy, yes the Vilsack announcement is tomorrow
and Durbin (Senator -D/IL)is launching an on-line petition drive to persuade Obama (D-IL) to run for president in 2008
I just signed it!
Angerlides for Anything. lol
What a buffoon.
If not a book, why not a book-on-tape?
Read by California’s former Lt. Governor and future “smooth jazz” DJ, Cruz Bustamante…that guy has some melodious pipes.
I was cooler to an Obama candidacy before last week. Then, with specials all over cable tv about the Kennedy’s (tastefully to coincide with the anniversary of that November day in Dallas), I heard a passaged about Jack’s run…
It was something to the effect of, “he hadn’t been a Senator long; and people didn’t think America was ready for a Catholic President.”
Sounded familiar to me. I still worry about Obama’s experience (not the least of which is the fact that he hasn’t had a really tough race yet), and about America being ready. To be honest, I hate to admit that if he starts to look like a real winner that (as I put it to an Arkansan friend) “some crazy cracker will do something stupid.” Maybe I don’t have enough Faith in where this country is in terms of race. Maybe it’s a mid-westerner transplanted to California by way of the mountain states who isn’t up to speed on the south.
I don’t want to feed into such dark thoughts, but if he runs strong in Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire…he’ll have to head into South Carolina, with less hospitable southern states behind that. And he’ll have to run hard there, as that could be his bread and butter as 50% of voters in southern dem primaries are African American…
That fact has got to worry Senator Clinton. Even if her husband was “The First Black President,” does that get her through those southern states alive?
I think I’d like to see an Obama candidacy, so long as it is constructive and the Party doesn’t fictionalize itself any more than it already is. People talk about “issue ghettos” in the Democratic Party, be it based on gay/straight issues, issues of race, reproductive rights, the environment…
I think 2006 brought the democrats together like they haven’t been since I’ve been active. It’d be a shame to see the promising leadership of Barack Obama (whose middle name of “Hussein” is already well-entrenched in the vernacular of the right-wing hate machine), tear the party apart along racial lines.
That said, let’s muck it up. It’ll make for an exciting convention in Denver (Dean’s F-U to Hillary?)…the first meaningful convention in a generation.
That Blog on Phil is kinda sad..
I think Phil’s energy is totally misplaced. I have friends who know him well and shake their heads about how driven he is about politics. One even said his money should be put in a conservatorship because he is so addicted to politics he will frit it all away. He should talk to Eli Broad about his next step…he does not have his wealth or BIG brain, or class but he still could play a similar role to Sacto that Eli plays to LA. Sacto has many needs…homelessness, poor children, more and more kids in gangs, and so much needs to be built , including a new Our Lady Of G as the current one can’t handle the immigrant population of Sacto, especially all the kids. He could do a great deal of good in the private sector…he should not be meeting with Mulholland, he should meet with Eli Broad.
Do people read books? I have stacks of books to read, mostly unread. I read so much already I’ve become like a perpetual grad student.
The Bush Iraq strategy continues its death spiral.
Yes, Bill, people read books. I, too, have stacks of unread books as it means I always have something to read. Just noticed that one of the books waiting, “Mayflower”, has just been named one of the top ten books of the year by the NY Times. Guess I might just have to move it up the stack. Also noted that one I read this summer, “Omnivore’s Dilemma” also made the list.
So, what you currently reading?
In addition to novels — a real relief post-election — I’m semi-reading America’s Secret War, State of Denial, The World Is Flat, The Shield & The Cloak, and The Looming Tower.
I’m working my way through Blood and Thunder, Flags of Our Fathers and Revoluntionary Characters.