The FBI is investigating the case of an alleged Al Qaeda member from New Jersey accused of trying to shoot his way out of a hospital in Yemen.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE GHOST(S): OF TONY BLAIR, ROMAN POLANSKI, AND A WAR ON TERROR.
** MEG WHITMAN: WHY SHE WON’T HAVE A PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. After I wrote earlier that billionaire Meg Whitman had not yet scheduled a press conference at this weekend’s convention, the Sacramento Bee reported that her campaign had decided not to hold a press conference.
So I called Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei late this afternoon on her mobile phone to find out the reasoning behind this unusual move.
“We didn’t think we needed anything formal,” Pompei told me. “Meg’s going to be around. There will be plenty of opportunities to talk with her.”
There certainly have not been.
So, really, why not have a press conference?
Aside from the fact that every one of Whitman’s press conferences — two last year, an aborted press avail last month, and the press conference that wasn’t on Tuesday in Oakland — have been unmitigated disasters.
That’s easy.
A moving target is harder to hit.
In a press conference, the politician faces the press and takes questions in full view of everyone there. When the politician stumbles on substance, as Whitman has repeatedly, there is plenty of room and opportunity for follow-up, with no escape for the politician.
In contrast, a politician on the move, as Whitman will be this weekend, will not be attended by the entire press corps wherever she goes. She will be able to play hide and seek.
More to the point, she will be able to pick and choose what she will and won’t answer, and who she will and will not allow to ask her questions. Away from the view of the press corps.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: POST-TRAIN WRECK/PRE-CONVENTION MEG WHITMAN. A funny thing happened on the way to the coronation.
As of this afternoon, billionaire Meg Whitman, leading in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in California, has not yet scheduled a press conference at this weekend’s California Republican Party convention in Santa Clara.
In a sense, you can hardly blame the former national co-chair of the McCain/Palin campaign; she held press conferences at both state Republican conventions last year, and both were flaming disasters for her.
However, although she and her camp convinced the state party’s board of directors not to issue formal invitations for debates at the convention — something her rival, super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner — very much wants, she may not be able to run around yet another hurdle on the race course.
That’s because she blew it, big time, on Tuesday at a Union Pacific facility in Oakland when she stiffed a local press corps invited by the campaign to interact with her.
And because she had another significant problem last night with a “town hall meeting” in Orange County.
Reports are that the event was essentially a sham, a staged backdrop for the filming of Whitman TV ad footage. Audience members were apparently selected in advance to pose questions to Whitman.
When Whitman’s answers weren’t up to snuff — imagine that! — she got additional takes at the supposed town hall meeting.
In another blow to the Whitman camp’s credibility, a member of the Democratic Governors Association’s California Accountablity Project, who was ticked for the event, was forcibly ejected by security and then threatened with arrest at the hands of the Santa Ana Police Department.
DGA project director Nick Velasquez accused Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei — the not quite fast enough pirouetting flak catcher at Tuesday’s debacle in Oakland — with lying about what happened.
** THE MEMOIRS ARE COMING … Some of the principal figures of the Bush/Cheney era have memoirs coming out this year.
Bush consigliere Karl Rove’s book has just come out. He’s making the East Coast media rounds promoting “Courage and Consequence: My Life As A Conservative In the Fight.” He’ll be in California soon, as well, and I just might go to a book party for him. Which would certainly be interesting.
His boss, former President George W. Bush, has his own book coming out in November.
And former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who may not have thought he’d end up so closely linked to a very conservative administration when he won one of the biggest landslide victories in British history in 1997, will release his memoirs in September.
In making the announcement, Blair’s publisher, Random House, noted with what was probably unintentional amusement that the former PM is not using a ghost writer.
There is a new movie out, a roman a clef about a very Blair-like figure, accused of war crimes in the Bush/Cheney-generated war on terror, and the intrigue surrounding his memoirs.
It’s called, of course, The Ghost Writer.
With the House debating a measure calling for a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan (which won’t pass), Congressman Patrick Kennedy rips the media for its round-the-clock fixation on the lurid details of private lives.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:15 AM Pacific, he addresses the Export-Import Bank’s Annual Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.
At 10:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with members of the Congressional Black Caucus at the White House. The principal topic? The national health care reform bill.
At 12 noon Pacific, Obama meets with New York Senator Chuck Schumer and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham in the Oval Office.
This is the third time in two weeks that Obama has met with Schumer. While earlier discussion undoubtedly dealt with the chaotic situation around the governorship in New York, as well as energy issues, this one will also deal with immigration issues.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 2 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a screening of The Pacific in the White House movie theater. Producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will be on hand, along with National Security Advisor Jim Jones (former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps) and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Pacific, a World War II miniseries which begins this weekend on HBO, is a follow-on of sorts to the producers’ acclaimed 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. Where Band of Brothers followed paratroopers in the invasion of Europe, The Pacific follows the Marines fighting their way through a number of island battles.
At 3:20 PM Pacific, Obama meets with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House. The principal topic? The national health care reform bill.
Word out of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s shop is that substantial progress was made last night on the bill.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
Preliminary national parliamentary election results in Iraq, expected today, have been postponed. Except for two provinces that are strongholds of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and where his candidates unsurprisingly did very well. No reason has been given for the delay in broader results.
Vice President Joe Biden, his mission to jump-start the Middle East peace process quite possibly derailed by Israel’s “accidental” announcement of new housing in disputed areas, spoke today to students in Tel Aviv and with leaders in Amman, Jordan.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events.
He will hold private talks in and around the Capitol.
Schwarzenegger is, however, presenting the Vienna Boys Choir, the famed pride of his native Austria, in a noontime performance in the Capitol Rotunda.
Not everyone in Mexico is poor. Forbes magazine’s 2010 list of the world’s richest people is topped by Mexican telecom king Carlos Slim, tipping Bill Gates. This is the first time a non-American tops the list since 1994. The number of billionaires, incidentally, has actually increased over the past year.
** IS MEG WHITMAN LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? YES (IN THE WRONG WAYS) Is billionaire Meg Whitman, the former McCain/Palin campaign co-chair who seeks to replace action movie superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California, like Schwarzenegger?
It’s a question that her ultra-megabucks campaign clearly doesn’t like. The heavily programmed career corporate marketing executive goes out of her way to distinguish herself from the multiple times Mr. Universe. She was a CEO, of a company you may have heard of, eBay. And in case you hadn’t heard that and you live in California, she’s spent many millions of dollars for months on ads telling you about it. After all, it is her sole claim to fame. Whereas, in her view, Schwarzeneggger was merely a jock turned entertainer. (Not that she mentions her not so excellent eBay era adventures with, say, Skype, Craigslist, and Goldman Sachs. So I won’t, either.)
Whitman hates the comparison with Schwarzenegger, a comparison which is nonetheless obvious as both she and Schwarzenegger are Republicans, both are super-rich, and neither had any experience in elected office before deciding to run for governor of California. Why does she hate it? Well, Schwarzenegger, while still personally popular, has seen his once record job approval rating plummet with the global recession and the state’s gridlocked budget process. And he’s turned out to be too liberal for the increasingly right-leaning party whose nomination she is trying to win.
As someone who knew Schwarzenegger and talked with him extensively before he ran for governor in the 2003 California recall election — and who began scouting Whitman, putting together several hours of film of her, when she suddenly emerged as national co-chair of the Republican presidential campaign in early 2008 — it occurs to me that Whitman is like Schwarzenegger.
But in the wrong ways. (Keep in mind that I’m referring to the Schwarzenegger who suddenly jumped from promoting Terminator 3 into running for governor in 2003.) … From my March 9th column.
** IS OBAMA’S AFPAK STRATEGY ACTUALLY WORKING? … From my March 5th column.
** THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. With Democrat Jerry Brown finally declaring his candidacy for California governor today and billionaire Meg Whitman’s super-rich Republican rival Steve Poizner starting his own TV ad campaign against her, this seems a good time to talk about a big new negative theme about the rather tarnished Golden State. Is California America’s first “failed state?” That’s what a lot of people are saying. So I talked about that with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the governor he replaced, Gray Davis; and a famous former governor favored to be the next governor, Jerry Brown. … From my March 2nd column.
** SO WHO IS THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER ANYWAY? PALIN, ROMNEY, PAUL (!) … … From my February 23rd column.
** MAD MEN: THE STREAK CONTINUES. … From my February 22nd column.
** THE BIGGEST SPENDING RACE IN AMERICA IS UNDERWAY! (WELL, SORT OF.) … From my February 19th column.
** TONY BLAIR’S GHOST (WRITER). … From my February 16th column.
** THE MACHINATIONS OF MEG WHITMAN: BEHIND HER ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE COMPETITION AND HER WHOPPER ABOUT HOW LONG SHE’S LIVED IN CALIFORNIA. … From my February 10th column.
** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** HELP FOR HAITI.
You can donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $82 per barrel.
This is up about $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Read 
| Comments (36) |
Good for Patrick Kennedy.
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
Kennedy’s right. Eric Massa’s a creepy guy but I don’t need to hear about him 24/7, not with everything else going on in the world.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:55 am
Good for Patrick Kennedy.
I wish the story explained how someone got so rich in Mexico.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:07 am
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
No Arnold webcast of the Vienna Boys Choir?
lol
Enough with the tabloid crap as “news.”
How Carlos Slim became the richest man in the world, even though Mexican.
http://tiny.cc/ln2GZ
Thanks, that’s very interesting.
Sorry, no webcast.
> Ann says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:49 am (Edit)
No Arnold webcast of the Vienna Boys Choir?
lol
It’s titillating infotainment.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:21 am (Edit)
Kennedy’s right. Eric Massa’s a creepy guy but I don’t need to hear about him 24/7, not with everything else going on in the world.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:55 am
Good for Patrick Kennedy.
It’s funny how that worked out.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:07 am (Edit)
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
I agree.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:37 am (Edit)
I wish the story explained how someone got so rich in Mexico.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:07 am
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
More video today?
Hey, thanks!
larry says:
March 11, 2010 at 10:21 am
How Carlos Slim became the richest man in the world, even though Mexican.
http://tiny.cc/ln2GZ
Yes, when there’s something good.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 11:05 am (Edit)
More video today?
Down markets are when those with deep pockets grab up temporarily underpriced properties etc. that have underlying value and with the rebound produce big profits.
>2.Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:07 am
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
The big rich get richer and the middle class just gets squeezed.
Cable “news” is pretty much unwatchable.
Bill Bradley says:
March 11, 2010 at 10:37 am
It’s titillating infotainment.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:21 am (Edit)
Kennedy’s right. Eric Massa’s a creepy guy but I don’t need to hear about him 24/7, not with everything else going on in the world.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:55 am
Good for Patrick Kennedy.
Hey, Bill!
Did Arnold sing too??
Bill Bradley says:
March 11, 2010 at 10:36 am
Sorry, no webcast.
> Ann says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:49 am (Edit)
No Arnold webcast of the Vienna Boys Choir?
lol
Jeez, another fake Whitman move!!
** CALIFORNIA 2010: POST-TRAIN WRECK/PRE-CONVENTION MEG WHITMAN. A funny thing happened on the way to the coronation.
Exactly.
** MEG WHITMAN: WHY SHE WON’T HAVE A PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. After I wrote earlier that billionaire Meg Whitman had not yet scheduled a press conference at this weekend’s convention, the Sacramento Bee reported that her campaign had decided not to hold a press conference.
So I called Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei late this afternoon on her mobile phone to find out the reasoning behind this unusual move.
“We didn’t think we needed anything formal,” Pompei told me. “Meg’s going to be around. There will be plenty of opportunities to talk with her.”
There certainly have not been.
So, really, why not have a press conference?
Aside from the fact that every one of Whitman’s press conferences — two last year, an aborted press avail last month, and the press conference that wasn’t on Tuesday in Oakland — have been unmitigated disasters.
That’s easy.
A moving target is harder to hit.
In a press conference, the politician faces the press and takes questions in full view of everyone there. When the politician stumbles on substance, as Whitman has repeatedly, there is plenty of room and opportunity for follow-up, with no escape for the politician.
In contrast, a politician on the move, as Whitman will be this weekend, will not be attended by the entire press corps wherever she goes. She will be able to play hide and seek.
More to the point, she will be able to pick and choose what she will and won’t answer, and who she will and will not allow to ask her questions.
Another American in Al Qaeda, great.
It’s a distressing phenomenon.
It’s not a town hall, it’s an infomercial.
>#
Capitol Boy says:
March 11, 2010 at 3:46 pm (Edit)
Jeez, another fake Whitman move!!
** CALIFORNIA 2010: POST-TRAIN WRECK/PRE-CONVENTION MEG WHITMAN. A funny thing happened on the way to the coronation.
Ah, no, he did not.
Be aware that I intend to get Arnold to sing the Eagles classic, Hotel California …
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 11, 2010 at 2:49 pm (Edit)
Hey, Bill!
Did Arnold sing too??
Bill Bradley says:
March 11, 2010 at 10:36 am
Sorry, no webcast.
> Ann says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:49 am (Edit)
No Arnold webcast of the Vienna Boys Choir?
lol
Beyond a certain point, which arrives rapidly, I really don’t give a shit about sex scandals.
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 11, 2010 at 2:48 pm (Edit)
Cable “news” is pretty much unwatchable.
Bill Bradley says:
March 11, 2010 at 10:37 am
It’s titillating infotainment.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:21 am (Edit)
Kennedy’s right. Eric Massa’s a creepy guy but I don’t need to hear about him 24/7, not with everything else going on in the world.
Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:55 am
Good for Patrick Kennedy.
Very deft analysis.
> Dana says:
March 11, 2010 at 1:58 pm (Edit)
Down markets are when those with deep pockets grab up temporarily underpriced properties etc. that have underlying value and with the rebound produce big profits.
>2.Jonas Blane says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:07 am
I don’t like that there are more billionaires after the crash.
I trust that nothing more need be said about this horrible fraud of a political figure.
Bradley: So, really, why not have a press conference?
Aside from the fact that every one of Whitman’s press conferences — two last year, an aborted press avail last month, and the press conference that wasn’t on Tuesday in Oakland — have been unmitigated disasters.
That’s easy.
A moving target is harder to hit.
I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the new stuff you post.
Your Meg Whitman is an oligarch type.
What new video today?
The president on health care, and VP Biden on Israel and Palestine.
Thanks for giving the idea …
> sergei says:
March 12, 2010 at 2:36 am (Edit)
Your Meg Whitman is an oligarch type.
Ah, she’s not exactly withdrawing.
> Jonathan Hemlock says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:16 pm (Edit)
I trust that nothing more need be said about this horrible fraud of a political figure.
Bradley: So, really, why not have a press conference?
Aside from the fact that every one of Whitman’s press conferences — two last year, an aborted press avail last month, and the press conference that wasn’t on Tuesday in Oakland — have been unmitigated disasters.
That’s easy.
A moving target is harder to hit.
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