Bush to mother: Don't sell on eBay

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:15 pm CDT

President Bush, who long has refused to commit the United States to specific limits on air pollution blamed for contributing to global warming, took a new turn today in proposing that the U.S. and other leading nations by the end of next year set “a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases.’’

This is what the president will carry to a summit for leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial nations in Germany next week, along with an appeal to match the U.S. in a dramatic increase in financial aid for the fight against AIDS in Africa and freer international trade.

But, for its lack of specifics, the president’s plan for addressing climate change falls far short of what leaders of Germany and other nations hoped to deliver at the G-8 summit set in a serene Baltic Sea resort near Heiligendamm -- including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an ardent advocate for averting global warming.

At the same time, European wariness with the continuing U.S. military stance in Iraq and Russian concerns about a U.S. buildup of missile defenses in Eastern Europe will contribute to an environment in which the American president nearing the end of his terms will have difficulty mustering support for any of his initiatives, U.S. and European analysts say.

“The Bush administration is in a very bad situation,’’ said Philippe Moreau Defarges, senior fellow at the Institute for International Relations in Paris. “It seems that Mr. Bush is really in a quagmire in Iraq and nobody is really ready to listen to him… It’s too late for Mr. Bush. I think a lot of leaders are waiting for the next president.’’

Posted by William Neikirk at 1:15 p.m. CDT

The story from the White House at first appeared to be dramatic. President Bush announced that he has changed his position on climate change. He called on industrial nations to set a "goal" of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2008 (or the virtual end of his presidency).

On closer examination, it's hard to see the real change in his policy. He's already announced plans (unlikely to be enacted in his presidency) to use renewable fuels and conservation measures that he says will reduce greenhouse gases way out there in the future.

Posted by David Lightman of the Hartford Courant at 1:05 pm CDT

Chris Dodd goes for the heart in his new ad, debuting today.

The ad, the third of his presidential campaign, opens with children singing "We've got the whole world in our hands" as they play with miniature globes.

An announcer then warns "All the Earth's creatures are threatened by global warming."

But, the voice assures the viewer, "One candidate for president is doing something to stop it--Chris Dodd. He's the only one with an energy plan that has a courageous corporate carbon tax to transform American industry."

Download warming_cd_tv_07_12.mpg

Posted by Aamer Madhani at 12:30 p.m. CDT

With this last month marking one of the deadliest periods for U.S. troops since the start of the war, the second-ranking U.S. military commander in Iraq said today that some progress has been made on the ground in Iraq since the start of the troop buildup.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of multi-national troops in Iraq, said that sectarian violence is down, attacks in the volatile Anbar province have been cut in half and more than 17,000 enemy fighters have been captured this year.

“We've made small progress here. We have not made the progress that I think is necessary yet, but I hope over the summer that we will continue to make progress," Odierno told Pentagon reporters in a teleconference from Iraq.

At least 116 U.S. have been killed in May, making it the deadliest month of the war since November 2004 when 137 soldiers were killed in action as the military was in the midst of the war’s most pitched fighting for the embattled city of Fallujah. Two others U.S. soldiers who were captured in an attack earlier this month remain missing.

Posted by Frank James at 11:10 am CDT

In its issue that goes on sale tomorrow, Time magazine has an interview with the stars of the new film "Oceans 13," Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Ellen Barkin in which Clooney and Damon express say the Democratic senator from Illinois has their vote.

Writer Josh Tyrangiel interviewed the movie stars in Cannes. The discussion was mostly about the film the stars wanted to hype, but roamed into the realm of presidential politics with a heavily sarcastic question.

TYRANGIEL: Shall we talk politics for a moment? I'm sure like most actors you're all watching the Republican field, just waiting for a candidate to get behind.

CLOONEY: I'm just hoping Gingrich gets in. Come on, Newt! Actually there's a really good field out there. I like Barack Obama a lot. I've spent some time with him.

PITT: You just cost him votes.

CLOONEY: I've actually had that conversation with him, just saying "Look, I'll give you whatever support you need—including staying completely away from you." Actors have done a lot of damage to candidates lately. My father ran for Congress in 2004, and it was "Hollywood vs. the Heartland!" My father was Hollywood.

PITT: I'm just hungry for some honesty and leadership. And I'm following them all—on all sides.

DAMON: I'm an Obama guy too. I think a lot of the problems in the world would be mitigated if he were the face of our country. I haven't ever met him or talked to him, but he's the first person in a long time who I've been inspired by.

CLOONEY: When other politicians stop and listen, that's how you know what charisma is. You can't teach that. He walks into a room and you go, "That's a leader."

Posted by Frank James at 10:49 am CDT

Environmentalists have argued that reducing meat consumption would be one way of creating a more environmentally friendly world since it takes so much land to grow the grain which feeds livestock, with all the attendant fuel costs.

There are good ways to reduce meat consumption and bad ways to reduce meat consumption, of course. The Washington Times reported today about one of the bad ways: the violence in Iraq.

BAGHDAD -- Once-flourishing middle-class families in Baghdad are now eating meat only sparingly, if at all, as violence across the city prevents people from working and farmers from delivering food to the capital's markets.

Some women are eating less in order to give their food to their children, residents say, while others try to make meals for a family of five from a portion of meat that would barely make a single hamburger.

Posted by Frank James at 10:03 am CDT

Here's yet another reason why the immigration-reform legislation being debated in the Senate (when it's not in recess as it is now) has a high probability of winding up where last year's effort did--on history's scrap heap.

It's a House procedure called the "blue-slip" which House conservatives are very likely to use to throttle the legislation. As The Hill publication reports:

House conservatives are ready to stop the Senate immigration bill in its tracks with a potent procedural weapon should the contentious measure win passage in the upper chamber.

The trump card conservatives may hold is a constitutional rule that revenue-related bills must originate in the House. The Senate immigration measure requires that illegal immigrants pay back taxes before becoming citizens, opening the door to a House protest, dubbed a “blue slip” for the color of its paper.

House Republicans used the same back-taxes mandate for a blue-slip threat that derailed last year’s immigration conference. The new Senate bill still must survive two more weeks of voter scrutiny and contentious amendments, but several conservatives already are lying in wait for the Senate to “make the same mistake twice,” as one House GOP aide put it.

Posted by Frank James at 7:20 am CDT

A quick guided tour of some the day's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related news stories.

Immigration-asylum seekers are likely to get different results depending on the gender and whether the judges worked previously for immigration-rights organizations, a job history more female than male judges are likely to have.

The United Nations Security Council voted for the first UN-backed tribunal ever in the Middle East. It would try suspects in the bombing assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. Syrian agents are thought to have conducted the murder.

Presidential candidates are flocking to Florida and other states that have moved their primaries to earlier dates, greatly compressing the actual nominee-selection process but causing the primary and general-election campaigns to last significantly longer and be much more hectic and intense.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:50 am CDT

If Americans had a direct say in the Oval Office, most would tell President Bush to focus on an exit strategy that removes U.S. forces from Iraq. Just one in four would suggest staying the course.

These are among the findings of a Gallup Poll that asked, ''If you could talk with President Bush for 15 minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do?''

"Bottom line,'' reports Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport: "The majority of Americans, as measured in a number of Gallup Poll surveys this year, believe the initial decision for the United States to become involved in Iraq was a mistake. Research also shows a majority of Americans favor a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Americans -- if given the chance to talk with President Bush about Iraq -- would be most likely to tell him to figure out a way to get U.S. troops withdrawn from that country.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:15 am CDT

President Bush, who this week ordered economic sanctions against the government of Sudan for aiding and abetting "genocide'' in Darfur, and who this week proposed a doubling of U.S. aid to Africa for the fight against AIDS, will spell out a broader agenda for the development of struggling nations today in an address at the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

This is Bush's way of heading into a summit for the leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations next week in Germany. Yet, even while the G-8 have focused in recent years on Africa – last year committing to a doubling of aid to the continent, at the urging of British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- and even though Bush has funneled money into a battle against HIV and AIDS since 2003, some see a sort of "legacy''-molding intention in the president's term-closing, stepped-up attention to the far continent. First Lady Laura Bush will travel to Africa in June, and the president could be planning a trip of his own next year.

"Africa always comes up in Washington at the end of the day,'' says Simon Serfaty, who holds the Zbigniew Brzezinkski Chair in Global Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "With Henry Kissinger in 1975, with Bill Clinton in 1999, now with George W. Bush in 2007 – do you notice a pattern here? I mean, as you come closer to farewell time, then you say, 'Oh, by the way, maybe I should do more than I’ve been doing this far with regard to that part of the world.'''

The president brought Baron Mosima Loyiso Tantoh to the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday, for an announcement that he is seeking a doubling of U.S. aid for the fight against AIDS in Africa. The boy's mother, Kunene Tantoh, represents Mothers to Mothers, an organization aiding HIV-positive mothers in South Africa. She joined them as well. White House photo by Eric Draper.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 6:10 am CDT

They aren't going to Florida for the sunshine.

The move by Florida and other large states such as Illinois, California and New York, to play primary leapfrog and gain greater impact on the 2008 nominating process is changing the nature of campaigning and adding a strange twist: With a compressed calendar, the campaign will assuredly be longer on the front end and cost millions of dollars more, starting several months earlier. It will test the stamina of the candidates and of voters who will be exposed to ever-greater contact with almost every aspect of the campaign.

And there's another layer. If the crowded calendar delivers a presumptive nominee in each party early, the general election campaign, too, will be at least as intense as the primaries.

State officials are gleeful about the increase in traffic that the change has inspired, especially after years of watching Iowa and New Hampshire stand as presidential kingmakers.

"It's incredible," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. "You name the candidates, they're here. And they're here often. It's a constant flood of national candidates." See the Tribune story:

Posted by Antonio Olivo at 6:05 am CDT

The suggestions of Rep. Tom Tancredo, a fifth-term Denver congressman seeking the GOP's presidential nomination, that Muslim holy sites be military targets and his focus on Mexican criminals when discussing border policy have earned him scorn -- turning leaders of his own party away from him.

Yet, while Tancredo's campaign bid is widely regarded as a long shot, the reaction he has received so far in Iowa shows the impact of his campaigning can't be entirely dismissed, political analysts say.

He hasn't left much of a footprint in Congress, and yet, driven by an anti-illegal immigrant wind, he now audaciously has become a single-issue candidate for president, his fists bared as he derides a bipartisan immigration reform plan being debated in the Senate, calls his opponents "soft'' and derides President Bush's plan as "lacking courage.''

Iowa, home to the nation's first presidential caucuses of the primary season in January, has one of the fastest growing foreign-born populations, as mainly Latin American immigrants arrive for jobs in meatpacking plants, on farms and in construction. Worries in the state about assimilation, shrinking wages and over-burdened schools and hospitals reflect deeper national concerns over heavy immigration that aren't likely to be resolved by the reforms being considered in Congress, both sides of the debate agree.

The longer the problem of illegal immigration lingers, the easier it will be for Tancredo to serve as a spoiler in the Republican race as his hard-line stance attracts voters feeling overwhelmed by their changing social landscape, says University of Iowa political science professor Peverill Squire. See the Tribune's story:

Good morning. These are some events of interest for Thursday, May 31, 2007, as provided by the Associated Press.

ALL DAY

May 29 - 31. POVERTY-ECONOMIC SECURITY — The Community Action Partnership holds the National Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security.

Location: North Bethesda Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Rd., North Bethesda.

May 30 - 31. SPELLING BEE — The National Spelling Bee.

Highlights:

10 a.m. Semifinal rounds.

8 p.m. Finals.

Location: Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St. NW

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:20 pm CDT

What was Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, getting at today when he likened the role that the U.S. military might play down the road in Iraq with the role it still plays in South Korea – with tens of thousands of U.S. troops still deployed there five decades after war?

He wasn't predicting that sort of military commitment to Iraq five decades from now, he said. But he was suggesting that the U.S. will continue to play a "support'' role in Iraq after the nation is secured. He also acknowledged that he has no real "crystal ball'' on any of this.

The sum of the conversation was enough to raise eyebrows about intentions for the U.S. military in Iraq.

For clarity, here is the conversation that took place at today's press briefing, building upon a question that veteran White House correspondent and columnist Helen Thomas had asked in an earlier and more informal morning press "gaggle'' with the press secretary:

Posted by Frank James at 2:10 pm CDT

Fred Thompson, the "Law and Order" star and former senator from Tennessee, appears to be getting much closer to entering the presidential race, according to what intelligence pros refer to as "open sources," i.e. media reports like politico.com and the Washington Post. We know people who say as much as well.

The idea apparently is that he would announce over the July 4th holiday which could work to his advantage since it's traditionally a slow news day and that would likely put him at the top of the headlines.

One of the knocks on Thompson is that he didn't accomplish much during two Senate terms. The Democratic National Committee today wanted to drive home that criticism with the following press release. Download FDTLegAccomp.pdf

Much of Thompson's appeal is due to the inability of other Republican candidates already in the race who excite conservative Republicans the way Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) electrifies folks opposed to the Iraq War or the Bush Administration's prosecution of the war on terror.

Thompson supporters hope he's the man for whom conservative Republicans have been waiting. He certainly is no Al Gore, "Inconvenient Truth" telling, tree-hugging, global-warming believer judging from a commentary he did titled "Plutonic Warming" on the Paul Harvey radio show.

Posted by Frank James at 1:33 pm CDT

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is visiting Iraq during the Memorial Day recess and he likes what he sees.

"Overall, I would say what I see here today is progress, significant progress from the last time I was here in December. And if you can see progress in war that means you’re headed in the right direction."

When a reporter asked him about May which saw the highest number of U.S. military deaths this year, Lieberman responded:

"That’s of course, that's the heartbreaking part of it. That the casualties that the American military have been taking have been high this month. Part of that, as I’ve been told today, is because our military is out here not just in camps but we’re out in in the city and other cities but particularly in the capital city, and we’re having a positive effect..."

Lieberman wore sunglasses which appeared not to be rose-colored.

Posted by Frank James at 11:43 am CDT

There'll no doubt be some violent debates over a new peace index just released today.

In a new global ranking of the world's most peaceful countries, the U.S. ranked at 96, just beating out Iran which came in at 97. Israel came in at 119, one notch above Sudan and two notches above Iraq which, understandably, came in last on the list as world's least peaceful nation. Download global_peace_index.pdf

Norway, New Zealand and Denmark led the index in that order. Canada was the leading Western Hemisphere nation on the list, coming in the eighth on the list.

According to a press statement, the new index was "initiated by Steve Killelea, global entrepreneur and Australian philanthropist, and developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Prominent endorsers of the project include HH Dalai Lama, President James Carter, Sir Richard Branson, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu."

Anyway, how could it be that the U.S. came in at 96?

Posted by Frank James at 10:27 am CDT

Posted by Frank James at 10:00 am CDT

Forget all the explanations from oil industry officials and analysts who say high and rising gasoline prices are tied to growing demand in other parts of the world and a shortage of U.S. refinery capacity. Most Americans either don't know about or aren't buying such explanations.

Instead they believe it's mostly because the oil industry is just plain greedy and is gounging consumers according to a Gallup Poll.

The poll also asked Americans for their views about why gas prices are so high. The most common single reason, mentioned by one in three respondents, is that oil companies are greedy and are gouging consumers. Nearly as many respondents offer practical explanations including problems with refineries (16%), increased demand (10%), more driving during the summer months (3%), and oil shortages (3%). Thirteen percent blame high gas prices on problems in the Middle East, including the Iraq War. The government also receives its share of blame; 9% say government involvement has led to the high gas prices, while 5% cite a lack of government regulation of oil companies.

Given this, small wonder the House just passed anti-gouging legislation. It may be little more than paper-tiger legislation, ineffective at bringing prices down since the price rises have little to do with gouging according to experts. But it resonates with a good many American consumers.

The poll also said most Americans expect to pay $4 per gallon for gas this summer. Most respondents, evidently, didn't think the oil companies were so greedy as to boost prices to the $5 dollar a gallon, however.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:34 am CDT.

As he prepares for a trip to Europe next week for meetings with world leaders, President Bush today will propose a doubling of the United States' commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa - seeking $30 billion over the five years following his term's end.

The White House acknowledges that the proposal which Bush will announce today is coordinated with Bush's bid for sanctions against the government of Sudan in a bid to alleviate suffering in Darfur. It's all part of Bush's runup to the annual summit of the Group of Eight major industrial nations, to be held next week in Heiligendamm, Germany.

"It's part of a whole of what's been going on this week - especially leading to the G-8," Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, said of Bush's bid today for AIDS funding for Africa.

Posted by Frank James at 9:15 am CDT

The White House has announced that President Bush will use his father's Kennebunkport compound to host Russian President Vladimir Putin in early July.

Here's the White House announcement:

President Bush will welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin to former President George H. W. Bush’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 1 and 2, 2007. The President looks forward to the visit as part of the intensive bilateral dialogue with President Putin. Cooperation between the United States and Russia is important in solving regional conflicts, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and combating terrorism and extremism. The Presidents will discuss a wide range of issues, including Iran, civil nuclear cooperation, and missile defense.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was just in Russia where she apparently persuaded Putin to stop likening the U.S. government's foreign policy to Nazi Germany's. It's hard to invite someone over to your father's seaside house when he's comparing you to Nazis.

But there's still a lot of disagreement between the leaders of the one remaining superpower and the former superpower, especially over U.S. plans to deploy missile-defense systems in Europe, ostensibly to protect against rogue states. The Russians have called the move destabilizing and provocative and have vowed not to sit idly by.

So Bush's discussions with the former KGB official could be as bracing as cold spray from the northern Atlantic Ocean and perhaps as rocky as the Maine coast.

Posted by Frank James at 7:40 am CDT

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.

Ten U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Memorial Day, the Pentagon said, making May the deadliest month this year. Meanwhile, gunmen dressed as police kidnapped five Britons from an Iraqi ministry and more car bombings rocked Baghdad.

Congressional Republicans are hearing from more traditionally GOP voters who are increasingly questioning the Iraq War, which worries those lawmakers whose seats could be at risk because of the trend.

Robert Zoellick was named by President Bush to be the World Bank's new president to replace Paul Wolfowitz, forced to resign because of his controversial role in securing his girlfriend a high-paying job. Zoellick, a Goldman Sachs vice chairman, has already served the Bush Administration as U.S. Trade Representative and deputy Secretary of State.

Posted by Martin Evans of Newsday at 6:13 am CDT

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Touting a broad vision for economic “fairness,” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday hailed the pro-union, trust-busting progressive movement, while accusing the Bush administration of allowing the middle class to be flattened by America's super-wealthy.

She later greeted wide-eyed admirers during a Main Street walking tour in nearby Nashua, in the kind of retail politicking that has made tiny New Hampshire key in establishing national political momentum.

In a morning speech on economic development, the former First Lady pointedly referred to “when Bill was president” as a time of greater economic fairness and governmental competency, and said Bush administration policies have reversed the federal surplus and middle-class wage gains achieved during Bill Clinton’s presidency

“We can return to many of the principles that guided us then,” she said.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:15 am, updated 11:40 am CDT

President Bush today plans to name Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade negotiator and career diplomat, for the presidency of the World Bank.

Zoellick will become Bush's nominee to replace Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense who became World Bank president in 2005 only to make a personnel decision that ultimately would result in his withdrawal under a cloud this summer: Wolfowitz moved girlfriend Shaha Riza from a job inside the bank to a higher-paying bank-financed role at the State Department to avert conflict in his new post.

The controversy that erupted over Wolfowitz's handling of his companion's promotion created a furor among directors of the World Bank that is forcing Wolfowitz to leave at the end of June.

Today, at 10:05 am CDT in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the president plans to name Zoellick as Wolfowitz's successor, following a rapid search that was led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Zoellick -- who left the government as deputy secretary of state to work in investment banking -- is a graduate of the Harvard Law School who was raised in Naperville, Ill.

The photo of Zoellick, right, comes from the State Department, where he served as deputy for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and also had served under Secretary of State James Baker.

This now in, a clip of the announcement:

Posted by Craig Gordon of Newsday at 6:05 am CDT

Rudolph Giuliani did a morning-to-night birthday fundraising blitz across New York yesterday but ran into some opposition, too, from people protesting his handling of 9/11.

Giuliani took his fundraising pitch to all five boroughs to commemorate his 63rd birthday, which was Monday.

And the candidate for the Republican Party's 2008 presidential nomination was very specific about what he wanted as presents — $250 for his campaign fund to get in the door, $1,000 for a “campaign briefing” with Giuliani and $2,300 for a briefing and photo with the ex-mayor, according to the invite.

Good Morning. Here are some Washington events of interest for May 30, 2007 as provided by the Associated Press daybook.

ALL DAY

May 29 - 31. POVERTY-ECONOMIC SECURITY — The Community Action Partnership holds the National Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security.

Highlights:
8 a.m. Keynote address - Donna Beegle, President, Communication Across Barriers, Tigard, Ore.
Location: North Bethesda Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Rd., North Bethesda.

Posted by Frank James at 2:15 pm CDT

Religious liberals and Media Matters for America held a Washington press conference today to release a report archly called “Left Behind.” It wasn’t about Christians being raptured to heaven a la the fiction of the Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Instead, the report’s full name “Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in Major News Media” pretty much gives away the report's bottom line – the news media generally ignore the progressive or liberal Christians and how their faith informs their politics.

The result is a warped view of such Christians are and their political choices, according to the report.

Posted by Mark Silva at 2:20 pm CDT

"I'm deeply concerned about America losing its soul,’’ President Bush said today, during a newspaper interview en route to delivering a speech about immigration reform in Georgia.

“Immigration has been the lifeblood of a lot of our country's history," Bush told Ron Hucheson, a Washington-based reporter for McClatchy Newspapers. The president said: "I am worried that a backlash to newcomers would cause our country to lose its great capacity to assimilate newcomers."

Acknowledging that the immigration reform he is seeking faces long odds in the Congress, Bush said: “I understand it's going to require a lot of work because this is a very emotional issue.

Suddenly sounding a bit like Democrat John Edwards, Bush said: “There is an element of our society that is worried about two Americas. My argument to them is: We've had this debate in our country for years.

“And yet our ability to welcome newcomers and the system's capacity to assimilate them has been one of the great powerful traditions of America,’’ Bush said. “It works, and it will work this time. People shouldn't fear our capacity to uphold our motto: E Pluribus Unum."

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:15 am CDT

The White House is "pretty close'' to naming a replacement for Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president who will be leaving at month's end because of his role in arranging a new, high-paying job for his girlfriend at the bank, Shaha Riza, when he arrived there.

"I think we're getting pretty close,'' White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters aboard Air Force One today, en route to an immigration speech that President Bush was giving in Georgia.

Does the president have a short list ready?

"I think we're getting pretty close,'' Snow said.

Will the pick come this week?

"Likely, yes,'' Snow said.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 10:45 a.m. CDT

A doodle by Barack Obama sold on eBay yesterday for more than $2,000.

The proceeds went for charity, but maybe the final bid price will inspire a new fundraising strategy for the Illinois Democrat.

Or maybe his Senate colleagues will offer him money to stop drawing pictures of them. The doodles appear to be of (from left to right) Sens. Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein and Ted Kennedy. Or is that last one former House Speaker Denny Hastert?

(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Posted by Frank James at 10:41 am CDT

Some news photos are so rich in symbolism they're almost like Renaissance paintings in how much they communicate.

Such an Associated Press photo appeared on the front page of the New York Times's national edition.

It’s a picture of the scene after a bombing in Baghdad yesterday. Adding to the chaos of the bombing which killed at least 21 people and injured at least 66 was a shooter, maybe targeting people in the crowd.

Amid all the Iraqis who are running from the gunfire was a U.S. soldier, standing tall, perhaps looking in the direction of the gunshots, not apparently looking for cover.

An Iraqi boy seeks shelter behind the soldier, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The photo in this posting actually was taken a few frames before the one the New York Times photo editors chose for the paper's front page. That photo has more impact since it portrays the Iraqis actually running for safety.

Still, in both photos, the symbolism is arresting.

Posted by John McCormick at 10:10 am CDT, updated 2:30 pm CDT.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama today pledged he would provide access to health insurance for all Americans by lowering costs, improving technology and rolling back tax cuts for some.

"To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don’t make a meaningful contribution today to the health coverage of their employees to do so," Obama said. "And we will allow the temporary Bush tax cut for the wealthiest Americans to expire."

But Obama stopped short of mandating that all Americans be required to have insurance, much like states do with drivers. While he would require coverage for children, adults would be allowed to buy into a federal program, with rates based on their income.

Leaving that option open makes his plan fall short of true universal coverage and likely would leave many still without insurance, according to some experts.

Posted by Frank James at 9:11 am CDT

Paul Wolfowitz said something in his BBC interview broadcast yesterday that virtually everyone in the Washington press corps would agree with.

"You don't solve problems unless you expose them." The soon-to-be former World Bank president said this, with no apparent sense of irony, in an interview in which he seemed to blame the media for his unhorsing as the institution's president.

Wolfowitz was talking about exposing the problems of corruption in Third World countries, particularly Africa, where money for important public projects has a habit of disappearing into the private accounts of corrupt leaders.

Posted by Frank James at 8:07 am CDT

Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend came the news that Cindy Sheehan is apparently giving up her role as the nation's highest-profile anti-war protester.

It appears her move is, in its way, another form of protest, but not against the Bush Administration or the war which claimed her son Casey, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. Instead, her departure is in part a protest against her left-of-center and Democratic Party critics.

Sheehan announced her intentions on a Memorial Day diary entry on the liberal blog DailyKos.

…When I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:25 am, updated 7:57 am CDT

President Bush, protesting the government of Sudan's continued support of militias and thwarting of peacekeeping efforts in the violence-plagued Darfur region, today announced increased U.S. economic sanctions against several Sudanese companies and individuals and called on the United Nations to step up sanctions against the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir

"For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians,'' said Bush, again describing as "genocide'' a military campaign that has left more than 200,000 dead and displaced more than 2.5 million people as refugees from the Darfur region. "The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it.

"I promise this to the people of Darfur,'' Bush said in a statement delivered this morning from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. "The United States will not avert our eyes to a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world.''

Calling the increased U.S. sanctions overdue, David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition, said success will depend on how well the Treasury Department enforces them.

"The Save Darfur Coalition welcomes President Bush's decision to finally impose stronger targeted sanctions on the al-Bashir regime in Sudan, while recognizing that these measures are too late and too little,'' he said. "However, because the international community and the Bush administration have been barking at the Sudanese regime for so long, it is reassuring to see that at least the U.S. has finally started to bite. ''

Posted by Frank James at 6:35 am CDT

A quick guided tour of some of the day's most important or imteresting (or both) Washington-related stories.

Iraqi refugees driven out of their country by violence have increasingly turned to working as dancers in Syrian nightclubs or as prostitutes in the neighboring country.

Pressure mounts in Washington on President Bush and congressional Democrats to find an end to the Iraq War with the summer poised as a critical moment in determining the success or failure of the military surge.

American and Iranian diplomats met in Baghdad's Green Zone, the first such face-to-face meeting between emissaries of the two nations in nearly 30 years. But they agreed on very little except that they both thought Iraq's fortunes would improve if the other side left that war-torn nation.

The coal industry and its backers are pushing for large subsidies for liquefied versions of the fuel, saying it offers energy independence. But environmentalists say liquefied coal would worsen global warming.

Posted by John McCormick at 3:35 p.m. CDT

HANOVER, N.H. -- As he prepares for an upcoming Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that he expects to turn in a better performance than he did in his first national debate in late April.

"I assume that I'll get better as time goes on," Obama said during a news conference at Dartmouth College, where he concluded a two-day campaign swing through New Hampshire.

At the first debate in South Carolina, where all eight declared Democratic presidential candidates appeared, Obama was generally given so-so reviews.

The Democrats are set to face off again here in New Hampshire on Sunday.

Posted by John McCormick at 12:39 p.m. CDT

HANOVER, N.H. -- After a relatively quiet weekend in northern New Hampshire, Sen. Barack Obama is ending his two-day swing through the state here on the campus of Dartmouth College. And the crowds are back.

Hundreds -- probably thousands -- of people are lined up waiting for Obama's outdoor rally, scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. Chicago time. After the rally, Obama is set to meet with reporters before heading to Iowa for a Monday evening event. On Tuesday, he will outline his health care proposal in Iowa City.

Posted by John McCormick at 10:21 a.m. CDT

LITTLETON, N.H. -- Sen. Barack Obama paid his Memorial Day respects here by laying a wreath in front of a war memorial outside the town's community center.

"This is a day in which we reflect on those who have fallen and the incredible sacrifices that they made on behalf of all of us," he told reporters before his first political event of the day here at a senior center.

Before his arrival, a television crew modified nature, so that a branch from a tree would not interfere with the shot.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:20 m CDT

An advance look at a new book about Sen. John Kerry's campaign for president provides an unflattering political picture of Kerry's vote for the authorization of force in Iraq in the fall of 2002.

The book comes from Bob Shrum, Kerry's campaign strategist. The look comes from the Boston Globe, in an article today by Michael Kranish.

It's called "No Excuses,'' a fitting title for a longtime campaign strategist who doesn't have a very good record of his own in national races and suggests that the Kerry campaign was often dysfunctional.

Kerry voted for the war resolution in 2002 "after weighing the political ramifications and being told by his future campaign manager that he would never be elected president in 2004 unless he sided with President Bush on the issue,'' the Globe reports. The book, slated for release in early June, also quotes e-mails from Kerry's former campaign manager critical of the behavior of Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

(From the official Arlington National Cemetery website. "Sgt. Edward Taylor, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion 3rd Infantry Regiment placing a flag in the ground during Arlington National Cemetery's annual 'Flags In.' Photo by Sgt Parker, US Army, The Old Guard.")

Posted by Frank James at 8:45 am CDT

When President Abraham Lincoln, in delivering his Gettysburg Address in November of 1863, described the dead Union troops who lay in the graves nearby as having given "the last full measure of devotion," he used timeless words that will forever apply to all those in all the patriot graves here and abroad, having fallen for their nation in its wars.

We remember them today. We are grateful to them. And we marvel at their courage.

Posted by Aamer Madhani at 8:05 am CDT

Frank Buckles knew many of the soldiers who fell at war.

World War I.

Buckles, 106, is one of the few last known living American veterans of The Great War. In Charles Town, West Virginia, Buckles keeps a china cabinet of military patches and mementoes from his deployments in England, France and Germany.

And, of course, Buckles has a few stories to tell. Read about his story, and his stories, on this Memorial Day, in today's Tribune:

Frank Buckles, 106, is one of three known living American veterans of World War I. Tribune staff photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Stephen J. Hedges at 7:57 am CDT

It's called Food for Peace.

But some aspects of the Eisenhower-era program today look more like Business for American agriculture and transportation.

Now the Bush administration has acceded to criticism for a program that distributes $1.2 billion in food aid to needy nations but purchases 100 percent of it from U.S. producers. The administration wants to let the U.S. Agency for International Development purchase up to 25 percent of that $1.2 billion in food closer to places where crises of hunger are occurring. Timeliness, USAID says, can be a lifesaver.

The change faces criticism in Congress, however.

See the Tribune's story today:

Posted by John McCormick at 6:05 a.m. CDT

CONWAY, N.H.—Selling himself in a politically independent section of the state, Sen. Barack Obama attracted more than 1,000 people here Sunday as he campaigned across this state's often-overlooked northern section.

Dressed in khakis, with shirt sleeves rolled up, the Democratic presidential candidate played up to the standing-room-only audience, many of whom have ties to the recreation industry that is central to the Mt. Washington Valley.

"We're scouting out spots for some summer travel and then in the fall," he joked. "We may dump the kids, and just Michelle and I have a little romantic weekend sometime, with TV cameras and Secret Service following us. It will be a little intimate affair."

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, May 28, 2007, Memorial Day.

Numerous Memorial-Day related events have been scheduled in the Washington area.

10 a.m. There will be a book signing with authors of The Mighty Fallen (Larry Bond and f-stop Fitzgerald), a book about war memorials around the U.S. United States Navy Memorial Plaza, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

11 a.m. Commemorative wreath laying ceremonies at U.S. Navy Memorial. United States Navy Memorial Plaza, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

11 a.m. Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery. Ceremonies include a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns followed by a remembrance ceremony at Memorial Amphitheater. The event will commence with a prelude concert by the U.S. Marine Corps Band at 10:30 a.m. inside the amphitheater. Both ceremonies are free and open to the military community and general public.

Posted by John McCormick at 9:00 p.m. CDT

BERLIN, N.H. -- The locals stress that you pronounce the name of this town BURR-ln, not like the city in Germany.

Sen. Barack Obama had been properly prepared when he spoke to a crowd of several hundred here Sunday evening. He and his family also scooped and sampled some ice cream at a social organized by his campaign. It was the final public stop of the day, the first of a two-day swing through New Hampshire's North Country. For the record, Illinois' junior senator had mint chocolate chip and vanilla, according to news crews that had a better vantage point.

Some photos from the ice cream social:

Posted by John McCormick at 3:44 p.m. CDT

CONWAY, N.H. -- The trip just started, and the candidate is already running behind. Still, the members of the crowd seemed patient inside a high school gym in Conway, N.H., as they waited about a half-hour past Sen. Barack Obama's scheduled speaking time.

The standing-room-only crowd was estimated at about 1,000, although Obama's campaign said there were closer to 1,200. He talked about his opposition to the war in Iraq, veterans benefits and other issues from his standard stump speech.

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:25 pm CDT

Another eight American soldiers died in Iraq today, the military announced, raising the American military's death toll to 101 in May and nearly 1,000 since the last Memorial Day.

In honor of Americans still unaccounted for in this war and in wars past, hundreds of thousands of people assembled outside the Pentagon today, on a hot, sunny and hazy Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend, for the launch of the 20th annual Rolling Thunder, a parade of motorcyle-mounted veterans of the Vietnam War and other conflicts that takes several hours to rumble out and circle the National Mall in Washington, passing the Vietnam Memorial, the White House and the Capitol.

Ray Smith, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, came from Chattanooga, Tenn., to make a statement about "the MIAs and the POWs that could still be out there, not just from Vietnam but all wars.'' It's a matter of "not abandoning our warriors, our fighting people. The military, our fighting branch, is what gives us our freedom,'' said Smith, a maintenance man who donned his Rolling Thunder vest and rode to Washington to remind the powers that be that he and his comrades will not be ignored.

"It seems that all your little special interests groups... their issues get pushed to the front,'' Smith said, "and the populace, what they want, gets pushed over... There's a lot of people out here."

They did not pass unnoticed. President Bush, returning from Camp David, made a low circle over the Pentagon lot in Marine One before arriving at the White House to greet the leaders of Rolling Thunder.

With the Pentagon as a backdrop, hundreds of thousands of people queued up in a hot lot this morning for the noon launch of the Rolling Thunder. This and all other photos by Mark Silva

(Also note: The Chicago Tribune offers profiles of the more than 3,800 members of the U.S. armed services who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan at chicagotribune.com/soldiers)

Posted by John McCormick at 12:15 p.m. CDT

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama kicks off a two-day campaign tour of northern New Hampshire this afternoon, with a surprisingly large media contingent along for the ride.

One would expect few reporters to be available for such a trip, considering it is a holiday weekend. But reporters from USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and other national news organization are on the bus.

The trip marks the first time Obama's campaign has provided a media bus since he launched his presidential bid in February.

After getting picked up at the Manchester airport (see the photo), the media bus is heading north for the first stop of the afternoon in Conway, N.H. There are roughly 20 reporters, photographers and sound people aboard, plus others driving themselves to New Hampshire's North Country.

Posted by John McCormick at 6:05 a.m. CDT

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is planning what could be the largest fundraiser of his presidential bid so far, a big-dollar event in Chicago that is expected to raise at least $1.5 million in a single evening.

Minimum suggested admission for the June 8 reception at the Park West theater, 322 W. Armitage Ave., is $1,000.

A flier for the event lists nine individuals or couples who have each pledged to raise at least $100,000, enough to make them "chairs" for the "Celebration with Senator Barack and Michelle Obama."

Posted by Mark Silva at 12:25 pm CDT

With a commencement address today to the graduates of West Point, which counts Gen. David Petraeus among its class of 1974, Vice President Dick Cheney commissioned a new generation of officers for "a war on terror,'' a war which the vice president suggested "does not have to be endless.''

"It is rare in West Point history for a class to join during wartime, and to graduate in the midst of that same war,'' the vice president said today. "But this, too, is part of the story of the Class of 2007. You came here knowing these four years would pass; the courses would be finished; this day of commissioning would arrive -- and you would then become responsible for the well being of men and women under your command. You are trained and prepared for battlefield leadership. And you follow in the path of many alumni already in the fight.

"We're fighting a war on terror because the enemy attacked us first, and hit us hard,'' said Cheney, with a speech long on the war and short on criticism for the Congress – now that it has handed the Bush administration a $100-billion war bill. "Down in Washington, D.C., we air differences and argue back and forth on matters of policy,'' he said. "It's always that way, and there's nothing wrong with it. But we need to remember that when all the speeches are given, and the debates fall silent, and the decisions are made, it falls to men and women like you to bear the battle.

"Scarcely 50 miles from this place, we saw thousands of our fellow citizens murdered, and 16 acres of a great city turned to ashes,'' Cheney said. "Others were killed within view of the White House, at the headquarters of our military at the Pentagon. Many heroes emerged that day, both on board an aircraft over Pennsylvania and among the rescue teams, and they, too, died in the hundreds.

"These are events we can never forget. And they are scenes the enemy would like to see played out in this country over and over again, on a larger and larger scale,'' he said. "For nearly six years now, the United States has been able to defeat their attempts to attack us here at home. Nobody can guarantee that we won't be hit again. But we've been safe because a lot of very dedicated professionals have been working relentlessly to protect the homeland.''

For the rest of the speech, read on:

Posted by Frank James at 9:10 am CDT

Another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news day for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Yesterday it was the Washington Post report that two new books about her by respected investigative journalists portrayed her in unflattering ways.

Today, both the New York Times and Washington Post have front-page stories about Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton jetting around the world on a private jet belonging to infoUSA.

That company finds itself embroiled in controversy, partly because of a shareholder lawsuit that alleges that the company's founder and chief executive, Vinod Gupta, a friend and contributor to the Clintons who slept in the White House Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton presidency, has wasted corporate assets with such flights and other luxuries of questionable business value. Like a yacht named "American Princess" docked in the Virgin Islands with an all-female crew.

Incidentally, one of the best parts of the Times story is a quote from a hedge fund executive who said:

“When the C.E.O. of a publicly traded company can say with a straight face that the shareholders benefit from having a yacht with an all-female crew stationed in the Virgin Islands, then you’ve got a problem.”

Then there's the shareholders' unhappiness with the more than $2 million the company paid the former president between July 2003 to April 2005, and more millions of dollars after that, for what the hedge funds suing the company claim are very nebulous consulting services.

But that's not all. This is the very same infoUSA that has come under the scrutiny of Iowa's attorney general and other authorities for selling personal information to criminals who used it to bilk seniors like a 92-year old World War II widower whose was wiped out by the criminals.

That's Iowa, as in the Iowa caucuses, the traditionally important contests for those trying to win their party's presidential nominations. The state that effectively ended Howard Dean's 2004 presidential aspirations. You get the drift.

To get back-to-back bad news days like this is obviously the stuff of campaign nightmares. The only good news for the New York senator in this is it's May and not December of 2007. There's time to recover.

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:06 am CDT

The war in Iraq, President Bush said this week in a Rose Garden appearance, is part of the great struggle of the 21st Century -- he portrays the war against terrorism as a contest of democracy versus tyranny.

"On Memorial Day,'' the president said in his weekly radio address today, "we rededicate ourselves to freedom's cause. In Iraq and Afghanistan, millions have shown their desire to be free.

"We are determined to help them secure their liberty,'' he said. "Our troops are helping them build democracies that respect the rights of their people, uphold the rule of law, and fight extremists alongside America in the war on terror. With the valor and determination of our men and women in uniform, I am confident that we will succeed and leave a world that is safer and more peaceful for our children and grandchildren.''

The war, as Bush has framed it, will continue through the summer with a $100-billion bill that the president signed yesterday. Meanwhile, the president will spend much of this long weekend commemorating the dead from this and past wars, beginning with a Memorial Day weekend radio address today.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7 am CDT

Former Sen. John Edwards has taken some heat this week for calling the war on terror a slogan tailor-made for politics -- ''it's a bumper sticker, not a plan,'' he said.

But the forum in which the Democratic Party's candidate for vice president in 2004 and aspiring candidate for president in '08 made these remarks will foster a continuing debate on foreign policy that should provide plenty of fodder for the campaign ahead.

The Council on Foreign Relations, which served as host for Edwards' speech, will host many more candidates. The foreign policy platforms they deliver there will become the bedrock of campaign debate to come. The council also is sponsoring an illuminating Web-site which should serve as a valuable tool for voters sorting their way through this contest. This is the site, and here's an excerpt from the former senator from North Carolina addressing the council this week:

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:15 am CDT

With gas running at more than $3 per gallon, Americans apparently are planning some shortened vacations this summer -- eyeing weekend journeys over extended road trips.

Which means, be careful out there today.

With 84 percent of all vacationers planning to travel by car this summer, this could be one long weekend.

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:05 pm CDT

President Bush, who headed to Camp David this evening for a brief Memorial Day weekend break, has signed legislation that Congress dubbed the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007.

By the title alone, it's clear that the bill contains a lot more than the $100 billion that the president sought for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – covering the military's bill through September. The $120-billion package includes money for the war, hurricane disaster relief and recovery other projects. But it's the war money that Bush is celebrating.

"Congress voted yesterday to provide our troops with the funding and flexibility they need to protect our country, and I was pleased to sign the bill today,'' the president said, pleased with a bill that lacks the timelines for troop withdrawals which the Democratic-run Congress had demanded but which he had vetoed.

The signing caps a 109-day conflict between Bush and the Congress over a spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet still does not resolve a political debate that will run through summer and into September, when this hard-fought new war funding will expire.

Before signing the new war-spending bill, the president today visited the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where he awarded several Purple Hearts, including one medal for Marine Cpl. Ryan T. Dion of Manchester, Conn., recovering from wounds received in the war in Iraq. Also shown: Dion's parents, Thomas and Patricia Dion, and brother, Justin. White House photo by Joyce Boghosian.

Posted by Frank James at 2:17 pm CDT, updated at 6:06 pm CDT

So you’re sitting there watching Thursday’s floor debate on the Iraq War spending bill as Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House Minority Leader, talks about the flaws he discerns in the bill, the fact that the Democrats put unrelated spending in it.

Boehner, who has that real cool GQ-man look, could’ve run with Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Always elegantly dressed with perfect hair, skin that's perpetually tanned (he says it’s his natural tone) and a resonant voice that rolls out of his cigarette-smoke-cured larynx, he doesn’t strike you as the kind of man who gets emotional easily.

Which is why when he got choked up toward the end of his floor speech, you had to blink a few times to make sure you weren’t imagining it. You weren’t.

Kevin Smith, his spokesman, told me this isn't the first time Boehner has gotten very emotional on the House floor. He said in an e-mail:

"Boehner is very passionate about supporting our troops and their efforts win in Iraq and the Global War on Terror. This isn't the first time he's gotten choked up on the House floor when talking about the sacrifices our troops are making, and it probably won't be the last."

Posted by John McCormick at 1:54 p.m. CDT

Sen. Barack Obama used a midday appearance in Chicago today to respond to Republican criticism that his vote Thursday night against an Iraq spending bill is the equivalent of "waving a white flag" to terrorists.

"The way that we are going to show that we support the troops is by [starting to bring] some of them home," Obama told an international convention of more than 1,200 members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

His fiery speech came after a vote in Washington where Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton opposed an Iraq war spending bill because it didn't contain a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:20 pm CDT

President Bush, dropping in at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda today to visit two dozen wounded soldiers, Marines, sailors and their familie and award five Purple Hearts, stepped outside to thank Congress for sending him a war spending bill that he will sign.

"I applaud the bipartisan effort to get a emergency supplemental bill to my desk,'' the president said. "The speaker and the (majority) leader said they would get it done by Memorial Day recess, and they have. And I appreciate that very much.

"You know, this effort shows what can happen when people work together,'' Bush said. "We've got a good bill that didn't have timetables or tell the military how to do its job, but also sent a clear signal to the Iraqis that there's expectations here in America, expectations that we -- about how to move forward. I look forward to continuing to work with the prime minister and his government in meeting those expectations.''

Posted by Mark Silva at 1:10 pm, updated 2:15 pm CDT

Here we go: You know the campaign is heating up when Sen. John McCain of Arizona takes a full-bore shot at Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois -- "two years in the U.S. Senate'' -- for misspelling flak jacket.

Never mind that it's some young campaign worker who actually types these things, but the McCain campaign proved quick on the draw just now when the Obama campaign responded to McCain's complaint that Obama's vote against the supplemental war funding bill amounts to "a white flag to al Qaeda.''

The Obama campaign took its own sweet time in responding to McCain's original attack. But this is what Obama said in response, in a written statement circulated by his campaign:

"This country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war. Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not. If there ever was a reflection of that it's the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago.''

The McCain camp came back with this: "While Sen. Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation's security.

"By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

It's Obama's turn. (One Crakerjak Swamp commentator quoted below already has offered a cue, with another sort of jacket.)

Flak Jacket..

Straitjacket.

Posted by Frank James at 12:45 pm CDT

Congressional Democrats, being accused by anti-Iraq War activists of voting for a "Capitulation Bill," can take some solace in the results of the latest CBS News/New York Times poll. It indicates that most Americans are exactly where the Iraq spending bill came out: fund the war but with benchmarks.

"Which of these comes closest to your opinion? Congress should block all funding for the war in Iraq no matter what. Congress should allow funding, but only on the condition that the U.S. sets benchmarks for progress and the Iraqi government are meeting those goals. OR, Congress should allow all funding for the war without any benchmark conditions." (Poll was condicted from 5/18-23/2007.)

Block All, 13%
Fund With Benchmarks, 69%
Allow All, 15%
Unsure, 3%

Posted by Jim Tankersley at 12:25 pm CDT

A new federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour in two years) is not all that's tucked into the war supplemental spending bill that Congress approved last night and President Bush expects to sign today.

It includes a one-year moratorium on a Medicaid rule that would have cut up to $623 million in federal funding from Illinois' Medicaid program. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill), report a successful run at including this in the supplemental war bill.

"With passage of this emergency spending bill, Cook County Stroger Hospital and other hospitals throughout the country are one step closer to protecting their critical Medicaid funds,'' Durbin said. "This is money that helps hospitals provide basic services to the uninsured and those with limited insurance.''

"This provision ensures that hospitals and providers can continue to provide the most vulnerable and uninsured people of Illinois with the critical health care services they need," Emanuel said.

In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had proposed a rule to limit payments to government health care providers and alter state financing. This could affect more than 57 million Americans -- including 2 million Illinoisans -- who rely on Medicaid program as well as health care providers who deliver essential services to them, the legislators say.

Posted by Mark Silva at 10:05 am, updated 12:10 pm CDT

A $100-billion war-bill is bound for President Bush’s desk, ready for certain signing.

And thousands of war veterans, celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Rolling Thunder,’’ will roll into Washington this weekend in commemoration of those who have died, and those still missing.

The president will receive the leaders of the Rolling Thunder brigade of motorcyle- mounted war veterans at the South Portico of the White House on Sunday. The riders of some of the biggest bikes in America will have assembled Sunday morning at the Pentagon, just across the Potomac River, and thundered into Washington.

As the veterans honor the casualties of conflicts past, the president will be equally happy to receive a supplemental war-spending bill for the military missions in Iran and Afghanistan – laden as it is with some other special deliveries: Including a two-year increase in the federal minimum wage, to $7.25 per hour, long sought by Democrats. The White House expects to receive that bill today, and says the president will sign it promptly -- a signing that could come at Camp David, where he will retreat overnight.

Bush has fought for this war money for months, he vetoed the Democrats’ first attempt at attaching timelines for troop withdrawals to a spending plan and ultimately held out for a measure that demands some political "benchmarks’’ of the Iraqi government but carries no restrictions on the U.S. military as it completes a buildup of forces in Iraq.

In Washington, the political fallout is just beginning: Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican seeking his party’s 2008 presidential nomination, and rival Mitt Romney, chiding Democratic senators seeking their party’s nomination – Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois -- for voting against the moneyl. McCain is playing for keeps: Accusing the Democrats of waving "a white flag to al Qaeda.''

Posted by Frank James at 9:24 am CDT

When it comes to their position on the Iraq War, congressional Democrats can't win. When they argue for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, they're called "surrender monkeys" by some of the most rabid voices on the political right.

Then when they accept that the reality of their narrow congressional majorities won’t allow them to override President Bush's threatened veto of war-spending bills with timelines for withdrawal, they're essentially called the equivalent of surrender monkeys by the anti-war left.

The vituperation from the war opponents towards congressional Democrats for their approval last night of Iraq and Afghanistan war spending bills lacking deadlines for troop withdrawals is coming fast and furious.

Liberal critics on Daily Kos have been calling the legislation the "Capitulation Bill."

Posted by Bob Secter at 7:30 am CDT

TV satirist Stephen Colbert gave a backhanded, clever but apparently misinformed wag of the finger to the Tribune the other day as he made fun of a two-month old story about the complicated childhood of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama.

The Tribune story raised questions about the accuracy of telling anecdotes in Obama's best-selling memoir, "Dreams from My Father," including a passage where he writes in vivid detail about his racial awakening at the age of 9 while reading a disturbing article about skin bleaching in Life Magazine.

Life never published such an article, the Tribune found. In an interview, Obama told the paper that he might have read the bleaching story in Ebony instead, or possibly another publication. But nothing like it ever ran in Ebony either, its researchers said.

Posted by Frank James at 7:15 am CDT

A quick guided tour to some of the day's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.

Congress passed a timeline-free Iraq War spending bill, ending the immediate impasse between congressional Democrats and President Bush. With more than $100 billion in funding for military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the bill contained benchmarks to be met by the Iraqi government and its passage shifted the focus of much of the war debate to September when the top U.S. military commander is scheduled to give an assessment of whether the surge of U.S. troops worked.

Sen. Hillary Clinton is unflatteringly portrayed in two new books by respected investigative journalists. The Democratic presidential candidate is depicted as self-righteous, secretive and calculating. Though her aides dismiss the books as offering little new, one volume reports that former President Bill Clinton and the senator have had a little known long-term plan whereby he would serve as president for two terms then she would follow.

The House passed a watered down ethics-reform bill that would force lobbyists to disclose the campaign contributions they collect and give candidates, a practice called bundling. Though Democrats campaigned last year on ending a congressional "culture of corruption," the opposition of many in the majority party defeated changes that would have made the reform bill tougher, including one that would have extended the ban on former lawmakers and congressional aides lobbying Congress from one to two years.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:15 am CDT

As you're planning that Memorial Day barbecue, you might want to invite Barack Obama or Rudy Giuliani.

At least, these are the candidates for president in 2008 whom American voters are most likely to pick as most welcome to come share a hamburger this weekend.

It seems Americans are looking for a president who listens – with a new survey showing that American voters say, by a margin of 48-40 percent, that they would like a president who heeds the wishes of the public – perhaps a reflection of the war debate underway today, in which most Americans voice disapproval of President Bush's war policy.

"Americans want a president with whom they feel comfortable,'' says Peter Brown, assistant director, Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Let's not forget the war, or what Memorial Day is about.

But it's time to fire up the grille.

Tribune staff photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:05 am CDT

The war in Iraq has “dwarfed’ all other subjects reported by American news media in the early months of this year, a new study shows, but most of the coverage – 55 percent of it – has centered on the political debate in Washington. Less than one third of the coverage – 32 percent – has focused on events in Iraq.

These are among the findings of the first quarterly report of the Project for Excellence in Journalism released today. It is based on a weekly analysis of the content of a broad cross-section of the media, examining 48 different and multimedia news outlets .

The findings “show how the Iraqi war hangs over the presidency of George W. Bush and all other political activity in Washington, the Project reports. They also suggest that the U.S. media operates with “a U.S.-centric lens,’’ the report states.

Only the presidential election campaign of 2008 rivals Iraq as a story capturing major attention so far this year. The campaign “has received startlingly heavy coverage even though key primaries are nine months away and the general election won’t occur for nearly a year and a half,’’ the report finds. And coverage of the Democratic contest has greatly outweighed coverage of the Republican contest.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, May 25, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

May 25 - 27. MUSLIM CONVENTION — The Universal Muslim Association of America holds its convention, “The Future of Muslims in America” to provide a setting for Shia Muslims from the U.S. and Canada to meet and discuss topics important to their communities.
Location: Sheraton Premiere Hotel at Tysons Corner, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna.

8:30 a.m. CHINESE GOVERNMENT-ECONOMY — The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will conduct a hearing on “The Extent of the Government's Control of China's Economy, and the Implications for the United States.”
Location: Room 385, Russell Senate Office Building.

Posted by Frank James at at 9:21 pm CDT

Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ended the suspense tonight, joining 12 other senators, all but two who were Democrats, in voting against the Iraq War spending bill because it didn't contain a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops.

While they had for months on the campaign trail expressed their opposition to President Bush's troop surge, Clinton and Obama hadn't said publicly how they intended to vote on a spending bill that lacked a timeline following Bush's veto of a bill that had contained one.

In voting no, Clinton and Obama joined their Democratic colleague and rival for their party's presidential nomination, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, in casting a vote against the spending bill.

In a statement, Clinton said:

"Tonight I voted against the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill because it fails to compel the President to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq. I believe that the President should begin a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq and abandon this escalation. I fully support our troops, and wish the President had followed the will of the people and signed the original bill we sent which both funded the troops and set a new course of phased redeployment.

Obama said in his statement:

We should not give the President a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path. With my vote today, I am saying to the President that enough is enough. We must negotiate a better plan that funds our troops, signals to the Iraqis that it is time for them to act and that begins to bring our brave servicemen and women home safely and responsibly.

Another Democrat running for president, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, voted for the spending bill.

Posted by Mark Silva at 3 pm CDT

Rice is nice, but President Bush has this question about U.S. exports to China: Where’s the beef?

There are a lot of complicating factors in that nagging $233 billion trade deficit that the U.S. is running with China -- not the least of which is China’s inflated currency. But the imbalance of trade itself is central to the problem.

“There's a lot of areas we're working together, and there's areas where there's friction,’’ Bush said at a Rose Garden press conference today. “We've just got to work through the friction.

“One area where I've been disappointed is beef,’’ Bush said of the Chinese. “They need to be eating U.S. beef. It's good for them. They'll like it.’’

The president had told an interviewer from Japanese television in 2005: “U.S. beef if safe. Of course, our cattlemen here believe the beef is safe. I'm more than willing to eat U.S. beef, and do -- eat a lot of it.''

Posted by Christi Parsons at 1:15 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's campaign to pick her presidential campaign theme song continues, and so far she's managed to eliminate a few songs from the list of suggestions.

"Sexy Back" and "Super Freak" seem to have been discarded, for reasons that go unexplained in Clinton's latest video update.

The response to her call for help in choosing the song has been gratifying, she says, except for the guys who apparently said the invitation was "ridiculous," "stupid" and "insulting."

Or, as one respondent put it: "Are you freaking kidding me?"

No, pal, she's serious. She's actually grooving on Celine Dion.

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:45 am CDT

President Bush, predicting tough fighting and casualties in the months ahead in Iraq and possibly a “bloody’’ August, today praised Democratic congressional leaders for moving forward with a $100-billion-plus war-spending that forgoes the timelines for U.S. troop withdrawals that Democrats want.

The House today is debating and expects to vote for a bill extending funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September, with the Senate expected to follow suit.

While setting “benchmarks’’ for the Iraqi government to achieve political goals, with funding for political aid in the balance, the bill does not restrict funding for the U.S. military missions.

The legislation effectively delays until fall, however, any resolution of a war debate that has divided a Democratic-controlled Congress and the Republican president for months. With Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, promising a progress report in September on the effect of the escalation of military force in Iraq that the president ordered earlier this year, September will become a portentous month – and that, the president said today, means that opponents will take full advantage this summer.

“It could make August a tough month,’’ Bush said today during a Rose Garden press conference. “What they’re going to try to do is kill as many innocent people as they can to try to influence the debate here at home…. They recognize that the death of innocent people could shake our will… So, yes, it could be a bloody -- it could be a very difficult August.’’

Posted by Mark Silva at 8:50 am CDT

With two big legislative battles on his plate before the Memorial Day recess of Congress, President Bush has called a press conference this morning to press his case for continued funding of the war in Iraq and passage of an immigration reform bill.

The war bill is on course for a House vote today -- absent the timelines for troop withdrawals which Democrats demanded in an earlier, $120-billion spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and which the president swiftly vetoed. The Senate should follow soon on the war vote, which will carry the Pentagon through September and effectively set a new, fall date for a renewed debate over the war.

The immigration bill is on a slower path, however, with a debate that will spill into June.

The president's Rose Garden press conference at 10:01 am CDT will represent only his third formal press conference of the year, though he has appeared alongside world leaders in briefer availabilities.

Posted by Frank James at 8:40 am CDT

After the congressional testimony of former Justice Department official Monica Goodling yesterday, we still don’t know who put the names of the U.S. attorneys targeted for firing on the termination list.

But Goodling did produce more information about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales many people will find disturbing. She testified that after it became clear earlier this year that Goodling and Gonzales would likely be called before Congress to testify, Gonzales discussed with Goodling facts related to the firings in a way that some could argue was an attempt by the nation's highest law enforcement official to coach or perhaps even tamper with a federal witness.

The information came out in the very skillful questioning of Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.,) a Harvard Law School graduate and former federal prosecutor, who was so good in questioning Goodling that his Democratic colleagues repeatedly yielded their time to him so he could continue his line of questioning.

Posted by Frank James at 7:00 am CDT

Stephen Colbert, the comic genius from Comedy Central, did a very funny riff on the Sen. Barack Obama Life/Ebony/race story which I didn't see in real time earlier this week. A colleague pointed it out to me.

As you'll recall, Democratic presidential candidate Obama said in his autobiography he had a memorable racial awakening at age nine when he saw a story in Life magazine about a self-hating black man who had done his best to bleach his skin white.

After Chicago Tribune reporters did some fact-checking and failed to find that issue of Life, Obama said maybe it was Ebony. But no evidence of such a story could be found in that magazine's archives either.

Colbert zings the Tribune and other news outlets that followed its lead for making too much of a nearly 40-year-old memory. He mentions that Esquire actually appears to have run such a story and that may be what Obama remembered seeing. For the record, a Tribune editor said this of the Esquire theory: "We already tracked that one down a few weeks ago. It's not even close to what Obama cites in his book."

I post this for others who haven't seen it. Enjoy. I think it's hilarious.

Posted by Frank James at 6:40 am CDT

A quick guided tour of some of today's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.

President Bush once again selectively declassified intelligence to make the case for pursuing his approach to the Iraq War, saying in a Coast Guard Academy speech that Osama bin Laden had urged al Qaeda associates in Iraq to turn that country into a base for terror attacks against the U.S.

Monica Goodling, a former Justice Department aide, told the House Judiciary Committee that she crossed the line in taking political affiliations into account in hiring recommendations but wasn't responsible for singling out any of the eight U.S. attorneys fired under suspicious circumstances by the Bush Administration.

A body found in the Euphrates River in Iraq was confirmed by the military to be that of Army Pfc Joseph Anzack Jr., one of three soldiers who went missing after a recent ambush and were the subject of a massive manhunt by the U.S. military.

Posted by Mark Silva and Jill Zuckman at 6:20 am CDT

When Joe Sestak, a Democrat and former vice admiral in the Navy, ran for Congress last year, he told the voters of suburban Philadelphia that the United States should withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2007. And he defeated a 10-term Republican.

Today, after months of struggle with the White House, Sestak and fellow House members expect to vote to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. The legislation will not include the timeline for troop withdrawals which Democrats demanded. Instead, the $120 billion measure will contain "benchmarks" that the Iraqi government should meet to show progress.

Despite intense pressure from anti-war organizations, Sestak plans to vote for it. "The fact of the matter is we have to fund the troops," he said, shrugging off the prospect of facing political consequences.

And, as President Bush pressures the Democratic-run Congress to pass a war-funding bill before the Memorial Day recess, the president has turned again to a tactic employed many times during the war: Releasing select segments of once-classified U.S. intelligence to bolster his case for the battle.

This time, the president has revealed information about al Qaeda's scuttled plans to coordinate attacks against the U.S. and other targets with operatives based in Iraq -- underscoring Bush's argument that, if the U.S. abandons Iraq, it will become a "safe haven'' for terrorists plotting attacks against the U.S.

Al Qaeda leaders have repeatedly made clear they intend to strike our country again," Bush said in a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy.

Yet the president's critics complain that he is selectively disclosing intelligence to make a bad case.

"We certainly don't need new declassified documents to understand the ongoing threats of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden," said Tim Roemer, a member of the Sept. 11 Commission and former Democratic congressman from Indiana who says the president has correctly identified a threat in al Qaeda but employed the wrong strategy for combatting it.

For the full news and analysis of the situation, see the Tribune's reports:

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:10 am CDT

A new baby boy stirs in Washington this morning.

And, only in Washington could this birth be construed as political.

Samuel David Cheney was born yesterday at eight pounds and six ounces. He is the sixth grandchild of Vice President Dick Cheney. And he is the firstborn son of Mary Cheney, an AOL executive, who plans to raise the boy with her longtime partner, Heather Poe.

The vice president and wife Lynne briefly mugged for photos with the boy born at Washington's Sibley Hospital nearly 24 hours ago. And that's about as much as they will have to say publicly for now, it appears, about the birth of a child whose impending arrival spurred a political controversy when mother Mary, 38, first publicly discussed her pregnancy in December.

The vice president, his wife and new grandson.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, May 24, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

11 a.m. MAMMOGRAMS — Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison host a forum with women senators to question the authors of the report on the decline of women getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer.
Location: Room 192, Dirksen.

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT — The World Bank, the OECD Development Center, and the Migration Policy Institute host a conference on Migration and Development. Some of the issues to be discussed include the increase of the migrant population, the role of Diasporas, drain brain and remittances. The share of migrants in industrial countries doubled over past three decades.
Location: World Bank J Building, Room JB1- 080 (701 18th St. NW, Corner of 18th Sreet and Pennsylvania Avenue.