by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
Congressional Republicans moved relatively quickly to deal with the scandal involving Sen. Larry Craig's Minneapolis arrest and conviction following an airport restroom sex sting, with the Senate's Republican leadership stripping him of his seniority on committees and senators John McCain and Norm Coleman and Rep. calling on Craig to quit Congress.
A General Accountability Office assessment found that Iraq had failed to meet all but three of 18 benchmarks of military and political progress and GAO investigators suggested earlier positive findings by the White House failed to account for more negative views within the administration.
President Bush, visiting the Gulf Coast, said it had not been forgotten by the federal government but there was much criticism on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that the government hadn't done more to rebuild New Orleans and other devastated areas in the region.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said she and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf have mostly agreed on a power-sharing arrangement in which he would give up his army chief role, a move that could help end the political crisis in the nation that is one of the U.S.'s most important allies in fighting Islamic extremism.
Congressional Democrats are taking heat from civil-liberties groups, activists and bloggers for not doing more to rein in the controversial ways the Bush Administration has used to fight terrorism, including warrantless surveillance and the resistance to applying the concept of habeus corpus to terrorist suspects.
A report by a panel chosen by Virginia's governor concluded that more lives might have been saved at Virginia Tech if students and faculty had been warned earlier of the first two shootings which occurred two hours before Seung Hui Cho killed dozens of fellow students and professors in a classroom building.
Scores of interstate highway bridges that were rated structurally deficient 25 years ago still have the same rating today despite carrying 3.8 million cars and trucks everyday.
A Chicago political operative known for using bare-knuckle tactics is behind an Internet video that bashes Michelle Obama, Sen. Barack Obama's wife, for once being on the board of a company that closed a pickle-processing plant, laying off workers.
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Comments
Dubya has both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce upset with him. It must mean Dubya is doing something right.
But seriously. What this is really about is political payback. Dubya is a vindictive man with nothing to lose politically getting even with people/groups who didn't back his immigration proposals, so look out.
The good news for Democrats is that Republicans will get the lion's share of credit for this.
Posted by: Doug Zook | August 30, 2007 8:50 AM
The Democrats should be criticized for going along with Bush on his extremist antiterrorism initiatives.
At this point, they are as guilty as the Republicans.
And watch the Dems vote for the additional $50 billion Bush wants to extend the surge. There won't even be much of a debate. Those Dems are so spineless.
The Repubs could end up winnng the presidency after all. On issues pertaining to the Iraq war, the Dems have proven, in their actual voting, to be very similar to the Repubs. Many may conclude that they might as well stay on the Republican horse if Iraq is the main issue. And now that the war is costing us $3 billion a month, it surely is the main issue.
Posted by: helena | August 30, 2007 9:36 AM
"A General Accountability Office assessment found that Iraq had failed to meet all but three of 18 benchmarks of military and political progress and GAO investigators suggested earlier positive findings by the White House failed to account for more negative views within the administration."
So when Bush, just a few weeks ago, told us that Iraq had met 8 of 18 benchmarks, he was LYING???
I'M SHOCKED!!!
Posted by: BC | August 30, 2007 10:09 AM
"Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign said it would give to charity $23,000 that it received from a major Democratic donor who has been evading a 1991 California arrest warrant on a grand-theft conviction."
Yesterday Bruce, John D and other right wingnuts were screaming for Hillary to return the money. Today she is.
Does this mean that Bruce and John D will now compliment her for doing what they requested?
Doubt it. they'll probably just find something else about her to bitch about.
Posted by: BC | August 30, 2007 10:13 AM
Why are Republicans letting David Vitter off the hook? Isn't prostitution illegal, too?
Posted by: athena | August 30, 2007 12:25 PM