How Low Can He Go?

"Bush last week expressed hope of completing the agreement, which would give India access to nuclear material and equipment for civilian power plants, after arriving in India tomorrow. Administration officials now say the deal will happen soon, if not this week.

" 'Whether it gets done during the trip or not, we'll see, but it will get done,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday."

Here's the transcript of McClellan's briefing.

Back to Delhi?

Anabhuti Vishnoi writes in the Indian Express: "The chefs at New Delhi's ITC Maurya Sheraton are busy planning a menu just right for President George Bush. And it features a lavish Indian spread--from Lagan Ki Boti to Anjeer Dahi ki Lauj.

"The hotel has just received a brief from the White House on what President Bush likes on his dining table. 'President Bush loves Indian food and what's more he knows it very well. He likes flavoured Indian food but does not like it too spicy, greasy or oily. Chicken and lamb are his favourites and he loves kebabs,' says Executive Chef Amit Chaudhary. . . .

" 'We are told he spent some two months in the Capital in his younger days and he still recalls the food he had here with great relish. Our attempt will be to make the food here a good memory for him for years to come.' "

Wait -- Bush spent two months in New Delhi in his youth? Is that for real? When? What was he doing?

Afghanistan Bound?

The Associated Press wonders: "Will President Bush go to war-rattled Afghanistan when he visits India and Pakistan this week? The White House isn't saying, but there's a lot of speculation here and in South Asia that he will. Both Vice President Dick Cheney and Laura Bush have visited Afghanistan.

" 'Even if we were going to other countries, we would announce that at an appropriate time -- not before,' White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. . . .

"Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department analyst for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Bush likely would confine any visit to heavily guarded Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

" 'He has to go,' Weinbaum said at Brookings Institution briefing on the president's trip. . . . 'Can he not go if Laura Bush took the chance and was more exposed actually?' "

More Sammon

Bill Sammon writes in the Washington Examiner with some of the highlights from his new book about Bush and the 2004 campaign.