By His Deeds Shall Ye Know Him

White House Correspondents Awards

Meanwhile, the FishbowlDC blog has a list of all the winners of the 2006 White House Correspondents Association reporting awards.

Among them: "For excellence on deadline, Deb Riechmann of the Associated Press wins for breaking the news of President Bush's choice of John G. Roberts, Jr. for the US Supreme Court. . . .

"For deadline reporting on a broadcast, Terry Moran of ABC News 'went beyond the obvious story in covering President Bush's first visit to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, going outside the White House press bubble to do original reporting from the viewpoint of the victims,' according to the award judges. . . .

"Carl Cannon of National Journal wrote with what the judges describe as 'clarity, eloquence, and scholarly authority' in his profile of presidential advisor Michael Gerson, tracing the role of fundamentalist Christians in American politics."

Democracy Watch

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "While President Bush vows to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, his administration has been scaling back funding for the main organizations trying to carry out his vision by building democratic institutions such as political parties and civil society groups. . . .

"The shortfall threatens projects that teach Iraqis how to create and sustain political parties, think tanks, human rights groups, independent media outlets, trade unions and other elements of democratic society. . . .

"Officials at the White House, the State Department, the Office of Management and Budget and USAID were contacted for comment in recent days, but none would speak on the record."

Global AIDS Watch

David Brown writes in The Washington Post: "The requirement that a large fraction of President Bush's global AIDS plan go to promote abstinence and fidelity is causing confusion in many countries and in a few is eroding other prevention efforts, including ones to reduce mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

"Those are among the chief conclusions of an 87-page report by the Government Accountability Office that examined the most controversial aspect of the giant AIDS plan, budgeted at $15 billion over five years."

India Watch

Caroline Daniel, Demetri Sevastopulo and Guy Dinmore write in the Financial Times: "The sense of relief among White House staff was palpable last month when President George W. Bush unveiled a landmark deal to provide India with civil nuclear technology after months of tense negotiations. He thought he had secured a momentous foreign policy victory.

"Instead, rather than being embraced as an innovative solution to India's long estrangement from international proliferation agreements, it has run into resistance on Capitol Hill. Just 10 Republican senators have so far agreed to co-sponsor the bill to implement it. It has not secured a powerful champion. Most members are waiting to be persuaded.

"On Wednesday Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, speaks to the Senate foreign relations committee at a critical moment in the administration's public diplomacy."