A Horribly Familiar Cycle

" MR. SNOW: Because we don't want it to be seen as a --

" Q Why?

" MR. SNOW: Because this is an Iraqi initiative, and the one thing -- you do not -- you know, Jim, one of the things they want is diplomatic recognition. They need to deliver. They need to deliver. You do not strengthen your hand by showing 'flexibility' in the absence of activity on the part of those parties, especially when you have taken a public negotiating position on it."

Backing Off on Immigration?

Adam Schreck writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush is committed to working with Congress on an overhaul of immigration laws, two Cabinet officials told a Senate panel Wednesday, but they hedged on the contentious issue of whether people who come to the U.S. illegally should have a path to citizenship."

Schreck describes "a renewed behind-the-scenes push by the White House to get a comprehensive overhaul passed before 2008 presidential and congressional campaigning swings into high gear. At least in broad terms, Bush agrees with congressional Democrats that the immigration laws -- last revised on a large scale in 1986 -- need significant retooling."

But is Bush actually moving to the right -- and away from his ostensible Democratic allies -- by backing away from his proposal for a path to citizenship?

Rachel L. Swarns writes in the New York Times: "It was unclear whether the officials were simply trying to ease conservative concerns about the citizenship question or whether Mr. Bush had actually shifted his position. Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said Mr. Bush still supported a path to citizenship that would include payments of fines back taxes and a requirement to learn English, among other things. But it seemed unlikely that the two cabinet secretaries would make such remarks without first consulting the White House.

"But advocates for immigrants warned that legislation without a path to citizenship would be unacceptable to many Democrats and some Republicans. . . .

"'Without the inclusion of a path to citizenship in a legalization program, you are essentially creating a permanent underclass in our country,' said Bishop Gerald Barnes of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration."

Trade Watch

Greg Hitt writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required): "The Bush administration and congressional Democrats are attempting to negotiate a grand compromise on trade that would allow several deals to move forward by elevating the importance of labor rights in those agreements."

Hitt writes that "the White House and lawmakers have decided to try to find common ground, as Mr. Bush has signaled flexibility on labor standards after years of resisting."

The Anti-Chavez Trip

Joseph Contreras writes for Newsweek: "George W. Bush heads to Latin America next week, on his longest-ever tour of the region as president, and it's pretty clear what's on his agenda. In five countries, Bush will meet with leaders who all share something in common: they've either already had dustups with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, or otherwise seem open to deals that could help Bush counter the growing influence of his nemesis. . . .

"For some time now, Washington has been anxious to limit Chávez's oil-fueled charm offensive in the region. Now this trip offers Bush the chance to promote some local proxies in the fight. But there's a deeper motivation at work. Given the sputtering war on terror and the unfolding catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq, Washington is in desperate need of even a modest foreign-policy success. . . .

"It's an open question, however, whether it's too late for that. . . .

"'Bush isn't a lame duck, he's a dead duck, and he's viewed as being almost pathetic in Latin America,' notes George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary. 'It's just too late in the game.'"

Working Group

The Associated Press reports: "Despite initial wariness from Democrats, President Bush finally convened a bipartisan working group to advise him on terrorism, sitting down at the White House yesterday to discuss the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan with senior lawmakers from both parties.

"When he unveiled his new Iraq policy in January, Bush mentioned his interest in forming such a group as a way of improving relations with Congress. Democrats initially balked out of concern that Bush would be dictating the subject and the people present, congressional aides said.

"What now appears to have emerged is a plan to have regular meetings to discuss key national security issues with an evolving cast of participants from Capitol Hill, according to congressional and White House aides."

Jon Ward writes in the Washington Times: "Mr. Cheney briefed the bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers about his nine-day trip to the Middle East, from which he returned this morning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were also present. . . .

"[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi called it 'a good start to a dialogue with the president that had been absent, quite frankly.'"

Scooter Libby Watch

Amy Goldstein and Carol D. Leonnig write in The Washington Post: "A week into deliberations in the perjury trial of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, jurors yesterday provided the first glimpse of the issues they are weighing by signaling confusion over how to interpret one of the five felony counts against the vice president's former top aide. . . .

"The jury's confusion, relayed in a note to the presiding judge and released by the court yesterday, proved short-lived. When U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton asked them to clarify their question, the jury members swiftly sent him an apologetic second note, saying they had talked further and 'now are clear on what we had to do.'"

Sydney Schanberg writes in the New York Observer that the trial has offered "a road map to the abuses of power that Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and their shadow government of neoconservatives have committed as the neocons carried out what they had been planning for years: an invasion of Iraq--and other military excursions--for the purpose of expanding American dominion. . . .

"Whether or not Mr. Fitzgerald gets a conviction, he has established a trial record that will establish the administration's guilt. Sprinkled throughout are the names of most of the neoconservatives who had been planning the current Iraq War ever since the 1991 Gulf War ended with Saddam Hussein still in power."

Impeaching Cheney

Wil S. Hylton writes up some sample articles of impeachment for Cheney in GQ: "Over the past six years, as the country has spiraled into military misadventure, fiscal madness, and environmental meltdown, the vice president has not merely been wrong about the issues; he has been duplicitous, deceitful, and deliberately destructive to the American democracy. These things can no longer be denied by rational minds."

Rescinding the Bush Doctrine

Boston University professor Andrew J. Bacevich writes in a Boston Globe op-ed that it's time for Congress to rescind the Bush Doctrine.

"Rather than vainly sniping at President Bush over his management of the Iraq war, the Democratic-controlled Congress ought to focus on averting any recurrence of this misadventure."

Bacevich writes that the remedy to Bush's catastrophic foreign policy failures "lies not in having another go -- a preventive attack against Iran, for example -- but in acknowledging that the Bush Doctrine is inherently pernicious. Our reckless flirtation with preventive war qualifies as not only wrong, but also stupid. Indeed, the Bush Doctrine poses a greater danger to the United States than do the perils it supposedly guards against.

"We urgently need to abrogate that doctrine in favor of principles that reflect our true interests and our professed moral values. Here lies an opportunity for Congress to make a difference.

"The fifth anniversary of President Bush's West Point speech approaches. Prior to that date, Democratic leaders should offer a binding resolution that makes the following three points: First, the United States categorically renounces preventive war. Second, the United States will henceforth consider armed force to be an instrument of last resort. Third, except in response to a direct attack on the United States, any future use of force will require prior Congressional authorization, as required by the Constitution."

Iran Watch

George Lakoff raises a good question for the press corps: "Bush and Cheney say all options are "on the table" when it comes to Iran. Can they at least rule out a first-strike nuclear war?

Bush's Pathetic Dribble

As a Live Online reader put it yesterday: "Maybe it's too obvious to state, but the flat-basketball episode [Tuesday] seems like one big metaphor for the Bush administration."

For those who missed it (including me), here's the transcript and video of Bush's photo op with the NBA champion Miami Heat on Tuesday.

Shaquille O'Neal presented Bush with a championship basketball. Everyone posed for a group photo. And then Bush tried a dribble.

But rather than bounce back, the ball hit the floor with a thud. Laughter ensued. Bush looked accusingly at Shaq, who waved his hand in a sort of "hey, not my problem" gesture. Nobody reached out to help. So Bush, in what was almost certainly an East Room first for a president, was left to retrieve his own ball.

You can see the action at 11:06 in this video file.

Cartoon Watch

Tom Toles on Bush talking to his enemies.