No Pardon Anytime Soon

One Last Interim

Michael Roston writes for Raw Story: "In a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting Thursday morning, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) revealed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again used an interim appointment authority at the heart of the US Attorneys controversy that Congress banned in a bill sent to the President for signature on June 4."

Said Leahy: "Senator Feinstein's U.S. Attorney bill. . . . repeals that portion of the Patriot Act Reauthorization that had allowed the Attorney General to circumvent advice and consent with respect to U.S. Attorneys. That bill, the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007, has been on the President's desk since June 4. It seems he just cannot bring himself to sign it. Instead, we were informed yesterday through the Justice Department that the Attorney General has used the power that we have voted to repeal, again."

Late yesterday afternoon, after the installation of George Cardona as an interim U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California, the White House announced that Bush had finally signed the bill.

Missing E-Mails Found?

Remember all those e-mails the White House said had somehow been deleted?

Thinkprogress reports: "Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, Leahy revealed that the White House does indeed have the emails, but has yet to turn them over to Congress."

Said Leahy: "We all remember when they first announced to us that significant e-mails that we wanted had been destroyed. They'd been lost. I stated on the floor of the Senate that it's relatively easy to find those lost e-mails. This brought another blast from the White House, saying that I obviously had no understanding of how the Internet works and of course that couldn't be done.

"To their credit, the White House has now told me they -- well, yes indeed, I was right; they were wrong. The e-mails are found. They were there in a backup system, although they have yet to give them."

Immigration Watch

David Espo writes for the Associated Press: "Left for dead a week ago, legislation to strengthen border security while bestowing legal status on millions of illegal immigrants is showing signs of life.

President Bush said on Friday it's time for Congress to act.

"'Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse,' the president said at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. 'I will continue to work closely with members of both parties, to get past our differences, and pass a bill I can sign this year.'"

Jonathan Weisman writes in The Washington Post: "Senate leaders, under pressure from pro-immigration groups and facing a determined push by President Bush, agreed last night to bring a controversial overhaul of the nation's immigration laws back to the Senate floor as early as next week. . . .

"The breakthrough was a clear victory for Bush, whose visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday appeared to come too late to resurrect a measure that had been pulled from the Senate floor five days earlier. . . .

"For his part, Bush sought to reassure conservatives that the controversial bill would provide resources for more effective border control, endorsing a new plan to devote $4.4 billion in fees raised by the legislation to bolstering border surveillance and preventing illegal immigrants from being hired in workplaces.

"'We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept,' Bush told members of the Associated Builders and Contractors. . . .

"House Republicans showed no sign of tempering their opposition yesterday, even after senators backed the immediate infusion of funds for border security."

Middle East Watch

Glenn Kessler writes in The Washington Post: "Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. 'I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror,' the president declared.

"The takeover this week of the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group dedicated to the elimination of Israel demonstrates how much that vision has failed to materialize, in part because of actions taken by the administration."

Come September

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post op-ed column: "Here's a surprise: Remember how we were told that if we just waited until the fall, we'd see that George W. Bush's 'surge' was working in Iraq? Well, now it turns out that we shouldn't expect answers in September after all.

"White House spokesman Tony Snow was purposeful on Wednesday in stomping, trampling, tap-dancing upon and otherwise giving a definitive beat-down to any expectations of a serious, fact-based reassessment of Iraq policy in the fall. Never mind that the White House raised those expectations in the first place.

"The September scenario has been a rhetorical mainstay for the administration and its supporters, a major argument for ignoring all the bad news from Iraq and giving Bush's troop escalation a chance to work. Let's wait for Gen. David H. Petraeus, the man who's now running the war, to submit his progress report. At that point, went the White House argument, the 'way forward' would become clear.

"The fog of war seems to have closed back in. 'I have warned from the very beginning about expecting some sort of magical thing to happen in September,' Snow told the White House press corps, whose collective recollection was somewhat different. 'What I'm saying is, in September you'll have an opportunity to have metrics.'"

Robinson concludes: "Facts on the ground have never been the determining factor in Bush's policy on Iraq. Facts don't even seem to be a particularly important factor. It was considerate of Tony Snow to start preparing us for the inevitable -- and, indirectly, to remind congressional leaders that if they want to change the president's course on Iraq, they won't do it through reasoned persuasion. George Bush can't bring himself to question his basic vision of Iraq, and I doubt he ever will."

Dick Polman blogs for the Philadelphia Inquirer that "from Bush's perspective, weaseling out of the September deadline makes perfect sense, because the idea that the political and security conditions in Iraq would suddenly improve, just because the U.S. had commenced a troop escalation, seemed laughable from the start. And, sure enough, the Surge thus far hasn't made any appreciable difference. . . .

"So it's no surprise that Bush, now tagged with a 29 percent job approval rating, is backing off the statement he made in a Reuters interview. . . . At the time, he characterized September 'as an important moment, because (General) David Petraeus says that's when he'll have a pretty good assessment as to what the effect of the Surge has been.' But today, it's a different story."

Petraeus Watch

And what to make of Petraeus?

Thomas E. Ricks writes in The Washington Post: "The Senate majority leader took aim yesterday at the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who until now has received little criticism from Capitol Hill over his statements or performance.

"Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) charged that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who took command in Iraq four months ago, 'isn't in touch with what's going on in Baghdad.' He also indicated that he thinks Petraeus has not been sufficiently open in his testimony to Congress. Noting that Petraeus, who is now on his third tour of duty in Iraq, oversaw the training of Iraqi troops during his second stint there, Reid said: 'He told us it was going great; as we've looked back, it didn't go so well.'

"Reid seemed most provoked by an article in yesterday's edition of USA Today, which quoted the general as saying that he sees 'astonishing signs of normalcy' in the Iraqi capital. 'I'm talking about professional soccer leagues with real grass field stadiums, several amusement parks -- big ones, markets that are very vibrant,' Petraeus told the newspaper.

"The general's comments came on the same day that the Pentagon released to Congress a quarterly report on security in Iraq. It said that the three-month-old U.S. counteroffensive in Baghdad has not curtailed overall violence in the country but has instead shifted it from inside the Iraqi capital to places around it."

Susan Cornwell writes for Reuters: "The newspaper Politico reported on Thursday Reid called [Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] 'incompetent.' It said Reid also 'made similar disparaging remarks' about Petraeus during an interview on Tuesday with liberal bloggers.

"At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow seized on the report, although he noted he did not know if it was true."

Here's the transcript from yesterday's briefing.

Mark Silva blogs for the Chicago Tribune: "Snow's sensitivity bordered on hair-trigger anger today, probably reflecting the depth of discontent among his bosses who send him out each day to meet the press -- and reporters at the daily briefing readily took Snow to task for lashing out at a comment from Reid which may or may not have been made. . . .

"Why not wait to find out if Reid's comment is reported correctly before launching a 'pre-emptive strike,' the WH press secretary was asked?

"'Well, I just think it's appropriate to comment on it,' Snow said.

"Whether or not it's true, he was asked?

"'Well, do you trust the Politico?' Snow, a journalist at heart, replied. 'I don't know. I'll give -- we'll give a call.'

"This is the same press secretary always refusing to comment on hypotheticals?

"'Well,' Snow said, 'you got me.'"

Bush on the 'Front Lines'

Also from yesterday's briefing, Ken Herman blogs for Cox News Service: "The White House today equated President Bush's role in the war with that of front-line troops. The comments came in answers from Press Secretary Tony Snow. The questions came from columnist Helen Thomas during today's White House briefing.

"'How many more Americans is he willing to sacrifice to keep this war going?' Thomas asked about Bush, who in a speech earlier today renewed his prediction of increasing U.S. casualties in Iraq in weeks and months to come.

"Snow talked about the dedication of the troops who 'feel that they're part of something very special.'

"'The president wishes that nobody had to die. This is something that is deeply personal. He quite often meets with families of those who have been wounded and killed,' Snow said, adding that 'many, many more people will be washed away in needless bloodshed' if the U.S. does not complete the mission.

"Said Thomas: 'I have one follow-up. . . . Are there any members of the Bush family or this administration in this war?'

"'Yes,' said Snow, 'the president. The president is in the war every day.'

"Thomas said that wasn't her question. She said she meant 'on the front lines.'

"'The president,' Snow said."