Cheney: Neither Here Nor There?

Libby Watch

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The Associated Press reports: "Two of the three judges considering whether to delay former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's prison sentence were Republican appointees.

"Libby's request was assigned to Judges David B. Sentelle, Karen Lecraft Henderson and David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Sentelle was put on the bench by President Reagan, Henderson by the first President Bush and Tatel by President Clinton."

Libby's defense team on Tuesday asked the Circuit Court to overrule District Court Judge Reggie Walton's decision that Libby should not be allowed to remain free pending appeal.

The three-judge panel (entirely by coincidence, I am assured by the court) is made of the exact same judges who, as Christy Hardin Smith notes on the Firedoglake blog, ordered journalists Matt Cooper and Judith Miller to testify in the Libby case.

Among Sentelle's claims to fame: He headed a panel that dismissed the original Whitewater counsel, Robert Fiske, and appointed Kenneth Starr instead; he and other Republicans reversed the convictions of Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter in the Iran-contra scandal; he named his daughter Reagan after the president who appointed him to the bench.

One tea-leaf to read: The panel rejected a friend-of-the-court brief from 12 constitutional lawyers that the defense had sought to introduce.

Bush's Third Veto

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Maura Reynolds writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have allowed the use of federal funds to support embryonic stem cell research, the second consecutive year he has blocked such a bill.

"Proponents say embryonic stem cells -- which can turn into cells for many different kinds of human tissue -- offer the best chance of treating or curing many debilitating or fatal diseases.

"But opponents, like Bush, argue that research on the cells, which can be derived from human embryos created during in-vitro fertilization treatments, effectively destroys a human life."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "The veto, only the third of Mr. Bush's presidency, puts him at odds not only with the majority of voters, according to polls, but also with many members of his own political party. Republicans sent him a similar measure last year when they controlled Congress. But even with considerable support from the Republican minority this year, Democrats concede they do not have enough votes for a veto override. . . .

"Mr. Bush issued an executive order intended to encourage scientists to pursue other forms of stem cell research that he does not deem unethical. But that research is already going on, and the plan provides no new money.

"Advocates for embryonic stem cell research called the new plan a ploy to distract from Mr. Bush's opposition to the studies."

Edward Epstein writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that "even as Bush digs in on his position that taxpayers shouldn't be asked to pay for the destruction of human life in the form of days-old embryos, bipartisan proponents of embryonic stem cell research pledged to force Congress to vote on the issue again and again -- until they get a veto-proof two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress or until Bush leaves office."

Ken Herman writes for the Cox News Service that despite the widespread public opposition to his position, "Bush's actions drew enthusiastic support from about 300 guests in the East Room for the announcement. Included were members of National Right to Life, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."

The decision also put White House spokesman Tony Snow into a spinning tizzy at his daily briefing.

Asked about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's charge that "[t]his is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science," Snow responded: "This actually is the President putting science before ideology. There are many people who believe that you have to force taxpayers into making a choice of destroying a human life -- destroying an embryo in order to proceed with embryonic stem cell research. That would be an ideological position.

"What the President is taking is a scientific position that says, no, fortunately, if you've been looking at the literature, there appear to be a couple of recent papers that indicate that you don't have to make that very difficult moral choice."

The 'Real' Bush

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Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak writes: "On May 31, President Bush met for 35 minutes in the private living quarters of the White House with Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Hong Kong, in an event that was not announced and did not appear on his official schedule. Their meeting did not please the State Department, elements of the Catholic hierarchy and certainly not the Chinese government. But it signifies what George W. Bush is really about."

Blair Watch

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Robin Wright writes in The Washington Post: "The Bush administration is laying the groundwork for an announcement of Tony Blair's appointment as a special Middle East envoy for Palestinian governance and economic issues after he steps down as Britain's prime minister, following two months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, according to U.S. officials."

Helene Cooper writes in the New York Times: "Mr. Bush has spoken to Mr. Blair about the proposal, and discussed it Tuesday with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, Israeli and Bush administration officials said. Senior Israeli officials said Mr. Olmert was also very keen on the idea.

"But British officials said Mr. Blair had not yet decided if he would take on the task, and bristled that public comments from the Bush administration were premature."

Signing Statements Watch

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Carl Hulse writes in the New York Times: "Lawmakers say they plan to dig deeper into the Bush administration's use of bill-signing statements as ways to circumvent Congressional intent. . . .

"'Federal law is not some buffet line where the president can pick parts of some laws to follow and others to reject,' said Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the Appropriations Committee."

E-Mails Watch

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I wrote in Tuesday's column that new evidence establishes that White House political adviser Karl Rove and many of his colleagues used Republican National Committee e-mail accounts for official business -- even though White House policy is clear that doing so is a violation of the Presidential Records Act.

The Sacramento Bee editorial board writes: "The situation reveals, once again, how the Bush administration has blurred the line between official government business and political campaign activity to the point that the two have become indistinguishable. Every White House coordinates policy activities and political activities. But the Bush administration has gone off the scale in building a massive White House structure to ensure that partisan politics drives policy. . . .

"The dual roles of Rove & Co. have given us the worst of both worlds -- political operatives engaging in campaign activities on government time and high-level, government-paid staffers hiding behind political e-mail accounts to evade scrutiny of how their political aims factored in government agencies' work.

"And what do Rove and the Bush White House have to show for it in either policy accomplishments or electoral gains? Precious little. But they do leave behind a legacy of undermining the integrity of government."

No Pictures -- Or Else!

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Ken Herman blogs for Cox News Service about the secrecy surrounding the planned reopening next week of the renovated White House briefing room.

"[P]hotos of the refurbished digs in the West Wing have been placed off limits by White House officials concerned about security. Some photographers -- nosy types that they are -- have snapped a photo or two when the doors were opened.

"This is bad, says the White House, which has embargoed publication of any photos of the new briefing room until July 9, which is sort of the official grand opening.

"Here's today's e-mail of warning from White House aide Josh Deckard:

"'Press are NOT allowed to photograph the brief room during this transition-they aren't even supposed to be in there. Press took pictures this morning and got very rude w/ the workers when they asked them to stop. Please make sure those pictures don't run. If anyone breaks this rule from here on out they will lose their pass.'"

Picnic Watch

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The Wonkette blog reports: "Congress joined the Bush Administration for a nice little barbecue on the South Lawn [Tuesday] night. The theme was Mardi Gras, so everybody could enjoy memories of New Orleans being destroyed by the Bush Administration and then pretty much left in that same condition years later.

"Famous NOLA chef Paul Prudhomme catered the picnic and New Orleans jazz band Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers played Dixieland.

"And then Bush told the black musicians to clean up after the politicians."

From the transcript:

"THE PRESIDENT: Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers, right out of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Applause.)

"MR. RUFFINS: Thank you. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here.

"THE PRESIDENT: Proud you're here. Thanks for coming. You all enjoy yourself. Make sure you pick up all the trash after it's over. (Laughter.)"

Cartoon Watch

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Steve Sack on stem cells; Stuart Carlson on Iraq as South Korea.