Another Bush Backfire

"When the media characterize it as a political struggle between the White House and congressional Democrats or as a complex debate over national security in a post Sept. 11 world -- two convenient dodges -- they aren't being realistic or fair. What the media really are doing is engaging in a sophisticated fan dance -- a convenient act of concealment.

"What's really at stake is whether this country will continue to stand with the framers of our Constitution and our authentic moral traditions or whether we now will allow Bush and Cheney to put us shoulder to shoulder with Pol Pot."

The Feisty President

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Charles Babington writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush enters a new phase of government-by-minority this month, issuing a veto certain to draw the first override of his presidency, and testing even his most loyal allies' limits on spending issues that will dominate the fall agenda.

"The strategy allows Bush to employ every ounce of his presidential powers, imposing his will so long as he is backed by one-third of either house in Congress -- the minimum to sustain a presidential veto. But it could strain his relations with GOP lawmakers as he pushes his tax-and-spending dogma beyond points that even a third of the House or Senate can accept.

"Bush's growing use of the veto, combined with his continued embrace of executive orders and 'signing statements,' signal his willingness to defy large portions of Congress and the public to shape policies in his final year in office."

Kenneth T. Walsh writes for U.S. News: "Faced with potential gridlock almost across the board, Bush has ordered his staff to prepare a variety of executive orders and administrative actions that will let him end-run Congress for the remainder of his term. This has been done by presidents before, but Bush's plans seem more extensive. White House officials say that Bush is considering a lengthy series of unilateral actions on hot-button topics such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels by encouraging alternative energy sources, limiting the importation of dangerous toys from China, restricting illegal immigration but still allowing needed agricultural workers to enter the country, improving veterans' healthcare, and alleviating air-traffic congestion."

Steven T. Dennis writes for Roll Call (subscription required): "Despite their rhetoric about not wanting to hand President Bush another 'blank check' for the Iraq War, Democrats appear poised to give him exactly that -- enough cash to keep the war going full steam for as long as six months, no strings attached.

"Democratic leaders continue to fear GOP attacks that cutting off or slowing funds would hurt the troops, despite anger among the Democratic base over the party's failure to use Congress' power of the purse to end the war."

Here's how Bush summed things up in his speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation last week: "I'm looking forward to working with you for the next 14 months -- but you better put on your running shoes, because my spirits are high, my energy level is good and I'm sprinting to the finish line."

Health Care Watch

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Robert Pear writes in the New York Times that the veto of a bipartisan compromise providing health insurance to 10 million children "highlights the rift between Mr. Bush and members of his own party, including many who helped create the child health program 10 years ago. . . .

"Explaining why he vetoed it, Mr. Bush said 'we weren't dialed in' to the negotiations. But after checking their calendars, lawmakers said they and their aides had had more than 35 meetings and telephone conversations on the issue" with White House staff members "from January through September."

Those staff members were Allan B. Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council; Keith B. Hennessey, a former policy director for Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi; and Julie L. Goon, a special assistant to the president.

So what went wrong? Pear explains that while a handful of powerful senators "was hashing out details of their bipartisan proposal, White House officials urged lawmakers to provide tax breaks for anyone buying private health insurance. Mr. Hubbard, a business school classmate of Mr. Bush's, kept promoting this idea even after Senate Republican leaders told the White House the time was not ripe for this broader debate.

"Senator Hatch tried to bring White House officials into the negotiations, believing their involvement would produce a better bill. But, lawmakers said, the administration did not want to discuss the child health program except as part of a broader discussion that included the president's tax proposals."

Education Watch

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Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post about the No Child Left Behind education law and Bush's relationship with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy: "This was supposed to be the one area where the embattled White House and the assertive new Democratic Congress would find common ground, thanks to the unlikely partnership between a Texas conservative and a Massachusetts liberal. But like the rest of Bush's legislative agenda, No Child Left Behind has fallen victim to political deadlock, leaving a weakened president struggling to salvage perhaps his most important domestic achievement with the help of one of his toughest critics."

Aiming Big in the Middle East

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Karen DeYoung writes for The Washington Post: "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that he believes the path to peace with Israel is now open and that a Palestinian state can be achieved before the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.

"Echoing a near-identical statement made Sunday night by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Abbas said that an upcoming peace conference in Annapolis would launch negotiations over core issues in the conflict. . . .

"Abbas's comments, as he stood beside Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after talks between the two Monday morning, put Israel, the Palestinians and the United States on the same page in expressing optimism -- an achievement in itself given the long-stalemated status of the peace process. The establishment of a Palestinian state, a goal that has eluded U.S. presidents for decades, would be a major accomplishment for President Bush at a time when his foreign policy legacy remains in question."

Iran Watch

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If history is a lesson, we should listen to McClatchy this time around.

Jonathan S. Landay writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger 'World War III,' experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program.

"Even his own administration appears divided about the immediacy of the threat. While Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney speak of an Iranian weapons program as a fact, Bush's point man on Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, has attempted to ratchet down the rhetoric.

"'Iran is seeking a nuclear capability . . . that some people fear might lead to a nuclear-weapons capability,' Burns said in an interview Oct. 25 on PBS. . . .

"Bush's rhetoric seems hyperbolic compared with the measured statements by his senior aides and outside experts. . . .

"If conclusive proof exists," Landay writes, "Bush hasn't revealed it. Nor have four years of IAEA inspections."

Frank Rich writes in his New York Times opinion column: "When President Bush started making noises about World War III, he only confirmed what has been a Democratic article of faith all year: Between now and Election Day he and Dick Cheney, cheered on by the mob of neocon dead-enders, are going to bomb Iran. . . .

"The reason so many Democrats believe war with Iran is inevitable, of course, is that the administration is so flagrantly rerunning the sales campaign that gave us Iraq. The same old scare tactic -- a Middle East Hitler plotting a nuclear holocaust -- has been recycled with a fresh arsenal of hyped, loosey-goosey intelligence and outright falsehoods that are sometimes regurgitated without corroboration by the press. . . .

"Yet there is nonetheless a method to all the mad threats of war coming out of the White House. While the saber- rattling is reckless as foreign policy, it's a proven winner as election-year Republican campaign strategy. The real point may be less to intimidate Iranians than to frighten Americans. Fear, the only remaining card this administration still knows how to play, may once more give a seemingly spent G.O.P. a crack at the White House in 2008.

"Whatever happens in or to Iran, the American public will be carpet-bombed by apocalyptic propaganda for the 12 months to come."

Bush Before the Troops

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Josh White and William Branigin write in Saturday's Washington Post: "President Bush, invoking the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as he has many times before, contended Friday that Iraq is the central front in the struggle against extremism, telling a supportive military crowd at this Army post that it is imperative to continue fighting the increasingly unpopular war.

"Bush praised the 1,300 newly minted soldiers graduating from Basic Combat Training here for volunteering to defend the country. . . .

"In asserting that they must stay committed to the fight, Bush was speaking to perhaps one of the most loyal audiences he could have found." Here's the transcript.

Cheney Flunks Geography

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White and Branigin also note that Cheney, in a speech before the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth, was asked about the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "The people of Peru, I think, deserve better in their leadership. But that's obviously a matter they've got to resolve for themselves," Cheney said.

Cheney's Notion of Negotiating

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Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post that when Cheney was asked at that same Dallas appearance "why the United States should invade countries such as Iraq and Iran rather than sit down and talk with their leaders, he said he would be more than happy to talk with them -- on certain rather favorable terms.

"'Well, I would love to have one giant peace conference, to see our adversaries come sit down on the other side of the table, and negotiate a treaty here -- like we did at the end of World War II onboard the USS Missouri -- and have the problem solved,' he said, before going on to explain why he did not think that was possible.

"Of course, the 'treaty' signed on the Missouri was actually an instrument of 'unconditional surrender' in which Japan agreed to 'obey and enforce all proclamations, orders and directives' issued by the Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. If only Iran would be reasonable and agree to something like that, everything sure would be a lot easier."

White House Propaganda Watch

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Jonathan Karl reports for ABC News: "The White House has selectively edited a report on Iraq, taking out negative information and distorting the report's meaning.

"This isn't about intelligence or weapons of mass destruction. It's my report on Thursday's evening on World News with Charles Gibson. . . .

"The White House sent out an edited version of my report in an official White House publication called 'White House Iraq Update.' . . . As edited by the White House, my report looked like an unqualified declaration of success in Iraq."

Impeachment (Non) Watch

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CBS News reports that "a statewide poll conducted by CBS affiliate WCAX in Burlington, Vt. posed the question to 400 likely voters. Sixty-one percent said they would be in favor of Congress beginning impeachment proceedings against President Bush. Thirty-three percent opposed it, and 6% were not sure.

"The numbers for Vice President Cheney differed only slightly: Sixty-four percent favored impeachment, while 31% opposed it."

John Nichols blogs for the Nation that despite the lack of media coverage, "when citizens are asked what they think about holding members of the Bush administration to account, they respond with an enthusiasm far greater than that displayed for impeaching Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal. It is this reality -- as opposed to the state of denial fostered by so much of the media and the political class -- that Congressman Dennis Kucinich will act upon next week, when he offers a privileged resolution on the House floor to bring articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney."

Cartoon Watch

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Jeff Danziger on the war in Iraq; Garry Trudeau on ramping up for Iran; Tom Toles on Bush and bipartisanship; John Sherffius on the Bush Adminquisition.