The Vacation President

"Asked if the war has contributed to the U.S. slowdown, Stiglitz said, 'Very much so.'

"'To offset that depressing effect, the Fed has flooded the economy with liquidity and the regulators looked the other way when very imprudent lending was going up,' Stiglitz said. 'We were living on borrowed money and borrowed time and eventually a day of reckoning had to come, and it has now come.'

"The war has also altered how the United States has reacted to its current economic troubles, he said.

"'When America's financial institutions had a problem, they had to turn to the sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East for recapitalization, for the bailout,' he said.

"'The reason was obvious. The war had led to high oil prices. The war had meant that America had to borrow more money. There weren't sources of liquid funds in the United States. The sources of the liquid funds were in the Middle East,' he said."

Bob Herbert writes in his New York Times opinion column: "On Thursday, the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer, conducted a public examination of the costs of the war. The witnesses included the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz (who believes the overall costs of the war -- not just the cost to taxpayers -- will reach $3 trillion), and Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. . . .

"Mr. Stiglitz and Mr. Hormats both addressed the foolhardiness of waging war at the same time that the government is cutting taxes and sharply increasing non-war-related expenditures.

"Mr. Hormats told the committee:

"'Normally, when America goes to war, nonessential spending programs are reduced to make room in the budget for the higher costs of the war. Individual programs that benefit specific constituencies are sacrificed for the common good. . . . And taxes have never been cut during a major American war. For example, President Eisenhower adamantly resisted pressure from Senate Republicans for a tax cut during the Korean War.'

"Said Mr. Stiglitz: 'Because the administration actually cut taxes as we went to war, when we were already running huge deficits, this war has, effectively, been entirely financed by deficits.'"

FISA Watch

Ellen Nakashima and Paul Kane write in The Washington Post: "House and Senate Democratic leaders are headed into talks today that they say could lead to a breakthrough on legislation to revamp domestic surveillance powers and grant phone companies some form of immunity for their role in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. . . .

"A group of several dozen moderate to conservative House Democrats, known as 'Blue Dogs,' has pushed [House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.)] and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to approve the Senate bill. Some aides on Capitol Hill were discussing the potential for the House passing the Senate version but breaking it into two votes: one on the portion of the bill that deals with revising FISA provisions and a second on the immunity measure.

"This procedural move would allow many Democrats to vote against immunity but still make its approval all but certain, since almost every Republican and some centrist Democrats would vote in favor."

Bush yesterday used the nation's state attorneys general as support for his immunity argument.

"Now there's a serious debate here, and some of the Attorney Generals have written a letter, both Democrats and Republicans, urging that the debate be solved in such a way that the professionals can do the job," Bush said.

Only 21 of them, however, signed the letter, which Bush said states "that assistance from private companies, as they put it, 'is utterly essential, and urges the Senate,' -- at the time -- 'to approve FISA reform that protects the companies from lawsuits.' I think that represents what most people -- how most people think here in the country."

Goeglein Watch

The Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel has the latest on the saga of disgraced former White House aide Tim Goeglein, who was found last week to have plagiarized many of the columns he wrote for that paper: "Contacted Sunday, the Fort Wayne native attributed the plagiarism to shortcomings in his character: 'Pride. Vanity. It's all my fault. It's inexcusable. What I did is wrong. I categorically apologize.'"

The paper had already found plagiarism in 20 of 38 columns dating to 2000. Now: "An examination of 39 more guest columns from Goeglein published during the 1990s turned up seven that pulled material from earlier-published sources without attribution. . . .

"Evidence of plagiarism appears as early as 1995."

Nancy Nall Derringer, the blogger who first uncovered Goeglein's plagiarism, writes in Slate: "Saying the news cycle moves at an ever-increasing pace doesn't even qualify as a cliche anymore. But this felt like a new record. Reporting in one minute, writing in one hour, a whole career undone in one day. Reading the comments piling up on the original post was a surreal experience, as one reader after another checked in with evidence, with links. It was journalism as hive mind."

Nominations Watch

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "The Senate yesterday approved a federal judge from Chicago as second-in-command at the Justice Department, part of a fledgling agreement between Democrats and the White House to move toward confirmation of various executive appointments they each have put forward.

"Mark R. Filip, 41, will take over as deputy attorney general to formally replace Paul J. McNulty, who resigned seven months ago after the Justice Department's firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

"The appointment comes after months of partisan wrangling over presidential nominations and followed a discussion earlier yesterday between Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, according to legislative aides and administration officials.

"Reid spokesman Jim Manley said that Bolten 'pledged to improve the stalled nomination process' and that the Senate's voice vote in favor of Filip was 'in return and a sign of good faith.'"

Contempt Watch

Jonathan Turley writes in his Los Angeles Times opinion column that there is "something profound, even beautiful" in the "recent decisions of Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to block any prosecution of Bush administration officials for contempt and to block any criminal investigation

"In his twisting of legal principles, the attorney general has succeeded in creating a perfect paradox. Under Mukasey's Paradox, lawyers cannot commit crimes when they act under the orders of a president -- and a president cannot commit a crime when he acts under advice of lawyers."

Cheney's New Digs

Ken Layne blogs for Wonkette: "Dick and Lynne are building their nightmare dream home on a quiet, expensive McLean road that's literally about 2,000 feet away from the Central Intelligence Agency HQ in the Langley woods." Cryptome.org has all the details and pictures.

Cartoon Watch

Pat Oliphant on life in the bubble; Nate Beeler on Bush's disconnect; Steve Sack on Bush's rosy view of the economy; and Jim Borgman on the red phone ringing.