Torture Showdown Coming?

"'Maybe it's time to bury their pride and finally help their people out for the first time in decades,' said Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman. . . .

"Mr. Bush said he was prepared to use Navy warships and aircraft 'to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation.' Still, he added, 'In order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country.'

"A Burmese political analyst called Mr. Bush's condition 'a cheap shot.' The analyst, Aung Nain Oo, who is based in Thailand, said: 'The people are dying. This is no time for a political message to be aired. This is a time for relief. No one is asking for anything like this except the United States.' . . .

"At the United Nations on Tuesday, Rashid Khalikov, director of the office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs,.... said that natural disasters presented major challenges for any government and that it was too soon to gauge the extent of Myanmar's cooperation with the international aid effort."

The Katrina Analogy

As for the elephant in the room, as it were, Thinkprogress notes the first lady's bitter words and writes: "In fact, equally harsh criticism could be leveled at President Bush" for his handling of Hurricanes Katrina.

FEC Watch

Paul Kane writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush sent three new nominees to the Senate yesterday for confirmation to the Federal Election Commission, but he refused to yield to Democratic objections on another nominee that have left the agency at a standstill. . . .

"Democrats have refused to confirm any new members because of Bush's nomination of former Justice Department lawyer Hans von Spakovsky, whom Democrats accuse of politically enforcing voting rights laws. . . .

"Democrats continued to oppose von Spakovsky and objected to the replacement of David M. Mason, one of two commissioners still serving on the six-member body. Mason earlier this year questioned the legality of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) opting out of public financing."

Michael Luo writes in the New York Times: "The regulatory agency, which monitors compliance with federal election laws, for months has had only two commissioners out of a usual complement of six, leaving it without a quorum and powerless to act on complaints, issue advisory opinions and police the record spending in this year's presidential campaign."

The hang-up has been that Republicans wanted all the nominees voted on together. But Luo writes that White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore, "said Republican officials were now willing to allow each of the nominees to be voted upon separately."

Housing Watch

David M. Herszenhorn writes in the New York Times: "On the eve of a House floor debate on a plan to help homeowners in danger of foreclosure, the Bush administration said on Tuesday that it opposed the measure and that White House advisers would urge the president to veto it.

"The bill, championed by Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, is expected to be approved Wednesday or Thursday. It would expand access to federally insured mortgages to help troubled homeowners refinance their loans.

"The administration, in a statement of opposition on Tuesday evening, called the bill 'overly burdensome and prescriptive' and said it would 'force' the Federal Housing Administration and taxpayers 'to take on excessive risk.' . . .

"In an interview, Mr. Frank said that a veto would be a sign that the president was abandoning efforts to help homeowners.

"'I think it would be a declaration that he's stopped trying to govern,' Mr. Frank said, as if the president were saying: ' "I'm through governing, let's just yell at each other for the rest of the year." '"

Bush this morning said the Democratic bill would "reward speculators and lenders" and vowed to veto it.

Karl Rove Watch

Karl Rove -- KARL ROVE!!! -- was Live Online on washingtonpost.com this morning.

He mostly took questions on campaign strategy. For instance:

"Washington: What's your advice to John McCain about embracing or distancing himself from President Bush?

"Karl Rove: He should do neither. He should define himself. To distance or embrace would be to choose someone else's path as opposed to defining his own and would be seen as calculation either way. As he defines himself he must have appropriate ways to differentiate himself from this administration. This is the task of any candidate running for president with an incumbent in the office. The American people are prospective in these elections, not retrospective. Differentiating yourself is seen as a natural expression of who you are and what you believe."

He was a bit snippy at times:

"Columbus, Ohio: You boldly predicted that Bush's approval ratings would rebound -- instead he is, according to Gallup, the most unpopular president in history. Will you finally admit that your vision for this nation has been overwhelmingly rejected by the majority of the people?

"Karl Rove: Get your facts right -- there are at least three president who had worse approval ratings, Truman, Johnson and Nixon. I'm absolutely positive history will be kind to this president, who made the right decisions in a difficult time for this nation.

"And what about those terribly low ratings for the Democratic Congress, which I suspect you're enormously proud of."

He notably didn't take any questions about the various scandals he's been associated with.

They Write Letters

Art Edwards reports for WDIV-TV in Detroit: "A Detroit public schools student, who sent a letter to President George W. Bush at the White House has a very prized possession, a letter he got back from the president. . . .

"Deiontay Watkins . . . started his letter to the president with a question about why he's sending so many young people to war.

"The president didn't specifically answer the question, but Deiontay is still thrilled with the written response. . . .

"The president wrote back saying he appreciated his thoughts, and encouraging him to study hard and learn something new every day."

Froomkin Watch

I'm taking a few days off. The column will resume on Tuesday. And no, I'm not going to Jenna's wedding.

Late Night Humor

Stephen Colbert opened his show last night with: "Has President Bush become a political liability? Please! The president doesn't know the meaning of the word."

Colbert then addressed the recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that found that more Americans are concerned about McCain's connection to Bush than Barack Obama's connection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"In other words, the biggest political albatross heading into November is George Bush," Colbert said. "That -- that is a shame especially considering everything President Bush has done to ensure the extinction of albatrosses.

"And this poll brings us to tonight's word: Collateral friendage."

Jay Leno via U.S. News: "President Bush's daughter Jenna is getting married this weekend. There'll be 200 guests at wedding, which according the latest polls, means that 140 of those people at the wedding disapprove of the job President Bush is doing."

Cartoon Watch

Walt Handelsman on how Laura's doing a heck of a job; Pat Bagley on the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon; Kevin Siers on what Bush and Hillary Clinton have in common.