Post Politics Hour
washingtonpost.com's Daily Politics Discussion

Peter Baker and Dan Balz
Washington Post White House Reporter/Chief Political Reporter
Friday, February 17, 2006 11:00 AM

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Washington Post White House reporter Peter Baker and chief political reporter Dan Balz were online Friday, Feb. 17, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest in political news.

The transcript follows.

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Dan Balz: Good morning to everyone. For those of you who were counting on Jim VandeHei to be here (this was his scheduled chat), we're sorry to disappoint you. Jim is on the road with the president in Florida, or hopes to get there. The press charter apparently broke down. In any case, it takes two to cover for VandeHei and so Peter Baker and I will be doing this hour together. There are lots of questions -- not every one of them having to do with Vice President Cheney -- so we'll get started.

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Bethesda, Md.: I'm hearing from Republicans that we aren't being fair/nice to VP Cheney by questioning him so hard about his shooting of a friend and subsequent slow public disclosures, etc. However, isn't it true that VP Cheney and his silence have been a huge part of many critical stories from this administration for six years starting from what he said was "his decision" for Bush to hide in a bunker and not return to D.C. after the attacks on 9/11, the Iraq WMDs and failed pre-war intelligence, the leak of Plame's covert status, the Domestic Spying program, etc? Isn't this emblematic of all those stories and therefore very worthy of our attention?

Peter Baker: It's a good point. Stories like this (well, there really aren't that may stories exactly like this, but you know what I mean ) have a tendency to take on greater prominence if they seem to play into preconceptions about a person. In Vice President Cheney's case, he often has shown little regard for the traditional Washington rules and doesn't much care if the media, the opposition or even critical members of his own party don't like it.

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Ardmore, Pa.: More of a comment than a question about the Cheney Hunt party -- two men and three women. What's the story there?

Dan Balz: We're not sure what your point is here. Do you object to co-ed hunting parties? Do you think there should be gender balance in hunting parties? Or are you suggesting something nefarious in the fact that the hunting party was not just a guys-only event? From what we know, the Armstrongs often host weekend hunts and invite couples to join them, and as you know, there are many women in Texas who are hunters.

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San Diego, Calif.: Is the press going to pursue the use of alcohol at the Cheney shooting party? Or is this just a funny story for a week? Since it is criminal to shoot drunk in Texas did the Secret Service help Cheney cover-up a crime?

Dan Balz: The first reports said no one was drinking and then the vice president he had had a beer during lunch but noted that was hours before the accident. We'll continue to pursue this and other unanswered questions and if we learn something we'll put it in the newspaper. As of now, we have nothing new on that front.

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Ann Arbor, Mich.: In his interview with Fox news this week, the VP claimed that he has the power to declassify information. Where does this power come from and is it a normal power associated with the VP's office? How will this affect Scooter Libby's trial?

Thanks!

Peter Baker: That's a good question. The vice president apparently was referring to a presidential executive order that was amended by President Bush in March 2003 just days after the Iraq war began that gave the vice president more power in terms of classification. The order itself is long and complicated so I wouldn't presume to interpret it, but Dana Priest in a chat earlier this week posted the following, which seems as good an explanation as any:

(From Dana): Lots of questions on this one so I turned to my classification guru, Steve Aftergood, at the Federation of American Scientists. Answer: 1-The VP can declassify anything that his office classified or generated initially. 2-The VP can declassify other executive branch information only if the president has given him implicit or explicit authority to do so, which is not self-evident in Executive Order 13292 of 3/25/03 3-not even the president can declassify everything except information protected by statute: certain nuclear weapons secrets, sources and methods. For more, go to www.fas.org/blog/secrecy. A great site. So, the bottom line is, we'll probably have to get the president to answer whether he delegated this to the VP, and/or if the information in question was generated from the VP's office.

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Tallahassee, Fla.: The Post reported today that less attractive people were more likely to commit crime- is this being discussed as a possible defense for any prosecution Dick Cheney may face regarding the Plame leak case?

Dan Balz: We suggest you contact Richard Morin directly about this because neither Peter nor I has read the details of that study.

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New York, N.Y.: I like Hillary Clinton and I'm proud to have her as my Senator. However, I am not in favor of her running for President for this simple reason. If she were to win, that would mean the Presidency would have been in the hands of just two families for 24 years! (Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, Clinton). Enough! Time to move on already.

Dan Balz: Dear New York, why do you assume only 24 years? If Hillary Clinton runs and wins, she might serve two terms, which would make it 28 years, and then of course Jeb Bush could come back in 2016 and return the crown the the House of Bush. Maybe others will agree with you that it is time to move on, but a lot of Democrats, judging from the early polls, seem happy with the idea of bringing back the House of Clinton.

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Milwaukee, Wis.: Vice President Cheney identified Katherine Armstrong as a "private" citizen, whose privacy he was trying to protect. In fact Ms. Armstrong is a registered lobbyist. Chris Matthews asked Jim Vandehei last night on Hardball who paid for the Vice-President's weekend? Jim didn't know, which is understandable, but is he or the Post trying to find out? Also, the Vice-President keeps reminding us that we are a "nation at War." Could the Post find out how much his weekend cost the taxpayers? I think it would also be newsworthy if you could "breakout" just his weekend fuel costs.

Peter Baker: It's a good question and something that I'd love to know as well. But experience has shown that the government doesn't provide such information about a particular trip whenever we ask. For one thing, these costs are spread out in different agencies, such as Secret Service. For another, they don't want us to know. And that's not unique to this administration.

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Westfield, Mass.: What are the chances President Bush may take this opportunity to replace Cheney with a person who would be a viable Republican presidential candidate in 2008?

Dan Balz: I would think the chances are about zero but I will defer to Peter on this to see if he has another view.

Peter Baker: I disagree entirely with Dan. The chances are less than zero. (Can there be a negative chance?)

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Frederick, Md.: Good morning Peter and Dan...who is Dick Cheney's press secretary? Why no mention of his/her required/traditional role? Do you expect the Vice President to comment on the shooting incident in his address in Wyoming later today? Will he provide a new angle (i.e. an acknowledgement he should have used his press office, etc.) -- or just a rehash of of the talking points from his Fox interview?

Peter Baker: The vice president's press secretary is Lea Anne McBride, but the person in that job typically does not play the sort of high profile role that Scott McClellan plays for the president so it's not surprising that you may not have heard of her. Mary Matalin, who no longer works in the office but regularly advises Cheney, including on this situation, obviously has a much higher profile. As for further comments, I wouldn't expect you to hear the vice president address this again, assuming there are no new developments.

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Troy, Mich.: I've seen polls that have Jennifer Granholm ahead of Dick DeVos by as much as 17 points and as little as 7 points. Regardless, I think it's going to be a very tight race. What are your thoughts on the MI Gubernatorial race?

Dan Balz: Some of those polls have made Granholm look reasonably strong but the assumption is, as you suggest, that this could be a very competitive race. The main reason is Michigan's economy, which is still struggling. The other is that Dick DeVos could spend $50-$60 million (he has tons of money) on this race. That doesn't guarantee success (ask Tony Sanchez in Texas about how far money takes you), but Granholm is acting like someone who is taking nothing for granted this year.

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Concord, N.H.: Are you hearing much buzz about the Jim Webb candidacy for Senate in Virginia? He clearly appears to be a stronger opponent for Allen than Miller, but will the Democrats be able stomach a former Republican?

Peter Baker: To be honest, I haven't heard too much buzz about the Webb candidacy yet. It's still early. Obviously he's a figure with some prominence and presumably an ability to raise money and mount a credible campaign. Harris Miller, who I've known for many years, has a lot of experience in Northern Virginia politics but never as a prominent elected or appointed official. My guess is many Democrats would be more than happy to stomach a former Republican if they think he can win for them.

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washingtonpost.com: For more detail on key Senate, House and Gubernatorial campaigns, see washingtonpost.com's key races map.

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Louisville, Ky.: Why haven't we heard more about Pamela Willeford? It seems she could provide a more accurate representation of what happened last Saturday than Karen Armstrong. After all, she was standing right next to Cheney.

Dan Balz: The ambassador has not made herself available for interviews about this, so we don't know too much about what she saw and whether she has anything that differs from the accounts by the vice president and Katharine Armstrong. I spoke to Willeford's mother-in-law on Wednesday as part of some reporting about Harry Whittington (Willefords in-laws and Whittington are friends), but her husband, who I was trying to reach, did not call back.

Willeford and her husband are Texans. He is a physician in Austin. She was named ambassador in 2003 when the then-ambassador, Mercer Reynolds, came back to oversee fundraising for Bush's reelection campaign.

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Boston, Mass.: How on earth is the vice president of the United States able to get away with not holding a public press conference after shooting a man? What can the press do? What can American citizens do?

Dan Balz: There's nothing in the Constitution that requires the vice president or the president to hold press conferences. The press can complain, as we often do, about the failure of presidents to hold more regular press conferences, but there's a limit to what we can do on that front -- and clearly limited public patience with the press's complaints. You saw the frustration of many reporters in Scott McClellan's briefings earlier in the week. The vice president's office has said they assumed a press conference would produce grandstanding by reporters and not necessarily better questioning than Brit Hume did in a solo interview.

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New York, N.Y.: Eight years of Hillary followed by eight years of Jeb takes us to 2024. By that time, Chelsea will be eligible.

Peter Baker: Maybe Chelsea vs. Jenna in 2024? Now that would be fun.

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Springfield, Va.: While I agree that the VP and the White House did a very poor job of handling the shooting incident, I think the press -especially the WH pool came out the big losers. CNN and MSNBC complaining about Fox getting the VP interview did not help their cause. It is evident, at least to me, that this once glamorous WH beat has been downgraded and marginalized. Do you think young reporters on their way up will seek to avoid this assignment?

Peter Baker: Thanks for the comments. There's no question, reporters are often our own worst enemies. No one can make us look bad like we can make ourselves look bad. But maybe lost amid the feeding frenzy are some reasonable questions. As for the "glamorous WH beat," sadly it ain't so glamorous. There's a lot of frustration in covering any White House, this one being no exception. It's a high-burnout job that many people are eager to get off of because your ability to discover fresh information and do original journalism is so constrained. Many young reporters already avoid the assignment. But having said that, it's still an extraordinary front-row seat at history, even if too much of the history is happening behind the curtain.

Dan Balz: I agree with Peter. I briefly covered the White House during Bush's father's term but prefer the political beat. That said, Peter is right. For all the frustrations of covering the White House -- and they have grown considerably in recent years because of the 24/7 news cycle and the need for White House officials to cater more to the needs of cable's insatiable appetite for information/comment/events/etc -- covering the president is an extraordinarily important and challenging assignment.

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Rockville, Md.: Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton...?

Is there some secret handshake that gets one elected President that is passed on family member to family member? Or does the president learn a secret so powerful that it gains one the power to select the next President? I know I have not exhausted the possible answers. What is your take?

Voters who know only two names?

Peter Baker: American royalty, who knew? Thanks for the comment.

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Washington, D.C.: Thanks to you both for being here, and happy Friday.

Regarding Cheney saying he can declassify information, I'm confused. So is the implication that he declassified Plame's status, and thus no "crime" was committed? If not, what is the point. If so, I am curious, does a CIA agent who has a protected identity get notified if her status becomes unclassified?

Thanks.

Peter Baker: These are all the right questions and so far we don't have clear answers. I think the interest paid to Scooter Libby's reported testimony that he was authorized by "superiors" (meaning Cheney, at least) to release information from the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq stems from the supposition that his defense could rest on the notion that he had permission. But we're getting ahead of where the known facts are at this point. We may have to wait for the court proceedings to head further down the road.

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Peter Baker: And happy Friday to you too...

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Alexandria, Va.: Dear Baker & Balz (sounds like a D.C. law firm/lobbying firm?) . .is Heather Wilson (R-NM) out front on the issue of government wiretapping because she is in serious re-election difficulty?

Peter Baker: Can't say I know much about the politics in Heather Wilson's New Mexico district. But I do like the suggestion. Maybe we could have a slogan too? "Baker & Balz, the Unindicted Lobbying Firm."

Dan Balz: Heather Wilson has a very tough race this year. She is always on the list of vulnerable Republicans (though she won with 54 percent in 2004 and with 55 percent in 2002), but this year she's drawn a formidable opponent, Patricia Madrid, the New Mexico attorney general. (And yes, thanks to your suggestion, Peter and I are thinking of opening up a side business.)

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Silver Spring, Md.: The chances of Bush replacing Cheney can't be zero. What if Whittington dies and there is a grand jury investigation of the shooting? What about the Scooter Libby case? What about his bad heart? What if things get even worse in Iraq? Come on it isn't likely that Bush will drop Cheney, but certainly could happen.

Dan Balz: Based on current facts, we still think zero chance.

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Egg Harbor, N.J.: When the press gets over beating the Cheney story to death, they might want to look into the Bush administration handing over U.S. ports to a Dubai corporation. My concern is no one will cover this: the pro-Bush reporters will dodge it, and the anti-Bush reporters, being politically correct, won't want to offend Muslim sensibilities. Meanwhile, those of us near the ports just don't want to get killed by jihadists hiding in containers, and we don't care what side wins or loses from the story.

Dan Balz: We have a story in today's paper on this subject and we'll try to post a link to it before the chat ends.

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Atlanta, Ga.: What's happening with the Abramoff investigation? Is this story going to dribble out over the year, come out in one big wave or be lost until after the election?

Also, a lot has been said about Senator Reid's interaction with Abramoff. Did Reid vote on bills the way Abramoff wanted people to vote? If not, why would he be looked at equally to Senators and Congressmen that did vote Abramoff's desires?

Thanks for the chats!

Peter Baker: Neither of us is covering the legal aspects of the case, but from what we understand you could start seeing some serious indictments in the next couple months. As for Senator Reid, he took money but I'm not aware of any indication that he's in any legal jeopardy.

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washingtonpost.com: Some in Congress Object to Arab Port Operator , ( Post, Feb. 17, 2006 )

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Columbia, Md.: But Scooter is not under indictment for releasing the information. He is under indictment for lying about it.

Peter Baker: Yes, absolutely right and an important point. Presumably neither the vice president nor anyone else can authorize someone to lie to FBI agents or a grand jury, if that's what he did.

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Phoenix, Ariz.: When describing the Democrats' current lack of majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans repeatedly refer to "the minority party" and the press seems reflexively to parrot this language. I don't recall the press using the "minority party" term with any frequency during the nearly fifty-year period when the Republicans were not in control of the House and/or the Senate; rather, references to the party out of power were generally cast as "the opposition party" or simply "the Republicans."

Why the repeated references to the Democrats as the "minority party" and does this term have racial implications in the sense that it may intentionally or unintentionally reinforce the notion that the Democratic Party is broadly supported by various racial or ethnic groups in our society?

Dan Balz: We disagree with you on this one. As you know, the leader of the opposition party in both the House and Senate are known as the Minority Leader and the term has been used routinely for many, many years. We use "minority party," "opposition party," "the opposition" and other terms interchangeably.

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Washington, D.C.: In the Sunday paper, your editor wrote about the comments posted on The Post blog relating to the store about Abramoff and money taken by politicians of both parties. What is the feedback from readers on this story?

Dan Balz: Jim Brady (who by the way is not the editor of the Washington Post newspaper but the editor of washingtonpost.com) said he got about 900 emails in response to that article in the Outlook section, but also said that about one-third of them were positive or supportive of the points he made in the piece. For those who have not read Jim's article, I commend it to you, as gives you a very good window into the new media world in which we all now operate. We'll try to post a link to it.

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Anonymous: If the Congressional Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, refuse to hold hearings and provide proper public oversight on the Domestic Spying issue, can we all agree to buy an extra newspaper a day and have Post reporters investigate this for us? I've read about J. Edgar Hoover's abuses on domestic spying, this kind of secrecy can be really abused and become a danger to American rights and liberties.

Peter Baker: Reporters at the Post, and I presume a few other places, will certainly continue to report on this even if Congress does not hold hearings. Our colleagues, Bart Gellman, Dafna Linzer and Carol Leonnig had a fascinating report in the paper a couple weeks back detailing how the NSA program has eavesdropped on thousands of Americans but intelligence officers ended up dismissing nearly all of them as suspects.

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washingtonpost.com: Blog Rage , ( Post, Feb. 12, 2006 )

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washingtonpost.com: Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects , ( Post, Feb. 5, 2006 )

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Bethesda, Md.: In response to a question from Milwaukee about finding out the costs of Cheney's weekend on the hunt you said:

"For one thing, these costs are spread out in different agencies, such as Secret Service. For another, they don't want us to know. And that's not unique to this administration.

This seems like a lazy attitude. I couldn't imagine Watergate having been uncovered with this level of effort. When is the news media going to go after the information, do the hard work and expose what the White House works to keep from the American people?

Dan Balz: Let me defend my friend Peter here. First, this is not Watergate. For all the attention to it, it is not in Richard Nixon's league. Second, we have at various times over the years reported on the costs of presidential travel. It's hugely expensive and taxpayers foot most of the bill, although there are trips that are shared with a president's reelection campaign committee or the national party committee. But the reality is, we have to pick our targets in terms of where to put our resources and the cost of every presidential or vice presidential trip ranks below some of other issues we've been dealing with, whether it's Iraq, Katrina, NSA surveillance. We have to set some priorities.

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Dynasticism: Political dynasties are a sign of decline in Democracies/Republics. Yet an ever increasing number of national offices (President, Senate, House) are held by legacies. You think the press will cover this issue a bit more, or is the fact that a lot of the "big" press is also from the inheritor class (Hi Senator Robert's daughter, Cokie) blinds them to this even being an issue?

Peter Baker: Well, this is new and not so new. It's true we've never had a son of one president succeed the man who beat his father, but there have been storied political dynasties in America since the beginning. Obviously there were the Adamses and the Harrisons (William Henry and his grandson Benjamin) and the Tafts (who still have a man in the Ohio governor's office today) and others. But looking around this newsroom, at least, I don't see anyone in the inheritor class typing away. Unless, Dan, you have something you'd like to tell us?

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Boston, Mass.: Oh, come on. You know as well as I do that Reid took money from Indian tribes before, during, and after Abramoff's involvement. He gets lobbied and gets contributions from gambling interests. I wonder why?

I hear that the Senators from California get contributions from movie companies, and that the senators from Delaware get contributions from credit card companies, and that senators from Texas get contributions from oil companies.

Let's get a little perspective. Abramoff's indictments have nothing to do with his legal lobbying behavior -- he was a money launderer and embezzler.

Peter Baker: Fair point. Thanks for the comment.

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Richmond, Va.: "There's nothing in the Constitution that requires the vice president or the president to hold press conferences."

Common sense requires it; otherwise, rumors start, like the rumor that Cheney was drunk.

Peter Baker: A point that was made vigorously by some inside the White House, although the vice president didn't see it that way. He believes the press would have ridiculed him no matter what he did.

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Arlington, Va.: Full Disclosure: I am angry at George Allen for supporting the Bucs in the Redskins first playoff game in six years, especially considering how important the Redskins have been to his political career....

What do you think of the Rassumman poll putting Allen under 50% against Jim Webb? Has this race been moved to a higher tier? It appears that his approval rating is not nearly as bullet proof as people seem to think.

Dan Balz: Allen's brother Bruce is an executive with the Bucs, so that may explain it. But Peter has thoughts.

Peter Baker: I hadn't heard that he rooted against the Redskins. That's pretty unforgivable!

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Washington, D.C.: Why not just admit the presidency has become a joke and nominate Roger Clinton and Neil Bush for president in 2008? Can they really be that much worse than their relatives?

Peter Baker: That would be the Journalists Relief Act.

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Peter Baker: Well that was fun. Thanks for all the great questions. Any complaints about the answers can be directed to my friend Dan Balz.

Have a great weekend.

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