Post Politics Hour
washingtonpost.com's Daily Politics Discussion

Lois Romano
Washington Post National Political Reporter
Thursday, April 26, 2007 11:00 AM

Don't want to miss out on the latest in politics? Start each day with The Post Politics Hour. Join in each weekday morning at 11 a.m. as a member of The Washington Post's team of White House and Congressional reporters answers questions about the latest in buzz in Washington and The Post's coverage of political news.

Washington Post national political reporter Lois Romano was online Thursday, April 26, at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss the latest in political news.

Political analysis from Post reporters and interviews with top newsmakers. Listen live on Washington Post Radio or subscribe to a podcast of the show.

The transcript follows.

____________________

Lois Romano: Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining me today. I'm delighted to be here. So we'll get started.

_______________________

Detroit: Hi Lois -- as a staunch Republican I am dumbfounded that Attorney General Gonzales will not do the honorable thing and resign -- with McCain now calling on him to resign, it is clear that the AG no longer can be effective on the Hill. Is this man delusional? The only person in Washington that supports him other than his family is the president. With the Renzi business the story is not going away anytime soon, and more probably is out there. If anything he is doing much more damage to the president, and White House insiders must be flabbergasted.

Lois Romano: Many people in the political business share your views. He's goes back a long time with the president and the president is very loyal. There are some who believe that Gonzales will resign in a while so it doesn't look like he was forced to.

_______________________

Derry, N.H.: David Broder writes today that Harry Reid is a liability to the Dems in Congress and the country (amen Mr. Broder). As a Democrat who fervently agrees with Mr. Broder's position, what can be done to oust a sitting majority leader? Is there historical precedent for such a move?

Lois Romano: At this time Mr. Reid is liked by his caucus. Don't look for any drama. If anything, he has had an evolution on the war.

_______________________

Boston: Does The Post offer sabbaticals for its writers? Not for book writing, but just to rest, see the world and recharge the batteries? I ask because today's David Broder column is a cry for help. I hope The Post will let him get the rest he needs.

Lois Romano: Yes, the post offers sabbaticals. But I would disagree with you on the assessment of my esteemed colleague. He is a gifted astute political writer and a legend among his peers. None better.

_______________________

Salinas, Calif.: Hi Lois. If Karl Rove has peopled federal agencies and Justice with political appointees all on the same Bush administration/RNC talking points page (see R. Jeffrey Smith's article in yesterday's Post), will Karl have finally left his fingerprints on enough Hatch Act violations for Henry Waxman's political CSI committee to find?

washingtonpost.com: Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed (Post, April 26)

Lois Romano: Don't bet on it. Like all of these accusations, we have to see how it plays out. It might seem like a violation of the hatch act but there are ways to get around that law. Mr. Rove used and RNC email account for one -- I don't know if that counts but surely he believed it was. Also, government workers take leaves every day to work on political stuff. They may take a one day leave. My understanding of the law is that one cannot use the resources of a government office or accept government pay while doing political work.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Thank you for taking my question. Now that the Democrats have subpoena power, isn't going after Secretary of State Rice at this time more payback than true oversight? On the political side, do you think Condi Rice can withstand the mudslide and become the VP for 2008? Isn't that the real reason the Democrats have a target on her back?

Lois Romano: No I don't think Rice can be on the presidential ticket. She is too closely linked to an increasingly unpopular president, as well as the war effort. I can't speak to Henry Waxman's motives but the democrats do believe that every day they talk about the war is a good day.

_______________________

Twisting in the Wind: Is Alberto Gonzales being left to dangle out in front of a hungry populace, Congress and press? Is he being used a cover to protect people and political activities that are more important to the President and the GOP?

Lois Romano: No, I don't think so. The attorney general ultimately works for one man- the president -- and that man seems to want to keep him around despite the clamoring for his head. The democratic congress seems to be focused on the Justice department these days and Mr. Gonzales can't provided any cover.

_______________________

New York: Good morning and thanks for taking questions. What are the chances that Senate Democrats will dump Harry Reid as majority leader? I figure there must be rumblings, as David Broder's column didn't feature much in the way of Reid defenders. And what was that recent White House performance with Nancy Pelosi all about -- where Reid interrupted her at the mike and proceeded to say nothing, with his arm around her shoulders?

Lois Romano: A lot of questions on Reid today. Democrats won't dump Reid any time soon. They like his candor. For a while, he wasn't saying anything and people complained. Now he's speaking up -- and against the war which his caucus likes.

_______________________

Anonymous: Re: Rice. How do you not honor a congressional subpoena? An average citizen couldn't demur without pleading the Fifth -- can the secretary? Isn't not responding or not testifying contempt of Congress and a crime?

Lois Romano: I don't see a scenario where she would dodge the subpoena. She has testified on this subject before. Avoiding the subpoena would only give the democrats the opportunity to accuse the administration of hiding something.

_______________________

Falls Church, Va.: Okay, I am no fan of the White House or any of its cronies, but can you explain to me how Congress' lack of confidence in Gonzales will actually effect how he does his job? I mean, do the Attorney General and Congress really interact that much? I don't have any sense of what the AG truly does on a daily basis. I would imagine that he's consulting on cases/prosecutions, but maybe I am dumb.

Lois Romano: The AG is the president's lawyer and has many responsibilities. One of them is to vet federal judges who must be confirmed by the senate. If Congress has no confidence in Gonzales, if there is zero good will, the AG won't be able to get fly on the bench.

_______________________

Inquiry: I am curious about the scheduling for The Washington Post political reporters who do these online chats. I thought individual reporters appeared every two weeks, but there seems to be more variation than that?

Lois Romano: That is the general lineup. Sometimes people have a conflict and someone else might step in -- or reporters might trade.

_______________________

Chicago: Thanks for taking my question. I am looking forward to tonight's Democratic debate. However, if my math is right with eight candidates and 90 minutes, we will be lucky to hear the candidates talk for more than 10 minutes apiece. This isn't very much time to get more than just a very surface feel for each candidate. Based on how debates worked with other crowded fields in the past, will there be debates limited to candidates polling at least in double-digits or something similar, so that we get to hear more from the candidates who actually can win the nomination? Or, given the compression of the primary calendar, are all of the debates going to include all eight candidates (plus any new ones who might enter) so that all we are going to get is about 10 minutes from each one from now until Iowa's caucuses?

Lois Romano: At this juncture everyone is included -- and yes, you won't learn much unless fireworks go off. The DNC is trying to come with a plan to have a clearing house for the invitations -- they are getting hundreds. I am not exactly sure how this works but somewhere down the road participation is limited to those who achieve a certain success rate. I don't know if that is in the primaries or general

_______________________

Washington: Lois -- last week, you noted the angry e-mail you receive (often from disgruntled Democrats) and asked what they hope to achieve in their vitriol. It's a good question. I sent a comment to a chat yesterday about what I thought was pretty lousy reporting by one of your colleagues; it was the first time I've ever done that. (I'm a pretty partisan guy, but I'd never swear or make anonymous threats to reporters I'd never met -- like you said, I don't know what that would accomplish.)

In my case, I'm not even sure what I thought I accomplished by writing. I do know that I was sincere in pointing out lousy reporting that, I believe, serves the GOP agenda. That does not mean that I think those reporters are GOP lackeys or lapdogs or whatever the term may be, but I do wish you people would be more careful sometimes and think about how your stories will be used by those -- including me -- with agendas and axes to grind.

Bill James, my favorite baseball writer and researcher, once said that if he didn't want to be misunderstood, he should have made himself more clear in the first place. I like that quote because it places the burdens on the writer, not the audience. Thanks.

Lois Romano: Thanks for your comments

_______________________

Prescott, Ariz.: I can't say I was real surprised when I saw that in the latest NBC/WSJ Poll that 22 percent of Americans think the country is on the right track, 56 percent agree with Democrats on setting a withdrawal date in Iraq (20 percent more than agree with the President), and only 12 percent think the situation there is improving. Further, in the latest Harris poll, the president's approval rating bounced to 28 percent (his lowest rating yet). It is important to note that this is occurring during a period where the president has given a speech about the situation pretty much every single day (and if you consider his surrogates, they have put the full-court press on).

One high-profile blogger has summed up the situation as: Americans hate the president and they hate his war. These numbers tend to back up that claim, why do we not hear that theme from the press? Instead we get all this hand-wringing about whether Harry Reid is just slightly or mostly crazy. Bonus question: Is the way for Republicans to turn this around really to suggest that people like Reid, whom the majority of Americans agree with are somehow un-American terrorist sympathizers, or (a la Tom DeLay) "getting very close to treason"?

washingtonpost.com: Partial Poll Results (.pdf) (NBC-Wall Street Journal, April 20-23)

Lois Romano: The press is always writing about the public sentiment -- as evidenced by yesterday's news on the poll you mention. And if the media misses a day, the Democrats step in.

Republicans have been using that scare tactic since 9/11 -- suggesting democrats are not strong enough on defense. Rudy Giuliani tried it this week. It does not seem to be sticking at this time. Polls show Americans want to give the Dems a shot at resolving this war.

_______________________

New York:"The AG is the president's lawyer" ... actually, the White House Counsel is the president's lawyer. The Attorney General is the American people's lawyer. The main problem is that Alberto Gonzales doesn't seem to understand the difference between the two jobs.

Lois Romano: Well said. That's for clarifying that.

_______________________

The Condi Rice fantasy: I begrudge no one the right to take part in this chat, but Arlington, Va., seemingly writes in every week with the same basic question: isn't Condi Rice a legitimate candidate for either President or VP? Um, the answer was "no" every other time you wrote in and will be "no" in the future. Find a new question, please.

Lois Romano: Hmmn. Hadn't noticed that. Maybe it's Condi's best friend writing.

_______________________

Fred Thompson, savior?: Lois: What is with the infatuation with Fred Thompson among Republicans? What exactly did he accomplish to make him a frontrunner? As a Democrat I think this makes it clear that the GOP is growing more desperate with each passing day.

washingtonpost.com: Conservative Republicans Starving for a Thompson Run (Post, April 19)

Lois Romano: I think his celebrity moved him along quickly. But, he was well-liked in the senate and is considered conservative enough. The GOP is clearly not satisfied with its current lineup. McCain is struggling. It's too early to know if Giuliani can make it through the primaries given his liberal positions on social issues.

_______________________

Concord, N.H.: I have the same problem and question about Gonzales as I did about Rumsfeld. As you say, these men only answer directly to one person -- the president. The fact that a Cabinet department head remains in place must mean that the president is satisfied with his or her performance (for a contrary example see Powell, Colin). So, anyone who is complaining about Gonzales should start complaining about the president whose policies are being carried out by Gonzales. Yet it seems that people want to give the President a pass and say it will all be okay if Gonzalez resigns. Why is that?

Lois Romano: Because if Gonzales resigns it is a direct reflection on the president, and one more set-back for the administration. The president is not going to resign but when those around him leave for cause, it hurts him and his policies.

_______________________

Washington:"New York" wrote: What are the chances that Senate Democrats will dump Harry Reid as majority leader? I figure there must be rumblings, as David Broder's column didn't feature much in the way of Reid defenders. Of course, the column didn't feature much in the way of Reid detractors, either. Broder doesn't cite a single Senator -- even on background -- who wants Reid out. It's all about what Broder doesn't like.

Lois Romano: Its an opinion column so he gets to give his opinion.

_______________________

New York: I am not a lapdog for reporters, but I don't expect them to tell us more than they actually know. The Washington Post reporters are pretty careful about speculating, as they should be. I've learned more about what goes on in Washington from these chats than from anywhere else. Just my two cents.

Lois Romano: I don't see how they can get any longer unless we start the 2012 race this afternoon.

_______________________

Lake Forest, Calif.: Good morning ... please help me understand: Isn't David S. Broder an opinion writer not to be confused with a news reporter? Thank you for your time.

Lois Romano: Yes, that is correct. Those who write for the op-ed page may state their opinions directly without quoting anyone. Those who write for the news pages must show reporting for any conclusions we present...

_______________________

Re: Fred Thompson: C'mon he already has anti-terrorism experience. Duh. As the top dog in the control tower in "Die Hard 2" he had to deal with terrorists taking over Dulles Airport. Anyone who can handle that high-stress situation, while teaming up with Bruce Willis and Detective Sipowicz to take out terrorists, has my vote.

Lois Romano: I'm sure others will see it that way too.

_______________________

Austin, Texas: Lois, did you watch Bill Moyer's special last night on PBS about the marketing of the war in Iraq? What do you feel reporters could/should have differently? What happens if the drumbeat starts about Iran and its weapons of mass destruction/nuclear capabilities? Will the press be a bit more critical?

Lois Romano: The press will be more critical. Its a touchy area though. What if Iraq had WMD and what if we were all in danger? It is the media's job to be skeptical, but at a certain point you don't want to always assume you're being misled.

_______________________

Florissant, Mo.: Lois, with the sizable field of Democratic candidates in this early, what will be the tipping point when one or more of them decides to drop out. Bayh and Vilsack made the call early. What will determine the others? Money drying up? Lack of progress in the polls? How many do you think will be left before the Iowa caucuses? Thanks.

Lois Romano: Money will be the critical factor if one wants to be a serious candidate. A bunch of them will stay in through Iowa in hopes that they can come in second -- and be catapulted to the next primary.

_______________________

Ft. Lee, N.J.: To follow up on the Rumsfeld comment above -- why exactly did the White House get rid of Rumsfeld? I would have thought that they would have had the same reasons to keep him on -- i.e. not to acknowledge criticism, not to implicitly criticize the vice president's hand-picked man -- that are being cited as the reasons that Gonzales is being kept on.

Lois Romano: Someone had to be let go when the Democrats won to show the president heard the people. Rumsfeld seemed as good a candidate as any giving his low popularity.

.

_______________________

Lois Romano: Well, this went fast! Thank you for all your good questions. I always learn a lot from these chats. See you in two weeks.

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.