Post Politics Hour

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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 White House reporter Michael Abramowitz was online Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest news in politics.

The transcript follows.

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Archive: Post Politics Hour discussion transcripts

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Pasco, Wash.: Thanks for taking my question. Will Bush veto the budget bill if no Iraq money is added in the Senate?

Michael Abramowitz: Good morning everybody. Good to be hear.

Yes, Bush would veto the bill if the money is not added. That is one of his bottom line demands, and his aides indicated yesterday he would veto it if they money is not added.

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Alexandria, Va.: Michael, I have a question about Cuba. Now that Fidel Castro's hold on the country appears to be weakening, do you think it is appropriate to ask this administration and the presidential candidates whether they would intervene if widespread violence erupted? What do you think the U.S. policy should be? It seems to me that it would be very difficult for us to sit by and do nothing to calm what could very well be chaos and bloodshed in Cuba as factions compete for power.

Michael Abramowitz: I am a bad speller! I should have said Good to be here! Sorry about that.

I think it would be interesting to hear what the candidates have to say about Cuba, and whether they would continue or change the administration's hard-line policy of sanctions and confrontation. It's not for me to say what the policy should be, but I thought it was interesting that President Bush laid down a marker a few months ago, indicating that the policy would not change even if Castro died. I think he was trying, at least in part, to forestall any push for change among his would-be successors.

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Salinas, Calif.: Hi Michael. Thanks for your report of Judge Lamberth's ruling that White House Secret Service visitor logs are indeed public record and can be disclosed -- but could you shed some light on the reason(s) why The Post dropped its lawsuit in 2006 to get Cheney's visitor logs?

washingtonpost.com: Secret Service Logs of White House Visitors Are Public Records, Judge Rules (Post, Dec. 18)

Michael Abramowitz: All I can tell you is what our lawyers said we announced we were dropping our lawsuit. Here is our statement -- I don't know anything more:

"We have decided not to pursue litigation further, though we believe we would have prevailed in the court of appeals as we did in the trial court. We filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the visitor logs in advance of the mid-term elections. Judge Urbina ordered the government to process our request before the election. The D.C. Circuit stayed Judge Urbina's order, which thwarted a fundamental goal in pursuing the case. We also considered the fact that there are several other well-positioned FOIA lawsuits seeking these same types of records, and we are confident that the public's right of access will ultimately be vindicated in them."

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Washington: What comparisons can you draw between how Bush and Clinton governed while their respective parties were in the minority in Congress? It seems like Bush has been more forceful with Democrats, which I suppose could be a product of him only having a year left as well as the Democrats only having narrow majorities. Or maybe the governing styles of the two are just different.

Michael Abramowitz: I did not cover Clinton, so this is probably less informed than the kind of analysis you might hear from my colleague Peter Baker, who did cover both presidencies. My sense is that both Bush and Clinton took a pretty confrontational approach with lawmakers and skillfully used the bully pulpit to advance their agenda publicly.

My sense is that Clinton may have been a little more eager to cut a deal in the end than Bush. He used confrontation towards an end: Therefore he vetoed the welfare bill twice before he received one he felt he could sign. It's not clear to me that Bush will take the same approach with the twice-vetoed children's health bill. Will he eventually get a bill he thinks he can sign? Or does he like confrontation for the sake of confrontation? I think it's a little early to know the answer.

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St. Paul, Minn.: Hi Michael. The president declared the other day that the U.S. economy is "safe and sound," despite the fact that most polls are showing a majority of Americans think otherwise and feel that the country is going in the wrong direction. How is his message being received? Or to put it more plainly, are people no longer listening to him?

washingtonpost.com: In Speech, Bush Tries To Ease Fears On Economy (Post, Dec. 18)

Michael Abramowitz: Very good question -- I don't know the answer to this. It does feel to me that the president's message on the economy, the kind of continued confidence that we will pull through, may be out of whack with where the populace is. On the other hand, Bush is also mindful of a need not to stoke the anxieties further. Plus, his ideological instincts here, specifically a skepticism about government intervention in general, would support hewing to the "safe and sound" message.

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Winnipeg, Canada: Can you explain why the move by three members of the judiciary committee for impeachment hearings against the Vice President has not received much media attention? I didn't see anything in the online Washington Post, for instance. Rep. Wexler apparently has gathered 80,000 signatures supporting his position on his Web site. This appears to be big news to me.

Michael Abramowitz: To be quite honest, I am not aware of whether we have written about this. We have gotten these questions in one form or another for several years: Impeachment is not going to be happening under this Congress, even if there are some law-makers who think it is a good idea. So the media moves on to other things.

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Rockville, Md.: Could McCain be the "comeback kid?"

Michael Abramowitz: Absolutely. This GOP race could tip in any one of several directions, and you already sense a drip-drip of good news for McCain spilling out in recent days. It is just too dangerous to make predictions, but I would not be surprised to see him do very well in New Hampshire and return to being a factor in the nomination battle, especially since each of the other major contenders on the GOP side have their own flaws and weaknesses.

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Salinas, Calif.: "We also considered the fact that there are several other well-positioned FOIA lawsuits seeking these same types of records..." Can we then expect CREW to go after Cheney's logs as well? It sure would be interesting to find out who brought dishes to Cheney's "Energy Task Force" potluck in the first term.

washingtonpost.com: Energy Task Force Meetings Participants (washingtonpost.com)

Michael Abramowitz: Sure, that's a possibility. Both CREW and Judicial Watch have their own lawsuits looking for some elements of the logs, and if they win, I am sure people will be asking about the energy task force as well. The problem from their point of view is that the administration appears likely to appeal this Lamberth decision and the case could drag out beyond the administration's end. So we may not see this information until the Bush team is out of office.

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Washington: Do campaigns pay Matt Drudge to post content? I am a Republican and have not made up my mind on a candidate yet but I was floored to see the Drudge report suggest that a bookcase in Huckabee's latest ad is a subliminal religious cross. Please tell me I'm not crazy about this. What are your thoughts on this?

Michael Abramowitz: I have never heard that campaigns pay Drudge, and I would be surprised if that were the case. What is clear if that politicians do pay close attention to Drudge and appear to try to get information onto that Web site, with no fingerprints apparent. I would refer you to the book by my friends Mark Halperin and John Harris, "The Way to Win," which has a very interesting chapter on the interactions between politicians and Drudge and how that works.

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Fairfax, Va.: What is the most liberal or progressive change either Obama, Clinton or Edwards would try to effect if elected? Or will it be Democratic "centrism" all over again?

Michael Abramowitz: I don't know if this qualifies as the most "liberal," but I certainly think you will see a very aggressive effort to deal with the lack of health insurance among a large segment of the population. Each of the three candidates you have mentioned have signaled they want to do something about this and have outlined a plan. Does that qualify as "centrism"? You be the judge.

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Wokingham, U.K.: Is there much expectation of an interesting sequel to the Annapolis conference?

Michael Abramowitz: Well, Bush is planning to travel to the Mideast next month as a follow-up, so I imagine that might be an opportunity for a sequel. But I think in general, there is a fair degree of skepticism that Annapolis will result in a Palestinian state and peace in 14 months -- as the White House hopes. As one wag once put it (and I paraphrase crudely,) no one ever went broke betting against Mideast peace.

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New York: Michael: I'm not quite gettin' it. I consider myself a fairly liberal Democrat who may in fact vote for Obama, but I'm surprised that the Hillary campaign is getting such a drubbing for bringing up Obama's youthful drug use. The point they were making was that, if Obama were the nominee, the issue is going to be used by the Republicans -- just like the fact that Obama's people continually raise the issues of Clinton drama/fatigue should she be the nominee. Why are the pundit shows going nuts about this?

Michael Abramowitz: An interesting and ultimately unresolvable question. I think questions of past drug use fall in a zone where there is extra sensitivity from the press about whether or not that is a legitimate question to raise. It also came up relatively late in the Iowa campaign, a time when every little jot and movement gets extra attention.

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La Vale, Md.: What would the impact be of a really really close finish for either party in the Iowa caucuses? For example, suppose it is Obama 34 percent, Edwards 33 percent and Clinton 33 percent? Or suppose Huckabee and Romney tie for first? Does that make New Hampshire the king/queenmaker?

Michael Abramowitz: I think a really close finish means the race keeps going longer than we all expect, and certainly New Hampshire would play a big role -- but not then, perhaps, the decisive role. My guess is that Clinton gets in more and more trouble if she does not win in either state, as the losses puncture her aura of inevitability (if it has not been punctured already).

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Huckabee's cross: Look at the commercial. The bookcase or window panes forming a cross are hardly subliminal. Merry Christmas!

washingtonpost.com: The Trail: Celebrating the Birth of Christ with Huckabee (washingtonpost.com, Dec. 17)

Michael Abramowitz: Thanks for the suggestion. I am pretty much out of time -- see you all in a few weeks.

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