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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (259305)	5/29/2002 1:37:17 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Democrats report dissatisfaction By Donald Lambro THE WASHINGTON TIMES washtimes.com Nearly half of all Democrats are complaining that their party's congressional leaders are not doing a good enough job of standing up for working people, minorities and the poor, a new poll reported yesterday. As Democratic leaders struggle to find an election year issue that cuts into President Bush's popularity, a survey of 1,002 adults by the independent Pew Research Center uncovered deep dissatisfaction in the party over the kinds of issues its leadership has been focusing on lately. Only 64 percent of Democrats approve of the way House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota are doing their job, the Pew survey showed. This compares with an 80 percent job approval score that Republicans gave their party's leadership. "Perhaps more significant, barely half of Democrats [51 percent] say the party is doing an excellent or good job of standing up for such core principles as representing the interests of working people, protecting minorities and helping the poor," the Pew report said. Pew findings come at a time when other polls show that Mr. Bush's job approval numbers are still in the high 70s and that 44 percent of Hispanic voters — who account for a major part of the Democratic Party's voter base — say they will vote for Mr. Bush in 2004. That is 9 points higher than the percentage of Hispanics who voted for him in 2000. "The Republican Party continues to inspire much more confidence than the Democrats on major international issues — the war against terrorists and the conflict in the Mideast. When it comes to the war on terrorism, a sizable number of Democrats think the Republicans have better ideas than their own party," the Pew report said. Notably, the Pew poll found that by a margin of 37-to-33 percent, Democrats preferred the administration's handling of the war on terrorism over their own party's proposals. These findings partially explain why questions raised by Democratic leaders about how much Mr. Bush may have known about the terrorist threats before September 11 have failed to undermine public support for the way the president has dealt with the terrorist threat and his handling of national security. Democrats abandoned or noticeably muted their criticisms this week when the administration aggressively struck back and it became clear that their attacks on Mr. Bush were backfiring on them, especially with their party's base. In an analysis of the Democrats' shift away from their earlier, sharply worded charges, The Washington Post said, "So far they have learned that anything that smacks of questioning Bush's competence is a losing strategy." "People trust George Bush to deal with this problem," Democratic pollster Mark Mellman told The Post. "There will be little to be found out that will cause people not to trust him to deal with this problem." The Pew poll, conducted between May 6 and 16, also found that "as many as one-third of Democrats believe the party's leaders are speaking out too little in response to Bush's policies. That number rises to 46 percent among Democrats who express general disapproval of the job Democratic leaders in Congress are doing." The poll showed that the Democrats led Republicans on domestic issues such as providing prescription-drug benefits through Medicare and strengthening Social Security. And Democratic strategists like Mr. Mellman think the party's leaders should focus more on these kinds of bread-and-butter issues that he and other Democrats think will determine the outcome of the congressional elections this November. Other Democrats agree with that strategy. "Democrats ought to be preoccupied with health care, not trying to 'get' Bush on the war," a party strategist told The Post.

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (259305)	5/29/2002 1:42:57 AM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 769670

Labor's Clinton problem townhall.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than two months ago, the Building Trades Council of the AFL-CIO voted to cut off contributions to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The reason was failure to win assurance that union labor will be used to build the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. Behind that dispute, however, lie deeper strains between Democrats and blue-collar labor. The building trades labor leaders are stunned by their inability to negotiate a project labor agreement (PLA) locking in union workers for the library of a president who, in office, fought hard for PLAs on federal construction. Bill Clinton himself has sat down with union chiefs, deploying his considerable charm to convince his friends in labor to be reasonable. To no avail, at least so far. The Building Trades Council has been in turmoil ever since Douglass McCarron took his Carpenters Union out of the AFL-CIO 14 months ago --rejecting the dominance of service and government workers unions. The Carpenters and other unions, led by James P. Hoffa's Teamsters, have sided with the Bush administration against fellow unionists on the question of Alaska oil drilling. President Bush and his political team are trying hard to widen this breach. In this climate, the Clinton library did an imitation of the Associated Builders and Contractors in fighting any PLA. The union leaders were not happy when the library sounded the old management argument of just not enough union members in Arkansas. What infuriated labor was the presence on the library's legal team of a bitter enemy: Robert Miller, a tough Denver lawyer who battled toe-to-toe with unions over construction of the new Denver airport. Labor cannot de-link the Clinton library from the Democratic Party. Terrence McAuliffe, who was handpicked as the party's national chairman by his very good friends the Clintons, is the clear connection. While raising money for the party, McAuliffe solicits a few dollars for the library. So, during the week of April 17, when the building trades were holding their annual convention in Washington, it was decided to cut off all DNC contributions. Bill Clinton was in town, and met at the Hay Adams Hotel with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Building Trades Council President Edward Sullivan. Clinton assured them that this matter would be settled soon. After all, Clinton's longtime faithful lieutenant, Bruce Lindsey, is the library's lead negotiator. Still, no PLA was accepted, and the flow of union money did not resume. Skip Rutherford, the Clinton library president, told this column that he did not "know anything about cutting off contributions," but added he expected agreement with labor in a few days. However, two weeks ago -- when building trades leader Sullivan confirmed to me the funds freeze -- he also predicted a settlement momentarily. The delay only adds to tension inside the labor movement, where Hoffa is rising as a threat to Sweeney. Last week, Hoffa voted no (along with Thomas Buffenbarger of the Machinists) when Sweeney won approval of an increased monthly assessment of 4 cents per union member for political action. Keeping faith with his promise that the Teamsters no longer would be an ATM for the Democrats, Hoffa declared at the AFL-CIO meeting in Manhattan that "we want a pro-worker majority" -- not a Democratic (or a Republican) majority. Hoffa is no Republican, but he is making clear that he is ending the rigid Democratic line of his predecessor at the Teamsters, Ron Carey. Hoffa is backing incumbent Republican governers George Pataki in New York, Bob Taft in Ohio and Jeb Bush in Florida. Maryland's Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's campaign team was outraged when Hoffa participated in a recent event with her Republican opponent for governor, Rep. Robert Ehrlich. It is inconceivable that Clinton's friends building his library will continue indefinitely to bite the labor hand that has fed them. But the restiveness of blue-collar labor has been provoked. Its quiet overture to President Bush: Show your good faith by not disturbing the Davis-Bacon Act, which in effect requires union pay on government contracts, and you will build a lasting bridge to the building trades. George W. Bush has given up a lot more in hopes of being repaid with a lot less.

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (259305)	5/29/2002 1:48:19 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Condoleezza Rice Warned Sept. 6 About Imminent Terror Attack Wednesday, May 29, 2002 12:15 a.m. EDT newsmax.com Five days before Sept. 11, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was warned that a terrorist attack inside the United States was imminent, a former U.S. senator who headed up a blue-ribbon commission on terrorism revealed late Tuesday. "I've known the national security advisor, Professor Rice, for about 20 some years," former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart told WABC Radio's John Batchelor and Paul Alexander. "She was a supporter of mine in my first presidential campaign as a graduate student in Denver." After giving a speech on the terrorist threat in Montreal on Sept. 5, Hart said he requested an urgent meeting with Dr. Rice in Washington. "I said to her, 'You must move more quickly on homeland security. An attack is going to happen.' "That was Sept. 6, 2001," Hart told WABC, without characterizing Dr. Rice's reaction. The night before, Hart said, he issued the same warning to an air transportation group in Canada. Three years ago Hart and former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, which warned specifically of a domestic terrorist attack. In a Sept. 15, 1999, report the Hart-Rudman Commission concluded, "America will be attacked by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction and Americans will lose their lives on American soil, possibly in large numbers."