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Politics : Those Damned Democrat's -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (1197)	6/17/2003 1:34:25 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 1604

What credibility gap? Against pre-war expectations, weapons of mass destruction have not yet been found in Iraq. Sensing a weakness, some partisans have begun to claim that the administration has a "credibility gap." Yet despite the absence of such evidence, and notwithstanding the hopes of war opponents or the pious pronouncements of some Democratic presidential hopefuls, President Bush appears to be maintaining his trust with the populace. According to a Gallup Poll released yesterday, 86 percent of Americans continue to be certain, or at least believe it is likely, that before the war Iraq not only had the facilities to develop weapons of mass destruction, but that it also possessed biological or chemical weapons. Eighty-three percent of respondents continue to believe that Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Those numbers are down only slightly from a pre-war poll done in February, which asked respondents about the same assertions by the administration. The Gallup poll also showed that two-thirds of Americans do not believe the administration misled them about Iraq's weapons programs, a number that hasn't changed in two weeks. Party politics, or at least party pre-dispositions may be playing a part in the credence individuals give to Mr. Bush, since of the 31 percent who said that they were mislead, nearly half (48 percent) were Democrats, and another 37 percent were Independents. Mr. Bush scored a 62 percent job approval rating in the latest Gallup poll, and two-thirds of respondents to a Zogby poll released last week said that Mr. Bush is doing a good or excellent job in the fight against terrorism. Almost six of ten likely voters told Zogby pollsters that the country is going in the right direction. Mr. Zogby noted in the poll release, "if the issue is the war on terrorism, [Mr.] Bush is tough to beat." That shouldn't be too surprising. After all, the individuals on record as believing that Iraq had a weapons-of-mass-destruction program included chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, former president Bill Clinton and several of the foremost Democratic presidential hopefuls including Sens. John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards and Rep. Dick Gephardt. Even House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who has had a longer tenure on the House Intelligence Committee than any of her party counterparts, has not disputed Iraq's pre-war possession of weapons of mass destruction. The clamor about a "credibility gap" really seems to be coming from the partisans — such as Sens. Bob Graham, Howard Dean and Rep. Dennis Kucinich — who stand to gain the most by using such a microphone. While such attacks may help their aspirations in the short term, current polls suggest that Democrats ought to be careful with their thrusts at Mr. Bush's alleged credibility gap

To: calgal who wrote (1197)	6/17/2003 11:37:52 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 1604

URL:http://jewishworldreview.com/toons/fuller/fuller1.asp

To: calgal who wrote (1197)	6/17/2003 11:45:23 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1604

Jewish World Review June 17, 2003 / 17 Sivan, 5763 Art Buchwald First Ladies books newsandopinion.com \| I asked Phyllis Osborne, the publisher of First Ladies Books, if she would have paid $8 million for Hillary Clinton's autobiography. She said, "We had a chance to bid on it - but we were afraid the public would never go for any scandal in regards to a president. We wanted a book that would tell about her husband's health plans and how he felt about the environment and Bosnia. When we told her lawyer we wanted to take out all the stuff about Monica Lewinsky, he refused and insisted it was part of the story." "You did the right thing," I said. "Nobody wants to read about scandal, particularly when it concerns a well known person." She said, 'I've had first ladies who have wanted to write books about their dogs, their gardens, their ranches in Texas, their life in Plains, Ga., and even ones who wrote about their state dinners. But I have turned down any book that I thought would offend the customer. "I didn't even bid on Pat Nixon's story because she wanted to put in a chapter on Watergate. Pat insisted on telling Nixon's side of the story, but we didn't think anyone would be interested in a third-rate burglary." Phyllis continued, "Publishers don't like to throw their money around. We had our marketing people find out if we published Hillary's book whether she would get on any of the TV shows. "Barbara Walters said she wouldn't have her because there was no news peg. Katie Couric said she wouldn't interview her and so did Larry King. Jay Leno's people said, 'No way,' and David Letterman told us, 'She won't bring in the ratings.' Even 'Saturday Night Live' said they didn't want her. I'm not going to publish any book of a first lady who can't get on television. "The New York Post trashes her every day and the right wing radio hosts can't say enough bad things about her. Ordinarily that would help sales, but not eight million dollars' worth." "Do you think it will be a movie?" I asked. "They talked about it, but Jack Nicholson turned down the role of President Clinton, Nicole Kidman refused the part of Hillary, and Meryl Streep said she wouldn't play the Monica Lewinsky part." I said, "Without a movie, the paperback sales are zero. What else made you turn down the book?" Phyllis replied, "Hillary wanted to list all of Bill's golf scores. We felt that was a personal matter between a husband and wife. "Bill begged Hillary not to mention it because he was saving it for his book. She said if she was going to tell all, the public should know what happened to Clinton on the golf course." I said, "Simon and Schuster printed a million copies. To get the paper, they had to cut down a rainforest. What if many of the books have to be returned?" "The environmentalists will squawk, the conservatives will be happy, Hillary will be rich and the publisher will go broke. Timing is everything in the book business." I then asked Phyllis, "Tell me the truth. Why didn't you bid for Hillary's book?" Phyllis said, "The truth is, if we published the book we would be banned in Wal-Mart."