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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (2459)	12/11/2003 10:05:06 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 90947

Contracts for Iraq: Reverse the Pentagon's Decision by William Kristol and Robert Kagan 12/11/2003 12:00:00 AM President Bush, we suspect, is going to overrule the Pentagon's attempt to exclude from the bidding for Iraq reconstruction contracts certain countries that have opposed U.S. policy in Iraq. He might as well do it sooner rather than later, so as to minimize the diplomatic damage done by the Pentagon's heavy-handed and counterproductive action. We hold no brief for the Chirac, Schroeder, or Putin governments. We are also very much in favor of finding ways to work more closely with other governments -- such as those of Britain, Spain and Poland -- who have courageously stood with us, and who hold the promise of continuing to be more helpful to us. We have even been critical of the Bush Administration for a certain lack of imagination in finding ways to work constructively with these friendly governments. But this particular effort by the Pentagon to reward friends and punish enemies is stupid, and should be abandoned. A deviously smart American administration would have quietly distributed contracts for rebuilding Iraq as it saw fit, without any announced policy of discrimination. At the end of the day, it would be clear that opponents of American policy didn't fare too well in the bidding process. Message delivered, but with a certain subtlety. A more clever American administration would have thrown a contract or two to a couple of those opponents, to a German firm, for instance, as a way of wooing at least the business sectors in a country where many businessmen do want to strengthen ties with the United States. A truly wise American administration would have opened the bidding to all comers, regardless of their opposition to the war -- as a way of buying those countries into the Iraq effort, building a little goodwill for the future, and demonstrating to the world a little magnanimity. But instead of being smart, clever, or magnanimous, the Bush Administration has done a dumb thing. The announcement of a policy of discriminating against French, German, and Russian firms has made credible European charges of vindictive pettiness and general disregard for the opinion of even fellow liberal democracies. More important, it has made former Secretary of State James Baker's very important effort to get these countries, among others, to offer debt relief for the new government of Iraq almost impossible. This is to say nothing of other areas where we need to work with these governments. This decision is a blunder. We trust it will be reversed. URL:http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/481yjxxw.asp

To: calgal who wrote (2459)	12/11/2003 10:05:16 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 90947

Bush Fundraising Tops $110 Million, Dean in Sights Dec 11, 4:26 PM (ET) By Randall Mikkelsen MCLEAN, Va. (Reuters) - President Bush took his re-election war chest past $110 million at his final fund-raising appearance of a record-setting year on Thursday, as Republicans trained their sights on Howard Dean as the expected Democratic presidential candidate. "We've delivered on behalf of all people who live in this country," Bush said at a re-election campaign fund-raiser where he added $1 million to his record total. "Our work is only beginning." The event brought his fund-raising total for next year's primary season to more than $110 million, already exceeding his record of about $100 million for the 2000 primary season. A Bush campaign spokesman shrugged off the U.S. Supreme Court's decision a day earlier to uphold new campaign finance legislation, saying it would not affect strategy. Although Bush has no primary opponents, Republican advisers said he is preparing to unleash his war chest early next year, most likely against Dean. They described the former Vermont governor as the probable Democratic nominee and vulnerable to attack as liberal and inexperienced in security policy. Dean has emerged as a leading contender after strenuously criticizing Bush's conduct of the Iraq war and occupation. "The Bush campaign is going to have $100 million cash on hand to set the terms of the election and frame the debate, mainly through Dean," Republican consultant Scott Reed said. Party consultant Vin Weber did not rule out another Democrat capturing the nomination, but said, "there's a higher priority now being put on planning to run against Dean than there is on the other candidates." Bush was unlikely to openly campaign at least until after multistate Democratic primaries on Feb. 3, which may clarify the nomination, Reed said. Before that, Bush will follow "an aggressive bully pulpit strategy" of promoting a political agenda in venues including his annual State of the Union address in late January. LAYING FOUNDATION FOR RE-ELECTION A senior Bush aide played down Dean as a target and said Bush was laying a foundation "to withstand a strong challenge from any Democrat." Outside the Hilton hotel where Bush added to his funds, a knot of protesters surrounding an inflatable White House model demonstrated against his ties to corporate donors. The Public Citizen watchdog group said Bush had rewarded corporate polluters "in exchange for millions in campaign cash." Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said Bush's fund-raising is unaffected by the Supreme Court decision, which upheld legislation Bush signed to ban unregulated "soft money" contributions. "Our campaign plan was put in place based upon the bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, so we will continue operating the way in which we have," Stanzel said. The Republican National Committee, which had argued at the Supreme Court against the legislation, said it would work "within the constraints of the new system." Bush has abandoned public financing of his primary effort, freeing himself of the federal spending restrictions. Key to his fund-raising has been the supporters who bring together maximum $2,000 donations from wealthy backers. Public Citizen said many of the Virginia fund-raising "rangers" and "pioneers" who steer donations to Bush are lobbyists. Dean, drawing on smaller Internet contributions from a large base of supporters, has outpaced Democratic rivals in raising money but lags far behind Bush. Stanzel said the campaign expects to be outspent by independent groups organizing to defeat Bush. Conservatives are organizing similar groups. URL:http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/133934\|top\|12-11-2003::16:32\|reuters.html