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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (183739)	2/26/2004 12:25:17 PM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1574187

House Speaker Firm on 9/11 Panel's Deadline Hastert, worried about disclosures during an election season, says he will block bills that seek to give the investigative commission more time. By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said Wednesday that he would block legislation to extend the deadline for a commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — a serious setback to the panel, which also on Wednesday expressed disappointment over limits on its access to President Bush and other administration officials. Hastert refused to allow a bill extending the commission's deadline to be introduced in the House, angering Democrats on Capitol Hill. Bush had endorsed the idea of giving the panel two extra months — until July 26 — to complete its investigation. A spokesman for Hastert said the speaker opposed postponing completion of the report partly out of concern that it would push the release of the commission's findings — and any damaging disclosures — into the heat of the presidential campaign. The panel's mandate calls for it to complete its work by May 27. "The speaker believes strongly that we need that report as soon as possible," said John Feehery, a spokesman for Hastert. "He is also worried it will become a political football and that any recommendations [made by the commission] will get lost in the shuffle." The showdown with Hastert is the latest in a series of political tussles for the bipartisan commission, which is responsible for producing a comprehensive report on government failures leading up to the Sept. 11. attacks.The panel has complained repeatedly that its progress has been impeded by the failures of various agencies to turn over documents in a timely manner, as well as by protracted negotiations with the White House over access to highly classified briefings the president received before Sept. 11. Without an extension, commission officials said, the panel probably would have to cancel hearings it had planned to conduct, and that the quality of its report would be compromised. "We will suffer if we are not allowed some reasonable additional time to conclude," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democrat on the panel. Ben-Veniste and others said they hoped that the Senate would pass an extension, which could put pressure on House Republicans to give ground. Because the commission was created and funded by Congress, both chambers must pass legislation to extend its deadline. Some speculated Wednesday that the White House was behind Hastert's decision. Feehery denied that was the case, saying: "We've gotten plenty of signals that they want us to extend it, but the speaker just doesn't believe this is a good idea." Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration continued to support an extension. "We want the commission to have the time they need to complete their work," she said. The commission also put out a statement Wednesday pointing to new difficulties in its efforts to interview Bush and other White House officials. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have agreed to meet privately with the co-chairmen of the commission, but are not willing to meet with all 10 members of the panel. "We hope the president and the vice president will reconsider," the co-chairmen, former Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean and former Democratic Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, said in the statement. President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore have agreed to sit down with the full commission. Asked why Bush and Cheney objected to meeting with the full commission, Healy said: "There are lots of ways in which they can share information, and we felt this was the best way to do that. We're confident the chair and the vice chair can share the information with the rest of the commission." Previously, the administration had restricted access to classified White House briefing materials to a few members of the panel. The commission also said Wednesday that national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, who recently met privately with the commission, had declined an invitation to testify in public. "We are disappointed by this decision," Kean and Hamilton said. CIA Director George J. Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell have agreed to testify publicly.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (183739)	2/26/2004 12:27:19 PM
From: Alighieri	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574187

Bush's slash-and-burn surrogates Executive M.O.: stay above fray while GOP henchmen do dirty work WASHINGTON -- "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible." That was George W. Bush's brilliant dodge throughout the 2000 campaign whenever questions came up as to how he behaved during his 20s and early 30s. By poking fun at himself, Bush was winking at the press corps, especially the baby boomers among them. Bush's unspoken subtext: You guys did a lot of irresponsible things then, too, so you're not in an ideal position to ask me a lot of questions, are you? Now comes John Kerry as the Democrats' front-runner. When Kerry was young and serious, he was young and serious. He put away childish things early on. He served in combat in Vietnam and decided that the war was a terrible mistake. He helped organize Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He testified before a congressional committee and went on "Meet the Press." He ran unsuccessfully as an antiwar candidate for Congress. And, lo, because Kerry took life so seriously so young, his 20s are getting a thorough going-over. Right-wing Web sites post and even manufacture pictures of Kerry with or near Jane Fonda at antiwar events. Kerry's enemies are parsing every word he spoke in those days. Which makes one ask: If Kerry's 20s and early 30s are destined to be an issue in this campaign, is it fair for the media to give the same years in Bush's life a pass just because he's the incumbent? To paraphrase John Edwards, will we have two standards, one for a Democratic challenger and one for a Republican president? The Bush campaign, of course, is leaving the brutal stuff to surrogates. Formally, Bush's apparatus is focusing on Kerry's record in the Senate, especially his votes on intelligence and military spending. Isn't that fair game? What's forgotten is that Bush has a pattern throughout his political career of staying above the fray while others tear his opponents to shreds. The Republicans are trying to weave a clear narrative about Kerry. The above-the-surface part is about his voting record, which Kerry will, indeed, have to defend. The below-the-surface part will paint him as a Vietnam-peacenik-Massachusetts-liberal weirdo. The template has already been used by Bush's campaign, on Sen. John McCain, another Vietnam hero, in South Carolina during the 2000 Republican primaries. Here is how The Houston Chronicle reported one episode in its Feb. 4, 2000, edition. A dispatch from Sumter, S.C., began: "George W. Bush prompted an attack Thursday from military heroes, activists and a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman on rival John McCain's voting record on veterans and POW/MIA issues. Bush himself refused to criticize McCain but stood alongside the veterans' activist who made the attacks. "'He came home. He forgot us,' J. Thomas Burch Jr., chairman of the National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition said of McCain, who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam before his elections to the U.S. House and Senate from Arizona. "McCain dismissed the attack as 'foolishness' brought on by Bush's 19-point loss to McCain on Tuesday in New Hampshire and a new poll showing McCain with a five-point lead over Bush in South Carolina." Note that Bush "stood alongside" while someone did the attacking for him. And so it was over the weekend, when the Republicans hauled out Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia to attack Kerry's voting record on military issues. This was the same Chambliss who received numerous student deferments and a 1-Y medical deferment during Vietnam. That did not stop him from going after then-incumbent Sen. Max Cleland in the 2002 Georgia Senate race for allegedly being soft on national security. One Chambliss ad used pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to make its point. Cleland, now a Kerry supporter, lost both of his legs and an arm in a grenade explosion in Vietnam. Nothing so ignites Democrats as memories of what Chambliss did to Cleland. "I don't know what ... these Republicans who didn't serve in any war have against those of us who are Democrats who did," Kerry said on Saturday. And he issued a challenge to Bush: "If you want to debate the Vietnam era, and the impact of our experiences on our approaches to presidential leadership, I am prepared to do so." Maybe it's all a clever trap by the Bush campaign to move the presidential debate to matters of national security. But if the past is any guide, it's better to force Bush to take responsibility for his whole campaign, overt and not-so-overt, than to let him float above it all while his surrogates slash and burn. Just ask John McCain.