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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (48608)	6/4/2004 4:29:43 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793552

Sharon has always played hardball. PM fires National Union ministers in bid to pass plan By Aluf Benn, Mazal Mualem, Gideon Alon and Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fired National Union ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Elon on Friday morning to ensure the revised disengagement plan passes in the cabinet Sunday. Messengers were delivering the dismissal notices to the right-wing ministers' homes since Lieberman and Elon didn't arrive at the Prime Minister's Office at 9 A.M. as summoned. The messengers went out after Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon informed cabinet ministers that Lieberman and Elon were being fired, as the government is required to do by law. Lieberman, who has been in charge of the Transportation Ministry, said he was busy in the morning and would arrive at Sharon's office at 1 P.M., while Elon had not decided as of Thursday night whether he would respond to the summons. Associates of Elon said Thursday the tourism minister didn't intend to take part in the psychological warfare being waged by the Prime Minister's Office so as to get the plan passed. But Sharon didn't wait for the ministers to show up, opting to have the notices delivered to their homes instead. Sharon was in a rush to send the letters because they take 48 hours to go into effect - the approximate time left before the cabinet votes on the plan. Lieberman said he had no obligation to support the disengagement plan because it had not been passed by the government. "I'm being fired for disagreeing with the prime minister," he said Friday, adding he would have resigned had the plan passed. Lieberman accused Sharon of laying his failures, such as the split within his own Likud party, at the feet of the National Union. Sharon on Thursday told Haaretz: "I didn't ignore all sorts of attempts and compromises, but there were some things I couldn't give in to, and I didn't. I need a majority on Sunday, and when I found out that this threesome [Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Education Minister Limor Livnat] was going to vote against me, I invited the National Union ministers for tomorrow in order to fire them." Sharon needs to secure the vote of one more minister ahead of the cabinet vote Sunday. At present, 11 ministers (six from the Likud and five from Shinui) support the disengagement plan, while 12 ministers (eight from the Likud, two from the National Religious Party and two from the National Union) oppose it. Likud compromise talks stall Negotiations within the Likud aimed at reaching a compromise based on a proposal by Immigrant Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni stalled Thursday evening. Netanyahu, Shalom and Livnat claimed Thursday that Sharon had retracted understandings reached earlier in the day, according to which sources in the Prime Minister's Office had agreed not to freeze the flow of funds to settlements slated for evacuation. Sharon is believed to have altered his stance after holding consultations with Weisglass, who recently returned from talks in Washington and said the United States would not agree to transfer funds to those settlements, Israel Radio reported Friday. Under the terms of Livni's proposal, the government will vote Sunday on the full disengagement plan, but the statement would include a clause requiring a separate government vote before any settlements are evacuated. The compromise formula also allows for delaying the vote on the evacuation of settlements by at least six months. Livni met with Sharon in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening and presented the compromise formula on the pullout plan. Sharon reiterated Thursday that his disengagement plan would be approved in a cabinet vote on Sunday. "I plan to uphold my commitments and pass the decision this coming Sunday," he said.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (48608)	6/4/2004 7:42:49 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793552

Does anyone out there actually like John Kerry? Nope.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (48608)	6/4/2004 10:06:26 AM
From: Rollcast...	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793552

Does anyone out there actually like John Kerry? The dem's far left base may not like Kerry but what is of consequence is their level of hatred for Bush. We may see the Josh Marshall's and our local "academic" talking about how they "dont like Kerry that much" but it will not change their vote or even their enthusiasm to vote - they are ruled by their hatred. Most would vote for Pol Pot over Bush. Michael Moore types would vote for a Bin Laden ticket over Bush... The swing group will be blue collar workers and soccer moms - many are coming to see Bush as the underdog and recognizing this sniping and back stabbing by Pelosi, Dean, Kennedy et al for what it is. Kerry is wise to stay away from it and let his surrogates take the cheap shots. The less he says, the better chance he will have of being id'd as a moderate.