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

To: Road Walker who wrote (193755)	7/9/2004 12:37:09 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1574577

Drop Cheney? Democrats hope not Speculation abounds in Washington after GOP ex-senator urges new Bush running mate By Tom Curry National affairs writer MSNBC WASHINGTON - When former New York Sen. Al D’Amato suggested this week the time had come for President Bush to replace Vice President Deck Cheney with either Secretary of State Colin Powell or Arizona Sen. John McCain as his running mate, was D’Amato voicing Republican hopes and Democratic fears? Or was he simply being provocative? "On through September, the Democratic ticket of Kerry-Edwards could very well build an insurmountable lead among a public that is hungry for change,” said one Washington-based political consultant, speaking on condition of anonymity. “If Cheney is dropped it would be the highest example of desperation in the history of presidential elections,” he said. “Without a doubt, it would happen in response to the fear Republicans have at Edwards being selected as Kerry’s VP." While some Democrats acknowledge they’d love Cheney to stay on the ticket because they consider him a drag on Bush, most want to talk instead about their exuberance over Edwards. Bush will play his hand “I take the president at face value when he says that he is going to stand by Cheney,” said Washington-based Democratic campaign consultant Jim Duffy. Dumping Cheney? “I just don’t see it,” Duffy said. “It flies in the face of how Bush plays his hands. I see the president playing the hand he has right to the bitter end.” Democrats, Duffy said, “are talking about how elated they are about the Kerry-Edwards ticket. This (Cheney speculation) is not something I see Democrats engaging in.” “We’re praying Cheney stays on the ticket,” California Democratic Party spokesman Bob Mulholland said. “Cheney is an albatross around the neck of the president, so Democrats are supporting Cheney.” Mulholland noted that on Tuesday the Bush-Cheney campaign unveiled a new television ad featuring McCain. “It wasn’t featuring Cheney,” Mulholland noted. “If Cheney were a plus for the ticket, they’d have him out there in that ad.” “I’m hoping it doesn’t happen,” Mulholland said of a Cheney exit. “We want Cheney so we can beat up on him for the next four months.” Mulholland said that one potentially troublesome story for Cheney that may get wider exposure in the next four months is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation of alleged payments of $180 million in bribes by several firms, including a subsidiary of Halliburton, to officials in Nigeria, in order to smooth construction of a liquefied natural gas complex off the Nigerian coast. Some of the payments were allegedly made at the time Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton. Halliburton spokesman Wendy Hall said, "We are working with officials in Europe and the United States as well as conducting our own investigation to determine the truth of these unproven assertions. We do not believe that the company has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," a U.S. law that prohibits payments of bribes by American firms to foreign officials. The Bush-Cheney campaign did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the Nigeria allegation. D'Amato urges 'bold stroke' For his part, D’Amato portrayed his dump-Cheney proposal as a move not dictated by the urgent need to avoid Republican defeat, but rather as way to bulk up Bush’s victory margin. "While I believe George Bush will win re-election even without this bold stroke, he will insure a broader, deeper, more resonant reaffirmation of his leadership if he places his duty to continue as president above any one individual," D'Amato said. But tradition and logic suggest that such a “bold stroke” would be necessitated only if the vice president’s heart ailment really did require him to step down or if Bush and his strategists thought his re-election hopes were slipping away. msnbc.msn.com

To: Road Walker who wrote (193755)	7/9/2004 12:39:02 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1574577

AP: Iraq Insurgency Larger Than Thought 34 minutes ago When I was looking at the thread's index of posts, yours read like the above. I thought......damn, how could things have gotten so much worse in 34 minutes. <g> ted

To: Road Walker who wrote (193755)	7/9/2004 12:43:42 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574577

May be another sign of slowing. ******************************************************* U.S. May Wholesale Inventories Up Fri Jul 9, 2004 10:22 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Inventories at U.S. wholesalers jumped ahead of Wall Street expectations in May, boosted by growth in durable goods stocks, while sales at the wholesale level increased at a milder pace, a government report on Friday showed. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose 1.2 percent in May after an upwardly revised 0.2 percent gain in April. Analysts had expected a 0.5 percent rise in May wholesale inventories, according to a Reuters survey. Sales grew at a slightly weaker pace, rising 0.5 percent in May compared to 0.9 percent in April. April inventories were originally reported as a 0.1 percent decline, while April wholesale sales had been initially reported showing a 0.8 percent gain. The gain in inventories and slower sales propped up the inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures how long it would take to draw down stocks at the current sales pace, to 1.13 months' supply from 1.12 in April. Inventories of durable goods -- items meant to least three years or more -- rose 1.5 percent in May, reflecting large rises in metals, hardware and lumber stocks. The durable goods increase was the highest since a matching 1.5 percent rise in November 1999. Non-durable goods inventories rose 0.6 percent, with a 3.4 percent drop in farm products providing a slight drag. Financial markets, which rarely respond to the wholesale inventories and sales data, showed no reaction. Earlier this month, Commerce said factory inventories climbed 0.5 percent in May. Retail sector inventories will be announced in business inventories figures due to be released next week. © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. reuters.com