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

To: tejek who wrote (228034)	4/6/2005 1:30:45 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1571053

Many wary of GOP's moral agenda Poll: Public disliked Schiavo intervention By Susan Page USA TODAY WASHINGTON — The controversy over Terri Schiavo has raised concerns among many Americans about the moral agenda of the Republican Party and the political power of conservative Christians, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds. In the survey, most Americans disapprove of the efforts by President Bush and Congress to draw federal courts into the dispute over treatment of the brain-damaged Florida woman. She died last week. Some old stereotypes about the two parties have been reversed: •By 55%-40%, respondents say Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are “trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans” on moral values. •By 53%-40%, they say Democrats, who sharply expanded government since the Depression, aren't trying to interfere on moral issues. The debate over Schiavo has spotlighted the central role “values” issues — abortion, stem cell research, same-sex marriage and the right to live or die — now play in politics. Mark Rozell, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia who studies religion and politics, says the case has created a “clear backlash.” “It's one thing to look at religious conservatives as part of a broad coalition that makes up the Republican Party,” he says. “It's entirely another if people think that religious conservatives are calling the shots in the Bush administration for what was a deeply personal situation.” But Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition says a poll his group commissioned shows wide support for those who sought to preserve Schiavo's life when the issue is placed “in the broader context of protecting the rights of the disabled.” He met with members of Congress Tuesday to push for legislation to set “clear guidelines” in such cases. In the poll taken Friday and Saturday, Bush's job-approval rating is 48%, 3 percentage points higher than in mid-March. His standing on personal characteristics such as trustworthiness remains above 50%. Still, Americans by 53%-34% say they disapprove of Bush's handling of the Schiavo case. Congress' rating on Schiavo is worse: 76% disapprove, 20% approve. By more than 2-to-1, 39%-18%, Americans say the “religious right” has too much influence in the Bush administration. That's a change from when the question was asked in CBS News/New York Times polls taken from 2001 to 2003. Then, approximately equal numbers said conservative Christians had too much and too little influence. usatoday.com

To: tejek who wrote (228034)	4/6/2005 11:23:41 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571053

Ted it seems that you did not have a problem with Daschle's wife lobbying for things and Tom not recusing himself. rushlimbaugh.com

To: tejek who wrote (228034)	4/6/2005 11:25:53 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1571053

Pelosi Ethics problems are an ongoing problem. This from November Dem memo may violate ethics rules By Hans Nichols and Jonathan E. Kaplan Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) leadership team has instructed Democratic lawmakers to use committee resources for partisan purposes, providing state-by-state data on campaign topics from job losses to highway funding. In an Oct 15th email obtained by The Hill, Melissa Skolfield, Pelosi’s communication counsel, urged Democratic staff to use state-by-state data generated by the Transportation Committee’s minority staff in the “crucial” coming weeks. October’s communication blitz blurs the distinction between political and legislative activities. House rules allow congressional staff to issue reports that further legislative goals but forbid the use of official resources on overtly political causes. Pelosi’s office said that directing Democratic lawmakers to use these committee reports in the waning days of the election does not violate ethics rules. But independent ethics watchdogs say that Pelosi’s instructions to use committee resources raises many questions. “Even though she is being somewhat subtle about it, it’s clear this is about the election,” said Larry Noble, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “It’s a fair question to ask if taxpayers’ dollars should be spent for this kind of political activity. On the other side, we saw Bush Cabinet officials out on the campaign trail.” Skolfield countered, “This is part of a two-year effort to point out the harmful effect of Republican policies on American families. We have been aggressive about highlighting the difference between Democrats and Republicans every week and during every recess.” Democrats say Republican communications shops and committees do much of the same. “Perhaps the ‘biggie’ is simply that we are being effective,” said a Democratic leadership aide. “The Republicans have got to be frustrated that none of our incumbents outside of Texas are polling below 50 percent. “We provide local data. We provide sample press releases. We help them get on radio and TV. And yes, we work with committees to issue reports. I’m not sure we are doing anything differently from [GOP Conference Chairwoman ] Deborah Pryce’s [R-Ohio] shop, but I am certain that we are doing it better. And we’re well within the rules.” Greg Crist, spokesman for Pryce, said the House Republican Conference has an aggressive outreach program for lawmakers but “we primarily rely on the administration to provide a government-based statistics, facts that can easily be verified.” Crist allowed that majority staff members on committees provide GOP lawmakers with resources that could be used as political fodder. He rejected the contention that the Democrats’ message machine worked better. “If the only message I had was founded in bogus committee reports with cooked numbers, I’d call that a success, too,” Crist said. “Look at [Rep. Henry] Waxman’s [D-Calif.] material on Medicare and prescription drugs. It’s called data mining. It’s wrong, and it’s misleading.” Democrats said Republicans have been using nonpartisan committee resources for partisan advantage throughout the 108th Congress. Most recently, they accused Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo [R-Calif.] of misusing the House’s franking privilege. Less than two weeks before today’s election, Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, released a glossy white paper that described the successes in the war against terrorism and amounted to a ringing endorsement of the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism efforts. Ken Johnson, a committee spokesman, said “Freedom Defended: Implementing America’s Strategy for Homeland Security,” a 46-page document sent to reporters and think tanks, had “nothing to do with the election, but everything to do with making a solid case for permanency” of the committee. Rep. Jim Turner (Texas), the committee’s ranking Democrat, said that he did not have a chance to preview the report but “the need for the committee’s permanence has been well-established.” The report’s narrative begins with the terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and moves swiftly to “The Bush Offensive,” on Page 8, and on Page 13 to a section headlined “The President Seizes the Initiative.” The report argues explicitly that the Homeland Security Committee be made permanent, on Page 45. Democrats have not hesitated to use the platform of the Homeland Security Committee to criticize the Bush administration in the weeks before the election. In a letter to department Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday, Turner criticized rail security. On Oct. 25, Turner released a report on bioterrorism that argued that states and local governments remain unprepared to distribute medicines and vaccines in case of an attack. And a week earlier, he slammed the shortcomings in the homeland-security spending bill. “I think you can take [Cox’s] report and lay alongside the work product we’ve done on the Democratic side and judge for yourself,” Turner said. “We have issued 13 reports and introduced 11 pieces of legislation. Many of those bills flowed from the report we had prepared. We have tried to be diligent and done the kind of work that should be expected of an oversight committee.” hillnews.com