here's a real LEFTY!
Hit by Friendly Fire
By Kevin Whitelaw
US News and World Report
27 June 2005 Issue
With his polls down, Bush takes flak on Iraq from a host of critics - including some in his own party.
Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He's upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He's also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney's recent remark that the insurgency is in its "last throes." "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel tells U.S. News. "It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."
That's strikingly blunt talk from a member of the president's party, even one cast as something of a pariah in the GOP because of his early skepticism about the war. "I got beat up pretty good by my own party and the White House that I was not a loyal Republican," he says. Today, he notes, things are changing: "More and more of my colleagues up here are concerned."
Indeed, there are signs that the politics of the Iraq war are being reshaped by the continuing tide of bad news. Take this month in Iraq, with 47 U.S. troops killed in the first 15 days. That's already five more than the toll for the entire month of June last year. With the rate of insurgent attacks near an all-time high and the war's cost set to top $230 billion, more politicians on both sides of the aisle are responding to opinion polls that show a growing number of Americans favoring a withdrawal from Iraq. Republican Sens. Lincoln Chafee and Lindsey Graham have voiced their concerns. And two Republicans, including the congressman who brought "freedom fries" to the Capitol, even joined a pair of Democratic colleagues in sponsoring a bill calling for a troop withdrawal plan to be drawn up by year's end. "I feel confident that the opposition is going to build," says Rep. Ron Paul, the other Republican sponsor and a longtime opponent of the war.
Sagging polls. The measure is not likely to go anywhere, but Hagel calls it "a major crack in the dike." Whether or not that's so, the White House has reason to worry that the assortment of critiques of Bush's wartime performance may be approaching a tipping point. Only 41 percent of Americans now support Bush's handling of the Iraq war, the lowest mark ever in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll. And the Iraq news has combined with a lethargic economy and doubts about the president's Social Security proposals to push Bush's overall approval ratings near all-time lows. For now, most Republicans remain publicly loyal to the White House. "Why would you give your enemies a timetable?" asks House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "[Bush] doesn't fight the war on news articles or television or on polls."
Still, the Bush administration is planning to hit back, starting this week, with a renewed public-relations push by the president. Bush will host Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and has scheduled a major speech for June 28, the anniversary of the handover of power to an Iraqi government from U.S. authorities. But Congress's patience could wear very thin going into an election year. "If things don't start to turn around in six months, then it may be too late," says Hagel. "I think it's that serious."
Bush's exit strategy--which depends on a successful Iraqi political process--got a boost last week when Sunni and Shiite politicians ended weeks of wrangling over how to increase Sunni representation on the constitution-writing committee. Now, however, committee members have less than two months before their mid-August deadline. And given how long it took to resolve who gets to draft the document, it's hard to imagine a quick accord on the politically explosive issues they face.
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With Ilana Ozernoy and Terence Samuel.
Go to Original
Bush's Business Support Wavering
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis
The San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday 19 June 2005
Washington - President Bush, working to gain support for his ambitious domestic agenda, is encountering increasing resistance from an unlikely place: American business, a usually reliable ally.
Many of these pro-Republican interests see little potential benefit for them in helping Bush win his two fights with the highest stakes: shoring up Social Security and reshaping the tax code.
Business interests still enthusiastically support a number of items on Bush's wish list, including a new energy policy, expanded trade and legal reforms meant to curb costly lawsuits and court settlements.
But "there is a much tougher row to hoe to keep the business community specifically supportive and united on the tax bill, on Social Security and other parts of the agenda," said Jade West, top lobbyist for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.
Companies have been downright hostile to some of Bush's plans, including a proposal for strengthening the private pension system, which could be costly for companies that are required to pay higher premiums.
If the resistance continues, it could prove troublesome for Bush, who benefited from strong backing by business and industry in his first term.
Business groups are among the most effective advocates for policy changes, armed with cash to target political contributions and fund high-profile ad campaigns. They have compelling spokespeople -- corporate CEOs and local business leaders -- who can bring heavy pressure on individual lawmakers to take their side.
The White House says that business support is growing for the president's plans and that he is pushing forcefully for business' favorite initiatives, including an energy measure the Senate began debating last week -- originally proposed by Bush in 2001 -- and a Central American trade agreement.
"The president's coalition, on all fronts, is growing -- not receding," said Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, adding that Bush is pleased with the degree of support his agenda enjoys among business groups.
But the groups have brought little intensity thus far to the issues at the core of Bush's domestic agenda. One reason for the business lobby's reticence: Neither the Social Security overhaul Bush envisions nor the tax- reform measure he has promised has been translated into concrete proposals on Capitol Hill.
Efforts to spearhead a Social Security measure are proceeding haltingly, plagued by a virtually solid wall of opposition by Democrats and a lack of consensus among Republicans about how to tackle the issue.
Bush and congressional Republicans are awaiting a report from a presidential panel on tax reform, due at the end of July, before proposing changes to the Internal Revenue Code.
"What bill am I supposed to lobby?" said Bruce Josten, a top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "They're totally abstract and totally undefined, and therefore the business community is going to focus on those issues that aren't abstract and are defined."
These include the broad energy measure, the Central American trade agreement, known as CAFTA, which faces steep obstacles on Capitol Hill, and measures to limit the cost to business of litigation, including one to settle asbestos liability claims.
All are priorities Bush mentions frequently in speeches. He touched on them last week in an appearance at Pennsylvania State University, where he spoke to young people about Social Security. But the president has spent far more time and effort this year on his push to overhaul the retirement program.
"The business community is interested in the Social Security issue, but when you hear them talk, health care and energy costs tend to be right up there. Those are, for them, larger items," said Margo Thorning, chief economist at the American Council for Capital Formation, a pro-business lobby group.
"You have to give the administration credit for getting the debate energized, but this is not necessarily a priority the business community shares. That doesn't mean the business community will not be supportive, but the urgency is much lower," Thorning said.
Many companies and business groups rank Social Security changes below other measures that are likely to have more immediate financial impact on them, said Derrick Max, a lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers who is heading the business coalition backing Bush's Social Security proposal.
While few companies have expressed outright opposition to Bush's plan, he said, some contribute less money and fewer lobbyists to the effort, preferring to focus their resources on issues that have more direct impact on them.
"I don't begrudge associations or businesses that have immediate legislative concerns -- energy prices, trade, asbestos, legal liability -- those are all things that affect your bottom line now," Max said.
Still, the coalition has grown to more than 300 members active in 34 states and is on track to raise and spend the $15 million to $20 million it planned this year to influence the Social Security debate.
"There's a growing consensus in the business community that this is a problem that gets more difficult to fix every year, and the current options for reform are not easy," Max said.
Business groups know, too, that the best way to achieve their objectives on their top issues is by backing Bush on his.
"I don't care what your issue is, if the president and the two key chairmen have made it a priority, you ought to make it a priority," Max said. "If they're in battle, you've got to be there with them."
Many business groups worry, however, that when it comes to what they consider their most pressing issue -- how and how much they are taxed -- Bush may opt for a plan that costs them more.
Businesses are warily watching as the president's tax commission, led by former Sens. Connie Mack, R-Fla., and John Breaux, D-La., considers alternatives for reshaping the tax code, including shifting the nation toward taxing what people consume rather than what they earn.
"We have certainly told the White House and the Treasury Department that the ability to hold together a unified business coalition in favor of any of these changes will depend, not surprisingly, on the content" of the measure, said West of the wholesalers association.
Her association's offices served as headquarters during Bush's first term for a business coalition of more than 1,000 members that enthusiastically backed and helped the president push through two major tax cuts.
Such a group could be hard to build again as Bush weighs a set of tax changes that some businesses fear will saddle them with higher costs and eliminate advantages they now enjoy.
"It is not clear to us yet, in terms of that coalition, whether we can hold it together," West said. "Until we see a bill, and until we know who the winners and losers are in any tax measure, it's hard to know whether the support will be there."
Without the determined backing of business groups, it could be much more difficult for Bush to build a sense of urgency for the tax changes. That has been the case already with his Social Security proposal, which remains unpopular, polls show.
Garnering grass-roots support for such measures -- a forte of the business lobby -- is difficult without a specific plan to tout, said Dan Danner, a senior lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business.
The organization is focused instead on permanent elimination of the estate tax, incentives for association health plans to control medical insurance costs for small businesses and a measure curbing lawsuits.
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Originally published in the Baltimore Sun. |
