Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (763002)	6/27/2007 7:54:13 AM
From: JDN	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

What I find vexing is WHY do people IMMEDIATELY feel the SURGE is a failure when its barely begun? It may not work, I dont know, but I do know its unfair to judge something before its had a chance to perform. There is no doubt we are cleaning up some areas that had heretofore been glossed over, as a result we are incurring additional casualties. Thats the way war works, when you fight, casualties occur. The more you fight, the more the casualties. jdn

To: pompsander who wrote (763002)	6/27/2007 11:43:34 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Dems force Cheney flip-flop on secret docs By: Mike Allen June 27, 2007 10:36 AM EST dyn.politico.com Dick Cheney's office is abandoning a justification for keeping the Vice-President's secret papers out of the hands of the National Archives. Officials working for Cheney had tried to claim he is separate from the executive branch, but they will no longer pursue that defense, senior administration officials tell The Politico. The decision follows a threat by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the No. 3 House Democrat, to try to cut off the office’s $4.8 million in executive-branch funding. The dispute arose after House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) posted an eight-page letter he had written to Cheney taking issue with what he said was an assertion by the vice president’s office last year that he is “not an ‘entity within the executive branch’ and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders.” At issue was an executive order giving the National Archives oversight over the government’s handling of classified information. The vice president is also president of the Senate, but Cheney has asserted executive privilege in the past. David S. Addington, Cheney’s chief of staff and counsel, wrote in a three-paragraph letter to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on Tuesday that the executive order on classified national security information does not give the archivists authority over the president or vice president. Addington said that therefore it “is not necessary in these circumstances to address the subject of any alternative reasoning.” That amounted to throwing in the towel, according to administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity. The White House has no plans to reassert the argument there is any vice presidential distinction from the executive branch, the officials said. Two senior Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the rationale had been the view of the vice president’s lawyers, not Cheney himself. White House spokespeople have been struggling to answer questions about the argument without repeating, amplifying or embracing it. Blogs, comics and pundits feasted on the neither-fish-nor-fowl argument, with Jon Stewart joking on “The Daily Show” Tuesday night that the vice president may be “half she-wolf.” Now, a senior administration official tells The Politico: “It's a moot point to get into executive functions and legislative functions because of the executive order's intent. That trumps all because it is what the president intended.” The vice president's spokespeople have been explaining the intent that way for several days, without making a case on the executive-legislative issue. Emanuel, who has scheduled a vote on Cheney’s funding for Thursday, said the change makes it clear that the White House “told Cheney that he would have to come up with another excuse – that this was not sustainable in the public arena.” Emanuel said the vote is still planned, and said the new position means the vice president needs to comply with National Archives requirements. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow read from the Addington letter at his briefing on Tuesday, but said he was going to leave the constitutional parsing to others. “The vice president is the president of the Senate,” Snow said. “It is a wonderful academic question and I'm just not going to go any further than we've gone to date.” Kerry’s office says it has sent Addington a letter with more questions. A senior Senate aide said Kerry had considered the Cheney contention to be “Orwellian.” TM & © THE POLITICO & POLITICO.COM, a division of Allbritton Communications Company

To: pompsander who wrote (763002)	6/27/2007 11:44:55 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Elizabeth Edwards: Why I called Ann Coulter 06/26/2007 @ 6:46 pm Filed by David Edwards and Adam Doster rawstory.com In front of a Republican-leaning crowd on Chris Matthew's "Hardball" Tuesday, Ann Coulter received an unexpected phone call from Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, asking the "journalist" to raise the level of public discourse in America above personal attacks. "In the South, when somebody does something that displeases us, we like to ask them politely to stop doing it," said Edwards. "I'd like to ask Ann Coulter too. If she'd like to debate on issues, on positions -- we certainly disagree with nearly everything she said on your show today -- but it's quite another matter for these personal attacks." The call comes on the heels of a "Good Morning America" appearance yesterday where Coulter was asked about her homophobic cutdown of the former North Carolina Senator a few months ago. "So I've learned my lesson. If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future," she replied. "I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot." Although Coulter flippantly agreed to a debate, Edwards kept pushing back. "It did not start with [yesterday]. You had a column a couple years ago which made fun of the moment of Charlie Dean's death and suggested that my husband had a bumper sticker on the back of his car that said, 'ask me about my dead son.' This is not legitimate political dialogue. It debases political dialogue. It draws people away from the process. We can't have a debate about the issues if you're using this type of language." Coulter later questioned why the presidential candidate didn't phone in himself, to which Elizabeth had a ready answer. "I haven't talked to John about this call. I'm phoning in as a mother," she said to much applause. "I'm the mother of that boy who died. . . These young people behind you are the age of my children. You're asking them to participate in a dialogue that's based on hatefulness and ugliness instead of on the issues and I don't think that's serving them or this country very well." When given time to respond by Matthews, Coulter railed on Edwards for what she deemed a first amendment violation. "I think we've heard all we need to hear," she says. "The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking. No." On Wednesday, the Edwards campaign sent out a letter to supporters written by Elizabeth which explained "why I called Ann Coulter." "Last night I had an important talk with Ann Coulter and I want to tell you what happened," Elizabeth Edwards wrote. "On Monday, Ann announced that instead of using more homophobic slurs to attack John, she will just wish that John had been "killed in a terrorist assassination plot." The letter continues, "Where I am from, when someone does something that displeases you, you politely ask them to stop. So when I heard Ann was going to be on 'Hardball' last night, I decided to call in and ask her to engage on the issues and stop the personal attacks. I told her these kinds of personal attacks lower our political dialogue at precisely the time when we need to raise it, and set a bad example for our children." "How did she respond?" Edwards writes. "Sadly, perhaps predictably, with more personal attacks. John's campaign is about the issues—but pundits like Ann Coulter are trying to shout him down. If they will not stop, it is up to us cut through the noise." The following video is from MSNBC's Hardball, broadcast on June 26.