Salon: War Room

Gonzales to DOJ on wiretapping: Who cares about you?

Alex Koppelman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:45:00 PDT

The inspector generals' report on Bush administration surveillance programs released Friday sheds some new light on the conflict between the White House and the Department of Justice over the legality of what was being done -- and shows just how dismissive one of former President Bush's closest aides was of the DOJ's opinion.

The battle between the Bush White House and the Bush DOJ over wiretapping was already public. In 2007, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey confirmed to the Senate that the fight had at one point become truly nasty. In March of 2004, with then Attorney General John Ashcroft severely ill and in the hospital, Comey was serving as acting attorney general. In that role, he was called upon to recertify the program, but due to concerns within DOJ about its legality, he refused.

That refusal culminated in an argument with then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who came to Ashcroft's hospital room in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to do the recertification. The dispute continued for about a week after that, and ended only when the White House agreed to certain changes insisted upon by the DOJ -- after Ashcroft, Comey, their top deputies and FBI Director Robert Mueller had all prepared to resign.

In the meantime, the president recertified the program himself, with Gonzales' signature going where Ashcroft or Comey's would have. And Comey sent a memorandum to the White House counsel in order to provide advice to Bush. The IGs' report contains an excerpt of Gonzales' response, which appears not to have been public before this, in which he essentially told Comey and the DOJ to go do something anatomically impossible:

Your memorandum appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of the President's expectations regarding the conduct of the Department of Justice. While the President was, and remains, interested in any thoughts the Department of Justice may have on alternative ways to achieve effectively the goals of the activities authorized by the Presidential Authorization of March 11, 2004, the President has addressed definitively for the Executive Branch in the Presidential Authorization the interpretation of the law.

For what it's worth, Comey and Jack Goldsmith, then head of the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, appear to have agreed that the president's interpretation of the law dictated the Executive Branch's interpretation generally. But Comey still believed the DOJ couldn't certify the program as it was designed at the time -- and, of course, the language of Gonzales' letter is still pretty striking.

The curse of Obama's old Senate seat

Gabriel Winant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:30:00 PDT

It’s a big day for developments in 2010 Senate races at War Room. We had Sestak and Specter, Fiorina and Boxer and now, some action in Illinois. Or rather, some inaction. Rep. Mark Kirk, a moderate Republican from suburban Chicago who is by consensus the GOP’s best hope for picking up the seat currently occupied by retiring Democratic Sen. Roland Burris, is not going to run.

This must come as a nasty surprise for Republican strategists, who thought that Kirk was in, and that he gave them a real -- and rare -- shot at a seat in a blue state. According to the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Kirk was peeved that the rest of the Republican Illinois delegation wouldn’t get behind him, apparently because of his vote for the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill. Cillizza adds that there is now an effort underway to get Andy McKenna, the state party chair and another candidate for the seat, to drop out so that Kirk can be convinced to reenter.

The Senate seat in question, of course, is President Obama’s old spot. It was infamously opened up for Burris thanks to the president’s inauguration, with an assist from then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Since Republican Peter Fitzgerald declined to seek a second term in 2004, the seat has seen a rocky few years: Obama’s top primary opponent, millionaire Blair Hull, watched his campaign implode over domestic violence revelations. Then Obama’s original Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, had to drop out after an embarrassing story from his divorce surfaced. The Republicans scrambled to find a candidate, at one point considering Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, and settled on a rather bizarre choice.

Obama came along and took 70 percent of the vote, thankfully putting an end to the madness for four years, but once he left for the White House, the Blagojevich-Burris weirdness broke loose, ultimately leading to where we are today. Let’s call it the curse of Alan Keyes.

Iran frees journalist after 18 days in prison

Alex Koppelman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:45:00 PDT

Iason Athanasiadis, a British-Greek journalist who was detained in Iran for 18 days, is back in Athens and describing his experiences in prison. "There were people sitting in rows on the floor; ... there were others being interrogated at little desks in the corridor because the interrogation rooms were full," he told the Associated Press.

"I heard questions and shouts coming from the interrogation rooms and the occasional slap."

A freelancer working for the Washington Times, Athanasiadis says he was kept, alone, in a small cell that was continually lit, and was interrogated about a dozen times, most while blindfolded. He was generally treated well, he told the AP, but was slapped during one of the interrogations.

Earlier this month, while Athanasiadis was imprisoned, Salon published a piece about him by Sandy Tolan, a friend and colleague of his. You can read it here.

Report: Bush's surveillance program larger than previously thought

Gabriel Winant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:10:00 PDT

When Congress passed its amendments to our surveillance laws a year ago, part of the compromise -- much-criticized among liberals -- required the inspectors general of a number of federal agencies to review the warrantless wiretapping programs. Now, a year later, the report is complete, and has been partially declassified.

Though we can’t get anything like a complete picture because so much is still classified, the report says that the program exceeded the warrantless wiretapping we already knew about. The IGs use the term “President’s Surveillance Program” to encompass the full monitoring effort.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder has a good run-down of key nuggets from the report. Most notably, at the urging of Vice President Cheney, President Bush recertified the program without the consent of the Department of Justice, outraging Deputy Attorney General James Comey. In fact, for two years, no one in the DOJ who ranked below deputy attorney general even knew about the program, with one exception: John Yoo, who was somewhat mysteriously tasked with writing legal opinions in defense of the operation. (Indeed, Ambinder says, it's not even clear that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft knew that Yoo was providing the department's legal opinions on the program.)

The surveillance operation appears to have been quite large, because random sampling was used, rather than case-by-case examination, to make sure that it was monitoring appropriately suspicious targets. Senior intelligence officials were unsure whether the surveillance had led to any arrests, but the IGs seem to believe it did.

President Obama probably isn’t thrilled that the compromise, for which he caught so much flak, hasn’t put the issue to bed. Judging by his performance thus far on sensitive constitutional and national security issues, we can probably expect him to try to avoid getting too involved in the impact of this report, though it may affect some terrorism prosecutions.

Palin, Johnston face off over resignation

Alex Koppelman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:10:00 PDT

We've all heard the jokes about mothers-in-law. Still, at least most people don't have to fight with theirs through the press. Not Levi Johnston, however: Though he's split from Bristol Palin, the mother of his child and the daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he's still battling with the governor in public, and getting heat from her spokeswoman as a result.

It was Johnston who set off the latest kerfuffle. He did it by saying, during a press conference, that he believes his ex-fiance's mother decided to resign her post for financial reasons. Back when he was living with the Palin family, in December and January, Johnston said, the governor lamented her inability to take the lucrative offers that were pouring in.

"She had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people had been offering us and you know just run with it, say 'forget everything else,'" he said. "I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars."

Johnston is pursuing book and movie deal of his own, though. That provided fodder for Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton, who shot back: "It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills."

California GOP parties like it's 1999

Gabriel Winant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:00 PDT

If you want to know where America will be in ten years, they say, look at California. But today it seems like the Golden State is showing us where we were ten years ago.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Carly Fiorina, the CEO-celebrity who ran Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, is likely to run for Senate against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. Fiorina ran HP during the burst of the dot-com bubble, and, as one of the country’s most prominent corporate chieftains, attracted a lot of national attention for her drawn-out war with the company’s board. The dispute ultimately ended in her dismissal as CEO.

Fiorina waded into politics during the 2008 campaign as one of John McCain’s favored surrogates on the economy, and her name was periodically floated as a potential running mate. However, she was sidelined after saying she didn’t think John McCain or Sarah Palin (or Barack Obama or Joe Biden) was qualified to run a major corporation. “It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company,” Fiorina said.

Most likely, the former HP chief won’t be the only Silicon Valley veteran on the ticket. The frontrunner for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination is Meg Whitman, the former head of eBay, and another prominent 2008 Republican surrogate.

Though it’s probably a good strategy for the Republicans to emphasize the Silicon Valley wing of their party, which is generally more moderate and successful in statewide elections, there’s still something a bit funny about a Hewlett-Packard/eBay slate. We probably won’t be hearing many more lines like the one that got Fiorina in trouble, that's for sure.

One final word of advice to these two Golden State warriors: Try not to wax too nostalgic for the good old days. Dwell too much on 1999, and you’re going to end up sounding like you’re a shill for Pets.com.

Specter, Sestak fight over their credentials as Democrats

Gabriel Winant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:35:00 PDT

Say this for Sen. Arlen Specter: When the guy falls for a new party, he falls hard. Specter, the erstwhile Republican seeking reelection as a Democrat in Pennsylvania, is going after likely Democratic primary rival Rep. Joe Sestak for, of all sins, insufficient party loyalty.

“Congressman Sestak is a flagrant hypocrite in challenging my being a real Democrat when he did not register as a Democrat until 2006 just in time to run for Congress," Specter said in a statement. "His lame excuse for avoiding party affiliation, because he was in the service, is undercut by his documented disinterest in the political process.” In a tweet sent Thursday, Specter asked of his rival's voting record, "Is this the record of a 'true Democrat,' @JoeSestak?"

In a statement of his own, Sestak reiterated that he had remained registered as an independent because he believed that partisan registration was inappropriate for a military officer, and said his apparent record of political non-participation is a result of uncounted absentee ballots.

There’s no way of really telling if Sestak is telling the truth here, but is this really a fight Specter wants to pick? He’s pretty much inviting responses like the one Sestak made:

We've learned today that Arlen Specter can abandon his party, but he just cant quit making Republican swift-boat attacks on the integrity of Democrats who served in our military. My question to Arlen Specter is this: do you regret voting for George Bush and John McCain? Why should Democrats support someone like you who actively campaigned as recently as last year for politicians with values like George W. Bush?

Burris won't run in 2010

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:45:00 PDT

Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., won't run for a full term in 2010, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The paper says he'll officially announce his decision on Friday.

Burris was appointed to his seat by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich; he was filling a vacancy created by Barack Obama's election to the presidency. Blagojevich made the announcement that he was appointing Burris after he was arrested by federal authorities who charged he'd tried to sell the seat -- that led to a battle between Burris and Senate Democrats, who didn't want to seat him.

In another situation, it might be surprising that Burris is now going to give up the seat he fought so hard to get. But the taint of the former governor has remained on him, and it's been clear for some time he would not be able to win in 2010, or even muster any real support for a campaign.

Picture of the day

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:30:00 PDT

Reuters/Jason Reed

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) take their places with junior G8 delegates for a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 9, 2009.

Drudge is leading with this picture right now, with a banner headline that reads "Mr. President!" Gotta give it to him, though he's probably just trying to drum up some controversy, that's a pretty funny headline. The look on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's face may be even funnier.

I've been waiting for some conservatives to work themselves up into a lather over this photo, but so far, except for the occasional comparison to President Clinton, everyone just appears to be laughing, and giving President Obama a little well-deserved ribbing. Which is good -- because hey, let's face it, we all have that occasional impulse to stop and appreciate certain features of our fellow men. And women. Obama just has the misfortune of being on camera for the better part of his day. Let's just hope, for his sake, that the first lady is willing to buy that excuse.

Plus, Obama has clearly gotten in that European spirit. Turns out this is only one of at least three photos from the G-8 summit currently underway in which he, Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apparently got caught in flagrante gluteus. (The other two are here and here.)

And yes, you're allowed to laugh at this: I checked with Broadsheet.

Update: ABC News found video of the moment captured in the photo. You can watch it below -- it's potentially exculpatory, and seems to suggest Obama's attention was actually elsewhere, as he was about to help the woman above him walk down, but it could go either way. Sarkozy, however, doesn't even try to be discreet. Gotta love the French.

Either way? It's funny. And it's summer. And we can all use a laugh sometimes.

Ensign says parents gave $96,000 to his mistress' family

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:01:00 PDT

For some time now, it's seemed that Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was able to successfully weather the disclosure of his affair with a staffer and could continue his political career, albeit with his reputation tarnished and any hopes for higher office dashed for now. But this week, attention was back on the senator, and people are raising new questions about payments made to his mistress and her husband, a longtime friend. Now, a new revelation from Ensign's lawyer is likely to open the floodgates.

In a statement released Thursday, Ensign attorney Paul Coggins said that the senator's parents had given $96,000 to their son's former staffer, Cindy Hampton, and her family. The full statement:

In April 2008, Senator John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts. After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others. None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds nor were they related to any campaign or official duties. Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.

Even before this news broke, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, announced that it had asked the Justice Department to investigate an allegation that Ensign had paid $25,000 in severance to Cindy Hampton without reporting it.

That allegation came from an interview Doug Hampton gave to a Las Vegas reporter. In that interview, Hampton also said a group that includes Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., encouraged Ensign to pay millions of dollars to help the Hampton family pay off their mortgage and move to a new home away from him.

On national security, Republicans trust Palin

Vincent Rossmeier — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:25:00 PDT

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might not have military or foreign policy experience, but according to a new Rasmussen poll, GOP voters who rank national security as the issue most important to them would break for her in a hypothetical 2012 primary. (Hey, she can see Russia from her house, after all.)

Overall, according to the poll, if the GOP primaries were held today, Palin would finish second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The two tied for first place among Republican voters who consider economic issues as their highest concern. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee finished third out of a field of six possible candidates, which also included big names like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The Rasumussen results come in the wake of a USA Today-Gallup poll showing Palin had increased her popularity among Republican voters by her unexpected resignation announcement. However, that's not to say that all Republicans are gung-ho for a possible Palin presidential candidacy. The Rasmussen poll also shows that 40 percent of GOP voters said Palin's resignation has hindered her chances of claiming the White House, and she's one of the two candidates conservative voters least want to win the nomination.

Sessions to call white firefighters in Sotomayor hearings

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:35:00 PDT

The Senate Judiciary Committee has just released the witness list for hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, which will begin Monday. It provides a pretty strong insight into the Republicans' plans for opposing Sotomayor: Hit her hard, and often, on race and guns.

Two names, especially, stick out in the Republicans' witness list: Frank Ricci, the director of Fire Services with the Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health, and Lieutenant Ben Vargas of the New Haven Fire Department. Ricci was the named plaintiff from one of the most controversial rulings in which Sotomayor has taken part, Ricci v. DeStefano.

The case centered around a test given to firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who were seeking promotion; the results of the test would have meant 13 out of 15 available promotions would go to whites, two to Hispanics and none to African Americans. Because of the lack of racial balance, the city elected to throw out the test and try to come up with some more equitable system. Sotomayor voted in favor of the city and against the group of firefighters who sued; the Supreme Court recently reversed that decision.

As my colleague Glenn Greenwald quipped when the news broke, the two firefighters are unlikely to be asked to comment on the complex legal issues involved in their case. Instead, ironically, their testimony is going to be about the dreaded "empathy," making Sotomayor out to be a racist victimizing innocent white firefighters.

Other big names on the list, like Sandy Froman, the former president of the NRA, suggest that Sotomayor's rulings on the Second Amendment will also be a big issue. And, of course, there's at least one witness there to talk about social issues: Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life.

The Democrats' list seems to hint mostly that they'll want to emphasize Sotomayor's long resume and her performance in her various jobs. But they're not above a bit of showmanship, either: They'll be calling former New York Mets pitcher David Cone, presumably to talk about Sotomayor's ruling that ended the 1995 Major League Baseball strike.

Despite Reid's warning, Baucus continues bipartisan healthcare push

Vincent Rossmeier — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:45:00 PDT

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prefers practicing gentle persuasion to hardball politics when it comes to prompting his fellow Democratic Senators to get behind healthcare reform. But even he has his limits.

On Tuesday, Reid told Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who is heading an effort to create a bipartisan solution on healthcare, that reform legislation needs to include a public, government-supported option to compete with private insurers. Reid reportedly indicated to Baucus that a bill without a public option might gain a few GOP votes, but would lose a lot more Democratic ones -- and so Baucus should stop trying to win over Republicans.

But on Wednesday, Baucus ignored Reid's admonitions. He continued his push to create a bipartisan solution with Republicans, even if that means sacrificing the public option that Democrats and a large majority of Americans support. Baucus seemed to suggest yet again that bipartisanship is as important, it not more so, than the merits of any proposed healthcare plan. “Everything’s on the table," Baucus said. "By far the better approach is a bipartisan approach to get this moving.”

Some Democrats are worried that Baucus is trying to force them into a corner by creating a healthcare proposal that might have Republican support but would be inferior policy-wise. Democratic sources told Roll Call that "Baucus’ calculation ... is that Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama would be hard-pressed to ignore any measure that attracts bipartisan support if the Finance chairman is actually able to get it done."

Throughout his career, Baucus has had a tendency to play for the middle ground in politics. In 1993, he opposed an employer mandate that helped to derail Bill Clinton's healthcare reform push.

Baucus had advocated taxing some employer-provided health benefits as a way to offset the cost of any healthcare plan, but that idea has faced sharp criticism from Democrats who think the senator is trying way too hard to win the support of Republicans like Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who seem more determined to oppose a public option than to come up with a solution of their own.

Baucus' continued focus on bipartisanship comes as at least one centrist Democratic senator is beginning to soften her opposition to a public plan. In a piece in Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. wrote, "Health care reform must build upon what works and improve inefficiencies. Individuals should be able to choose from a range of quality health insurance plans. Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals as those of a public plan." Lincoln had not come as close to supporting a public option in the past but has been under pressure from liberal advocacy groups to change her position on the issue recently.

Wednesday, Reid also seemed to backtrack on his earlier prodding of Baucus. Reid sought to assuage Republicans worried that healthcare legislation would be rushed through the Senate and assured them that Democrats still want to work with them to come up with a solution.

Palin ethics complaints didn't take away from schools, roads

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:45:00 PDT

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation, one of the reasons she gave was the cost of all the ethics complaints that have been filed against her. "Every one -- all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap -- the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to 'opposition research' -- that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers -- or safer roads," she said. (Emphasis in the text sent out by her office.)

But as Joan Walsh writes in her blog, that total appears to have been inflated, and most of the complaints were not actually about opposition research.

Plus, the Anchorage Daily News reports, the money that went to investigating the ethics complaints wasn't really diverted from "teachers or troopers -- or safer roads." It was money that would have gone to state lawyers anyway.

Now, that doesn't mean the investigations were without cost, or that they didn't divert resources from places they might have been more valuable. The Palin administration's defense of the governor's statements is that lawyers and other employees had to be pulled off other work, leaving it to less-qualified replacements or being forced to put less time into their normal priorities. That does appear to be true, and it certainly didn't help Alaskan taxpayers much. But they didn't see money earmarked for schools, police or roads go elsewhere, either.

Feds closing in on Blago, Murtha?

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:30:00 PDT

If there's one thing federal prosecutors are good at -- and really, they're good at many things -- it's getting the little fish in an investigation to plead guilty and flip. In this manner, way up the ladder until they've got enough to go after the big target. It seems like they might have just done that in two separate corruption cases, one the prosecution of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the other an investigation of defense contracting that may end up being related to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney prosecuting Blagojevich, seems to have quite a bit on the former governor already. But he added substantially to his case when Blagojevich's old chief of staff, John Harris, agreed to plead guilty to a wire fraud charge. The plea agreement makes clear that Harris will be testifying against his former boss, and will likely play a big role in Blagojevich's trial.

Separately, prosecutors in Pennsylvania got a plea agreement from Richard Ianeri, the former president of a defense contractor with close ties to Murtha. Federal prosecutors are already looking into a lobbying firm that was run by a former top aide of the congressman's, and investigating the possibility that the company directed bogus contributions to him.

Obama misses a shot at soccer diplomacy

Mike Madden — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:01:00 PDT

WASHINGTON -- President Obama had a full day of meetings with G-8 leaders scheduled today in L'Aquila, Italy. But if he'd stayed home, he might have had a good chance to attempt a little bit of soccer diplomacy.

The United States plays Honduras tonight at Washington's RFK Stadium, an easy 4-mile motorcade away from the White House, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a tournament to decide the North and Central American soccer champion. Honduras, of course, has been on the minds of U.S. diplomats and national security aides since the military there forced President Manuel Zelaya out of office -- and into temporary exile in the D.C. area -- a couple of weeks ago. U.S. officials have condemned the coup, even though Zelaya has been cozying up to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and was apparently in the process of trying to subvert the Honduran constitution to extend his term in power. Republicans, meanwhile, have been flocking to the side of the military coup -- ironically, in the name of restoring democracy -- on the theory that any pal of Chavez's can't possibly be democratic.

With all that as the backdrop, the soccer game could take on more importance than an early matchup in a regional competition might otherwise have had. Honduras, after all, fought a war with El Salvador that began with riots during World Cup qualifying games between the two nations almost exactly 40 years ago. So if any country might be open to diplomacy on the fútbol field, it might be Honduras. It's been tried before, with limited success; the U.S. Soccer Federation recently requested a match with Iran, though since Iranian authorities recently banned players who wore green wristbands in support of protests there, that may not happen. FIFA officials awarded Turkey and Armenia their "Fair Play" prize last year, since the two countries -- which don't have diplomatic relations -- got their leaders to agree to attend a World Cup qualifying match in Yerevan, Armenia, in September. Former Liberian star player George Weah ran for president there in 2005, losing in the second round, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- who Obama met with today -- was already well known to voters there as the media mogul who owns soccer power AC Milan. CONCACAF officials told Salon they weren't sure whether Zelaya -- who was in Washington this week to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- would attend tonight's matchup. Regardless, if Obama had been in town, dropping by the stadium might have been a good way to show Hondurans that he's thinking of them.

So far, though, Obama has shown only limited interest in using soccer to promote U.S. interests abroad, even though it's by far the world's most popular sport -- and even though his sports-obsessed administration recently launched an official White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport. Aides denied reports a couple weeks ago that Obama had already committed to attending the World Cup in South Africa next year, even though FIFA Commissioner Sepp Blatter, the top international soccer official, told ESPN to expect the president there. (The U.S. hasn't yet qualified to make the tournament next year, anyway.)

When the U.S. unexpectedly made it to the finals two weeks ago of FIFA's Confederations Cup, a sort of mini-World Cup also played in South Africa, Obama never contacted coach Bob Bradley to cheer the team on. The U.S. beat European champion Spain, 2-0 in the semifinals, and the international media focus on the Americans was pretty heavy ahead of the final against Brazil. (The U.S. lost, in heartbreaking fashion, 3-2.) A short phone call to Bradley could have helped Obama shoehorn his way into some of the global coverage, in a way that made the U.S. seem to have a common passion with the rest of the world. And Obama hasn't been shy about calling other coaches, but apparently Bradley didn't make the cut. Obama also hasn't yet dropped by RFK to see the local team, D.C. United, even though they're in first place in their conference in Major League Soccer. (He hasn't been to see the Washington Nationals play baseball yet, either, but since they're on pace for 113 losses, that's not so surprising; he will make to baseball's All-Star Game next week in St. Louis.) "Of course he and his family are welcome at any game," United spokesman Doug Hicks said. "We'd love to introduce the First Family to D.C. United, and we'd welcome his support."

What makes Obama's decision not to use the sport to reach out to the world a little surprising is that the administration is, generally, pretty soccer-friendly -- certainly more so than George W. Bush's was, though Bush rooted for the U.S. team in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Obama is already on the record supporting the power of soccer diplomacy. He sent a letter to FIFA officials in April urging them to hold the 2018 or 2022 World Cup in the U.S., and a month later, he told Univision that it would be a "diplomatic coup" to host the tournament. The president grew up playing the game in Indonesia; his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was a goalie on the North Carolina State University college team, and other press aides were sneaking peeks at the Confederations Cup matches during the workday as the U.S. made its surprising run. The Major League Soccer champions Columbus Crew will visit the White House on Monday for a congratulatory photo op with Obama.

And even though Obama wasn't there to welcome them, and won't be there tonight to cheer them on against Honduras, U.S. national team forward Brian Ching and defenders Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad and Heath Pearce all toured the White House yesterday. The players met with some aides and wandered the complex in the afternoon. "It was fantastic," a U.S. Soccer official told Salon. Maybe soccer diplomacy has a shot sometime, after all.

Marion Barry can't keep his nose clean

Vincent Rossmeier — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:30:00 PDT

City officials usually don't generate national headlines, but even if you don't live in the nation's capital or its suburbs, you know the name Marion Barry. The former mayor, who's currently on D.C.'s city council, has been a household name and running joke since he was arrested for crack cocaine possession in 1990. Barry famously blamed a woman -- though that's not the word he used -- he was involved with for setting him up in the FBI sting that led to his arrest and subsequent prison time.

Now the man who went on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show and said that he was a sex addict is in trouble again because of his relationship with another woman. Barry was arrested Saturday on charges that he was stalking an on-again, off-again girlfriend named Donna Watts-Brighthaupt.

While that may seem a relatively mundane accusation compared to those of Barry's past and the recent escapades of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nevada Sen. John Ensign, the Washington City Paper has a story, including voice-mails left by Barry, that outline his obsession with Watts-Brighthaupt. Relying on recordings made by Watts-Brighthaupt's ex-husband, the article recounts in graphic detail an exchange Barry had with Donna Watts-Brighthaupt in mid-June in which she said, “You put me out in Denver ’cause I wouldn’t suck your dick." (The paper used that quote in order to produce a very memorable cover for its latest issue.)

Watts-Brighthaupt worked for Barry's reelection campaign -- the incident she was referring to occurred when she traveled with him to Denver for the Democratic National Convention last summer. According to the Washington City Paper, after Barry kicked her out of their hotel room, Watts-Brighthaupt ended up sleeping in his rental car. It was one of several trips the two took together, though they often fought in public.

Barry has denied the charge that he stalked Watts-Brighthaupt, but he did hire her to work for him while the two dated and paid her at least $10,000. In a press conference Tuesday night, a spokeswoman for Barry repeatedly described Watts-Brighthaupt as "unstable." But according to Watts-Brighthaupt, she still sees Barry frequently.

Tuesday, the Washington Post laid out Barry's long, sordid history of personal relationships. Explaining Barry's appeal to women, Kim Dickens, one of the women in his life who donated a kidney to Barry last year said, "He was raised by three women, and so he truly understands women and he speaks to your need ... And if there is no need, he will create the need for you to be with him. He knows how to get into your life."

It's unclear whether Barry will eventually face any serious repercussions for the July 4th stalking charges, but Glenn McNatt of the Baltimore Sun speculates that Barry will be forgiven once again. He writes:

Still, one can readily predict how this latest episode will play out. Mr. Barry will claim police are harassing him, as he did in 2002 when park police claimed to have found traces of marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, and in 2006, when he was pulled over and cited for driving on a suspended license ... All of which suggests the people of Washington, or at least Mr. Barry's legions of ardent supporters, are willing to forgive him almost anything. He's currently on probation for failing to file income taxes, and technically his arrest last weekend constitutes a violation that could return him to prison. But virtually nobody believes that's likely. As has happened so often in the past, the charges will be dropped, Mr. Barry will claim vindication and his career as a once esteemed leader now sadly reduced to cartoonish bufoonery will continue apace toward its predictably calamitous end.

Fox News' Kilmeade: We "marry other species," Finns "pure"

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:30:00 PDT

Watching Fox News' morning show, "Fox and Friends," is a little bit like watching the aftermath of a particularly nasty car crash. Yeah, it's awful, but you just have to keep looking, because, well, who knows what mangled body parts they'll pull from the wreckage next?

Even by those standards, though, host Brian Kilmeade's performance on Wednesday was just terrible.

Kilmeade and two colleagues were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people who stay married are less likely to suffer from Alzheimer's. Kilmeade questioned the results, though, saying, "We are -- we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ..."

At this point, his co-host tried to -- in that jokey morning show way -- tell Kilmeade he needed to shut up, and quick, for his own sake. But he didn't get the message, adding, "See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes .... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society."

(Hat-tip to Gawker.)

Massachusetts sues feds over DOMA

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:15:00 PDT

President Obama and congressional Democrats may not be moving to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act as fast as LGBT activists would like, but there's some activity on that front coming from another source.

On Wednesday, the state of Massachusetts filed suit against the federal government, saying DOMA unconstitutionally takes on what was traditionally a state power in regulating marriage, and that it discriminates against same-sex couples. "In enacting DOMA, Congress overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people," the suit says, according to the Associated Press.

Obama's Justice Department has previously defended DOMA in court, setting off a firestorm in the gay community. The defense wasn't about the administration's feelings on DOMA, however, so much as a reflection of the government's traditional stance of fighting on behalf of almost all federal laws in court, even those which the current administration opposes.

Why are Democrats talking about filibusters?

Vincent Rossmeier — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:01:00 PDT

At least one Republican rushed to embrace Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., now that he has finally taken his seat in the U.S. Senate. But in the past week, many leading Democrats have seemed to go out of their way to quell any suggestion that the Democrats' 60-seat majority in the Senate will lead to the party actually pushing through their agenda.

As just one notable example, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently said that he can't "dictate how people vote" in the Democratic Senate caucus and that "We have 60 votes on paper ... But we cannot bulldoze anybody."

Needless to say, progressives hoping to see healthcare and climate change reform legislation passed by Congress this year were less than heartened by Reid's comments. But the majority leader may have been right in asserting that there's a difference between having the numbers on paper and truly having a cohesive governing majority, especially with his two most senior members -- Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy -- often missing votes due to illness. Plus, some centrist Senate Democrats have now gone on record to say they could conceivably support filibusters that would prevent proposed legislation from receiving an up-or-down vote.

Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind. have all said they won't rule out voting in favor of a Republican filibuster. Landrieu said, “I’m going to keep an open mind, but I am not committing to any procedural straitjackets one way or another." Nelson agreed, adding, "I’m not a closed mind on cloture, but if it’s an abuse of procedure, if it’s somebody trying to put a poison pill into a bill, or if it’s something that would be pre-emptive of Nebraska law, or something that rises to extraordinary circumstances, then I’ve always reserved the right to vote against cloture."

And Bayh was even more clear cut in defending the use of a filibuster for any legislation with which he disagrees and suggested his colleagues felt the same way. “Most senators aren’t sheep,” Bayh said. “They don’t just go blindly along without thinking about things, and I don’t think we want them to do that.”

It's one thing to vote against one's party on a given piece of legislation; it's another thing entirely to not even allow your party to vote on the proposed bill. Reid remains confident that he'll be able to ward Democrats off from filibustering, saying, "On procedural votes, we’ll keep Democrats together.” But the statements by Landrieu, Nelson and Bayh serve as a reminder that despite the Democrat's super majority in the Senate, the outcome of the party's most progressive proposals could rest in the hands of a few centrist Senators.

Jeb Bush is making sense

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:25:00 PDT

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush remains cursed by his last name: He's always seemed smarter and more politically savvy than his brother, and were it not for the stigma of the second Bush administration, he'd be one of the GOP's leading lights right now, if not its presidential candidate last year. And he's still able to diagnose one of his party's biggest problems right now.

Speaking to Tucker Carlson about the current state of the Republican Party for an interview published in Esquire, Bush put his finger on the single issue that could end up crippling the GOP to come, the lack of Hispanic support and the active denigration of Hispanics by some of the louder voices on the right.

"The people that are on television are the loudest on the immigration issue. The emotion, the anger, is a signal. Put aside the substance, but just in terms of the language. It makes it sound like them and us. And the evidence is that after [the GOP] making major inroads, Hispanics have turned toward the Democratic party in the last two election cycles. Big time. Compare that to how my brother did and how I did and how other Republican candidates have done in the past and you can see a trend line that's quite disturbing," Bush said.

Then asked by Carlson if you can be against illegal immigration without coming off as anti-Hispanic, Bush responded, "It's possible but it requires a tone that's different. If you listen to the conversation, it's not just words; it's how they're spoken. It has to be dispassionate, the language. But it hasn't been."

Of course, later in the interview Bush said, "The Democrats have won on tactics. Barack Obama would not have gotten elected if he'd let us in on his secret plan prior to the election." But hey, nobody's perfect.

Columnist: Obama wants to kill your grandma

Vincent Rossmeier — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:05:00 PDT

President Obama really seems to bring out the paranoia in some conservatives. Unfounded rumors and allegations about his religion, his birth certificate and his association with Bill Ayers swirled around his 2008 presidential campaign. Since he's taken office, the myths about him have only increased. But even the most avowed Obama-haters haven't ascended to the level of crazy that former Saturday Night Live star Victoria Jackson reached in a column for the right-wing site BigHollywood.com.

Ostensibly, Jackson's article is about healthcare. But truthfully, one would have a hard time connecting, let alone explaining, what Jackson wrote to any of the policy debate now occurring in Washington. She begins the piece by generally decrying the Democratic position on "socialized medicine," writing:

I’d been wondering why the liberals are so passionate about this Health Care thing. It couldn’t be because they actually care about sick, poor people ... No, there’s gotta be a catch. I guess this question was sitting in my brain and during my sleep, my brain was working on it, because when I suddenly awoke at 3 a.m. I had the answer. Euthanasia! Social Security and Medicare are broke. Baby boomers, like me, are getting old and will soon be asking for it. Socialized medicine makes people die.

But then Jackson turns her attention to President Obama specifically and the piece really loses its moorings:

Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas! Hitler did this. He killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn’t like. Hitler also controlled the media. (Where’s the public debate between scientists on “Climate Change/Global Warming?”) Hitler had the VW bug invented as the state car. What will O’s nationalized car be? So… kill off the weak. That’s the plan. Tax the workers to death. Erase the middle class. Sounds like the evil governments we studied in high school long ago. The evil governments were : kings, oligarchies, facist, socialist, and communist. Now it’s called the Obama Administration. Sounds like candy or a rock band.

Back in March of this year, Jackson had an especially memorable appearance on Fox News' Sean Hannity show in which she accused Obama of being a communist and said that Rush Limbaugh should be running the country. Video is below.

Poll: Republicans like Palin even more now

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:25:00 PDT

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to resign her post hasn't affected voter's views of her all that much, a USA Today-Gallup poll conducted Monday night found. Democrats and independents have cooled slightly towards her, but Republicans actually view her more favorably than they did before the news.

Overall, though, the poll seems to reinforce the early impressions I wrote about on Saturday: If Palin does want to run for president in 2012, she's got a shot at victory, but it's a long one. Republicans tend to love her, so she'd probably do pretty well in the GOP primary. But Democrats and independents aren't nearly so enthusiastic -- 81 percent of Democrats say they're either "not too likely" or "not at all likely" to vote for her, while 53 percent of independents say the same thing -- and that doesn't bode well for her chances in a general election.

Palin's announcement last week might have given her a boost among her base, but that's not the audience she needs to be appealing to.

Palin makes the media rounds, fishing gear and all

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:05:00 PDT

If for nothing else, give Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin credit for this one thing: Even as she bashes the press for the way she's covered, she knows exactly how to use the focus on her for her own benefit. Sure, it's pretty hypocritical, but it's also an example of one area in which she's got more than a little political savvy.

So for Tuesday morning's news, Palin did a round of interviews with reporters from a number of outlets -- Fox News, of course, as well as ABC, NBC, CNN, Time and her home state's Anchorage Daily News.

She didn't always perform perfectly, telling ABC's Kate Snow, for example, that were she to become president and be hit with the kind of ethics complaints she says were a primary factor in her decision to resign her current post, "I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." (There is, of course, no "department of law," and neither the Department of Justice or the White House Counsel has the power to do what she describes.)

But Palin did get a bunch of time on television getting exactly the kind of coverage she wanted. She took the TV cameras with her on a fishing trip, holding the interviews in her gear and playing the frontier outdoorswoman, the real person victimized by the press. It's the kind of thing her supporters continue to love, and she did manage to get one Fox News reporter to gush, "You have not lived until you've gone commercial fishing with Sarah Palin."

Below, Salon's selection of some of the more memorable clips.

Fox News reporter: "You have not lived until you've gone commercial fishing with Sarah Palin."

Palin tells ABC News, "Politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it."

NBC's Andrea Mitchell asks Palin if she's having trouble with the nitty gritty in Juneau.

CNN reporter asks: "Is this your unconventional way of announcing that you're going to run for president?"

George Allen writing book: "The Triumph of Character"

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:15:00 PDT

Former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., has had a rough few years. He was seen as a strong contender for the GOP's presidential nomination in 2008, maybe even the next president, he lost his Senate seat in 2006 after he called S.R. Sidarth, who was working for his Democratic opponent, "macaca," a racial slur, starting a flood of information about Allen's long history as a racist. (Some of the best coverage of Allen's past was done right here in Salon -- see, for example, Michael Scherer's article about some of the senator's old college teammates recalling an incident in which he put a severed deer's head in a black family's mailbox.)

But now Allen's coming back to the national scene with a book at least one observer believes might be an attempt at a political comeback. Set to be published by a conservative house, Regnery, next year, it's called "The Triumph of Character: What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports."

From a release announcing the book:

In The Triumph of Character, Allen brings together two all-American passions—politics and sports—and reveals what Washington could learn from the enduring principles found in athletic competition and team sports. Having spent the better part of his life with one foot in both the world of sports and the world of politics, Allen will draw parallels and contrasts between the two arenas. Using his own engaging and entertaining personal stories, Allen will illustrate how “characters with character” in the meritocracy of sports can provide principled, competitive examples of the ways to surmount challenges facing America.

Obama in trouble in a key swing state

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:25:00 PDT

Bad news for President Obama, and for Ohio Democrats: The president's approval rating in that pivotal swing state has fallen to 49 percent, according to a Quinnipiac survey released Tuesday.

Obviously, Obama's approval rating this far out from the next presidential election, and even the 2010 midterms, isn't a great predictor of anything. But it does appear to be a sign of how the nation's economic woes are beginning to affect him politically, and the hit he and other Democrats could take if the economy doesn't start to show real improvement soon.

So far, the White House is dismissing the poll as an outlier, saying more data is needed. That's a fair point, obviously, but there's more support for this result than the Obama team wants to admit. This is part of a trend in Quinnipiac's polling of Ohio -- Obama's approval rating has been dropping fast in their surveys in that state -- and at the end of last month, Public Policy Polling had the president's approval at 51 percent.

Nationally, Obama's still doing well, with Real Clear Politics' average of his approval rating as measured by various pollsters holding at 58 percent. But the states individually matter much more than any national polling.

The worst moment of Jackson funeral?

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:01:00 PDT

There were some beautiful moments in the public funeral for Michael Jackson Tuesday, and some grating ones. (Most of the latter courtesy of CNN's coverage, which was painful to watch. I assume the other cable networks were the same.) If you missed the whole thing, check out Mary Elizabeth Williams' live-blog here on Salon.

Of course, given the controversy over Jackson in the House, at some point politics had to become involved, and it did. The Rev. Al Sharpton actually gave one of the best speeches of the ceremony, but on the other end of the spectrum, there was Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who didn't acquit herself so well.

A short clip from Jackson Lee's remarks, in which she goes a little far in defending the late entertainer from child molestation allegations, is below. That clip, and her speech as a whole, really made me miss the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones all the more.

China uprising: "Blood for blood!"

Gabriel Winant — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:35:00 PDT

Though it remains difficult to tell exactly what’s going on, the situation in Xinjiang seems not to have been calmed by the police and military presence on the streets of Urumqi. Since Salon explained the situation yesterday, the number of estimated dead has been revised upward to 156.

The Chinese government has also arrested 1,434 suspects and imposed a curfew in Urumqi, as the ethnic violence has escalated to the worst the country has seen in decades. Uighurs, however, have continued protesting despite -- or perhaps because of -- Beijing’s clampdown.

The Chinese government continues to say that the victims of the violence have mainly been Han inhabitants of the Xinjiang region, where members of the ethnic group (a majority, nationwide) are outnumbered by the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs. The government also blames the violence on the World Uighur Congress, a pro-independence group run by exile Rebiya Kadeer. Kadeer and other Uighurs deny the government’s claim, insisting that the brunt of the violence has fallen on peacefully protesting Uighurs.

Today, Han residents of Urumqi poured into the streets to exact revenge on the city’s Uighurs, armed with sticks, shovels, knives and machetes, and marching through Uighur neighborhoods chanting, “Blood for blood.” A government official apparently pleaded with the Han rioters, unsuccessfully, to “let the government handle this,” and police fired tear gas to break up the crowds.

Franken sworn in to Senate

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:50:00 PDT

Poor Al Franken: First, he has to wait eight months before being sworn in to the Senate, and then when he finally does get seated, it's on the same day as Michael Jackson's funeral.

Franken didn't exactly get wall-to-wall cable and network coverage for his ceremony, but he did get to be sworn in by Vice President Biden, and he got a standing ovation as well.

Steele: 2012 "off the table" for Palin

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:25:00 PDT

There are few, if any, people who actually know whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is planning to run for president in 2012. But Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has never worried too much about whether he actually knows what he's talking about, and so he felt free to comment to Fox News about Palin's plans.

"Not having talked to the governor, I take 2012 off the table right now simply because given everything she's going through personally, dealing with the financial mess that all these ludicrous investigations have put her and Todd in, at the moment, I think she's trying to focus on getting her house in order, her personal house in order," Steele said. "I look forward to welcoming her out and helping us in our campaigns this fall if and when shes ready to do that. Sarah Palin will be the ultimate arbiter of when she will engage and how she will engage."

This actually seems to be more of a reflection on Steele and his power within the GOP than anything else. Palin reportedly called former Vice President Dick Cheney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in recent weeks. But she still hasn't spoken to the titular head of her party, who's completely in the dark about her plans.

Update: Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for Steele, e-mailed Ben Smith to offer the inevitable clarification: "Steele was saying this morning that TALKING about 2012 is off the table -- because she has make it clear that resigning was a personal decision and has little to do with future aspirations. Palin has said that everything is on the table. Steele takes no issue with that."