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June
Don’t get caught flat-footed in front of the press! Below is a quick rundown of today’s “must reads.” – John T. Doolittle, House Republican Conference Secretary
The Morning Murmur – Wednesday, June 14, 2006
1. Brave Prez Bests Media Know-it-Alls - New York Post Op-ed
June has been a miserable month for our left-wing media. Once you crack a
terror system open, one success leads to another. For a long time, the
terrorists held the tactical initiative; now we've grabbed it. It's a credit
to fine intelligence work, good soldiering - and to the Iraqis struggling to
save their country.
2. Hastert Deals Blow to Immigration Bill - Associated Press
Hopes for a quick compromise on immigration were dealt a blow Tuesday after
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he wanted to take a "long look" at a
Senate bill offering possible citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants.
3. Frogs Aren't Marching - Wall Street Journal Op-ed
So much for having Karl Rove "frog-marched" out of the White House "in
handcuffs." That's the fate Democratic partisan Joe Wilson once predicted
for President Bush's political guru, and yesterday his hope and accusations
vanished like fog on the Potomac.
4. Time's massacre - Washington Times Op-ed
Time magazine's misreporting unfortunately does little to clear up what
happened in Haditha. But it is a case-in-point lesson in how the media can
artfully angle a story.
5. Rep. Kennedy Gets Probation in DUI Plea Deal - Los Angeles Times
Rep. Patrick Kennedy
pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of driving under the influence of
prescription drugs in a plea bargain with prosecutors stemming from a
middle-of-the-night incident last month in which he nearly sideswiped a
police cruiser.
For previous issues of the Morning Murmur, go to www.GOPsecretary.gov
FULL ARTICLES BELOW:
1. Brave Prez Bests Media
Know-it-Alls - New York Post Op-ed
By RALPH PETERS
June 14, 2006 -- JUNE has been a miserable month for our left-wing media.
First, the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi forced the alleged "massacre" at
Haditha off Page One, frustrating media attempts to manufacture a sequel to
Abu Ghraib.
Then, President Bush made a midnight ride to Baghdad to put one very
important pair of boots on the ground. He didn't hug the airport, either,
but crossed the city to the Green Zone for a face-to-face with Iraq's new
prime minister. It was a brave and inspiring act. And a worthy one.
Strategically wise, good for Iraqi and American morale - and, yes,
politically savvy - the president's trip blew apart the media's effort to
recover from their loss of Zarqawi.
It also shut down their bid to refocus our attention on the suicides of
three poor, deprived terrorists at Guantanamo - thugs we're expected to
mourn as victims of our inhumanity. Hate-America journalists just can't get
a break these days.
But they're still trying. One cable-news anchor yesterday asked if Bush's
visit to Iraq was a "publicity stunt." Her own network's correspondent shot
that down, on-air.
True reporters know a missile can kill a president as easily as a private.
The Gitmo suicide-trifecta was the real publicity stunt. This accurate
statement should never have been retracted: It was an act of asymmetrical
warfare. And every save-the-terrorists jerk behind a mike knows it in his or
her shriveled bleeding heart.
The strategic momentum has shifted. Fighting a terrorist movement takes
time, sometimes a frustrating amount of it. But Bush's trip drove home some
undeniable facts:
* The American president can go to Baghdad. And our enemies can't stop him.
And the White House didn't black out news of this visit until the prez was
wheels-up for home; word broke while he was still in the Green Zone. One big
Bronx cheer for the bad guys - for whom Bush's visit was a humiliation.
* Iraq has an elected, functioning government of a quality that deserved a
presidential visit. Image matters in the Arab world, and the symbolism of
our president going to Baghdad to confer with Iraq's prime minister
instantly raised that new government's stature.
* Americans aren't quitters. As Bush pointed out to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
when Americans give their word, we stick to it - at least under this
president. The terrorists and their media sympathizers haven't been able to
budge us. And we won't come back 'til it's over, over there.
* Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead and won't easily be replaced. The months
ahead will still see plenty of violence, but Iraq's already better off.
* The hundreds of raids and arrests of terrorists in the wake of Zarqawi's
death have received scant media coverage (those three sweet, virtuous Gitmo
terrorists were more important, you see), but this is huge news.
Once you crack a terror system open, one success leads to another. For a
long time, the terrorists held the tactical initiative; now we've grabbed
it. It's a credit to fine intelligence work, good soldiering - and to the
Iraqis struggling to save their country.
* One presidential visit to Baghdad is worth a thousand pathetic
declarations of defeat from Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean or Ted Kennedy - none
of whom has shown the least respect for the democratically elected and
courageous leaders of reborn Iraq.
Bush's visit forced the media to briefly stop whining about the phony issues
of Haditha and Gitmo and to acknowledge that Iraq has a free, functioning
government. But for ambitious journalists, inventing or exaggerating
American misdeeds will always be more rewarding than telling the truth:
Zarqawi's death was written off, while Haditha was written up.
Still, glints of truth force their way through. And the truth is: We've got
a president with guts; our efforts in Iraq are paying off, and their new
government is far more important to Iraqis than Gitmo or Haditha.
Yesterday, President Bush dominated the news. And the news was good.
Tomorrow, the America-haters in the press will try again to convince you
that nothing our president, our soldiers or free Iraqis do can make a
difference.
You know better.
Ralph Peters' next book, "Never Quit the Fight," is due out July 10.
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/brave_prez_bests_media_know_it_alls_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm
2. Hastert Deals Blow to Immigration
Bill - Associated Press
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press Writer
Hopes for a quick compromise on immigration were dealt a blow Tuesday after
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he wanted to take a "long look" at a
Senate bill offering possible citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants.
Hastert said hearings on the Senate bill should be held before appointing
anyone to a House-Senate committee to negotiate a compromise immigration
bill. Later, he said he was unsure what the House's next move would be.
"We're going to take a long look at it," Hastert said late Tuesday.
House Majority Leader John Boehner agreed. "I think we should know clearly
what's in the Senate bill," Boehner said. But he added there are lots of
ways to understand its contents.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also scheduled a hearing for Monday to review
provisions in the bill requiring employers to verify that their workers are
legal.
Cornyn said he opposes a provision allowing workers to use up to 20
documents to verify they are legal workers. Also, the Department of Homeland
Security has raised concerns about how quickly it must have in place an
electronic system that employers will use to verify their workers legal
status, Cornyn's spokesman Don Stewart said.
"This will give us a chance to look at it in more detail," Cornyn said.
Sending a bill that has already passed the Senate to hearings would be a
highly unusual move and make completing a final bill before Congress goes on
its summer recess in August far less likely. Disagreement on procedural
issue has kept negotiations from starting, but there were hopes that could
be resolved this week.
"It's an obvious retreat from where we are," said Jim Manley, spokesman for
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill nearly three weeks ago. The
bill offers most illegal immigrants in the country and future guest workers
a path to citizenship.
Last December, the House passed a bill focused on enforcement. It doesn't
offer eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants or create a guest worker
program. There are many other significant differences in the bills.
The day the Senate bill was approved, Majority Leader Bill Frist, R- Tenn.
said waiting to negotiate a final bill would be "irresponsible." Rep. James
Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, echoed his
comments a day later, saying voters should be able to assess when they go to
the ballot box in November how their lawmakers did on the issue.
Rep. Lamar Smith, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said holding hearings
on the Senate bill makes "great sense."
The recent election victory of Republican Brian Bilbray, who made tough
anti-immigration measures a centerpiece of his campaign, "changed a lot of
people's thinking on the issue," he said. "It shows how politically
advantageous it is to talk about the issue and what you would do and what
the federal government should do."
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., urged Hastert to drop any plans for hearings.
"Hearings might be beneficial if there was a lack of attention or knowledge
on this issue in the House, but that's certainly not the case," Flake said
in a statement.
Flake sponsored an early version of the Senate bill with Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.,
who also called for the bill to move forward.
"Only a small, vocal faction wants to stop a sensible guest-worker program
and ignore the reality of the 11 million undocumented living in the country
now," Kolbe said in a statement. "We must not let any delays impede our
progress toward solving this problem."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/13/D8I7L2180.html
3. Frogs Aren't Marching - Wall Street
Journal Op-ed
June 14, 2006; Page A14
So much for having Karl Rove "frog-marched" out of the White House "in
handcuffs." That's the fate Democratic partisan Joe Wilson once predicted
for President Bush's political guru, and yesterday his hope and accusations
vanished like fog on the Potomac.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald informed Mr. Rove's lawyers on Monday
that he'll bring no charges as part of his investigation into who leaked the
CIA identity of Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. Mr. Wilson's original
claims that Mr. Bush lied about Iraq intelligence have been discredited many
times over, including in a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence
Committee. And now we know that even the relentless Mr. Fitzgerald has
concluded that the charge that Mr. Rove criminally blew Ms. Plame's CIA
cover is false.
The mystery is why Mr. Fitzgerald kept Mr. Rove twisting in the wind for so
long. The prosecutor has been on the case for two-and-a-half years, and he
long ago learned the source for the July 2003 Robert Novak column that "outed"
Ms. Plame and was the reason he was appointed. Mr. Rove was forced to make
no less than five grand jury appearances, the latest as recently as April.
In the end, it seems Mr. Fitzgerald was trying to trap Mr. Rove over the
minor matter of his failure to remember a conversation with Time reporter
Matthew Cooper. But Mr. Rove is the one who later volunteered information
about the conversation to Mr. Fitzgerald, after a check of White House
records reminded him of it. A perjury or obstruction accusation based on
that inconsequential discrepancy would have been prosecutorial misconduct.
The Rove decision also finally discredits the accusation that there was some
grand White House conspiracy to smear Mr. Wilson. Mr. Fitzgerald has brought
no charges concerning the original leak, which means there was no underlying
crime. His entire case -- and this entire "scandal" -- has been distilled to
charges of perjury and obstruction against one man, former Vice Presidential
Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
And that one case comes down to nothing more than the fact that Mr. Libby's
memory of conversations with three reporters differs from that of the
reporters themselves. Think we're exaggerating? Here's how the judge in the
case, Reggie B. Walton, summarized it in a recent ruling on evidence: "The
charges against the defendant are based entirely [our emphasis] upon what
the defendant has said was discussed during his conversations with these
news reporters."
Those conversations took place in the summer of 2003, while the reporters
didn't testify about them for Mr. Fitzgerald until a year or more later.
Memories aren't always perfect, and Mr. Libby's lawyers will no doubt have
ample room to cast doubt on those recollections against the record of
notebook entries and public statements made by the reporters. Mr. Fitzgerald
will also have to prove why a seasoned lawyer such as Mr. Libby had a motive
to lie if there was no underlying crime to cover up.
We should add that the lack of any underlying crime also means that Mr.
Fitzgerald's pursuit of journalistic sources in this case violated the
Justice Department's own guidelines, which state that "there should be
reasonable grounds to believe . . . that a crime has occurred, and that the
information sought is essential to a successful investigation."
Mr. Fitzgerald could ignore those guidelines because he was a "special"
counsel subject only to the supervision of the friend who appointed him,
former Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey. Only weeks into his probe, he had
his official orders changed to include investigation of perjury, suggesting
that even at that early stage he had concluded that the original leak was
probably not a crime.
The tragedy of this episode is that a political fight over the war in Iraq
was allowed to become a criminal matter. Mr. Wilson spun his false tale in
an effort to discredit the war and deny Mr. Bush a second term. The liberal
media put partisanship above their own interests in demanding a special
counsel probe of "leaks" -- until that probe turned on their own sources.
The Attorney General at the time, John Ashcroft, passed the buck to Mr.
Comey by recusing himself on flimsy grounds -- an act of political and legal
abdication.
So what we are left with is a three-year political spectacle that has kept
the White House under siege during a war, weakened or pushed out of office
some of its most important aides, and made liberal celebrities of Mr. Wilson
and his wife. And to what public purpose? A prosecutor with more wisdom than
Mr. Fitzgerald would have long ago understood he was injecting himself into
a political brawl, closed his case and left the outcome to the voters.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115025071154179702.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep
4. Time's massacre - Washington Times
Op-ed
Published June 14, 2006
With Marines being accused of war crimes, the blogosphere is doing what it
does best: scrutinizing the reporting. In this case, the site Sweetness &
Light has been on Time magazine's case for what appears to be justifiable
concerns over its reporting of the Nov. 19 Haditha incident, in which
Marines are under investigation for killing two dozen innocent Iraqis.
Time first broke the story on Haditha in March, four months after the
incident -- a delay which too few of the Marines' more ardent accusers (such
as Rep. John Murtha) failed to question. One of Time's key sources who had
taken footage of the aftermath was represented only as a "journalism
student." It has since been learned that this eyewitness was Taher Thabet al
Hadithi.
Here's how Time reporter Aparisim Ghosh described Mr. Hadithi: "[H]e's a
young local man ... He brought the tape to Hammurabi Human Rights... and
they brought it to us once they found out that we were inquiring about
this."
In fact, Mr. Hadithi is middle-aged and a co-founder of the Hammurabi
Organization. The Associated Press has described him as an "Iraqi
investigator." Either Mr. Hadithi misrepresented himself to Time, or Time
chose not to mention his association with the previously unknown Hammurabi
Organization in its original article on the incident.
Then there's the timing issue. Mr. Hadithi says he witnessed Marines going
house to house killing Iraqis, and videotaped the aftermath the next day.
This raises the question of why Mr. Hadithi, or the Hammurabi Organization,
waited at least two months before bringing his tape to the attention of the
mainstream media, especially since Hammurabi proclaims itself a human-rights
group. Nor did Hammurabi's other founder, Abdul-Rahman al Mashhadani,
mention the alleged massacre during an interview with the Institute for War
and Peace in December.
In a June 4 article, Time acknowledged Mr. Hadithi's connections to the
Hammurabi Organization, and this time labeled him a "budding Iraqi
journalist and human-rights activist." The article concludes, "If there is
any beneficiary at all of the tragedy, it is Hammurabi...which is flooded
with new volunteers and free to do its work more aggressively."
Time has had to correct its earlier contention that it received the video
from Human Rights Watch, which Time identified as working with the Hammurabi
Organization. Human Rights Watch, as Time now acknowledges, has no
association with Hammurabi, raising yet another question: Just what is the
Hammurabi Organization? More to the point, did Time adequately vet its
founders for conflicts of interest before printing their story and putting
our troops at greater risk?
Time has also had to correct its reporting that "one of the most damning
pieces of evidence investigators have in their possession, John Sifton of
Human Rights Watch told Time's Tim McGirk, is a photo, taken by a Marine
with his cell phone that shows Iraqis kneeling -- and thus posing no threat
-- before they were shot." Mr. Sifton has now admitted to Time that he has
no firsthand knowledge of this mysterious photo.
As counter-evidence goes, Time's misreporting unfortunately does little to
clear up what happened in Haditha. But as a case-in-point lesson in how the
media can artfully angle a story, it's evidence enough.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060613-095036-8673r.htm
5. Rep. Kennedy Gets Probation in DUI
Plea Deal - Los Angeles Times
A judge orders him to continue getting help for his addiction after he
pleads guilty to driving under the influence of prescription drugs.
By Johanna Neuman
Times Staff Writer
June 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) pleaded guilty Tuesday to a
charge of driving under the influence of prescription drugs in a plea
bargain with prosecutors stemming from a middle-of-the-night incident last
month in which he nearly sideswiped a police cruiser.
District of Columbia Superior Court Magistrate Judge Aida Melendez placed
the six-term congressman on supervised probation for a year. He was ordered
to attend weekly meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, confer regularly with a
psychiatrist, submit to random drug tests and contribute $100 to a crime
victims fund and $250 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, where
he will also do 50 hours of community service.
If Kennedy violates the terms of his probation, she added, he will go to
jail for 10 days and pay a fine.
"I've always said I wanted to take full responsibility for my actions, and
today in court I did just that," Kennedy said after his sentence was
announced.
"I'm grateful to be on the road to recovery," he added.
Standing at Kennedy's side as he talked to reporters on the courthouse steps
was not his father - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) - but a Republican
colleague from Minnesota.
"As a grateful recovering alcoholic of 25 years, I'm pleased to be his
sponsor," Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) said. "He's accepted his addiction and
he's going to be just fine, one day at a time."
Kennedy, 38, has said he has struggled with depression and drug addiction
since he was a teenager. He was treated for cocaine abuse after he graduated
from high school.
The incident that led to his courtroom appearance Tuesday began at 2:47 a.m.
May 4, when Kennedy crashed his green 1997 Ford Mustang convertible into a
security barrier on Capitol Hill. According to a report filed by the Capitol
Police, he stumbled from the car, telling officers that he was rushing to
make a vote. The House had adjourned three hours earlier.
The police report described Kennedy as "unsteady on his feet," with
"slightly slurred speech" and "red and watery" eyes.
Later that day, Kennedy released a statement saying that he had consumed no
alcohol but acknowledging that he had taken two prescription medications:
Ambien for sleeplessness and Phenergan for stomach inflammation. The next
day, he called a news conference to say that he was checking himself into
the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to treat an addiction to prescription
drugs.
Kennedy stayed in Minnesota for 28 days, and Ramstad visited every Saturday,
accompanying him to recovery meetings. Ramstad, who quit drinking 25 years
ago after he woke up from an alcohol-induced blackout in a jail cell in
Sioux Falls, S.D., will get a weekly call from Kennedy under the terms of
probation.
Ramstad said in an interview Tuesday that Kennedy had told him, "This is the
first time in my life I'll have a Republican telling me what to do." In
2004, the two founded the House Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus,
which educates legislators on addiction issues and promotes greater access
to treatment.
During Kennedy's May 5 news conference, when he announced he was entering
treatment, his voice cracked as he said, "I simply do not remember getting
out of bed, being pulled over by the police or being cited for three driving
infractions."
The Capitol Police drove him home that night and did not conduct a field
sobriety test, leading to some criticism of a double standard for elected
officials.
In March, Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney (D-Ga.) was involved in an incident with
Capitol Police in which she was alleged to have struck an officer who
attempted to stop her at a security checkpoint. Charges against her are
still being considered, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said
Tuesday.
For Kennedy, whose mother, Joan, has battled alcoholism throughout her life,
the denouement on the courthouse steps was the result of a plea deal in
which prosecutors dropped charges of reckless driving and of driving without
exhibiting a permit. Kennedy, who despite his troubles is considered a safe
bet for reelection in his Democratic district, has said the accident was
also a wake-up call.
"Every day I'm on my knees thanking God that I didn't hurt somebody," he
said last month.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-kennedy14jun14,1,6152697.story
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