Senator Barack Obama today officially opted out of the presidential campaign public financing system... And Senator John McCain today immediately declared Obama had, quote, "completely reversed himself and gone back, not on his word to me, but the commitment he made to the American people." But in our fifth story: Obama's promise, even taken just on face value, was to accept public financing if his Republican opponent agreed to do the same. Senator McCain had in essence been running his general election campaign on private funds -- not public financing -- since he became the presumptive nominee on March 4th. McCain, late this afternoon, said he had just decided to switch to public funding. But to quote Jesse Jackson's old self-caricature on Saturday Night Live: "The Question is Moot."
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Battleground Bounce: In this campaign that Tim Russert loved covering so much... it is a detail that would have absolutely delighted him. Here this morning, the two men vying to become the next president of the United States... sitting next to each other at Tim Russert's funeral... at his family's request. Ahead this hour, we will pay tribute to our departed friend and colleague with a look at the moving memorial service that followed the funeral this afternoon at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and perhaps, more moving still, a seemingly small gesture from Tim Russert's son Luke that will tell you in short-hand just what this family is all about. But in our fifth story on the Countdown -- because Tim Russert would be screaming "you skipped the lead" -- we begin with the latest in the run for the White House.
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What appears to be the most common citation to show McCain's pre-flip-flop support of the ban on offshore drilling for oil last time he ran for president is this report from the Sustainable Energy Coalition. Dated January 18, 2000, "Presidential Candidates' Views on Energy Policy and Related Environmental Issues" summarized candidate McCain's position thusly:
Senator John McCain, who criticized the Clinton Administration for its decision to extend 36 offshore oil leaves along the central California coast over the objections of that state's Governor and Attorney General, has promised to "never lose sight of the fundamental principle that federal land management decisions affecting local communities must be made in cooperation with the Americans who call those communities home."
Also cited is McCain's vote in 2005 to bar oil and gas leasing in ANWR.
Because Vice President Cheney's much repeated claim that the Chinese are drilling for oil in Cuban waters near Florida is nakedly false there's no source documentation to link to on the matter. If there is a source document, it's George Will's column of June 5 which many point to as the origin of the claim. For some reason, while Cheney has corrected himself, Mr. Will and The Washington Post do not appear to have done the same. UPDATE: George Will made the correction at the end of this June 17 column. Thanks Nancy for the pointer.
The ABC News report (with some useful citations) on how the Veterans Administration is treating vets like lab rats can be found here.
The online record of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing mentioned in last night's Bushed, segment, "To receive testimony on the origins of aggressive interrogation techniques: Part I of the Committee's inquiry into the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody" is not full and complete but does contain some prepared statements that support the news accounts. For example this from Dr. Jerald F. Ogrisseg, Former Chief, Psychology Services, 336th Training Group, United States Air Force Survival School:
The final area I recall Lt Col Baumgartner asking me about were my thoughts on using the waterboard against the enemy. I asked responded by asking, “wouldn’t that be illegal?” He replied that some people were asking from above about the utility of using this technique against the enemy for the same reasons I wouldn’t use it in training. I replied that I wouldn’t go down that path because, aside from being illegal, it was a completely different arena that we in the Survival School didn’t know anything about.
Here's the full "I'm Voting Republican" commercial, the first half of which was aired last night.
The Andrew Sullivan item Keith mentioned last night is here though more illustrative are the direct accounts of the Obama campaign's solicitations of help for flood-stricken areas.
Even if we surpass the biggest boasts of Iranian officials about the range of the Shahab missile (1200 miles) and grant it a generous 3000 km/1864 miles, map readers, and that may or may not include Gregg Jarrett of Fox News, will note that still doesn't put it in range of the U.S. That 3000 km range appears to be the longest range of any missile of which there is actual inventory and not just a "program" or speculation on this accounting of North Korean & Iranian missiles. This map from the Federation of American Scientists may be a little old in terms of its missile data but is useful in showing how various ranges lay out on a global map.
From Monday's show: The broader context of McCain fundraiser Clayton Williams' remarks on rape and the weather actually makes them more offensive. From a March 26, 1990 New York Times report,
Mr. Williams made the remark on Saturday while preparing for a cattle roundup at his West Texas ranch. He compared the cold, foggy weather spoiling the event to a rape, telling ranch hands, campaign workers and reporters around a campfire, ''If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.''
So the issue of rape was not part of the larger conversation. He was simply talking about the weather and in searching his brain for anything in all the wide universe that might be analogous to the situation, came up with rape.
A NOUN, A VERB AND 9/10:
Proving that often a farcical argument makes the best political firestorm... Senator McCain's Campaign today accused Senator Obama of being a "a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset," and of taking a "law enforcement approach" to terrorism. Our fifth story on the Countdown: this comes 28 days after an FBI counter-terrorism agent told the House Judiciary Committee that under President Bush, the Bureau had hired and appointed counter-terrorism supervisors with little or no experience in anything but domestic crime, and had a rule rotating out all counter-terrorism specialists once they reached five years experience. In short, agent Bassem Yousef said, under a Republican Administration, the FBI was, in effect, taking a 'law enforcement approach to terrorism.'
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Gore More Years: Al Gore endorses Barack Obama. Really going out on a limb there. Why now, you ask? Check your calendar. Perhaps because, on June 16th, 1999 -- nine years ago today -- he began what remains the Red Badge of Courage for the Democratic Party -- he announced his candidacy for President. In our fifth story on the Countdown: just as likely, of course, the symmetry of getting to bring so much unity to the Democrats -- in Michigan -- we'll take you to Detroit presently. Just as news hits of disapproval of John McCain among rank-and-file Republicans... crossing 50 percent... And as the "Clinton Supporters For McCain" movement, is hit by scandal.
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Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on Senator John McCain's conclusion that it's "not too important" when American forces come home from Iraq.
Thoughts, offered more in sorrow, than in anger.
For two full days now, the Senator and his supporters have been outraged at what they see as the subtraction of context from this extraordinary remark.
This is, sadly, the excuse of our time, for everything.
Still. If the Senator claims truncation, we will correct that, first.
"A lot of people," Matt Lauer began, "now say the surge is working."
"Anybody who knows the facts on the ground say that," the Senator interjected.
"If it's now working, Senator," Matt continued, "do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?"
"No," answered McCain. "But that's not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany.
"That's all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw. We will be able to withdraw.
"General Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to it is we don't want any more Americans in harm's way. And that way they will be safe, and serve our country, and come home with honor and victory - not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama's proposal would have done. And I'm proud of them, and they're doing a great job. And we are succeeding. And it's fascinating that Senator Obama still doesn't realize it."
And there is the context of what Senator McCain said.
Well... not quite, Senator. CONTINUED >>
War More Years: In the slums of Baghdad...In Basra, in the South... In the Sunni-dominated city of Mosul, in the North... American troops have made recent gains, which American commanders will not call victories. Reporters in those cities conclude that the areas have been secured, not by American will, but because the various insurgent groups seem to prefer, currently, not to fight, but to talk -- and move their fighters out of town. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator John McCain has looked at Baghdad, at Basra, and Mosul... and he has declared triumph, where the Generals in the field, would not.
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To dispel the reflexive claim by the McCain campaign that his remarks about bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq is "not too important" here's the Today show clip with Matt Lauer in which he says exactly what he's being accused of saying in exactly the context in which he's being accused of saying it. (The Iraq questions begin at 5:40.)
Barack Obama's "Dr. Rice, foreign policy expert" is Dr. Susan Rice.
A sample of the results of the most recent NBC/WSJ poll mentioned on last night's show can be found in this pdf.
The Department of Labor report on "the Employment Situation" in the U.S. can be accessed as a 28 page pdf.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's draft report on Abramoff is a collection of documents linked on the committee's official site. The report pertaining specifically to Abramoff's White House access and the repeatedly wrong answers given by the White House with regard to contact between Abramoff and President Bush is this pdf.
Babble on Babylon: If Senator John McCain loses that election handily... He may look back to this day as the moment the remaining chance slipped from his grasp. Before the sun had risen in his home state... Senator McCain had spoken as if he simply did not care what how long our American heroes serving in Iraq have to stay there. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Senator McCain, suggesting this morning that bringing American troops home from Iraq is, quote: "Not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq." As if Iraq were the Korean De-militarized Zone. And not a place where 12 Americans have died in just the first 11 days of this month.
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Slate has a nice write up of the "fist pound" or "dap." A popular photo in the rampant online mocking of the suggestion by Fox News and others that bumping fists is somehow a terrorist gesture is this one of Former President Bush with tennis star Anna Kournikova.
(FYI, the popular Bush/Pope fist pound photo is an illusion. Bush is putting his glasses in his pocket and the Pope is just gesturing.)
In his second appearance on Countdown, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan explained that he received a letter from Congressman John Conyers to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. If you're curious what it looks like to be invited to testify before a Congressional committee, you can read the letter yourself in pdf form here.
Following up on the Rupert Murdoch quote that Bill Moyers threw in the face of Bill-O's ambush producer, it's interesting to see the context that followed the quote in the coverage by the UK's The Guardian newspaper dated February 11, 2003:
Mr Murdoch said the price of oil would be the war's main benefit on the world economy.
"The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in the any country."
Today a barrel of Brent crude costs $31.68 while US light crude costs $34.53. During the last war on Iraq in 1991, the price of oil doubled to $40 a barrel. A $10 increase in the cost of oil is seen as the equivalent of a 0.2% cut in economic growth in America and Europe.
The articles of impeachment of President Bush, introduced to Congress by Representative Dennis Kucinich, can be read on his official site.
You can find his articles of impeachment for Vice President Cheney there as well.
In case you missed tonight's no.1 re: Bill Moyers and the thwarted O'Reilly producer ambush, you can see the actual incident here, here and the longest best quality version here.
It's the General, Stupid: It has been argued that every Barack Obama Presidential campaign ad could consist of the following message: "The Day President Bush took office, the price of a gallon of gas was a dollar-47, and now it's four bucks. "And you're thinking of voting for another Republican?" Our fifth story on the Countdown: the first official weekday of the one-on-one Presidential campaign. And even with the visceral and human imperative that is Iraq... Right now: it's the Economy, Stupid.
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For anyone who saw the story of the two men who climbed the New York Times building in New York City and looked at the photos of that building and exclaimed, "What do you expect to happen when you build a skyscraper with a giant ladder up the side!?" you may be interested to learn that the giant ladder - actually ceramic tubes - aren't just an inviting aesthetic feature. They have a function.
"An unusual feature of the building, one more common in Europe than in U.S., will be its fully glazed curtain wall. Thin horizontal ceramic tubes placed on a steel framework one and a half feet in front of the glass will screen the double glazed, spectrally selective, low-emissivity, full-height glass wall around the building, thus reducing the building's cooling loads. (Low-emissivity glass is an energy-efficient material that helps reduce heating and cooling use.) The ceramic tubes provide an aesthetic bonus, taking on the changing color of the sky during the course of the day as light diffuses through them from different angles. Above the top of the building, the screen of tubes becomes less dense, and its lace-like appearance will permit a view of roof garden foliage."
You can read for yourself the leaked GOP memo explaining their strategy of wasting Congressional time to score political points rather than make any policy.
As cited on the show, here's the Uro Club Web site in case you've been looking for a way to pee into your golf equipment.
The long-awaited Senate report that confirms what once we considered unthinkable -- even unspeakable. The President of the United States lied to Congress and the American people to justify launching the first unprovoked war in U.S. history. Released Thursday by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, the Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information is available for your reading as a 171-page pdf.
Those of us not in the Philadelphia area to experience the Derrie-Air Ailine joke directly can check out the airline's Web site instead.
Party of Two: The Obama campaign's new travelling spokeswoman, Keith's old news colleague Linda Douglass, revealing this week that the presumptive Democratic nominee is a serious movie buff, particularly of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films. Which would mean Senator Obama no doubt remembers Michael Corleone having said, in 1974's The Godfather, Part Two, "My father taught me many things here. He taught me in this room. He taught me: Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." Now last night, the heads of the two families, Senators Obama and Clinton, sitting down for a secret meeting. Just the two of them. No staff. No spouses. No details. You'll get nothing and like it. CONTINUED >>
Last night's show was mostly analysis of the breaking Hillary Clinton news so there isn't much call for background documents when the subject was original reporting from NBC's Andrea Mitchell. Worth a look, however, is an item from the Best list. Here's the 23-page judgment rendered by U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby in Portland, Maine in the case of Leon Levesque v. Steve Doocy, et al., of Fox News. "The First Amendment protects journalists even when they are gullible."
And from last night's Worst list: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Addresses the U.N. Security Council. Attention Bill O'Reilly: Ctrl F for "nuclear."
The Concession Stand: The breaking news tonight that Senator Hillary Clinton will concede the Democratic nomination to Senator Barack Obama at a farewell event, most likely on Friday of this week, most likely in New York... and according to a Senior Clinton Adviser quoted by The New York Times, including an endorsement of Senator Obama. Our fifth story on the Countdown: at this seeming midpoint of Senator Obama's candidacy -- five months since the day his Iowa upset sank in... five months until the presidential election itself... Senator Clinton finally committing to bowing out.
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"
Above: "Packaging of Chip-Type Snack Food Products," U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,798 filed July 29, 1966, issued Mar. 3, 1970 to Fredric J. Baur. (Link requires an odd plug-in to view. Click the Help link on the page for instructions.)
Also, here's the New York Times story from September 20, 2001 in which it was revealed that Senator Phil Gramm (now a McCain campaign co-chair), acting in the interests of the international banking industry, was the sole obstacle to legislation designed to allow U.S. investigators to track Osama bin Laden's financial network.
More recently, "Newsweek has learned that UBS is also currently the focus of congressional and
Justice Department investigations into schemes that allegedly enabled wealthy
Americans to evade income taxes by stashing their money in overseas havens,
according to several law-enforcement and banking officials in both the United
States and Europe, who all asked for anonymity when discussing ongoing
investigations."
Almost Over? Senator Hillary Clinton appears on the verge of suspending her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and endorsing Senator Barack Obama. That, the widespread reading of the electoral tea leaves today, after a tidal wave of separate reports that add up to the end, in sight, probably by tomorrow night. In our fifth story on the Countdown -- the components: She has reportedly personally urged her top backers and financial donors to attend her speech in New York tomorrow night. She reportedly told Senator Obama last night that their staffs should begin to bargain over what to do after Tuesday. Her official schedule, after a morning speech in Washington on Wednesday, is blank...And, perhaps most saliently, her staff has reportedly been urged to turn in all of their expense reports and receipts, before the end of this week. Now the details of what is being perceived as: the final Countdown.
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The community for the video game Fallout 3 had a good time with the story that a concept image for the game was created by al Qaeda.
For its part, the SITE Intelligence Group does in fact collect information on the online activities of groups sympathetic to anti-American terrorism. They dispute news reports that they attributed the image to al Qaeda, insisting they reported only that the image was used with other terrorist propaganda.
Local news video of Robert Rubio setting the surgical piercing record (900 needles).
The Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism's report on "Character and the Primaries of 2008" shows that contrary to the hype and spin from various interested parties, MSNBC gave slightly more positive coverage to Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama. The relevant part of the report is in the "Differences by Media" section.
Regarding McCain's claims that we have (or will have) drawn down to pre-surge troop levels in Iraq (and Keith's command to "look it up" in the opening of Friday's show), that's easier said than done from the perspective of the armchair primary-info searcher.
The New York Times had the most thorough answer:
Mr. McCain’s remarks, however, differ from the numbers available. There were 132,000 troops in Iraq before Mr. Bush dispatched an additional 21,500 combat troops early last year, including five Army brigades, making up what is commonly referred to as the surge. In addition, some 8,000 support forces were sent to Iraq as part of the buildup.
Three of the five Army brigades have left Iraq, along with some marines sent as part of the escalation, leaving about 155,000 troops. The remaining two brigades are scheduled to leave by the end of July, at which point Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq, has recommended a pause in troop drawdowns to reassess the situation.
Even then, the Pentagon has said that the troop level in Iraq is expected to be 140,000, about 8,000 more than before the surge, because some of the support troops sent to Iraq in the buildup are still needed.
Reuters leaves the math to you:
The United States has 155,000 troops in Iraq -- about 20,000 more than before last year's troop increase. The number would be cut to about 140,000 after current withdrawals are completed in July.
Searching the Pentagon site produced an article from mid-May with a quote from President Bush that echoes the Reuters end-of-July number but doesn't help McCain's claim:
The 30,000 or so additional U.S. forces employed during the surge are systematically being redeployed, Bush noted. By July or so, there should be about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
If you know a public link to an official total troop balance sheet, post it to the comments and I'll update this post. ADDING: A fan in California offers this page with troop numbers. June and July are already filled out with projected numbers refuted by the math in the quotes above.
