Day: January 6, 2007

As bad as things were for Republicans in the 2006 mid-term elections, it could have been much, much worse.

At least 15 races where the GOP held on to their Congressional sets, the margin of victory was 3 points or less, meaning the race could have gone either way.

Reports Congressional Quarterly:

This may be small consolation for Republicans, who lost their Senate and House majorities to the Democrats in the fall 2006 elections, but it could have been a lot worse.

The new Democratic House of Representatives’ quick action banning trips paid for by lobbyists or other special interest shows the new leadership of Congress is serious about reforming the corruption that control Congress.

Or does it?

The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

The Bush administration didn’t reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Saddam Hussein’s brutal hanging has not only turned into a public relations nightmare for the Bush Administration but has morphed the former Iraq dictator into a hero of the Arab world.

Throughout muslim nations, Hussein is now admired as a martyr who faced death with dignity and stood up to a bullying United States that has become a symbol of hatred for Arabs.

Writes Hussan M. Fattah in The New York Times:

It’s one thing for your country to ask you to give your life or limbs in war. It’s yet another to be asked after you’ve been killed or wounded.

But that’s just what the Army did recently to 275 officers killed or wounded in George W. Bush’s illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

Reports The Associated Press:

The Army said Friday it would apologize to the families of about 275 officers killed or wounded in action who were mistakenly sent letters urging them to return to active duty.

President George W. Bush wants to send about 20,000 additional American troops into his failed Iraq war for a temporary “surge and accelerate” program.

Arizona Senator John McCain says that’s not enough. He wants more troops sent into harm’s way for a longer time.

“The surge must be substantial, and it must be sustained,” McCain said in an appearance before the ultra-right-wing American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

But in the next sentence, McCain admits such a strategy means more American casualties with no assurance of success.

Days from announcing an overhaul of Iraq strategy, President Bush on Friday encountered a wall of criticism of the U.S. troop escalation that is expected to be the centerpiece of his new war plan.

Bush also reshuffled his war commanders, installing a new team to support the policies he will announce next week. Democrats and Republicans alike took aim at the expected increase in U.S. forces.

“It has to be significant and sustained. Otherwise do not do it,” said Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful and Vietnam veteran who has been advocating a troop increase.

The White House announced a shuffling of U.S. military leaders in the Iraq war Friday as Congress’ new Democratic chiefs criticized plans President Bush is considering to boost U.S. troop strength in the war zone.

Bush will nominate Adm. William Fallon, who commands American forces in the Pacific, to replace Gen. John Abizaid as top U.S. commander in the Middle East. Bush will nominate Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces, to replace Gen. George Casey as top American general in Iraq.