March 2, 2007 – Capitol Hill Blue

Bush admits Hurricane Katrina flubs

March 2, 2007

By BEN FELLER

President Bush on Thursday acknowledged the deep frustration of Hurricane Katrina victims and said the federal government shares the blame for the slow recovery of the Gulf Coast.

He gave residents of the battered region a message: “The federal government still knows you exist.”

In stops across coastal Mississippi and Louisiana, Bush defended the federal allotment of $110 billion in relief aid. Of that total, less than half has been spent.

Cheney warns against early Iraq pullout

March 2, 2007

By TOM RAUM

A quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq could allow victorious Muslim extremists to fan out into other countries, with some militants going to Afghanistan to fight alongside a resurgent Taliban, Vice President Dick Cheney says.

Iraq war vets come home to find their jobs gone

March 2, 2007

By ANN McFEATTERS

Last week we learned that many of our disabled Iraq-war veterans are being shafted by the military and medical bureaucracy. Now we find out that some reservists and members of the National Guard are returning home to find their jobs gone.

Democrats share the blame for Bush’s war

March 2, 2007

By DEROY MURDOCK

In the next few weeks, President Bush should deliver a speech along these lines…

My fellow Americans:

Romney’s parallels to JFK

March 2, 2007

By CHARLES DUNN
The Providence Journal

In 1960, the junior senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, surprised political pundits by breaking through the anti-Catholic barrier and winning the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination against the opposition of two long-powerful senators, Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson.

Tracking the Richardson buzz

March 2, 2007

By KATE NASH

SANTA FE, N.M. — He rules the headlines here.

And Gov. Bill Richardson is starting to get ink in nearby states like Texas, Colorado, Nevada.

So how well does Richardson the Democratic presidential candidate come off in the rest of the nation?

Catch a falling star

March 2, 2007

By ERIKA GONZALEZ

I could have been paying bills or writing thank-you notes about gifts for my now-15-month-old son.

But instead, I was Googling Britney Spears to find pictures of her newly shorn skull. A couple clicks later and I was staring in fascination at a slide show documenting the pop star’s sad metamorphosis into Mr. Clean:

An angry Britney glaring at the paparazzi, her long brown locks still intact and spilling out from the hood of a gray sweatshirt;

Oh what a tangled, dirty political World Wide Web we weave

March 2, 2007

By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER

Let’s talk politics. But make sure there are no children around.

Just disable your adult-content filters and look online.

The Internet has become an integral part of modern politics; one-time presidential candidate Howard Dean made it an essential tool for organizing and fund-raising. But increasingly, cyberspace also has a dark side.

Democrats reject military budget cuts

March 2, 2007

By ANDREW TAYLOR

Just hours after floating the idea of cutting $20 billion from President Bush’s $142 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad was overruled by fellow Democrats Thursday.

“It’s nothing that any of us are considering,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters.

Walter Reed General sacked over shoddy conditions

March 2, 2007

The head of the U.S. Army’s top hospital was removed from his post on Thursday after troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were found to be living in shoddy conditions and struggling with a complex bureaucracy.

An Army statement said top officials had lost confidence in Maj. Gen. George Weightman’s ability “to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care” at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.