Letter From Washington: American Politicians Narrow the Sex Scandal Gap
July 5, 2009
American political scandals lacked the sauciness of British sex scandals. But now the Americans have caught up.
Q and A on the Climate Bill
July 5, 2009
The climate bill approved by the House last month started out as an idea — fight global warming — and wound up looking like an unabridged dictionary. It runs to more than 1,400 pages, swollen with loopholes and giveaways meant to win over un-green industries and wary legislators.
Biden: Administration ‘misread’ economy
July 5, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden said the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was" but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up.
Biden, in an interview airing Sunday on ABC’s "This Week," said the nation’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate is "much too high."
"The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there," Biden said.
Powell: Iraq surge too little too late
July 5, 2009
Colin Powell says the U.S. took too long to strengthen its forces in Iraq after Baghdad fell early in the war.
Powell, the nation’s top military officer under President George H.W. Bush and secretary of state for President George W. Bush, said the decision to use a lighter force to defeat the Iraqi army was correct. But he said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that the younger Bush’s administration should have realized the initial success in 2003 was only the start of a longer fight.
Obama needs more votes to accomplish goals
July 5, 2009
Congress returns for its midsummer session Monday with a Senate supermajority not super enough for President Barack Obama’s top priorities to pass without Republican support.
Obama Raises Concerns About Freedom and Judicial Independence in Russia
July 5, 2009
President Obama raised concerns about the treatment of a businessman, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, who along with his partner has been put back on trial six years after they were first arrested.
Biden Suggests U.S. Not Standing in Israel’s Way on Iran
July 5, 2009
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested Sunday that the U.S. would not stand in the way of Israeli military action aimed at Iran’s nuclear program.
GOP rivals say Palin’s ploy won’t work
July 5, 2009
One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won’t help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush’s chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Palin’s announcement that she would not seek a second term — and leave office before finishing her first — simply doesn’t make sense in a conventional political setting. Karl Rove, a longtime Bush counselor, said Palin has engaged in a "risky strategy."
White House does not favor second stimulus now: Biden
July 5, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and his advisers do not favor second stimulus package now to cut the highest U.S. unemployment rate in nearly 26 years, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday.