• Sen. Specter (R-Pa.) proposes to give Bush the choice of getting a warrant from a special court for surveillance programs; proposal would specifically not limit presidential powers. Specter: “I think he [Cheney] is serious about trying to work something out. For the first time, he said they are willing to consider legislation.” [WP]
• Cheney says his communications with Sen. Specter “are not unusual.” Specter: “He does not face head on; he does not deal with his not having taken it up with the chairman. This isn’t me personally; this is institutional. This is not the way government works, to deal with a committee without going through the chairman.” [WP, NYT]
• Rep. DeLay (R-Tex.) gives “defiant retirement speech”: “I did a good job… Given the chance to do it all again, there’s only one thing I’d change. I’d fight even harder.” [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will provide little reprieve for Republians feeling political heat. Official: “We don’t want another ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment.” [WSJ]
• Troop levels in Iraq will not be down to 100,000 by the end of this year. [NYT]
• Senate is three votes shy of repealing the estate tax. Sen. Lott (R-Miss.): “The conservative base will appreciate the fact that we are trying.” [NYT, LAT, WSJ, USAT]

• House and Senate negotiators agree on $94.5B for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf Coast; Bush gets his way on hurricane relief. [WP]
• Congressional Black Caucus opposes leadership move to get Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) off of the Ways and Means Committee. [LAT]
• Police suspect computer containing Veterans Affairs data was stolen for parts, not names. [WP, NYT]
• Rep. DeLay’s former chief of staff was a top recipient of privately funded travel; cost of trips totaled $85,000. [WP]
• Congress is aging; the average age in the Senate is 60.4 years. [USAT]

• Reliable Source: In the past year, Bush received $17,316 in personal gifts and Cheney netted $39,722 worth… Woody Harrelson and Kristin Scott Thomas are filming in Foggy Bottom… Dresses worn by “political ladies” hit eBay for Gulf Coast charity… Nancy Pelosi seen lunching with Zbigniew Brzezinski. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) calls CNN’s Joe Johns a “smartass”… Gore’s film premieres tonight at the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium. [Roll Call]
• Page Six: Advisors to Katherine Harris may be plotting a tell-all book and documentary. [NYP]
• Cindy Adams: Condoleezza Rice to the NFL?… St. Martin’s is throwing a party at the Cosmos Club for Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, and Terry McAuliffe [NYP]

• House Appropriations Committee votes overwhelmingly to block Dubai ports deal; measure was attached to war spending bill. [WP]
• For Republican lawmakers, “political considerations” trump loyalty to Bush over port deal and, to a lesser extent, eavesdropping. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO): “If there was ever a good time for Congress to figure out oversight, it would be in the sixth year of a presidency.” [NYT]
• Senate compromise would permit eavesdropping on Americans without court warrant; administration would have 45 days to prove individual cases. [NYT]
• Bush accuses Congress of underfunding Gulf Coast reconstruction: “Congress heard our message about improving the levees, but they shortchanged the process by about $1.5 billion.” [WP, NYT]
• Senators agree to reject meals and gifts from lobbyists. [WP, NYT]
• Jack Abramoff to Vanity Fair: “Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn’t know me is almost certainly lying.” [NYT]
• Senate Republicans try to trim Bush’s spending requests for defense and foreign aid. [W$J]
• South Dakota expected to start trend of states rethinking abortion rights; nine others are moving to limit the procedure. [W$J]
• Michael Chertoff looks for the high road as others point fingers of blame — and some directly at him. [NYT]

• Administration requests $72.4b for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan plus $19.8b for the Gulf Coast. [NYT, W$J, WT]
• Senate, under pressure from the administration, will not investigate NSA eavesdropping; House inquiry moves forward. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Bush has no problem with handling of Cheney’s hunting accident: “This is a man who likes the outdoors, and he likes to hunt… I’m satisfied with the explanation he gave.” [NYT, USAT]
• Texas police close their investigation of hunting accident without making criminal charges. [WP]
• Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) denies wrongdoing in new lobbying scandal but asks for ethics investigation. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Is Cheney more of a liability for Republicans than an asset? [W$J]

• Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) wants to toughen rules on leaking. [WP]
• Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) is leading the effort to protect whistle-blowers: “It’s absolutely essential that we have a system that allows people to speak out about abuses, especially in the national security realm.” [NYT]
• Democrats want to remove Gonzales from Justice Department investigation of lobbying. [WT]
• House Republicans block effort by Rep. Nancy Pelosi to start ethics investigation of budget bill. [NYT]
• Filibuster of Patriot Act ends. [WT]
• Rumsfeld responds to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.): “The idea that you should paint a picture and hang crepe over it, that everything’s horrible in Iraq, is not true.” [WT]
• Since 1990, Democrats have received $53m from lobbyists while Republicans have collected $48m. [WT]
• Immigration issue could undermine Republican popularity in Florida. [WP]

• FEMA and the White House knew of levee failure earlier than previously disclosed; also, “officials knew long before the storm showed up on the radar that 100,000 people in New Orleans” had no exit strategy. [NYT, NYT]
• Former top CIA official accuses the administration of “cherry-picking” intelligence to justify war against Iraq and suppressing warnings about post-war conditions: “It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community’s own work was politicized.” [WP]
• Lewis Libby says “supervisors” authorized leaks of classified documents about Iraq’s weapons programs. [NYT, W$J]
• Bush defends eavesdropping by citing foiled terror plot against Los Angeles: “We cannot let the fact that America hasn’t been attacked in four and a half years since September 11, 2001, lull us into the illusion that the threats to our nation have disappeared. They have not.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
• Jack Abramoff says he met with Bush in “almost a dozen settings” over the last five years. [WP, NYT]
• Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) received about $68,000 from Abramoff’s firm; ties found between lobbyist and Reid’s staff. [WP]

• White House reaches compromise with key senators over the Patriot Act. [WP, NYT, WT, LAT]
• Michael Brown will testify today about FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina. [WP, NYT]
• Cheney says eavesdropping issue should be campaign topic. [WP]
• Conservatives “seem less celebratory than divided.” [NYT, LAT]
• Most programs facing cuts by Bush have seen the threat before. [USAT]
• House Republicans include ethics course in weekend retreat. [WT]
• Cindy Sheehan decides not to run against Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). [LAT]

• Gonzales testifies for seven hours about warrentless eavesdropping; defends legality of program but largely avoids providing specifics. Gonzales: “Think about the reaction, the public reaction that has arisen in some quarters about this program. If the president had authorized domestic surveillance as well, even though we’re talking about al Qaeda-to-al Qaeda, I think the reaction would have been twice as great. And so there was a judgment made that this was the appropriate line to draw in ensuring the security of our country and the protection of the privacy interests of Americans.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
• Bush proposes $2.77t budget that would cut funds from most federal agencies while increasing military funding by 7%; deficit would be record $423b. The “patchwork of generosity and austerity reflects the priorities of Bush, who has defined his administration’s central goal as combating terrorist threats.” [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT, WT]
• Budget could be “risky election-year strategy” for Republican lawmakers. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.): “Politically, the right thing to do this year is also the popular thing to do, and that is to cut spending.” [LAT, NYT, USAT]
• Budget predictions depend on tax overhaul, an end to the war in Iraq, and no new funds for the Gulf Coast. [WP, NYT, USAT, USAT]
• Republicans lack unity over eavesdropping issue. Sen. Specter (R-Pa.): “I think they are seeing concerns in a lot of directions from all segments: Democrats and Republicans in all shades of the political spectrum.” [WP]

• Democrats seem “coordinated” in questioning of Gonzales but political risks remain. Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.): “Like everyone else in this room, I want the president to have all the legal tools he needs as we work together to keep our nation safe and free, including wiretapping.” [NYT]
• Eavesdropping debate hinges on interpretations of 1978 law and 2001 resolution. [NYT]
• Bush proposes equal pay raise for civilians and the military. [WP]
• Gonzales showed “little deference” to Senate panel. [WP]
• Sen. Clinton responds to criticism from Ken Mehlman by accusing GOP of “trying to divert attention away from their many failures and shortcomings.” [NYT]

• House Republicans elect Ohio Rep. John Boehner as majority leader, signaling break from status quo. Boehner: “The members wanted to make a big decision, and they did… We must act swiftly to restore the trust between Congress and the American people.” [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT, WT, W$J]
• Election of Boehner heralds his comeback and shows a “cry of concern by an entrenched Republican majority”; Boehner “tapped into members’ election-year anxieties about the GOP’s scandal-scuffed leadership.” [WP, WP, NYT]
• Administration seeks $120b for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Democrats attack Republican rhetoric at hearing on security threats; insist on more oversight. Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.V.): “I am deeply troubled by what I see as the administration’s continued effort to selectively release intelligence information that supports its policy or political agenda while withholding equally pertinent information that does not do that.” [WP, WP, NYT, USAT, WT]

• White House requests additional $18b for Gulf Coast reconstruction, but officials and lawmakers are skeptical. [NYT]
• Senate, by vote of 66 to 31, approves $70b in tax cuts over five years. [WP]
• Bush presses for permanent corporate tax breaks to encourage innovation. [NYT, WP]
• Lewis Libby has defense fund of over $2m. [NYT]
• Energy researchers are squeezed out between differing goals of the White House and Congress. [NYT]

• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) claims to have over 100 of the 116 votes necessary to be majority leader. [WP]
• Bush visits the Gulf Coast for the first time in three months: "Four months is not all that long, and a lot's happened in that four-month period. And a lot more is going to happen in the next four months, and then the next four months." [WP, NYT, W$J]
• Leadership races "are a special kind of art form"; Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Blunt "barely waited for the ink to dry on DeLay's farewell letter earlier this month before jumping into the race for the second-ranking job." [WP]
• Administration may set standards for domestic intelligence. [WP]
• Deficit could top $400b, White House official says. [WP, NYT]
• Rumsfeld considered Bremer's request for additional troops. [WP]
• 200 private school girls rally to encourage Bush to improve New Orleans levees. [NYT]

• Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) says Congress rejected White House request for the authority to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens: "I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up. I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps. I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance." [WP, WP]
• Congress has turned on Bush. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): "What you have seen is a Congress, which has been AWOL through intimidation or lack of unity, get off the sidelines and jump in with both feet." [WP, LAT]
• Republican lawmakers "largely have themselves to blame for the muddled and haphazard finale of the Congressional session." [NYT]
• House and Senate extend the Patriot Act for five weeks, pushing fight into the new year. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Bush approves reduction of U.S. combat forces in Iraq; troop level could fall to 130,000. [WP, USAT]
• John Yoo, "a mere deputy assistant attorney general in the legal counsel office," was the main author of controversial legal policies; viewed as an aggressive force among conservative legal scholars. Yoo: "If you're being criticized for what you did and you believe that what you did was right, you shouldn't take it lying down. You should go out and defend yourself." [NYT]
• Michael Brown warned Tom Ridge in 2003 that the bureaucracy of the DHS would strangle FEMA's effectiveness: "People became distracted from the mission, because we spent so much time and energy fighting for resources and working on reorganization. It just disintegrated our capacity." [WP, WT]

• Supreme Court has shied away from defining the precedent of the eavesdropping program. [NYT]
• Administration cites '78 law to defend eavesdropping program. [NYT]
• Most Congressional leaders initially supported the eavesdropping program. [NYT]
• Republicans "hold" the Senate Intelligence Authorization Bill for the first time in 27 years. [WP]
• Congress approves $29b for the Gulf Coast. [WP]
• Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) distances himself from Christian group that advocated intelligent design. [WP]
• 72% of Americans disagree with Pentagon's propaganda campaign in Iraq. [USAT]
• Independent writers and researchers are often quietly backed by lobbyists without disclosure. [NYT]

• Butterstick: is he the Second Coming? Whatever, y'all, we're too blinded by the supernova of cuteosity.

• Here's a shock. Apparently, suspending habeas corpus at Gitmo may have had some unintended consequences.

• Before you plunge your obelisk into her tidal basin, make sure you're covered in scaffolding.

• Does the religious right give a **** about the poor? Don't spend all night on the roof of your Lower Ninth Ward shanty wondering! [Answer: No. of course they don't.]

• Bill O'Reilly got his facts wrong? This looks like a case for Totally **** ing Obvious Man!

• Radar gets in one last shot at Jenna before going belly up.— DCEIVER

• Pentagon has a tentative plan to withdraw about 50,000 troops from Iraq over the next year. [WP]
• For oil executives who were involved in the energy task force, the truth depends on what the meaning of "participation" is. Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D-N.J.) definition: "If you're doing anything more than breathing in the room when you're there. Even if you're a silent observer." [WP]
• Bush allegedly talked to Tony Blair about bombing Al-Jazeera. Scott McClellan: "We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response." [WP]
• FEMA will extend housing subsidies for Gulf Coast evacuees. [WP, NYT]
• Administration formally charges Jose Padilla ahead of Monday deadline; "the government has yet to settle on a consistent strategy for holding and punishing people it says are terrorists." [NYT, NYT, WT, USAT, USAT]
• Judge delays decision on throwing out charges against Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). [WP, LAT, NYT]

• Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) doesn't know what all the fuss is about: "I am amazed at what a national story this has become." [WP]
• Bush pardons two turkeys and sends them to Disneyland. PETA flack: "It's hard to argue with Disneyland." [NYT]
• White House defends Samuel Alito on districting issue, saying he "has told senators that he believes 'one man one vote' is bedrock principle." [NYT]
• Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) calls for a "limited drawdown" from Iraq: "Those of us in Washington have fallen behind the debate that is taking place across America on Iraq. We are failing to provide leadership on this issue." [WP]

• Bush shifts his response to critics of the Iraq war: "People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq. . . This is not an issue of who's [a] patriot and who's not patriotic. It's an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq." Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.): "They have been overly optimistic, illusionary about their policy. This is not a war of words; this is a real war where people are getting killed." [WP, NYT, WT, USAT]
• CIA Director Porter Goss: "We use lawful capabilities to collect vital information, and we do it in a variety of unique and innovative ways, all of which are legal and none of which are torture." [USAT, USAT, USAT]
• Costs associated with rebuilding the Gulf Coast could top $100b; Bush loyalist assumes control of reconstruction effort. [WP, WP]
• Bush has a little fun in China by exercising; White House officials and some journalists enjoy Outback Steakhouse there. [WP]
• Bush returns home after making virtually no news on tour of Asia; the president of China is open to economic reforms but not interested in increasing political freedoms. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House associates speculate that Bush "has long been aware that the vice president oversold the case on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction." [NYT]

• "Firestorm" over Murtha may spill over into the issue of detainee treatment. [WSJ]
• The "little triumvirate" of Republican Senators Warner, McCain, and Graham are forging their own path. [NYT]
• Samuel Alito "has sided almost uniformly with those who have complained vigorously in recent years that zealousness in enforcing the Constitution's separation of church and state has unfairly inhibited religious practices." [NYT]
• Interest groups move to localize the debate over Alito beginning this holiday weekend. [NYT]
• Bill Clinton calls for less "demonizing" in political debates. [USAT]
• With 27 months to go until the primary, Gov. Mark Warner (D-Va.) soaks up New Hampshire and admits whitening his teeth. [WP]
• How can Howard Kurtz be impartial about CNN and The Washington Post? How does he even have the time to produce so much analysis? [NYT]

• Democrats win concession on the investigation of pre-war intelligence by holding private Senate session; Republicans outraged by maneuver. Bill Frist: "This is an affront to me personally [and] an affront to the United States of America." Harry Reid: "The American people had a victory today." [WP, NYT, LAT, WT]
• White House hopes to avoid filibuster attempt by selling Alito to moderates; Karl Rove is "deeply involved" in the strategy. Arlen Specter: "I hope we do not come back to the terrible schism we had. That just about tore the Senate apart, and it has the potential to do it again, except that the stakes would be bigger. You are talking about the Supreme Court." [WP, NYT, NYT, LAT, WT]
• Bush calls for $7b in emergency spending for avian flu preparedness: "[I]f we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, and one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today." [WP, NYT]
• Democrats want to use Alito's conservative record "to drive a wedge between Republicans and swing voters who could be critical in next year's midterm elections." [WSJ]
• Samuel Alito's "legal reasoning" implies his disapproval of Roe v. Wade; legal history shows "his thinking is shaped by a traditional concept of marriage." [WP, NYT]
• Liberal colleagues of Alito say he is no ideologue. Said one attorney, "He didn't decide cases based on ideology, and his record was not extremely conservative." [LAT]
• Judge in the trial of Tom DeLay is removed from the case because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• DeLay is angering some Republicans by not relinquishing influential role. Said one congressman, "My issue is having an indicted former leader hanging around the leadership offices... Why does he want to stick around? He's not helping us." [WP]

• Administration officials are split over standards for torture of detainees. [NYT]
• White House threatens to veto budget bill if lawmakers cut funding for insurers partaking in Medicare. [NYT]
• Frist forgot to count to 10 and "exploded," writes Dana Milbank [WP]
• Advisory panel urges the elimination of many popular tax breaks. [NYT, WP, WT]
• David Addington, Cheney's new chief of staff, noted as "smart, secretive and direct." [NYT]
• Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) received "a free trip to Asia a month after getting a federal courthouse named for the father of a lawyer who paid for [the] trip"; he calls it a coincidence. [LAT]
• Prince Charles and Camilla descend on Washington today with large entourage and many outfits. [WT]
• Alito, Roberts, Bernanke represent "the rise of the Republican A students," writes David Ignatius. [WP]

• Patrick Fitzgerald presents his case to the grand jury; Karl Rove's legal team is on the defense about possible perjury charges. White House officials "are girding for at least one senior administration official to be indicted." [WP, NYT]
• Arlen Specter will quiz Harriet Miers on her ability to be impartial with cases involving Bush; Christian group calls for her withdrawal. [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• White House reinstates the Davis-Bacon Act for the Gulf Coast. [WP]
• Bush calls for spending cuts to compensate for hurricane relief spending. [NYT, WT]
• Senators irked that Miers' former firm promoted and profited from tax shelters. [WP]
• Pundits, bloggers wait anxiously for potential indictments. DeLay's flack: "There's a certain element of 'Groundhog Day' to all this." [WSJ, WP, WP]
• Administration wants intelligence agencies to "bolster the growth of democracy." [NYT]

• DeLay realizes that some contributions to his defense fund were not disclosed. [NYT]
• Rove's aide is embroiled in the leak investigation and the Abramoff scandal. [NYT]
• Kerry proposes to reduce U.S. military presence in Iraq; wants to withdraw 20,000 troops this year. Milbank: "Better late than never." [WP, WP]
• House approves increased oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [WP, NYT]
• Hurricane relief package includes a provision that doubles the percent of adjusted gross income that donors can deduct on their taxes, from 50% to 100%. [NYT]
• Michael Brown will be on the government's pay roll for another month as a contractor. [NYT]

• Fitzgerald will not issue a final report and possible indictments are not expected this week; lawyers involved say the prosecutor is "leaning toward indictments but continuing to weigh thousands of pages of documents and testimony." [NYT]
• Miers supported abortion ban in 1989; today she insists the court should not determine "social policy." McClellan: "[P]ersonal views and ideology and religion have no role to play when it comes to making decisions on the bench." [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Miers' questionnaire lifts support among Republicans; Democrats have concerns about her abortion views. [LAT, WSJ]
• Miers was vetted by a few White House "insiders"; she met with Bush but not with Cheney or Rove. [USAT]
• Bush "made his displeasure known" to Rove two years ago and has "made his life miserable about" the leak investigation, says "presidential counselor." [NYDN]
• Bush announces $32b domestic security bill: "We're going to get control of our borders. We'll make this country safer for all our citizens." [NYT, LAT, WSJ, WT]
• White House to reduce next Gulf Coast relief package to around $20b. [WSJ]
• Republicans losing support among conservatives, moderates, and independents. Ronald Brownstein: "This two-front war complicates the challenge for the GOP as Bush tries to regain the initiative in Washington and the party prepares for the 2006 midterm elections." [LAT]

• Presidential tax commission unveils two simplified options; designed as a framework for upcoming proposals. [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Republicans seek expansion of FBI's powers in regards to terrorism investigations. [NYT]
• 9/11 Commission members set to criticize White House and FBI in new report. [NYT]
• Miers holds assets of about $1.3m; drives a used Mercedes. [NYT]
• Senate intelligence committee will press Porter Goss today on the revival of CIA. [WP]
• Senate scraps 1.9% raise for lawmakers. [USAT]

• Attorneys for Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee express "uniform disappointment" with Miers and are "pushing back against her." Said one lawyer, "Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact." [NYT]
• Dobson says Rove assured him that Miers is a conservative evangelical Christian, though Roe v. Wade "was never part of our discussion"; Rove reportedly explained that alternative candidates removed their names "because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter." [LAT, WT]
• Judith Miller will testify for a second day today; prosecutors are investigating earlier conversations between administration officials and journalists. [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Laura says criticisms of Miers might be sexist. William Kristol: "It is striking to me they are spending less time explaining the merits of Harriet Miers and more time. . . using liberal talking points to criticize the critics. I think it is going to backfire." [WP, NYT, WT]
• White House strategy shifts focus to Miers' religious credibility. [USAT]
• Bush in New Orleans: "Out of this rubble is going to come some good; out of the devastation is going to come new cities and new hope." [NYT]
• Milbank on Bush's "Today" interview: "The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere." [WP]
• DeLay remains a go-to, agenda-setting congressman. [NYT]
• McCain advances his own agenda ahead of the White House and the Republican leadership. McCain: "Do I want to be president? Sure. Do I want to run for president? That's the question." [WSJ]

• Senators Gregg and Kennedy propose that a new federal agency with a cabinet-level czar coordinate the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast. [WSJ]
• Negroponte takes "extraordinary step" by posting 6,000-word letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri, a top al Qaeda leader, on its website. [NYT]
• Supreme Court will decide on legal limits of the Clean Water Act. [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Bush's tax advisory panel will "recommend limits in the popular tax deductions for mortgage interest and employer-provided health insurance." [NYT, WSJ]
• Miers acknowledged her admiration of Warren Burger, though the wording of the conversation is up in the air. [WP]
• Ethics experts are skeptical that Frist could avoid conflicts of interests concerning health stocks. [WP]
• Howard Kurtz: "The newsgathering mission of the Times. . . has collided with the understandably human need to protect its reporter. In such a circumstance, the journalism must come first." [WP]
• Earle refuses subpoena from DeLay's defense team. [LAT]
• Clinton will fundraise for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Timothy Kaine. [WP]

• Bush packs for Texas as Hurricane Rita approaches. [NYT]
• Senate Judiciary Committee approves Roberts by vote of 13 to 5. [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Defying White House calls to control spending, the Senate passes $100b bill for farm and rural development and approves $82.9b military bill. [WSJ]
• Department of Homeland Security is playing hands-on role in preparations for Hurricane Rita. [WSJ]
• Bush says pulling out of Iraq "would allow the terrorists to claim an historic victory over the United States" and "make that country a source of terror and instability. . . for decades." [USAT]
• Jack Abramoff bragged about his close relationship with Karl Rove, says Tyco executive. [WP]

• Biden, Hatch captured the confirmation hearings on their camera phones. [WP]
• Minority business owners in the Gulf Coast complain that no-bid contracts block them from Katrina-related contracts. [WSJ]
• Over 100,000 are expected at anti-war rally on Saturday; Sheehan set to speak. [USAT]
• Goss still faces uphill challenge at reforming the CIA. [NYT]
• SEC is interested in Frist's stock sale. [NYT]
• 43 countries have promised aid totaling $800m for Katrina relief. [WT]

• Bush addresses nation from New Orleans: "Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes -- we will stay as long as it takes -- to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know: There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again." [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Some conservatives call for spending cuts to offset costs of Gulf Coast relief. [WSJ, NYT]
• "Bush's objective last night was to set out a strategy and commitment for recovery along the Gulf Coast. But the critical question is whether the damage will limit his ability to govern effectively in the remaining 40 months of his presidency and whether he will be able to focus on, let alone win approval for, major initiatives other than Katrina and Iraq," writes Dan Balz. [WP, USAT]
• Roberts displays "more open demeanor" during third day of confirmation hearings: "I'm not an ideologue." [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT, USAT]
• "Democrats were unable to bloody the nominee significantly. . . the fourth and final day of hearings into Roberts left the firm impression that senators were just going through the motions," writes Dana Milbank. [WP]

• Democrats consider their options in voting for or against Roberts. [NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Katrina sidelines GOP quest to restructure Social Security. [WP]
• Bush okays 22 military base closures and 33 base reconfigurations. [WP]
• Clinton holds assembly of world leaders in shadow of UN meeting. [WP, NYT]

• Bush, during address tonight, will announce plans to put the nation "on pace to spend more in the next year on the storm's aftermath than it has over three years on the Iraq war." [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Distrust and disapproval of Bush and the government at large is growing, according to two new polls. NBC/WSJ poll: 55% want to withdraw troops from Iraq and 75% believe the nation is not prepared for nuclear, biological or chemical attack. CBS/NYT poll: Bush's approval rating slips to 41% and 68% think Bush lacks a clear plan for hurricane victims. [WSJ, NYT]
• Democrats complain Roberts is evading questions. Roberts: "I'm not standing for election." Hatch: "If people can't vote for you, then I doubt that they can vote for any Republican nominee." [WP, NYT, WSJ, WP, NYT]
• Bush at the United Nations: "When a country or a region is filled with despair and resentment and vulnerable to violent and aggressive ideologies, the threat passes easily across oceans and borders and could threaten the security of any peaceful country." [WP, WP, NYT]
• Nearly 150 killed and over 500 injured by at least a dozen suicide blasts in Baghdad; Al Qaeda group claims responsibility. [NYT, USAT]

• Republicans hope to test conservative ideas such as school vouchers in the rebuilding of Gulf Coast. [WSJ]
• Michael Brown says on Monday, August 29th, he "was beginning to realize things were going to hell in a handbasket." [NYT]
• Blanco, Nagin accept blame for failures. [USAT]
• Congressional hearings weigh FEMA's future. [WSJ, NYT]
• 9/11 commission members are unsettled by lack of progress on domestic security. [NYT]