Daily Briefing: Bitterness Is For The Bitter
• Bushto declare support of "strong Europe" and desire for political-economic alliance.Bush: "I don't feel bitter, personally, and so it's easy to have a conversation with somebody to overcome bitterness if you don't feel bitter." [ NYT , WP , USAT , WT ]
•Swift Boat Vet consultants are back, baby! Hired by conservative lobbyist group USA Next to attack those nasty old people at AARP with a $10m ad budget: "They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts. We will be the dynamite that removes them." [ NYT ]
•GAO cautions agencies not to cross line with public relations efforts. Too late? [ WP ]
• Doug Weadon releasing taped conversations withBush: "If I released all the tapes, it would be an act of betrayal. Most of them have never seen the light of day and never will." Yeah, because just releasings *some* isn't a betrayal at all. [ WP , USAT ]
•Ambassador to Belgium describesBushtrip: "It's a very big deal. Advance people have been looking and measuring and walking and testing lights and moving chairs for the last two weeks." [ NYT ]
• Specterfighting conservatives and disease: It's been "the toughest week of my life." [ USAT , USAT ]
• Edwardshas not ruled out '08 run, even ifKerrytries again: "I'll decide what's the right thing to do based on what's going on with my own family." [ LAT ]
• Brownsteinsees civil war over judicial nominations because "neither side sees political gain in compromise." [ LAT ]
• Kennedyfundraising across country in hopes of running for reelection without an opponent. [ BG ]
• Voinovichrips government waste. [ WP ]
•Following the shrimp is more accurate than following the money, writesBirnbaum. [ WP ]