Daily Briefing: His Cult of Personality Is His Plainness Edition
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• Bushbelieves "accountability moment" was the election;Bartlettsays president's support of marriage amendment has not diminished. [ NYT ]
• Bartlett: "There's no expectation that career employees [of the Social Security Administration] would be asked to advocate on behalf of any specific prescription for Social Security. But one thing they can do, and what anybody can do, is to look at the numbers, and they're undeniable." [ NYT ]
• Fristhints at Social Security cuts. [ WP ]
• Bush, under pressure fromJeb, Martinezrethinks retiring USS Kennedy; loss of carrier would be blow to Jacksonville economy. [ WP ]
• Riceto outline goals in opening statement of hearings;PowellonRice: "Now her challenge is not to just deal with strong and different points of view and coordinate them; she is now one of them." [ WP , NYT ]
• Kennedy"leaning against" voting forGonzales. [ WP ]
• Bushdynasty, unlike most, has upward trajectory. Scholar: "His cult of personality is his plainness." [ WP ]
•22 gay rights groups publish common goals, including the end of military restrictions and opposition to anti-gay marriage legislation. [ WP ]
•New chairman of Civil Rights Commission: "I am not a civil rights activist." Critic: "It signals the end of the commission as an independent voice for the protection of civil and human rights." [ WP ]
•TheGingrichbrand is rehabilitated.Gingrich: "Think of me as the domestic equivalent ofHenry Kissinger... I am an ally, not a subordinate." [ LAT ]
•Democrats wooJim Wallis, prominent left-leaning evangelical Protestant. [ NYT ]
•Seeing future voters, parties court youngsters. [ WSJ ]