Political Posturing: Consent from Rove
• Gonzales' nomination is a set-up designed byRoveto thank conservative base. Appointment would allowGonzalesto gain conservative credentials before future appointment to Supreme Court while enablingBushto nominate a conservative --possiblyWilkinsonorLuttig-- for the first open seat.Bushwants appointments decided by Thanksgiving to focus on agenda. [ NYT ]
• Bush, meeting withBlair, could break administration tradition by appointing special envoy to Middle East and reaching out to Europeans for cooperation;Arafat's death considered opportunity "both to make progress and to show thatBushis trying." [ WP , NYT , USAT ]
•Evangelicals want staunch support of agenda, fear loss of influence as GOP turns moderate: "If the GOP wants to expand and govern effectively, it can't play both sides of the fence anymore. It needs a coherent message, which came through loud and clear in the election." [ LAT ]
•Republicans expected to play hardball with judicial choices.Frist: "[T]he filibuster of judicial nominees must end." [ NYT ]
• Bushwill delay intelligence reform legislation to avoid challenging Department of Defense. Aide: "It would takeAndy CardorBushmaking phone calls to get this done." [ LAT ]
•Hispanic groups pleased withGonzalesbut civil liberties organizations call for tough hearings, particularly to answer questions related to Abu Ghraib. [ WP ]
• Bushhonors veterans, young and old. [ WT , BG ]
• Bloombergnearly cancelled his convention speech whenBushaides tried to censor comments attacking Republicans in Congress; one line was eventually removed following consent fromRove. [ NYT ]
• Robert Blackwill, former White House official for Iraq policy, reportedly resigned afterRicescolded him for misconduct towards a female staffer in Kuwait; details are sketchy. [ WP ]
•Experts quickly debunked blogosphere election conspiracy theories: "Some from the traditional media have called for an explanation, but no one from these blogs has called and said, 'We want to know what really happened.'" [ NYT ]
•Despite scattered problems, e-voting was generally flawless. [ NYT ]
•AARP announces opposition of plan to divert some payroll taxes to private retirement accounts; will support incentives for private supplemental accounts. [ NYT ]
•Wall Street's bonanza from Social Security privatization unlikely to come within next ten years. [ WSJ ]