In an interview with NPR, the White House’s “war czar” Gen. Doug Lute said that “it makes sense to certainly consider” a military draft. “I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation’s security by one means or another.” Listen to it:

Center for American Progress analysts Lawrence Korb and Max Bergmann wrote recently, “Considering the current state of the Army, if the president wants to sustain a substantial number of U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the next 18 months, he should call for reinstating the draft. … Yet the president will never call for the draft. He knows the country would never support the level of sacrifice for this war that implementing a draft would demand.”

Listen to the full interview of Lute here.

Two American Bar Association committees say that “President Bush’s recent order on CIA interrogations of terror suspects should be overturned” as it still permits harsh treatment in violation of international treaties. “The CIA should follow the same rigorous standards adopted by the military that are intended, in part, to ensure that captured U.S. soldiers are extended the same protections,” according to an ABA resolution expected to be adopted next week. “The CIA should not be exempted from rules that guide even our armed forces,” ABA president Karen Mathis said.

In a new survey of media users and their attitudes by Pew Research, Fox News viewers “stand out among the TV news audience for their negative evaluations of news organizations’ practices“:

Fully 63% of Americans who count Fox as their main news source say news stories are often inaccurate — a view held by fewer than half of those who cite CNN (46%) or network news (41%) as their main source.

Similarly, Fox viewers are far more likely to say the press is too critical of America (52% vs. 36% of CNN viewers and 29% of network news viewers). And the Fox News Channel audience gives starkly lower ratings to network news programs and national newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post…

For example, fully 71% of Fox News Republicans hold an unfavorable opinion of major national newspapers, compared with 52% of Republicans who use other sources, and 33% of those who are not Republicans.

Yesterday, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed he “was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers…in that sense, I’m one of them.” Election Central obtained video of the comments. Watch it:

After receiving harsh criticism from 9/11 rescue workers, Giuliani attempted to clarify his comments today on conservative Mike Gallagher’s radio show:

“I think I could have said it better,” he told nationally syndicated radio host Mike Gallagher. “You know, what I was saying was, ‘I’m there with you.’” [...]

“What I was trying to say yesterday is that I empathize with them, because I feel like I have that same risk,” he said.

“There were people there less than me, people on my staff, who already have had serious health consequences, and they weren’t there as often as I was,” Giuliani said, “but I wasn’t trying to suggest a competition of any kind, which is the way it come across.”

Giuliani’s attempt at mollifying the outrage over his attempt to tie himself to 9/11 rescue workers didn’t satisfy many of his critics:

“He is such a liar, because the only time he was down there was for photo ops with celebrities, with politicians, with diplomats,” said deputy fire chief Jimmy Riches, who spent months digging for his firefighter son.

“On 9/11 all he did was run. He got that soot on him, and I don’t think he’s taken a shower since.”

UPDATE: The Politicker has the audio of Rudy’s radio appearance.

UPDATE II: Watch 9/11 rescue workers John Graham and Reggie Cervantes criticize Giuliani. Both of them appeared in Michael Moore’s SiCKO. For his part, Moore will be hosting a fundraiser for 9/11 rescue workers tomorrow.

The Financial Times reports that Republicans find President Bush politically radioactive but can’t say that publicly. “We are caught in a bind,” says a senior staffer on one of the campaigns. “We cannot attack George Bush because we would be punished for disloyalty by the party base. And we cannot endorse him because that would be suicide. So we tip-toe around.”

Yesterday, President Bush took off for his vacation home in Crawford, TX, where he has already “spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency.” With 17 months left in office, Bush is on course to beat “the presidential vacation-time record holder,” the late Ronald Reagan, “who tallied 436 days in his two terms.” Bush’s vacation will mark the 65th time he has visited Crawford as President.