Harwood: McCain ‘Has Benefited From Very Friendly Press Coverage For Many Years’
Harwood: McCain ‘Has Benefited From Very Friendly Press Coverage For Many Years’
During a discussion of the possible presidential general election match-up between Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) on Meet the Press this morning, John Harwood — CNBC correspondent and New York Times political writer — said that the McCain campaign is already “trying to work the referees in advance” to argue that Obama gets more favorable media coverage than McCain.
But Harwood noted that some would find McCain’s strategy “ironic” because the press — whom according to Harwood were McCain’s “base” in 2000 — have been “very friendly” to McCain over the years:
HARWOOD: Now John McCain has benefited from very friendly press coverage for many years, but he’s going to try to argue, which will have a corollary benefit of rally conservatives if he can pull it off, of saying the press wants Obama to win. I’m pushing back…
RUSSERT: In 2000, Fohn McCain referred to the press as his base.
HARWOOD: They were his base.
Watch it:
Indeed, the press have been “very friendly” to McCain, who has even reciprocated with kind gestures of his own. After hosting a barbecue last March for reporters covering his campaign, one attendee from the AP wrote an article shortly thereafter calling McCain a “man of the people” for taking a high-speed train despite noting he rode first class.
But as a number of high profile political reporters have noted, someday the media will scrutinize McCain, they’re just not sure when.
Bloch dismissed Office of Special Counsel probe of Siegelman case.
Bloch dismissed Office of Special Counsel probe of Siegelman case.
Last September, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) opened an investigation “into whether partisan politics were a factor in the Justice Department’s prosecution of former Democratic Alabama governor Don Siegelman on corruption charges in 2006.” But a memo written last January by OSC career investigators has revealed that OSC chief Scott Bloch — whose office and home were recently raided by the FBI — ordered the Siegelman case closed, “saying that he had not authorized it.” According to the memo, Bloch also diverted focus and attention from other high profile cases, including the political activities of former White House aide Karl Rove and DoJ’s hiring practices:
Among various concerns, the staffers said the office’s probe of the political briefings was overly broad. […] They recommend narrowing the focus and completing key interviews before proceeding with the related probe into Rove’s activities. […]
The career investigators also wrote of their long-standing desire to open a probe into allegations that certain Justice Department officials considered political affiliation in their hiring and promotion decisions. Bloch told them not to open one last August, then approved a limited investigation in November. In their memo, the staffers pushed for more.
McCain ad contains dubious Spanish translation on new immigration policies.
McCain ad contains dubious Spanish translation on new immigration policies.
Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) latest effort to have it both ways on immgration is illustrated in a new English narrated Spanish-language ad. In the ad, McCain touts “pro-innovation immigration policies” in English (a move to seemingly appease the right wing base), but the Spanish text that appears simultaneous to that declaration trumpets “Immigration Policy Innovation,” a term that makes it sound like he supports comprehensive immigration reform. Watch it:
Lost in translation? Maybe. But because McCain’s immigration position has flip-flopped-flipped, the evidence suggests deliberate deception. More on this story over at the Wonk Room.
Starbucks dubbed ‘Slutbucks’ by Christian group because of new logo.
Starbucks dubbed ‘Slutbucks’ by Christian group because of new logo.
In order to compete with less expensive varieties of coffee, Starbucks recently introduced a new roast in order “to shift toward emphasizing brewed coffee.” As part of the campaign, the Seattle-based company re-introduced its 1971 brown-and-white logo that features a two-tailed mermaid. Apparently, the mermaid has caused an uproar because one Christian group has now called for a Starbucks boycott:
“The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” explains alarmist Mark Dice, of a Christian group called The Resistance. “Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.“
Jen Phillips at MoJo blog notes, “The fact that Dice doesn’t get the difference between a fin and a foot may be an example of what abstinence-only funding does to education.”
Plame asks court to resurrect lawsuit against Bush administration in CIA leak case.
Plame asks court to resurrect lawsuit against Bush administration in CIA leak case.
Outed CIA operative Valerie Plame “is trying to resurrect a lawsuit against those in the Bush administration she says illegally disclosed her identity.” While a federal judge dismissed Plame’s case last year, her “lawyers asked a federal appeals court Friday to send the case back before the judge and force him to consider its merits.”
Federal judge orders CIA to turn over 2002 torture memo for review.
Federal judge orders CIA to turn over 2002 torture memo for review.
In an “unusual” move, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of New York yesterday ordered the CIA “to submit to the court a 2002 memo said to specify harsh interrogation methods used on suspected terrorists held abroad.” Hellerstein will “determine whether it should be made public pursuant” to a FOIA lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other groups. The Aug. 1, 2002 memo was written by then-Justice Department official John Yoo, focusing “on the specific interrogation techniques that were deemed legally permissible at the CIA” and including “discussion of waterboarding.”
Cayman Islands Subsidiary Allows Pentagon Contractor Assisting War In Iraq To Avoid Millions In Taxes
Cayman Islands Subsidiary Allows Pentagon Contractor Assisting War In Iraq To Avoid Millions In Taxes
The Boston Globe recently revealed that two Defense Department contractors operating in Iraq — KBR and MPRI — have avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Social Security and Medicare taxes by hiring its employees through “shell companies” based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
Today, the AP reveals a third contractor assisting the U.S. military’s mission in Iraq that is also dodging Social Security and Medicare taxes. Immediately after winning a DoD contract worth more than $2 billion nearly ten years ago, Combat Support Associates established CSA Ltd. in the Cayman Islands allowing it to avoid paying the taxes and evade scrutiny from the U.S. government:
The subsidiary, CSA Ltd., now employs about 2,000 American citizens in Kuwait, where they support U.S. forces moving in and out of Iraq. Yet as a foreign corporation doing work outside the United States, CSA Ltd. does not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for these workers.
In fact, according to the AP, “company officials” have acknowledged their immunity from U.S. law, noting that CSA Ltd. “is outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, so federal labor rules and anti-discrimination laws don’t apply either.” Indeed, the Globe noted that because of such practices, “workers cannot receive unemployment compensation when their jobs end and may be deprived of other protections under US law.”
But Congress has taken notice of these contractors’ unethical practices. The House passed a bill last month — despite Republican opposition — to “stop federal contractors from using foreign subsidiaries to evade Social Security and other employment taxes.”
In the meantime, companies such as KBR, MPRI and CSA Ltd. continue to avoid paying millions in taxes:
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates shutting the employment tax loophole would bring in about $846 million in revenue over 10 years. That figure could be higher, lawmakers say, since it’s unclear how widespread use of the opening is.
Indeed, assuming that the American employees of CSA Ltd. make only $30,000 per year (online job ads place salaries much higher), the company would still “owe about $4.6 million in employment taxes.”
Ten of the 15 questions in today’s press gaggle focused on Jenna’s wedding.
Ten of the 15 questions in today’s press gaggle focused on Jenna’s wedding.
The White House press corps gave Bush administration spokesman Gordon Johndroe a tough time in today’s press gaggle. Of the 15 total questions asked during the briefing, 10 were regarding the upcoming wedding of President Bush’s daughter Jenna. Here are some of the most hard-hitting of the bunch:
– Is Barbara there already?
– We’re all concerned about getting some kind of a readout after the event. Do you expect us to get anything?
– Was 41 on board today?
– Is he going to be doing his normal activities down at the ranch this weekend, since there’s this big affair — like, is he going to go — probably do the exercise and the chopping of the cedar and all that stuff, or is that pretty much on hold this weekend?
– Are they — is the Bush family hosting a rehearsal dinner since — with the Hagers?
– What is [Bush] going to do today?
With important questions like these, its shocking that it took 14 days for a reporter to ask about Bush’s approval of torture.
‘Military analyst’ to Rumsfeld: ‘You are the leader. You are our guy.’
‘Military analyst’ to Rumsfeld: ‘You are the leader. You are our guy.’
The Pentagon recently released documents related to its propaganda program, first disclosed by The New York Times on April 20. Media Matters notes that the now public records reveal a meeting in April 2006 between then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Peter Pace, in which one unidentified “analyst” praised his “leader”:
During the meeting, one of the attendees tells Rumsfeld, “[W]e get beat up on television sometimes when we go on and we are debating” and says that he would “personally love” for Rumsfeld “to take the offensive, to just go out there and just crush these people so that when we go on, we’re — forgive me — we’re parroting, but it’s what has to be said. It’s what we believe in, or we would not be saying it.” The individual adds: “And we’d love to be following our leader, as indeed you are. You are the leader. You are our guy.”
Media Matters has “documented the consistent unwillingness of most of the outlets mentioned in the Times article to discuss the military analyst story.”