Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is still under the microscope from the Kentucky press over his office’s involvement in smearing Graeme Frost. In an editorial entitled “McConnell versus truth,” The Courier-Journal writes, “It’s clear what Mitch McConnell knew and when he knew it. It’s clear he deceived the public.” The Herald-Leader also weighs in. And the Georgetown News-Graphic.
“Under pressure to help override President Bush’s veto, at least five of the eight House Democrats who voted initially against expanding a popular children’s health insurance program now say they’ll switch sides.”
“The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer.” A National Guard official explained, “You create holes when you surge units forward, and someone has to fill them.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new FISA legislation to control the administration’s domestic surveillance program. The draft bill “includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the Iraq war yesterday, stating, “it’s absolutely pointless to fight with a people.” “It is absolutely unacceptable to keep the occupation force in place in Iraq for eternity,” he added, emphasizing his support for a “date for withdrawal.”
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is pushing a plan to repeal a rule “that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.” The plan would “be a big victory for some executives of media conglomerates,” including Rupert Murdoch.
“It is likely that Blackwater will not compete to keep the job” of escorting U.S. diplomats outside the protected Green Zone after May, according a U.S. official. “[T]here is a mutual feeling that the Sept. 16 shooting deaths mean the company cannot continue in its current role.”
“Alberto Gonzales was briefed extensively about a criminal leak investigation despite the fact that he had reason to believe that several individuals under investigation in the matter were potential witnesses against him in separate Justice Department inquiries.”
And finally: On election night 2006, eight year-old Sarah Maria Santorum wept on national television when her dad lost the election. Country singer Martina McBride on Monday released a song, For These Times, inspired in part by the girl’s tears. “I always tell my children that good things come from bad things,” Rick Santorum said in an interview this week.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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