The Right Source

Rather will retire as CBS news anchor

2004-11-23T18:55:00.000-05:00

*side note, sorry for the lack of updates recently. I'll be updating regularly again.*

Dan Rather will be leaving the CBS news desk. To some, his leaving will be a sad passing of an era of news. To those who dislike the liberal bias in the media, his "retirement" will be a vindication after the fake national guard documents scandal prior to the election.

Many of the stories I saw about his retirement declined to mention the scandal that brought a lot of heat towards Rather. However, the ones that did mention it (including the Fox News article that I linked) said that Rather did not bring up the scandal in his statement. He simply said that both he and CBS decided that he would be retiring after the election.

While he will no longer be a news anchor, Rather will still be a correspondent for 60 minutes.

I was expecting this announcement, though I thought that they would hold it off until January. It will be interesting to see what happens with the CBS news division in the future. This was a rough election for CBS, I am sure there will have to be some more shakeups and policy changes over the next few months in order to regain their credibility.

Ashcroft is leaving.

2004-11-09T20:07:00.000-05:00

Several sources are now reporting that both Ashcroft (Attorney General) and Don Evans (Commerce secretary) have turned in their resignations. Ashcroft in particular has been a polarizing force, as some have thought he went overboard in using the patriot act to curtail civil liberties, while others have pointed out that his vigilance has helped prevent further attacks against America. Both men seem to be leaving on good terms with the president, both their letters of resignations and President's Bush's response to them had positive tones.

Well, we have been expecting some sort of cabinet shakeup since the election. I am a bit surprised that Evans is leaving, due to his long relationship with President Bush, but that sort of job is very taxing, even when you are helping a friend. There has been a lot of talk recently about Ashcroft's health, so it is not surprising to see him go. I found the note in the fox news article about him fighting for civil liberties to be most interesting. The claim is that some of the actions that the government has taken were actually done against his recommendation (such as the treatment of US citizens taken as enemy combatants). However, once he was overruled, he went along with the pentagon's requests and took the heat for it. Of course this would be impossible to verify (since he would never admit it) but it does put an interesting perspective on his tenure.

It will be interesting to see how the cabinet changes in the weeks to come, particularly where Powell, Rumsfeld, and Rice end up.

The battle for Fallujah

2004-11-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

The battle for Fallujah continues. There have not been many updates in the media, other than the fact that both the US and Iraqi forces have moved forward. The estimates I have seen suggest around 10,000 Americans and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers are invovled in the attack. Last time the USA went into Fallujah the soldiers had to back off due to high civilian casualties. This time around the administration is confident that they can take the city.

The civilian casualties should not be as much as a problem this time since many people have fled the city (due to warnings that this attack was coming), there is also the curfew that was put into effect. I'd find it very unlikely that the US will pull back even if there are high casualties. Elections are coming up, and they need to have the city buttoned up. I only worry that the (nesisary) warning that allowed civilians to escape also allowed to many of the terrorists to get out of the city to cause problems elsewhere. Hopefully taking away the main base of operations will be enough to at least weaken the organization of the attacks against American and Iraqi soldiers.

Even more problems with Specter

2004-11-07T23:25:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of discussion about Arlen Specter recently. A main concern has been when his pro-life beliefs, and how his being the (presumed) head of the senate judiciary committee will impact President Bush's nominees.

Bainbridge mentions another problem that some have with Specter. He may be resistant to tort reform. Bainbridge brings up the fact that both bloggers and business week have pointed out that Specter might not be friendly to tort reform.

This will be a huge issue over Bush's next term, as while the moral issues have gotten a lot of play in the press recently, tort reform was a major part of President Bush's campaign platform. Bush will have to fight with the lawyers lobby as it is, it will make things difficult if he has to fight republicans as well.

As I mentioned before, it is important not to alienate the moderate republicans...but it is also important that they not hold up policies that will benefit all of Americans. I'm still torn over whether Specter should be prevented from heading the Judiciary committee, but I hope that at the very least President Bush has a long talk with Specter.

Judging from his comments over the last couple of days, Karl Rove seems to be very confident that Specter can be kept in line. Rove does not seem to be the type of guy that gets the wool pulled over his eyes. If Specter can be convinced to support President Bush, he can be very valuable to the party. If he betrays the pro-life movement he knows that his career will be over. This election has shown that no senator's position is completely safe.

The fighting in Fallujah has started.

2004-11-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

US forces have stormed Fallujah. They have seized the main city hospital, as well as key bridges. The main fighting is yet to come, that will take place when they seize the heart of the city.

The US forces hope to secure the city in an attempt to stomp out some of the insurgents' attacks before the elections in January.

Rove and Hastert

2004-11-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

Rove and Rep Hastert were on Fox News Sunday

Here are a few things I found interesting from their conversations.

Rove stressed the fact that Arlen Specter promised that he would give president Bush's judicial nominees a quick and fair hearing so that they could get to the floor. He also made it clear that Specter would be expected to stick by that promise.

Both Rove and Hastert talked about possible tax changes. Neither Rove nor Hastert would allow themselves to be pinned down on a specific plan (ie: flat tax or national sales tax) but they were clear about the fact that the current system is flawed and needs to be simplified. Hastert pointed out that it costs Americans 250 billions dollars simply to prepare their taxes.

It seems discussion about tax reform has come up quite a bit recently. I have read about it after most interviews with top republicans. It would seem that this is a top goal of the administration, and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out over the president's second term.

In regards to social security, Hastert and Wallace talked about the cost of transitioning over to a somewhat privatized system. Hastert said while there is a cost, if things are not changed social security will not be around for future generations.

Rove also refered to Kery's line "I voted for the 87 billion before I voted against it" as the 'gift that kept on giving.' I'd have to say that many conservative bloggers would agree with that assessment.

Specter update

2004-11-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

In what is likely an attempt to save his chances of heading the senate judiciary committee, Specter further backpedals from his earlier warnings to president Bush. He now says that he will not hold up pro-life judicial nominees (even though he is pro-choice). He further points out that he has always supported the presidents previous nominees. There was a lot of criticism both in the republican party and in conservative blogs such as the corner after Specter made his original comments.

I would guess that his backpedaling will be enough to save his spot, but Karl Rove has made it clear that Specter will be expected to give the president's judicial nominees to be brought to the floor as he has promised.

I expect that now that President Bush has been shown to have such strong support in the Christian Right, that moderate republicans will be expected to fall in line with the president more than in the past. My only concern is that we might make the mistake that the democrats have made and loose people in the center. While I might not agree with centrists on many issues, I agree with them more than I agree with those on the left. The party has to make sure that they don't push those in the center further left over the next few years.

Is he or isn't he?

2004-11-07T14:54:00.000-05:00

While we have seen denials over the last few days that Arafat is brain dead, or in a coma, he does seem to be near the end. His top aides are gathering around him and there are plans to bury him in the Gaza strip. It is a relief that they have finally decided on a burial spot, since there was previously conflict over whether he would be allowed to be buried in Jerusalem as he originally wished. His exact cause of illness remains unknown, that ABC has just reported that he currently has liver failure. I have also seen reports that he may have been poisoned, though this seems to be more of a conspiracy theory than fact as of now.

The entire world is watching this story, since it can have a huge impact on the Israel/Palestine peace process. There have been calls for the violence to pause when things are sorted out, but I am unsure if the terrorist groups will be able to reign in their members in light of some of the rumors that Arafat may have been poisoned.

*Update* I ran across my favorite article on the topic. One aide said that Arafat is sleeping, he is not in a coma. Though the aide also refused to say whether he actually saw Arafat, or the nature of any tests that determined that he was simply asleep and not in a coma.

The Falluja attack is getting closer

2004-11-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the Falluja attack, the Iraqi interim prime minister (Ayad Allawi) declared a 60 day state of emergency in Iraq. He made it clear that US and Iraqi forces were not going to be 'easy on the suspected terrorists.' He also made it clear that they would not be waiting indefinitely to take action. This article mentions that a captain deserted from his unit on Friday. It is not clear if he is the 'commander' that I saw mentioned in articles yesterday, but it seems likely. Fortunately, he only received a low level briefing, so the mission should not be compromised. Fox News also gives some more information about the state of emergency, stating that a spokesman for the government states that there would be a curfew.

Well, it seems that things are winding up for the mission to take back Falluja. We have seen the main highway closed, a state of emergency declared, and bombing start. It is worrying that someone may have defected with some of the plans, but at least they found out now instead of when the attack was under way.

Blackwill to resign

2004-11-07T01:06:00.000-05:00

CNN reports: Robert Blackwill, the deputy national security adviser is now resigning. He said that he told Rice about his plans a couple of weeks ago, planning to resign after the election. This might confuse things a bit, since he was one of the possible replacements for Rice if she decided to leave her spot as national security adviser. He was also an important advisor to Bush on the war in Iraq.

It will be interesting to see how things shape up with Bush's Cabinet positions. We keep hearing whispers of who is going and who might stay, but it might be a little while before things really fall into place.

Jim Angle interviews Rove

2004-11-07T00:44:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd let you know that a partial transcript of Jim Angle's interview with Karl Rove is up over at fox news. Angle was acting as a guest host on "Special Report with Brit Hume." They go through some of the reasons that President Bush was reelected, as well as talking about some issues with the democratic party. There is also some discussion about working with the Democratic party both over the next four years, and some of what Bush did with them in the past (ie: No Child Left Behind). Rove did point out that the gay marriage issue was not the only thing that brought people to the polls. It was only one issue in the bigger picture of people's values. However, he did say that President Bush would push to get the amendment passed, since he feels that it is important to deliver on campaign promises. Rove was instrumental in President Bush's campaign, so it is interesting to see his post election views.

Also, be sure to watch Fox News Sunday today at 5:00pm on fox news. Karl Rove and Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Hastert will be on the show.

Bush won't seek mass resignations

2004-11-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

Unlike many previous presidents, President Bush will not ask all of the members of his cabinent to resign. This is typically done with the change in term in order to avoid the awkwardness of asking members to leave. Instead, president will ask them to continue to do their jobs unless otherwise told. Many think Ashcroft is likely to leave, and Snow might leave as well. Powell has said in the past that he only planned on remaining for one term, but I have heard some rumblings that he might continue for the President's second term, though most in the media still think he will go.

National Sales tax?

2004-11-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

There have been rumblings about instituting a national sales tax and getting rid of the IRS. Fox news describes a plan by Rep Linder (R) from Georgia. In this plan the income tax (and the IRS) would end and we would have a 23% sales tax (in addition to the 6% tax that many states have).

There are opponents to the plan, some of which complain that it would disproportionately tax the poor. Of course, they really mean that it would fairly tax everyone...but it sounds bad to complain about a fair tax, so they claim that equal taxes are a heavy burden on the poor. Supporters do say that they will exempt the poor from the tax to try an counter this 'problem.'

I found it interesting that one major opponent of the plan, Inez Tenebaum (from South Carolina) was just defeated by Republican Jim DeMint.

While I find it very unlikely that this plan will go through, it will be interesting to see how much play it gets. A change in the tax system is very likely over the next four years. Whether it is a sales tax, a flat tax, or some other system remains to be seen.

Preparing for an attack on Fallujah

2004-11-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

The US military is preparing for a major offensive, to take back Fallujah. Fox news reported that some are concerned about the fact that one of the Iraqi commanders has gone missing. The reasons for his disapearance are unclear, yet some fear that he might have defected.

Regardless, bombing has started (as have insurgent counter attacks) and the troops are preparing and praying before the attack.

Arlen Specter

2004-11-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

There is continued anger over Specter's comments about President Bush. He made comments earlier warning President Bush about the unlikelihood of pro-life justices making it past the Senate Judiciary Committee (which Specter hopes to head). He tried to back off his statements later, claiming that it was not really a 'warning,' yet the Times and other papers mention that many republicans are not satisfied with his explanation.

This has many republicans particularly annoyed, since President Bush campaigned with Specter, helping him get elected...yet Specter's election was not able to help President Bush take Pennsylvania (Specter's home state).

The election is over

2004-11-06T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well, the election is over with a win for George W. Bush and for America. The media is trying to figure out what went wrong with the exit polls, and how Bush managed not only to win, but to win by over 3 million votes.

It will be interesting to see how President Bush spends his "political capital." While I have seen some democrats arguing that 3% does not make a mandate, that is ignoring the fact that the republicans not only increased their sway over the house and the senate, but they took out the senate minority leader Tom Daschle. The New York times has already written a story about the fear of being Daschled for opposing Bush. Of course there are also those like Arlen Specter who's loyalty to the Republican party is dubious at best that President Bush will have to watch out for.

It will be interesting to see how the democrats respond to the firing of Daschle. It seems that Harry Reid from Nevada will replace him as the senate minority leader with Durbin moving replacing him as minority whip. I wonder how this will impact Bush's ability to put forth pro life justices, as Reid is a pro-life Mormon.