3.26.07 Blue Radar

It's a fresh news week.  Each morning I post some of the miscellaneous politicalstories thatmight not deserve their own posts, but are still news-worthy:

• Yesterday marked the 200th anniversary of the UK parliament's abolition of slave trade.
• Arlen Specter doubted the candidness of Alberto Gonzales: "We have to have an attorney general who is candid, truthful. And if wefind out he has not been candid and truthful, that's a very compellingreason for him not to stay on."
• Five more U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Sunday as a result of roadside bombs.  According to iCasualties, the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq is at 3,241.
• If you take the wealth of the three leading '08 Republicans and the three leading '08 Democrats, all of them except one has their net wealth in the tens of millions.  The least wealthy of them all is Barack Obama, according to the Washington Post, whose recent financial success can be attributed to his latest book The Audacity of Hope.
• Although some conservative talk-radio hosts would disagree, John Edwards does not want the sympathy vote.  "Do not vote for us because you feel some sympathy or compassion forus. That would be an enormous mistake," Edwards told Katie Couric on Sunday. "The vote for the presidency isfar too important for any of those things to influence it."
• Yesterday on CNN's Late Edition, John Bolton claimed that the White House never said Saddam was an imminent threat.  "The president never made the argument that he constituted an imminent threat," Bolton said.  Actually, on February 10th, 2003, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said of Iraq, "This is about an imminent threat."  The job of a White House Press Secretary is to speak on behalf of the President.
• A Nevada professor has successfully created a sheep that is 15% human in terms of its cells.  The goal later on is to have sheep organs given to humans that need transplants.
• The Democratic Party in the state of Oregon is calling for the impeachment of President Bush.  That is not the important part.  The important part is the fact that John F. Bradach Sr., the man who sponsored the resolution, lost his nephew in Iraq on the very day George W. Bush said, "Bring 'em on."
• Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Bush loyalist, says that Alberto Gonzales' rhetoric does not add up.  "Well, he has said some things that just don’t add up," Graham said on CBS.  "I like him as a person. I really do like AttorneyGeneral Gonzales. But he has been wounded. He’s going to have to cometo the Senate and re-establish his credibility."

If these stories are old news to you, let me know.  Feel free to add any new stories in the commentbox.

Comments

[cj]

Pull down the McClellan quote on imminent threat. It was not referring to Iraq being an imminent threat to the US. I thought this originally, too but later checked the full quote and question to realize it is off base to make this assertion. He was referring to Turkey and the US's support of a NATO resolution to defend Turkey if needed from an attack by Iraq.

[Administrator: Todd]

You're right, it was in response to Turkey's security interest. But the "imminent threat," as it shows in the quote, is Iraq's threat to Turkey, which by definition should force NATO to act. He was calling Iraq an imminent threat.
---------------------------------
QUESTION: What about NATO's role? Belgium now says it will veto any attempt to provide help to Turkey to defend itself. Is this something the administration can live with, or is it a major obstacle?

MR. McCLELLAN: Two points. We support the request under Article IV of Turkey. And I think it's important to note that the request from a country under Article IV that faces an imminent threat goes to the very core of the NATO alliance and its purpose.

QUESTION: What can you do about this veto threat?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I think what's important to remind NATO members, remind the international community is that this type of request under Article IV goes to the core of the NATO alliance.

QUESTION: Is this some kind of ultimate test of the alliance?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is about an imminent threat.

QUESTION: Who's going to do the reminding to NATO?

[The Mexican]

I believe, Jon Stewart not too long ago played a clip of when Pres. Bush addressed the Congress and the nation about implicating Saddam with helping Al Quaeda and explicitly saying both are an imminent threat; therefore, our reasoning why we need to do something about it.