Worth Noting
Catching Up With Karl Rove
Karl Rove retired in 2007 as President George W. Bush's deputy chief of staff, ace political strategist and mastermind of public policy. But Rove -- aka "Satan" to liberals and not always popular with limited-government conservatives, either -- is very much involved in the daily warfare of partisan politics. A Fox News contributor and a columnist for both The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, he's also writing a book about his White House days, traveling the speakers circuit and even becoming a star on Twitter.com. When I spoke with him by phone on Tuesday, March 10, from his home in Austin, Texas, the 58-year-old was so upbeat and friendly he began by reciting lines from the Texas state song -- and even offered to sing it.
READ ARTICLE: http://townhall.com/columnists/BillSteigerwald/2009/03/18/catching_up_with_karl_rove
#TWITTERIVIA Tuesdays
Join Karl Rove for #TWITTERIVIA every Tuesday!
Here's how it works: Karl Rove will Twitter a trivia question at 10:00 PM Eastern on the dot via TweetLater (a scheduled Tweet). The first person to send the correct answer (spelling included) to @karlrove will win a personalized autographed photo. No direct messages (DMs).
Good luck!
The Dissing of Laura Bush
By choosing Fort Bragg for her first official trip outside the capital last Thursday, Michelle Obama signaled that she will use her position as First Lady to promote one of America's most deserving causes: our military families. Plainly the families loved it. Just look at the smiles on those children as she read them "The Cat in the Hat."
So it was just a little disconcerting the next morning to hear the First Lady explain how she came to this issue during last year's campaign. "I think I was like most Americans," she told ABC News. "Pretty oblivious to the life of military families. Sort of taking it for granted."
FULL ARTICLE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123725233352050133.html
Don Siegelman can't avoid jury's verdict
IN THE wake of a stinging defeat in federal court, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has intensified his political campaign to overturn his 2006 conviction on corruption charges.
Mr. Siegelman, who was interviewed Monday on CNN, continues to proclaim his innocence and blame his plight on Republicans. He seems undismayed by a unanimous federal appeals court ruling, issued Friday, that upheld the key bribery and obstruction counts against him.
The former governor may believe his best hope lies in further inflaming partisan passions against former White House adviser Karl Rove and other Bush administration officials targeted in a congressional probe of the Bush Justice Department.
But if Mr. Siegelman is going to win his freedom, he will have to persuade a federal appellate court that he was wrongly convicted. He won't be vindicated by a kangaroo court composed of Democrats seeking vengeance against Karl Rove.
READ ARTICLE: http://www.al.com/opinion/press-register/editorials.ssf?/base/opinion/12367629954220.xml&coll=3
For more on the Don Siegelman case visit:
Honoring the President's executive privilege and acting with White House approval, Karl Rove responded to Judiciary Committee questions about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman:
- Letter from Lamar Smith dated 7/15/08 (PDF)
- Karl Rove's response dated 7/22/08 (PDF)
- Answers to Committee Questions (PDF)
- Appendix (PDF)
Karl Blogs with Jon Scott & Jane Skinner
Karl Rove joined Fox News Channel's Jon Scott and Jane Skinner on the Happening Now blog to talk about the budget and Obama's troop withdrawal plan.
Check out what Karl had to say and be sure to join the conversation via Twitter or Facebook!
The 10 most influential D.C. Twitterers
Here are the new maestros of the tweet — Washington’s 10 Most Influential Twitterers.
1. Karl Rove: www.twitter.com/karlrove
The Architect opened a Twitter account in January and quickly amassed more than 11,000 followers. If you’ve ever wanted a peek inside Bush’s Brain, Rove provides one, with updates on the GOP’s future (“How do we hold back the tide? We must make a case that turns public opinion”) and humorous quips about his former colleague Dick Cheney (“I look forward to my next hunt with him”).
This more transparent, funny side of Rove has taken many Bush bashers by surprise, prompting Daily Beast contributor Rachel Sklar to ask: “Can one of the most divisive men in America actually change his image — 140 characters at a time?”
Commenters scoffed. But as the GOP settles into life as an opposition party, Rove’s quick and dirty dispatches could prove useful to Republicans looking for a way back.
READ ARTICLE: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19145.html
U.S. Ahead of Moscow Treaty Schedule in Reducing Its Nuclear Arsenal
The United States is more than two years ahead of the schedule set under the Moscow Treaty in reducing the number of its nuclear warheads operationally deployed on strategic missiles and bombers, according to congressional and administration sources.
There are fewer than 2,200 deployed warheads, the goal originally set to be reached by Dec. 31, 2012.
READ ARTICLE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021203497.html
Nondisclosure Cited in Iraq Casualties Study
In a highly unusual rebuke, the American Association for Public Opinion Research said this morning that the author of a widely debated survey on "excess deaths" in Iraq had violated its code of professional ethics by refusing to disclose details of his work.
In an eight-month investigation, Gilbert Burnham, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, "repeatedly refused to make public essential facts about his research on civilian deaths in Iraq," AAPOR said in a statement.
READ ARTICLE:http://www.abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/story?id=6799754&page=1
Charles Krauthammer on Obama's interview with Al-Arabiya
Conciliatory, but also apologetic and defensive, I thought needlessly. We heard him say that he we shouldn't paint Islam with a broad-brush. Who does? That's a straw man. Did the Bush administration do so?
Obama said "My job is to communicate from the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives."
Well, where is the American heartland which is arguing otherwise?
Look, if he wants — dare say, "I have Muslim relatives," as he did in the interview, "and I lived in an Muslim land," as he did in the interview, "and thus I have a special appreciation of Islam," that's OK.
But somehow he is implying that somehow the Obama era is a break with the American past. Somehow it is undoing a disrespect of Islam that had somehow occurred under the previous administration.
One week after 9/11, the president of the United States, George Bush, showed up in the Islamic center in Washington and declared Islam is peace and extended a hand of tolerance and generosity. There were no anti-Muslim riots in America. There was a spirit of generosity and tolerance.
And, in fact, over the last 20 years, the United States has been engaged in exactly five military engagements in the world, two in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, all of them liberating Islamic peoples.
Departure Ceremony for President George W. Bush
Family, friends, and former staff gathered at Andrews Air Force Base for a Departure Ceremony honoring former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.
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