mjh's blog

Why the hots to hide?

Op-Ed Columnist: Behind Closed Doors By WILLIAM SAFIRE, NYTimes

When George W. Bush was running for president, he was inspiring on the subject of privacy. But it was not your privacy or mine he was talking about. He has gone all out to keep his administration’s energy-legislation deliberations from public scrutiny.

The administration’s eagerness to slam the door in the snoopy public’s face will now be argued before the high court during political primaries and probably decided in July, right before the issue-hungry Democratic political convention.

Are Republicans out of their collective mind? Why the hots to hide? …

If “freedom” is the word Bush and Cheney want as the hallmark of their administration, they should begin with freedom of information.

Note this is THE William Safire, arch-conservative, who notes that what was “sauce for the Clintons is sauce for the Bushies.”

Safire hands Dean a couple of memorable quotes and presents the argument Dean should have made when the issue of his records blew up. mjh

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Where is Osama bin Laden?

Op-Ed Contributor: Saddam Is Ours. Does Al Qaeda Care? By BRUCE HOFFMAN, NYTimes

[I]s Iraq really the central battleground in that struggle, or is it diverting our attention while Al Qaeda and its confederates plan for new strikes elsewhere? There’s strong evidence that Osama bin Laden is using Iraq the way a magician uses smoke and mirrors.

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Numbers in NH

FOXNews.com – Politics – Dean Widens Lead in New Hampshire Poll

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean leads rival John Kerry by 29 percent in a survey of likely New Hampshire primary voters, an increase of 7 percentage points since a similar poll last month.

Dean leads the Massachusetts senator, 46-17 percent, according to a poll released Wednesday by television stations WMUR in Manchester and WCVB in Boston. Wesley Clark had 10 percent and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman 7 percent.

Trailing were North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, 4 percent; Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, 3 percent; and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton, 1 percent each.

The number of undecided voters fell from 27 percent in November to 11 percent. Four out of five people surveyed said former Vice President Al Gore’s endorsement of Dean would have little influence on their decision.

The telephone poll of 447 likely voters was conducted Dec. 10-15 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

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Numbers

Bush ratings up after Saddam capture

Fifty-eight percent of Americans now approve of the way Bush is doing his job, six percentage points higher than the number just before the former dictator surrendered to U.S. forces in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit. Bush’s disapproval ratings have shrunk to 33 percent from 40 percent prior to the capture. …

The positive perception of the president spread to his domestic policies as well. After Hussein’s capture, 49 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the economy, compared to 44 percent before the weekend.

There is no denying that the capture of Saddam Hussein is considerably more important than serving turkey to soldiers. As a result, all of Bush’s numbers shifted 5% or so (a bit more than the margin of error). Granted, if the nation is still as closely divided as it was in 2000, it won’t take even a 5% shift to decide the election.

It may all come down to who blunders the most in the next 11 months. mjh

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