------------------------------------------------------ The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC ------------------------------------------------------ Hardball airs tonight on MSNBC at 7p, 11p & 4a ET & 4p, 8p & 1a PT Find MSNBC on your TV http://www.msnbc.com/CableOperator.asp
There's only one big story tonight folks and if I even have to remind you that this is a "break out the popcorn, must see TV kind of night" you need to hang up your cable news cleats and hit the showers...To paraphrase Tenet to Bush on Iraq's WMD war rationale, It's a "slam dunk"... We lead the show with Graham to the second power (or Graham squared, if you will)...Bob & Lindsey...One Democrat, the other Republican...One from Florida, the other from South Carolina...We may even throw in some of the "Rice on the Hill meeting behind closed doors on Chalabi and the President retaining a lawyer" thing as well... Chalabi's out today slamming Tenet, accusing him of being behind the espionage charges against Our Man in Baghdad... Shuster check's in the "C" or 3rd block of the show with a package on Tenet and the circumstances surrounding his departure...I've taken an advance sneak peak look at David's script and he goes into the resignation with a keen eye towards the neocon v. moderates civil war in this administration.. In the D block we talk to former Clinton CIA Chief James Woolsey...Expect Chris to be on fire against one of Washington's top neocons... Later in the show we get political fallout from home and abroad from Newsweek's Lally Weymouth and Howard Fineman...I hear Howard's gonna deliver the inside scoop on the resignation...He always does... >From the Briefing Fun File.. Photo of our Hardball Beats CNN banner posted on Wonkette http://www.wonkette.com/archives/the-hardball-team-takes-the-holiday-inn-015588.php Cablenewser has the T-Shirt photos http://www.cablenewser.com/archive/2004_05_30_archive.htm#108621985236308547 Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Briefing from Washington, DC Tenet resigning as director of CIA...President says intelligence chief has done 'superb' job (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129314/ Tenet, 51, has come under fire in recent months for having assured Bush before last year's invasion of Iraq that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction, a key justification for the decision to go to war. (The Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A12296-2004Jun3?language=printer Bush consults private attorney...President Bush has consulted a private attorney in case he is interviewed or forced to testify about who may have leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to the media last summer, the White House said Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5123701/ "It speaks for itself that the president initially claimed he wanted to get to the bottom of this, but now he's suddenly retained a lawyer," said Jano Cabrera, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. "Bush shouldn't drag the country through grand juries and legal maneuvering. President Bush should come forward with what he knows and come clean with the American people." (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040603/D82VLAE01.html Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi accused CIA director George Tenet on Thursday of being responsible for allegations that the former exile leader passed intelligence information to Iran. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040603/D82VMB3O0.html Army delays soldiers' retirements...The Army will prevent soldiers in units set to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the service at the end of their terms, a top general said Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5120982/ Al-Sistani OKs government...Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric gave his tacit endorsement to the new interim government Thursday, and urged it to lobby the U.N. Security Council for full sovereignty to erase "all traces" of the American-run occupation. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5084420/ Iraq's new interim government will have no veto over future military operations by American-led forces after the U.S.-British occupation formally ends on June 30, Secretary of State Colin Powell said. (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BTJFKIDSIMPTUCRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=5332123 Kevin Sites: A grunt's eye view of war...Tedium and tension for U.S. unit dug in around Karbala http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5112172/ Iraqis see unkept promises in occupation...In Baqubah, residents chafe at rebuilding delays (The Washington Post) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5123779/ National security adviser Condoleezza Rice yesterday promised Congress a full investigation into allegations that an Iraqi politician supported by the Pentagon told Iran the United States had broken the code it used for secret communications, and U.S. officials said the revelation destroyed an important source of intelligence. (The Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11043-2004Jun2.html Saying President Bush has weakened the country abroad and at home, Sen. John Kerry told a Kansas City campaign rally Wednesday night that this presidential election is about restoring America. (Kansas City Star) http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/8823509.htm?1c Kerry says military is spread too thin..U.S. in danger of creating 'another hollow Army' (AP) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129079/ Kerry says Bush fuels anger at US...Criticizes Iraq policy at bioterror forum (The Boston Globe) http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/06/03/kerry_says_bush_fuels_anger_at_us/ Bush will rank high, Rice says...Security chief believes he will be compared with Roosevelt and Churchill (AP) http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2189429,00.html Conservatives are grumbling that President Bush let Senate Democrats snooker him when he agreed to quit using recess appointments to install his most contentious nominees on federal appeals courts while Congress is out of town. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040603/D82VI43O0.html Don King, the wild-haired boxing promoter, is touring the country with Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to tout President Bush's re-election. (AP) http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1086214211814&call_pageid=968867503640&col=1053692575155 'Fahrenheit 9/11' trailer will be in theaters Friday...Preview of controversial film available now on Moore's Web site (AP) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129087/ Opinion/Editorial Katrina: It's Not a War...It's time to stop calling the post 9/11 struggle against terrorism a "war." Iraq is a (disastrous) war; Afghanistan was a brief one. http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7&pid=1473 Novak: Bush ads turning off GOP base http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak03.html Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/ ========================================= This email is never sent unsolicited. You have received The Hardball Briefing Newsletter because you subscribed to it or, someone forwarded it to you. To remove yourself from the list (or to add yourself to the list if this message was forwarded to you) simply go to http://www.msnbc.com/tools/newstools/e/emailextra.asp?nfeature=19 Microsoft Corporation - One Microsoft Way - Redmond, WA 98052 MSN PRIVACY STATEMENT http://privacy.msn.com