------------------------------------------------------ The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC ------------------------------------------------------
Hardball airs on MSNBC at 7p, 11p & 4a ET & 4p, 8p & 1a PT Find MSNBC on your TV http://www.msnbc.com/CableOperator.asp MSNBC also is on your XM satellite radio on channel 130 We lead with the Middle East agreement cut this morning in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt by Abbas and Sharon...We'll tackle that and other pressing foreign and domestic policy issues with Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).. Afterwards we turn to AEI's Michael Ledeen (http://www.aei.org/news/filter.,newsID.21941/news_detail.asp) and fmr. Clinton-era State Department counselor Wendy Sherman about Iran and all the saber rattling in that part of the world...Is it next on the Neocon hit list? We'll do a political potpourri with former NY Republican Rep. Susan Molinari and Marie Cocco from Newsday...We've got the Rove news (below), the Galllup poll and Dean's ascendancy to head the DNC...And oh yeah, Shuster's got a package on the Reid/White House spat! And this just in to the Hardball News Room (or should I say "our messy group of cubicles"): Aboard Air Force One Scott McClellan announced that Karl Rove will be expanding his portfolio at the White House. He will become Deputy Chief of Staff in addition to retaining his title as Senior Advisor....He will coordinate policy between four councils including the National Security Council and National Economic Council. The White House is quick to point that Rove will not be running foreign policy http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=IK3TZVEINCHWWCRBAEKSFFA?type=politicsNews&storyID=7570943 Drudge actually broke the story so we must give him a shout out... Cocco Backgrounder: Social Security and the oxymorons http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpcoc084138297feb08,0,5424467.column?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines We finish off with the author of a new book titled "102 Minutes : The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers"...Very moving portrait of that fateful day... Pls join us., Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Hardball Briefing from Washington, DC U.S. military: Baghdad blast kills at least 21...Kurdish ticket in 2nd place in Iraq (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6913272/ Sharon, Abbas declare truce at Mideast summit...Leaders pledge to end violence, enter new era of peace talks (AP) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6906348/ Rice, Italian minister meet after Mideast foray...Top diplomat holds talks in Rome...U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice bids farewell to her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul Sunday before her departure to Israel from Esenboga Airport in Ankara (AP) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6911810/ Americans give President Bush his highest job-approval rating in more than a year and show cautious optimism about Iraq in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken shortly after historic Iraqi elections. (USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050208/a_poll08.art.htm Congress unlikely to embrace Bush wish list...Experts say cuts in many domestic programs may be unrealistic (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6930418/ Roemer bows out of DNC race, with a warning to Democrats...Last challenger to Howard Dean calls for more focus on values (AP) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6929889/ In a move that will give impetus to US President George W. Bush's policy to spread world freedom and end tyranny, lawmakers are drafting legislation to set up a specific office in the State Department to spread democracyIn a move that will give impetus to US President George W. Bush's policy to spread world freedom and end tyranny, lawmakers are drafting legislation to set up a specific office in the State Department to spread democracy, officials say. (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1530&u=/afp/20050207/wl_asia_afp/usasiademocracy&printer=1 A CNN Executive Says G.I.s in Iraq Target Journalists (NY Sun) http://www.nysun.com/article/8866 Sen. John F. Kerry, who as a presidential candidate railed against companies shifting their addresses overseas to avoid taxes, has hired as a top tax counsel a woman who lobbied against cracking down on such businesses on behalf of a Bermuda-based firm. (Boston Herald) http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=67436 Rush & Molloy: President Bush still feels the fire for his First Lady. The man can't keep his hands off her - even in church. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/278742p-238829c.html Opinion/Editorial To Be Chalabi, or Not To Be...This Syrian exile wants to overthrow another evil Baathist dictator. How can he persuade the U.S. to help him? http://slate.msn.com/id/2113160/ Margolis: The Pentagon's New Armies of the Night http://www.ericmargolis.com/archives/2005/02/the_pentagonas.php Katrina: Bush's Budget and "Wounded Travelers"...The Center for Community Change launches its "Jericho" campaign. http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7&pid=2180 Bowden: When Officers Aren't Gentlemen...NCOs will be the backbone of the new Iraqi army. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006264 Vest: PNAC's Happy Warriors http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050221&s=vest O'Sullivan: IRA's hint of violence most likely just a bluff http://www.suntimes.com/output/osullivan/cst-edt-osul08.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. 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