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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Two big stories out there tonight we're gonna hit: Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
(WMD) and Hillary...First the WMD issue. The Bush administration is on the defensive
as top officials were grilled on The Sunday shows yesterday and the Dems in Iowa came
out swinging with Howard Dean asking the famous question: "What did the president know
and when did he know it?"
We'll roll the hot sound tonight...
Bush this morning: "Iraq had a weapons program. Intelligence throughout the decade
shows they had a weapons program. I am absolutely convinced that with time, we'll find
out they did have a weapons program."
Shuster notes the addition of the qualifier "program"...A tad on the conspiratorial
side? You be the judge...We'll hit this topic in the D block which of course means
we'll have a Shuster package..
We'll lead with Hillary, her new book and interview last night...What did ya think?
Was Wa-Wa tough enough? Did the interview change your opinion of her? We'll kick these
questions and more around with our all star Hillary panel to end all panels: Brock,
Sheehy, Bernstein, Dicker & Caputo...
Ashleigh's out in Midtown covering a Hillary book signing and she's reporting a huge
crowd...The AP reports some folks lined up at Midnight to buy the book...I guess some
people have too much time on their hands..
Right now Howard and Lawrence are doing the Buzz with more Hillary and Dems attacking
on WMD...
Plus, there's a new poll out below which shows Bush beating Hillary in a presidential
matchup although she beats all the Dem guys hands down in a hypothetical primary for
'04...
Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Briefing from DC
President Bush insisted on Monday that Baghdad had a program to manufacture weapons of
mass destruction, seeking to rebut critics who charge his administration doctored
evidence to justify an invasion of Iraq
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=2&u=/ap/20030609/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_weapons
As the debate heats up over why the Bush administration's claims about Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction remain unproven, many of the fingers are pointing in the same
direction: at the Central Intelligence Agency. (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-08-cia-usat_x.htm
President Bush's credibility in foreign policy has been undermined by questions about
how the government used intelligence on Iraq before the war, four Democratic
presidential candidates said Sunday. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=4&u=/ap/20030609/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_2004
Democrats seeking their party's 2004 presidential nomination attacked President Bush
on Sunday over the way he built the case for war against Iraq, saying the failure to
find weapons of mass destruction meant his credibility was at stake. (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2895608
Hundreds of people stood in line Monday morning, some after waiting through the night,
for the chance to get Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to autograph her new book (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=499&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20030609/ap_on_en_ot/hillary_clinton_book
Hillary's 'History' now open book...Senator writes sympathetically about husband's
dilemma (The Washington Post) http://msnbc.com/news/924109.asp?0cv=CB20
Shales: The Walters-Clinton Interview: Hillary Has the Chilly Deportment Down Cold
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32464-2003Jun8.html?nav=hptop_ts
Clinton shares pain as she takes story public Book defends her husband, slashes
critics...Hillary Rodham Clinton staunchly defends former president Bill Clinton, even
as she vividly describes his ''stinging betrayal'' of their marriage, in the
much-discussed but little-seen autobiography that goes on sale today. (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030609/5224643s.htm
Hillary Rodham Clinton sympathizes with her "friend" Martha Stewart - and believes
that there may be something more to the government's case against the diva of
domesticity. (NY Post) http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/710.htm
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose White House memoir is published this week,
said on Sunday she had no intention of making her own presidential bid in 2008.
(Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2898585
Hillary's not doing too well in a new ABC poll...Nearly 2� years after her husband
left the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton is poorly positioned to take it back: Most
Americans don't want her ever to run for president, and her presence on the national
stage is a deeply polarizing one.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/2020/hillary030607_poll.html
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean lead the field
among Democratic presidential candidates in New Hampshire, according to the latest
poll of likely voters in the state. (Newsday)
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/ny-bc-ny--democrats-poll0608jun08,0,1182092story?coll=nyc-topnews-short-navigation
Broder: The Contenders: John Edwards...Running on The Story Of His Life
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27835-2003Jun7.html
Edwards tours S.C. in run for president...N.C. senator says he values 'hard work'
(AJC) http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0603/09edwards.html
The Bush administration's two top foreign policy advisers yesterday said it was the
judgment of the U.S. intelligence community that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and
biological weapons and that the president and others did not exaggerate the threat in
the months before going to war. (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32394-2003Jun8.html?nav=hptop_ts
Abbas vows to continue dialogue...Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said on
Monday that he would continue trying to engage militant groups in dialogue and would
not resort to force to halt their attacks on Israelis.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/801833.asp
Iran warned Monday that foreign pressure over its nuclear capabilities, branded a
threat to peace by Washington, would backfire and harden Iran's position. (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=QCSKL3NEHRILWCRBAEZSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=2897770
Israeli troops began dismantling an uninhabited West Bank settlement outpost Monday,
taking a first step toward meeting part of its obligations under a U.S.-backed peace
plan. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20030609/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians
U.S. soldier killed in Iraq shooting...An American soldier was killed in a shooting at
a traffic checkpoint along the Syrian border in Iraq Monday, the U.S. military said.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/870749.asp
Consensus sought on spending bills...Republicans on Monday began trying to patch up
internal rifts so lawmakers can finally start writing Congress' 13 annual spending
bills this week. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/924079.asp
Iowa voter database to help candidates...When the Democratic nominee for president in
2004 courts Iowa voters, he will have at his disposal the most extensive and detailed
profiles of voters ever assembled in the state's history. (The Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030609-122713-2204r.htm
Freddie Mac, the No. 2 U.S. mortgage finance company, on Monday said it had fired its
president and chief operating officer for not fully cooperating with auditors
reviewing its earnings statements from 2000 through 2002. (Reuters)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20030609/bs_nm/financial_freddiemac_dc
Opinion/Editorial
Terry: Democrats tempted to make a partisan issue out of the quality of U.S.
intelligence prior to the Iraq War are setting themselves up for a question they don't
want to answer: How many secret bio-weapons labs are too many?
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/terencejeffrey/tj20030604.shtml
Homeland insecurity...What is the new Department of Homeland Security doing about the
threat of a terror attack in America? A bit more than we were doing before, but not
nearly enough. By Fred Kaplan.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/923157.asp
John Dean: Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Is Lying About The Reason For War An
Impeachable Offense? http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html
Katrina's Editor's Cut: The Risk of Inaction
http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?pid=732
A Plot to Deceive? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26671-2003Jun6.html
McCaslin: Hillary vs. Harry
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/johnmccaslin/jm20030606.shtml
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/
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