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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Hardball airs tonight on MSNBC at 7 pm ET, 11 pm ET & 4 am ET and 4 pm PT, 8 pm PT & 1
am PT
Housekeeping up front...Chris will be on Imus tomorrow morning at 7:29 am ET...Check
your local radio stations to hear where the show airs or if you are at home doing your
hair and/or shaving with your morning cup of joe, tune into MSNBC where Imus is
simulcast...
Big buzz today on the President's "MTP" performance yesterday...We lead with Russert,
get his take on the interview and talk to Kerry spokesman/fmr. Georgia senator Max
Cleland with his response and to discuss President Bush's record in the Air National
Guard...Then we'll do one of our big picture, slice and dice, "what's it all mean?"
panels with NBC White House correspondent David Gregory, The Post's Dana Priest, Laura
"It's not just a radio show, it's an addiction" Ingraham and "The Price of Loyalty"
(yeah that book about Paul O'Neill which slams Bush) author Ron Suskind...
Then Chris goes one on one with legendary Reagan image man Michael Deaver with his
take on Bush's performance...
What a helluva way to start your week huh? Please join us...
Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Hardball Briefing from Washington, DC
Kerry wins Maine caucuses...Sen. John Kerry easily won the Maine Democratic caucuses
Sunday night, completing a three-state weekend sweep.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4206557/
Bush defends policies in interview...President Bush defended his service in the
National Guard during an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" and offered
to produce evidence to counter allegations raised by political opponents that he was
AWOL for a time in 1972.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4209283/
President Bush on Sunday offered a shifting rationale for the Iraq war -- that Saddam
Hussein had the capacity to develop unconventional arms if not the actual weapons.
(Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OKJJ2DOQLTHWQCRBAEOCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=4310604
"Meet" Transcript http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4179618/
Shales: President Bush, at Home With the Issues
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24537-2004Feb8.html
Podhoretz: President Bush didn't deliver a peak performance on "Meet the Press"
yesterday in the midst of the dreariest days of his presidency. But still, he was very
much himself - the same George W. Bush as he was last year and the year before that.
http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/17467.htm
Peggy: Philosophy, Not Policy...Why Bush isn't good at interviews.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/
Babbin: Mr. President, your performance on Meet the Press on Sunday was simply awful.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6133
Corn: Beat the Press http://thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=1245
Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and Wesley Clark lamented the loss of
American jobs on Monday as they campaigned for Southern primary votes and tried to
ignore front-runner John Kerry's rout in three weekend caucuses. (AP)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040209/D80JRCTG0.html
John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and Democratic presidential front-runner,
questioned Sunday whether President Bush had fulfilled his Vietnam-era commitment to
the National Guard. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040208/D80JASG00.html
Back when federal lawmakers legally could be paid for speaking to outside groups, John
Kerry collected more than $120,000 in fees from interests as diverse as big oil,
tobacco, the liquor lobby and unions, records show. (AP)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040209/D80JK9401.html
Howard Latest: The Wedge War...Wheels Up: Primary season has just begun, but the
general-election campaign is well underway. Bush is going on the offensive, painting
Kerry as too far left to lead. Will it work? How gay marriage and the ghosts of
Vietnam could shape this fall's election http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4212901/
Howard Dean urged Wisconsin voters on Monday to prove the polls and the media wrong by
helping him resurrect his faltering campaign for president with a victory in the state
primary next week. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040209/D80JS7480.html
A Problem in the Bunker...Cheney has long been Bush's national-security hole card. But
lately some wonder if he's dragging the president down (Newsweek)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4212900/
Squitty: President Bush said Sunday that news reports saying there is no evidence he
showed up for duty in the Alabama Air National Guard from May to November 1972 are
"just wrong."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-02-08-bush-military_x.htm
Al Gore, who lost the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000, assailed the commander in
chief Sunday, accusing him of betraying the nation by invading Iraq. (AP)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040209/D80JF7OG0.html
Bush aims for 'greater Mideast' plan...Democracy initiative to be aired at G-8 talks
(The Washington Post) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4217663/
New York Mag: Cash and Kerry...The city's wealthy Kerry backers have a message for
undecided donors: Fund the front-runner-now-or lose to Bush later.
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/citypolitic/n_9844//index.html
An anti-American operative in Iraq appealed for help from al-Qaida leaders to help
spark a sectarian war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in an effort to drive the U.S.
out of the country, a senior U.S. military officer said Monday. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20040209/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_sectarian_war
It probably means little now to Howard Dean, but CNN's top executive believes his
network overplayed the infamous clip of Dean's "scream" after the Iowa caucuses. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040208/ap_on_en_tv/ap_on_tv_dean_s_scream_1
Opinion/Editorial
The New York Times: Mr. Bush's Version
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/opinion/09MON1.html?ex=1076994000&en=3855d13111b04e75&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY
Fund on the Trail...Republican Rot: Is Congress's GOP majority becoming as corrupt as
the Democrats were? http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110004664
Barnicle: Sex, sex, sex - kids don't get to be kids
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/162222p-142254c.html
Landfield: McGreevey Wisely Passes on Nets
http://www.practicalpolitics.net/landfield/2_6_04.html
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/
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