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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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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/
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