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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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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
If it's Friday night it must be the Hardball War Council: Downing, Meigs and
Allard...Rummy made an unexpected visit to Iraq today and checked out some of
the indigenous troop training and witnessed some live action exercises...He
vowed "once they have that confidence, that capacity and capability, our
forces, coalition forces, will be able to go home," Rumsfeld told U.S. troops
in Mosul in northern Iraq. "And go home with the honor you will have earned."
Chris will question them extensively on the capacity of U.S. forces to train
and equip Iraqi forces so the U.S. can get out of dodge...We'll also get into
the vexing question of Iran and North Korea..
David Gregory sat down with President Bush's new favorite foreign policy
expert, Natan Sharanksy, a former Refusenik and current member of the Israeli
cabinet...He's got a new book called "The Case for Democracy" which Bush is
raving about...We'll take a peek at the interview and get David's sense of the
man's philosophy and views...
Btw, Sharansky will debate Pat Buchanan on this Sunday's "Meet The Press"...I'm
definitely gonna brew up some coffee in bed and check that out! Truly "must
see" TV..
In the back, or "fun" half of show as Chris called it earlier today, we talk to
MSNBC's newest member of the family Tucker Carlson
http://nbcumv.com/msnbc/release_detail.nbc/msnbc-20050202000000-tuckercarlsontojo.html
who'll give us his take on President Bush, Dean as party chairman and the
general state of political affairs in Washington...
In the E/F block of the show (or last quarter hour) we talk to Trippi, Fund and
Hilary Rosen...Trippi is out at the DNC meeting which is about to elect Howard
Dean as their new chairman...My orders to Trippi as he was leaving the building
was to "sniff around the meeting, come back and tell us what it smells like."
We'll get his report tonight which I'm sure Fund will want to rain all
over...There's also a new AP-IPSOS poll which has some troubling numbers for
POTUS which we'll kick around...
Have a great weekend...Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited The Hardball
Briefing from Washington, DC
Katrina's link I missed yesterday
http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7&pid=2182
A newly released memo warned the White House at the start of the Bush
administration that al Qaeda represented a threat throughout the Islamic world,
a warning that critics said went unheeded by President Bush until the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks. (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7600332
Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Iraq...Defense secretary says Iraqi forces are
improving (Reuters) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6949859/
Car bomb outside Iraqi Shiite mosque kills 13...11 slain in Baghdad bakery
attack; al-Sistani aide survives shooting (AP)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6913272/
North Korea demanded bilateral talks with the United States over its nuclear
weapons program but Washington quickly rejected the idea on Friday and insisted
Pyongyang return to six-party negotiations. (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OHJTSFJJJ2R0MCRBAEOCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=7606052
"The job of party chair is different from party nominee. The party chair needs
to be an ardent partisan. You can't send a vegetarian to do a red-meat
job."...Ailing Democrats put faith in Dr. Dean...Some fear choice will add to
red-state blues http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6949382/
The public's confidence in President Bush's job performance and the nation's
direction has slipped in the opening weeks of his second term, particularly
among people 50 and older, according to an Associated Press poll.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6952383/
Americans are feeling a bit more optimistic about the future of Iraq, a bright
spot for the administration in an Associated Press poll that indicates many are
souring on President Bush's job performance. (AP)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050211/D886GKO01.html
Senate Democrats demanded Thursday that President Bush order a halt to personal
attacks on the party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid, and expressed regret that they
had failed to mount a stronger defense for his defeated predecessor. (AP)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050211/D886BPC80.html
Former President Bill Clinton encouraged Democrats on Thursday to rally around
the party's leaders and said doomsayers who predict the party's demise needed
to "get a life and look at history." (Reuters)
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-02-11T040057Z_01_N10492034_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-POLITICS-DEMOCRATS-DC.XML
President Bush on Friday threatened to veto any changes Congress tries to make
to Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, which takes effect in January
2006. (AP) http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050211/D886FSA00.html
In style and substance, Democrats are mounting a much more aggressive and
unified opposition to President Bush than they did following his election in
2000. (LA Times)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=703&e=5&u=/latimests/20050211/ts_latimes/democratsarentgivingbushabreakthisterm
Germany dismisses war-crimes case against Rumsfeld...A German prosecutor
yesterday dismissed a war-crimes complaint brought by a leftist legal group,
paving the way for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to attend a NATO
conference this weekend in Munich. (The Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050210-114750-1470r.htm
Former President Jimmy Carter, who predicted that elections in Iraq would fail
and in the past year described the Bush administration's policy there as a
quagmire, this week ended 10 days of silence to declare the historic Iraqi vote
"a very successful effort." (The Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050211-123325-7245r.htm
Editorial/Opinion
Craig Crawford's 1600: A Chilling Effect
http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=crawford/crawford_current
Chapman: After the Iraq election, self-congratulation abounds
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0502100111feb10,1,2297098.column?coll=chi-news-col&ctrack=3&cset=true
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/
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