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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Tonight, you must literally drop everything and join us as Hardball resumes our
weeklong series on ending the war with a debate between Rep. Chaka Fattah
(D-PA) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX). These two couldn't be on more different
pages: Fattah fully supports Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)'s call to redeploy U.S.
troops from Iraq within the next six months and Granger, who met with Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld this morning, described Murtha's plan as
"reprehensible." (Chris also will ask Granger about whether Rumsfeld addressed
those rampant resignation rumors in their meeting this morning!) It will be a
good one -- no doubt about that.
Also, NBC's Bob Windrem will give Chris the latest news on the reported killing
of an American hostage by an Iraqi militant group.
Former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) gave a speech to
the Council on Foreign Relations today (the same group that President Bush
addressed on Wednesday) outlining his thoughts on the war on terror and the
situation in Iraq, but what kind of coverage did it get? We'll have reaction to
that and more from Fattah and Granger along with the latest poll numbers from
CBS News and the New York Times showing an improvement in the president's job
approval rating, but still bad news on people's impressions of the Iraq War.
Read the poll results here:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20051207_POLL.pdf
By the way, Hardblogger All-Star Howard Fineman, Newsweek's chief political
correspondent, tries to get inside the president's head here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#051208a. Fellow Hardblogger All-Star Bob
Shrum declares that "the Bush project is over" here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#051207b. And Chris vlogs about the
allegiance of donkeys and elephants here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#051207a. Don't miss any of it!
In CIA leak probe news, Hardball's David Shuster will update us on what the new
grand jury in the case is up to this week and lay out whether these
developments spell out bad news for Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of
staff. Tom DeFrank, Washington bureau chief for the New York Daily News, and
Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank will join Chris to talk about the
developments in the case, those poll numbers, and other news on the minds of
Bush Administration officials. When you have DeFrank and Milbank, to be frank,
you can take what they say to the bank.
DeFrank co-wrote a piece today about speculation that Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT)
could succeed Rumsfeld. Check it out here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/372683p-316984c.html.
And Milbank has a profile today on World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, the
former deputy defense secretary, and how Iraq still "haunts" him. Here it is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120702224.html.
Plus, for more perspective on the debate over ending the war, Chris will
welcome Nathaniel Fick, a Marine who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Fick
will describe what he saw on the ground and say what he thinks should happen in
Iraq now. Fick has a book out called "One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine
Officer."
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--NBC has the latest on the reported killing of an American hostage
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10382110/
--AP recaps today's developments in the CIA leak case
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10384116/
--AP outlines the deal reached on reauthorizing the Patriot Act
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10382397/
--NBC's First Read (one stop shopping for today's political news)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
--Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html
And don't miss your chance to vote for Hardball's best political play of 2005
here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10336995/
Brooke Brower compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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