Daily Briefing: ‘There’s Harry Falling’

• Cheney takes full responsibility for shooting accident: “The image of him falling is something I’ll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there’s Harry falling. And it was, I’d have to say, one of the worst days of my life.” [WP, NYT, W$J, USAT, WT]
• Cheney, in choosing Brit Hume, avoided the “elephant-in-the-room issue” of his lack of candor with the press; Fox News is considered a “secure location.” [WP, NYT, LAT, LAT]
• Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) helped allocate $48.7m in Pentagon spending to a clients of a top aide’s husband. [USAT]
• Congressional report faults response to Katrina as partisans debate what to do. [WP]
• Rice requests $75m to advance reforms in Iran. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Cheney, Chertoff take responsibility without specifying mistakes. [WP, NYT, USAT]

• Cheney says he has the authority for declassification. [NYT]
• Cheney describes Harry Whittington as “an acquaintance.” [WP]
• Justice Department will review its role in NSA eavesdropping. [NYT, WP]
• Rep. William Jefferson, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, is sinking by scandal; special election may be held. [WP]
• Bush pushes health savings accounts at Wendy’s headquarters. [NYT, WP]
• Lobbying filing system crippled by technical difficulties. [WP]
• Justice Stephen Breyer says he was “frightened to death for the first three years.” [NYT]

READ MORE: arlen specter, brit hume, condoleezza rice, congress, dick cheney, earmarks, eavesdropping, fox news, george w. bush, harry whittington, health savings accounts, hunting, iran, katrina, lobbyists, michael chertoff, nsa, william jefferson

Daily Briefing: A Transparent Relationship

• NSA obtained cooperation of top telecoms for warrentless eavesdropping. [USAT]
• Democrats appear “poised to gain seats” in November — the fight is over how many; new machine ballots may create havoc on election day. [WP, USAT]
• House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) opposes “far-reaching” restrictions on lobbying. Boehner: “Bringing more transparency to this relationship, I think, is the best way to control it. But taking actions to ban this and ban that, when there’s no appearance of a problem, there’s no foundation of a problem, I think, in fact, does not serve the institution well.” [WP, LAT]
• Director of the ATF blamed for spending funds on unnecessary upgrades as basic needs are unmet; $65,000 conference table raises eyebrows. [WP]
• Senior official on the inevitability of Iran’s nuclear capacities: “Sooner or later, it’s going to happen. Our job is to make sure it’s later.” [NYT]

• Bush will unveil $2.7t budget today. [USAT, USAT]
• Bush wants to expand Health Savings Accounts. [WP]
• Legislation on lobbying will mirror progress of Jack Abramoff’s drama. [WP]
• Bush, said to be in a “positive mood,” publicly contemplates joining the ex-presidents club. [NYT]
• Some experts say Medicare overhaul was doomed by partisanship. [NYT]
• Mehlman says Sen. Clinton has “a lot of anger” and describes her record as “very left-wing.” [NYT]

READ MORE: 2006, 2008, Democrats, Republicans, atf, budget, eavesdropping, george w. bush, health savings accounts, hillary clinton, house, iran, jack abramoff, john boehner, ken mehlman, lobbying, medicare, nsa

SOTU Drinking Game: Straight Up-and-Down Vote, No Chaser

We’ve got our night all planned out. Once we’ve finished the candy we collected from Jesse Jackson’s decimated paper-mache torso, we’ll sit down in front of the ol’ electronic hearth, pour out a drink (Wild Turkey 101, neat), and turn on C-SPAN to figure out the State of our crazy, mixed-up Union.

Sure, it’s the same damn thing every year, and as Executive Branch Kabuki goes, it’s beaten in boringness only by inaugurations, but hell, it’s good for a laugh, and it gives bloggers something to write about. If you’ve been paying attention (and we know you have), you’ll probably do pretty well on this SOTU Predictions Quiz. There are even prizes (which makes it more of a contest than a “quiz”), including, oddly enough, a Wonkette t-shirt. We’re gonna check on the legality of that — thankfully, half of us went to law school.

HuffPo funnyman (the presence of one of those words tends to negate the other, but bear with us) Marty Kaplan preemptively covers the coverage, or something. The real fun here, per usual at the Huffington Post, is reading the comments. Oh, those cheeky, barely-literate scamps!

But we know what you really want. You want to get smashed. That’s the point. So here’s a drinking game. here’s another.

Sure, 2 drinks for every mention of “God” will get you loaded — but where’s the sport? We thought we’d add a couple variations:

• Every time Bush mentions Iran: 1 drink
• Hamas: 1 drink
• North Korea: 1 drink
• Bush begins a sentence with “British Intelligence…”: Drink an entire bottle of whatever you were drinking three years ago, throw it at the TV
• Bush mentions the people of New Orleans: Cry into your beer, then drink it.
• Bush mentions the people of New Orleans in a positive light: Shot of bitters.
• Bush mentions Hurricane Katrina: Tell person sitting next to you that you’ll refill their glass, leave town for a couple days.
• Bush mentions Hurricane Katrina in a positive light: Check the label.
• Every time Bush makes reference to a previous President’s SOTU address: 1 drink.
• If the reference is to a Democratic President’s speech: 2 drinks.
• To Grover Cleveland’s 1888 address: Finish the bottle.
• Bush mentions Coretta Scott King: pour out a 40 on the curb.
• Chris Penn: Pour out a 40, a steak, and a milkshake on the curb.
• “Health Savings Accounts”: Enjoy the freedom to choose a drink you can’t afford.
• Bush ends the speech with “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”: A billion drinks.

Don’t forget, kids — Ana Marie’s coming by tonight to liveblog the speech. Hope to see you there.

READ MORE: bush, chris penn, drinking game, grover cleveland, hamas, health savings accounts, iran, katrina, new orleans, north korea, political kabuki, sotu, top, wild turkey 101

Daily Briefing: ‘Anal-Retentive Chowderhead’

• Administration to propose major shift in nuclear energy strategy; program would import spent fuel for “recycling.” [WP]
• Expansion of Health Savings Accounts will be tenet of State of the Union address, Bush says. [WSJ, NYT]
• Democrats seek even more documents related to Katrina. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.): “What do they have to hide? Why don’t they just come forward and say, ‘This is what we knew, when we knew, and this is how we reacted?’” [NYT]
• Partisan divide over eavesdropping widens as Bush visits the NSA and Sen. Hillary Clinton calls his justification “strange” and “far-fetched.” Ken Mehlman: “Not only are the Democrats not learning from costly policy mistakes, they are not learning what happened from the political mistakes of 2002 and 2004.” [WP, NYT, WT]
• Administration rejected 2002 proposal by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) to lower the standards for getting wiretaps of non-citizens approved. [WP]
• Bush “seems unlikely to reshape the political landscape with his speech”; no major initiatives expected. [NYT]
• Samuel Alito makes “victory lap” on Capitol Hill; Bush renominates Brett Kavanaugh to U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [WP]

• Debate on Alito centers on executive power and eavesdropping. [LAT]
• On lobbying reform, there is a “yawning disconnect between the problem and the proposed remedies.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Rep. Roy Blunt and John Boehner have op-ed off. [USAT, USAT]
• Donald Rumsfeld: “The force is not broken. I just can’t imagine someone looking at the United States armed forces today and suggesting that they’re close to breaking. That’s just not the case.” [WP, WT, USAT]
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC wants “to raise as much as $10 million this year to support veterans seeking House and Senate seats on platforms promoting a change of strategy in Iraq.” [WP]
• Liberals disappointed by selection of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for State of the Union rebuttal. [USAT]
• Republicans end K Street job listings. [WP]
• Margaret Spellings’ daughters call her “an anal-retentive chowderhead.” [WP]
• Al Gore’s environmental film receives a standing ovation at Sundance screening; “he is wearing earth tones again.” [WP]

READ MORE: 2006, Democrats, Republicans, SCOTUS, al gore, brent kavanaugh, eavesdropping, gene taylor, george w. bush, health savings accounts, hillary clinton, katrina, ken mehlman, lobbying, margaret spellings, mike dewine, nsa, samuel alito, state of the union, tim kaine