Wonkette

• A time is on the table: more troops may be need in Iraq to assist with stability for the next 12 to 18 months until Iraqi security forces take over. [WP, NYT, USAT]

• All the big names of the Bush Administration made it to the White House lawn for “Radio Day,” to reconnect with conservative supporters who live in wooded cabins without TV or internet. [WP, WP]
• Only the most broke and desperate candidates want President Bush to appear with them. [NYT]
• NRCC circulates list of 33 that would meet that description. [The Hill]
• Dennis Hastert and Tom Reynolds went before the House ethics committee, offered conflicting stories. Investigation may be winding down, but no answers til after the election. [WP, NYT]
• Tennessee Senate seat hinges on Harold Ford’s ability to woo racist voters on rocky top. [WP]
• Hillary Clinton has Dick Cheney’s vote locked up for 2008. [Reuters]

• The House today will debate extensively on the Iraq war, in a move designed to force members — mostly Democrats — into an on-the-record vote on resolve and course-staying. The resolution, which calls on the US to complete its mission to make Iraq a free and soverign state, has attracted criticism even from pro-war Republicans: Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich) called it “”strategically nebulous and morally obtuse.” [WP]

• In a speech on Iraq, President Bush also urged resolve and course-staying. He said he planned on making some of his cabinet secretaries go to Iraq to offer their support to the new Prime Minister. When asked about a timetable for troop withdrawal, he neglected to answer. “The answer to electricity is, sooner the better,” he said. “I mean, it’s hot over there!” [NYT]
• The annual financial disclosure reports of members of congress were released yesterday. Book royalties made up a significant portion of income for a few lawmarkers, and “scores of House and Senate members and their spouses traveled the world as guests of think tanks and corporations.” Majority leader John Boehner “reported winning $2,700 at slot machines in Manistique, Mich., where an aide said he had gambled to pass the time at a rest area while waiting for a colleague.” [NYT, WP]
• In the first federal ruling on detainment of noncitizens, a judge in Brooklyn ruled yesterday that the US government has broad authority to detain foreign nationals on US soil for as long as it likes, without explanation. [NYT]

The administration has been resolute in their insistence that there would be no timetable for withdrawal in Iraq. We guess the idea is that the sudden, unexplained disappearance of American troops from Iraq will so gobsmack the terrorists that they’ll be too busy, you know…having their minds BLOWN to create an insurgent surge. Still, remember when the President said this morning that it’s the stupid pre-911 tradition of “an open debate on the law” that aids and comforts the enemy? Well, Eleanor Stables at CQ Daily has ferreted out the latest terrorist sympathizer among us.

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