Wonkette

• Bush shifts his response to critics of the Iraq war: “People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq. . . This is not an issue of who’s [a] patriot and who’s not patriotic. It’s an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq.” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.): “They have been overly optimistic, illusionary about their policy. This is not a war of words; this is a real war where people are getting killed.” [WP, NYT, WT, USAT]
• CIA Director Porter Goss: “We use lawful capabilities to collect vital information, and we do it in a variety of unique and innovative ways, all of which are legal and none of which are torture.” [USAT, USAT, USAT]
• Costs associated with rebuilding the Gulf Coast could top $100b; Bush loyalist assumes control of reconstruction effort. [WP, WP]
• Bush has a little fun in China by exercising; White House officials and some journalists enjoy Outback Steakhouse there. [WP]
• Bush returns home after making virtually no news on tour of Asia; the president of China is open to economic reforms but not interested in increasing political freedoms. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• White House associates speculate that Bush “has long been aware that the vice president oversold the case on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” [NYT]

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• In 1985, Alito “wrote that ‘the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,’ declared his firm opposition to certain affirmative action programs, and strongly endorsed a government role in ‘protecting traditional values.’” [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Graham (R-S.C.) and Levin (D-Mich.) achieve passable compromise on treatment of detainees; McCain’s amendment will likely be included. [WP]
• Frist (R-Tenn.) and Warner (R-VA) want increased accountability of the administration’s Iraq policy; proposal calls for quarterly updates. [NYT, WT]
• GAO finds political manipulation of the FDA’s decision on the morning-after pill. [WP, NYT, LAT, WT]
• Bush continually shadowed by questions about pre-war intelligence. [NYT]
• Approval of Bush slips to 37% in USAT/Gallup poll, a new low; Republicans losing faith in the president. [USAT]
• Rice delays departure from Israel, citing “progress” in talks between Israel and Palestine. [WP]
• Bush heads to Asia seeking to influence the region and escape domestic woes; says Democrats are “playing politics” by criticizing the war. [WP, LAT]

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• Approval of Bush slips to 37%, a new low in WSJ/NBC polling; 79% believe the leak investigation is “a serious matter” and a majority say Bush “deliberately misled people” to war. [WSJ]
• House Republicans scrap ANWR drilling to ensure passage of budget. Schumer: “If you are a moderate Republican, you are starting to say, ‘I am not going to follow George Bush over the cliff.’” [WP, NYT]
• Republicans fear implications of Tuesday’s elections; Democrats have their own lessons to learn. Pollster: “The waning of enthusiasm for Bush and his presidency is national.” [LAT, WP, WT]
• Senators press top oil executives about their profits; “if the hearing had an air of the theater, the public resentment articulated by the senators was real.” Milbank: “[I]nstead of calling oil executives on the carpet yesterday, senators gave them the red-carpet treatment.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT, WT]
• Bush splits with Republicans over ban of abusive treatment of detainees. [USAT]
• Judith Miller leaves The New York Times. [WP, WP, NYT]
• Chalabi denies misleading the U.S. and offers to testify before Congress. [USAT, WP]
• Senate Judiciary Committee considers televising Supreme Court proceedings. [LAT]

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• Supreme Court agrees to hear case regarding the legality of military tribunals; Roberts is recusing himself. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
• Bush: “We’ll aggressively pursue [potential terrorists], but we’ll do so under the law. . . We do not torture.” [WP, USAT]
• Democrats want to question administration policy-makers and speechwriters for inquiry of pre-war intelligence; subpoenas may be issued. [WP]
• Republican budget cuts unlikely to pass without restructuring. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.): “They are a long way away from getting the votes. Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, whatever — for every person, there’s an issue.” [WP]
• Bush “put his credibility on the line” with last-minute campaigning for Jerry Kilgore, making the outcome of the Virginia gubernatorial race “a referendum on his troubled presidency.” [WP, NYT, WT, USAT]
• Troop-rotation plan could lead to a drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq in 2006. [WSJ]

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• Cheney has “waged an intense” private campaign to reject changes to the guidelines concerning detainee treatment; the position is facing increased opposition from other officials and lawmakers. [WP]
• Senators express concern about misuse of the Patriot Act. Tom Coburn: “We should not ever give up freedom on the basis of fear, and any freedom that we give up should be limited in time and limited in scope.” [NYT, WP]
• Bush, in Brazil: “Our goal is to promote opportunity for people throughout the Americas, whether you live in Minnesota or Brazil, and the best way to do this is by expanding free and fair trade.” On the protests: “I expect there to be dissent. That’s what freedom is all about.” [WP, USAT, ]
• Latin America Summit proved to be no reprieve for Bush; on the first day, he did not return to his hotel until after midnight. [WP]
• New York Times on Alito: “An examination of several chapters in his life suggests he is conservative by temperament, upbringing and experience - conditions that appear to have shaped his approach to life and his work more than any narrow ideological niche.” Los Angeles Times: Alito’s “15 years’ worth of legal opinions do not promise fealty to any ideology.” [NYT, LAT]

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• Democrats win concession on the investigation of pre-war intelligence by holding private Senate session; Republicans outraged by maneuver. Bill Frist: “This is an affront to me personally [and] an affront to the United States of America.” Harry Reid: “The American people had a victory today.” [WP, NYT, LAT, WT]
• White House hopes to avoid filibuster attempt by selling Alito to moderates; Karl Rove is “deeply involved” in the strategy. Arlen Specter: “I hope we do not come back to the terrible schism we had. That just about tore the Senate apart, and it has the potential to do it again, except that the stakes would be bigger. You are talking about the Supreme Court.” [WP, NYT, NYT, LAT, WT]
• Bush calls for $7b in emergency spending for avian flu preparedness: “[I]f we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, and one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today.” [WP, NYT]
• Democrats want to use Alito’s conservative record “to drive a wedge between Republicans and swing voters who could be critical in next year’s midterm elections.” [WSJ]
• Samuel Alito’s “legal reasoning” implies his disapproval of Roe v. Wade; legal history shows “his thinking is shaped by a traditional concept of marriage.” [WP, NYT]
• Liberal colleagues of Alito say he is no ideologue. Said one attorney, “He didn’t decide cases based on ideology, and his record was not extremely conservative.” [LAT]
• Judge in the trial of Tom DeLay is removed from the case because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• DeLay is angering some Republicans by not relinquishing influential role. Said one congressman, “My issue is having an indicted former leader hanging around the leadership offices… Why does he want to stick around? He’s not helping us.” [WP]

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• Cheney was first to tell Libby about Plame, but not necessarily by name; notes taken by Libby contradict his own testimony. Cheney’s information came from Tenet; it’s unclear whether Cheney or Libby knew of Plame’s undercover status. [NYT]
• White House advisors use lessons learned by Reagan and Clinton to survive the “darkest days of the Bush presidency”; Bush will reiterate the necessity of staying on the offensive in Iraq and will urge fiscal discipline at home. [WP]
• Ben Bernanke, senior White House advisor and renowned economist, nominated to succeed Greenspan; noted as “the economic equivalent” of John Roberts. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Bernanke has “unassailable credentials and enough distance from the White House to blunt charges of cronyism or ideological motivations.” [WP, LAT]
• Bush will not release documents related to Miers‘ White House work. Bush: “It’s a red line I’m not willing to cross.” [NYT, LAT, WT]
• Coalition of conservative groups calls for Miers to withdraw in a “dramatic escalation in the battle over her nomination.” [WP, WSJ, WT]
• Iraq approves draft constitution; American death toll reaches 1,999. [WP, WP]
• Frist “has also been deeply involved in legislation affecting his family’s business” since arriving on Capitol Hill. [NYT]
• Parties ready talking points for possible indictments. [WSJ, WT]
• CIA leak scandal is rooted in disagreements over Iraq between administration officials and the “permanent bureaucracy of Washington”; Brent Snowcroft and Lawrence Wilkerson provide details of administration’s decision-making process. [WP]

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• Conservatives express disappointment with Miers during “tense” meetings with administration officials; “rarely have [conservatives] been so openly distrustful of the president himself.” Lott: “Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is ‘no’. . . you have to also look at what has been her level of decisiveness and competence, and I don’t have enough information on that yet.” [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Senate votes 90-9 to limit interrogation of detainees in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay; represents a “new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy.” [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Former White House security official may have passed classified documents to the Philippines. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Republicans are divided over extent of budget cuts. [WP]
• CIA will not hold current or former officials accountable for failure to prevent 9/11. Kristin Breitweiser: “[Porter Goss] is either avoiding embarrassment or trying to hide something.” [WP]

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