Daily News Roundup, 10/18/07: And You Thought Godwin Was Bad

You know, there's only so much use for U.S. diplomatic efforts when the President of the United States is willing to evoke World War III in a speech.

I figured the headline in MSNBC must have simply been some sensationalist misinterpretation of a statement. But USA Today ran the same story, and sure enough, he talked about Iran's getting nuclear capability as a harbinger of World War III. How is any sort of civil diplomatic relations with Iran supposed to be possible with the leader of the free world talking about engaging in a world war over the country's actions? North Korea also has a developing a nuclear program; are we painting them with the same brush?

Really, I can't fathom why this statement would've been made. I can think of absolutely no benefit to that sort of invective. In fact, from a foreign policy perspective, it seems to do more to aggravate foreign powers and limit options that should be left open. Frankly, I can't see how this is anything other than, well, a dumb move.

But hey, every cloud has a silver lining, and this one has to do with how Bush is failing at controlling message. The press conference where he made the statement was intended to put blame on the Democrats for not getting anything done (instead of noting the times they've tried to get things done only to be overriden by his veto, of course), but more headlines seemed to either note his war-hawk leanings, as above, or note that he had to answer to his struggles with popularity and efficacy by arguing that he is still relevant. I assure you, any time that you have to assure folks that you're still relevant, you're probably not very relevant. A president doesn't cease to be president, but he ceases to control agenda and can only snipe at Congressional attempts at moving forward and antagonize foreign countries. Beats '04, that's for sure.

Speaking of vetos, the vote to override President Bush's veto of the SCHIP children's health insurance expansion is scheduled for today. In Bush's speech yesterday, he offered a compromise, saying that he'd support expansion to 500,000 more children. In contrast, the bill he vetoed would have added support for 4 million children, for a total of 10 million. Doesn't seem like much of a compromise to me. In the article, CNN cites their poll as showing that liberals and moderates are strongly in favor of an override, whereas "only" 43% of conservatives are in favor of it. Congressional Democrats have stated that they will not back down from the expansion they're proposing. So we should see some fireworks today over this.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is making waves with his proposed tax legislation. He's got two bills he'd like to get through. The first is a short-term fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is taking a chunk out of more and more middle-class families as time goes on because its income limits were never keyed to inflation. It's a fairly popular idea, with the main concern being how the up to $65 billion it will cost will be covered. The more controversial bill, which he wouldn't want to push until next year, would be a full-scale restructuring of the income tax system, which he called "the mother of all reforms." It would eliminate the AMT and simplify the tax code. As you can imagine, it's pricey — estimates have the price tag on the reforms in the second bill as topping $1 trillion.

How does he plan to cover that? Well, he's already stated that he's no fan of waiving the pay-go system the House has set up, where all legislation must include a means of paying for itself. One of the reforms would raise the current 15% capital gains tax, the safe haven for venture capitalists and hedge fund managers everywhere, to 35%, more in keeping with the current tax brackets. Of course, this is meeting with significant resistance from a number of high-priced lobbyists. I'm looking forward to seeing how this unfolds over the next few months.

The Politico reports that the Republican party has plans in store for this fall. The article outlines a "three-pronged strategy: painting the new Democratic majority as part of an unpopular Washington status quo, forcing Democrats to make unpopular votes on tough issues and locking arms around a new GOP issues agenda." The National Republican Congressional Committee is pumped about their new plans, along with their recent uptick in fundraising. But the DCCC is happy to put them back in their place:

Democrats chortled at the Republican professions of confidence. Jennifer Crider, communications director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accused Republicans of “trying to use the same playbook” that Democrats had when they were in the minority.

Finally today, we have some good news to close the Roundup: As possibly the biggest name to resign from Congress so far, CNN has it that two GOP sources indicated yesterday former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert won't be serving out the rest of his term. Word is he won't actually be announcing the resignation today, but it gives me something to look forward to for next week.