November 2005

Its the first of the month and we will start getting glimpses into how the
public thinks of our President. The first look is not so good for him.

CBS has released their latest poll that
goes into the leak investigation and the approval of the President. His approval
has dropped even more and more people now view the leak as serious.

HOW IMPORTANT TO THE NATION IS THE CIA LEAK MATTER?

• Great Importance: 51%
• Some Importance: 35%
• Little/No Importance 12%

CBS also compared this to the views of other scandals that have surrounded
the White House in recent history. Here is a table comparing the results.

Rule 21 of the Senate mandates that any time an issue is to be brought up on
the Senate floor that could reveal classified information that the cameras be
shut off, no electronic recording devices in the room and no staffers in the
room. It is done so to protect national security.

That is the reason Harry Reid called for a rule 21 hearing into the pre-war
intelligence failures in Iraq. It is also welcomed sign to Democrats around the
country that we will no longer stand by while the Republicans hijack our nation

.Republicans don't feel the same. They are calling it a political stunt to
shut down Senate. Bill Frist even complained about the courtesies involved in
this move by Senator Reid. Bill Frist told reporters that this kind of lack of
decency has never been done in either house of Congress. I guess he considers
illegally extending votes by the Republicans in the House ethically sound
actions.

Senate has come to an agreement in this situation. A committee of 6 Senators,
three from each party, is being empanelled in order to look into the reasons why
"phase 2" of the intelligence committee's report on the failure of intelligence
leading to the Iraq war has been stalled. This committee is to report back to
Senate no later than November 14.

Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee stated that
they will hold hearings all next week to try and get this report concluded. The
initial phase of the report cited major failures in the pre-war intelligence of
Iraq's WMD program. Phase 2 is to look into the use of this failed data and see
if it was used to sway support for the invasion.

Wal-Mart has launched a full blown damage control strategy to counter bad
press. In a

New York Times article today, they describe a "war" room which is staffed by
past political strategist.

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 26 - Inside a stuffy, windowless room here,
veterans of the 2004 Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns sit, stand and
pace around six plastic folding tables. Open containers of pistachio nuts
and tropical trail mix compete for space with laptops and BlackBerries. CNN
flickers on a television in the corner.

The phone rings, and a 20-something woman answers. "Turn on Fox," she
yells, running up to the TV with a notepad. "This could be important."

A scene from a campaign war room? Well, sort of. It is a war room inside
the headquarters of Wal-Mart, the giant discount retailer that hopes to sell
a new, improved image to reluctant consumers.

Wal-Mart is taking a page from the modern political playbook. Under fire
from well-organized opponents who have hammered the retailer with criticisms
of its wages, health insurance and treatment of workers, Wal-Mart has
quietly recruited former presidential advisers, including Michael K. Deaver,
who was Ronald Reagan's image-meister, and Leslie Dach, one of Bill
Clinton's media consultants, to set up a rapid-response public relations
team in Arkansas.

Article continues

here.