Sunday shows: Kissinger, Feinstein, McConnell, Specter, Leahy

   

ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos: Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) and a round table with former Bush advisor Ed Gillespie, PBS’ Gwen Ifill, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, and ABC News’ Legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg and columnist George Will.

Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt: World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

CBS’ Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and round table with the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and New York Times’ David Brooks.

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Henry Kissinger, Selig Harrison, Charles Prichard, Joshua Cooper Ramo and Niall Ferguson.

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

NBC’s Meet the Press with David Gregory: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).

-- Steve Padilla

Photo: Henry Kissinger outside the White House on May 19 after meeting with President Obama to  nuclear non-proliferation. Credit: AFP/Getty Images 

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Weekly remarks: Obama on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Indiana GOP Gov. Daniels on energy

In his weekly radio address today, President Obama touts the experience and integrity of Sonia Sotomayor, his nominee for the Supreme Court. In the Republican response, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he wishes the president “well,” but takes Obama and Democrats to task on their energy policies. His prepared remarks appear after the president’s.

Remarks of President Obama

This week, I nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals to replace Justice David Souter, who is retiring after nearly two decades on the Supreme Court. After reviewing many terrific candidates, I am certain that she is the right choice. In fact, there has not been a nominee in several generations who has brought the depth of judicial experience to this job that she offers.

Judge Sotomayor's career began when she served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York, prosecuting violent crimes in America's largest city. After leaving the DA's office, she became a litigator, representing clients in complex international legal disputes. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court, serving six years as a trial judge where she presided over hundreds of cases. And most recently, she has spent eleven years on the U.S. Court of Appeals, our nation's second-highest court, grappling with some of the most difficult constitutional and legal issues we face as a nation. She has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the past 100 years. Quite simply, Judge Sotomayor has a deep familiarity with our judicial system from almost every angle.

And her achievements are all the more impressive when you consider what she had to overcome in order to achieve them. Judge Sotomayor grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx; her parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. Her father was a factory worker with a third-grade education; when she was just nine years old, he passed away. Her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to provide for her and her brother, buying the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood and sending her children to Catholic school. That's what made it possible for Judge Sotomayor to attend two of America's leading universities, graduating at the top of her class at Princeton University, and studying at Yale Law School, where she won a prestigious post as an editor of the school's Law Journal.

These many years later, it was hard not to be moved by Judge Sotomayor's mother, sitting in the front row at the White House, her eyes welling with tears, as her daughter -- who had come so far, for whom she sacrificed so much -- was nominated to the highest court in the land.

Is it ever OK for the media to 'out' gay and lesbian politicians?

That’s the provocative question The Times' On the Media columnist James Rainey raises today. He notes that some journalists believe it’s their duty to reveal the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian officials who support policies that many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community would oppose. Says Rainey:

I hear the reporters' righteous indignation. I understand their claims of hypocrisy. And yet a reporting experience from years ago makes me urge journalists to proceed with caution, as National Public Radio did in recent days, when reporting people's sexual orientation against their wishes.

As late as 1993, voters in Los Angeles still had not elected an openly gay candidate to the City Council. It seemed a good bet that the barrier would fall that year because a couple of gay candidates were among the front-runners in the 13th District, which includes Hollywood. The Times assigned me to cover the race, and I soon learned that those candidates, Michael Weinstein and Conrado Terrazas, had been telling other gay activists that former school board member Jackie Goldberg was less worthy because she had never made a formal public declaration that she was a lesbian.

Click here to see how things unfolded, including a rather awkward conversation Rainey had at the time with Goldberg.

Rainey also notes the release this month of “Outrage,” a documentary which argues that many office holders are in the closet. Earlier this month, Tina Daunt, our Cause Celebre columnist, called the film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick a “biting new political documentary.” She noted that it “candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.” Daunt also writes:

Dick's thesis is that Washington's closeted homosexual lawmakers, most of them members of the GOP, staunchly -- often stridently -- oppose equal rights measures for gays because they're anxious to conceal their own sexual orientation. He also shares a sentiment voiced by openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts who told the filmmakers that his Republican colleagues have "a right to privacy, but there's no right to hypocrisy." So in that spirit, the film does what no mainstream cinematic treatment of this issue has done before: It names names.

Which names? Click here for her full column.

-- Steve Padilla

Photo: Jackie Goldberg, left, and her partner, Sharon Stricker, at their Echo Park home in 2008. Credit: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times

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Beloved British queen snubbed

When President Obama hits Europe next week for the 65th anniversary of D-day, he will land smack in the middle of a tempest in a very appropriate, diplomatic teapot.

The American president is among the dignitaries set to commemorate the June 6 invasion of France by the Allies as they began the final act in the liberation of Fortress Europa from Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Somehow, the French didn’t invite Queen Elizabeth II to this year’s ceremony, though the popular British monarch was a participant in the 50th and 60th anniversaries. In a special twist of Gallic logic, the French invited British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose popularity is at a low point amid scandals and a poor economy, rather than the comforting figure of the British monarch.

Elizabeth, then a princess, was a plucky volunteer on the beleaguered British home front during the worst of World War II. After the war, she married Prince Philip, who served with distinction in the Royal Navy during the fighting but had family connections to Nazis and had earlier expressed sympathy for Germany under Hitler.

In their typical backhanded way, the French have sort of apologized for snubbing the queen and have said that she is welcome to attend.

But when it comes to huffiness, the aristocracy knows no peer. Buckingham Palace has huffily responded that the queen is not amused and that no royal is available to attend the ceremony.

Explaining why the queen was skipped over, the French said the celebration was a “Franco-American affair,” which has strange echoes of a favorite pasta dish rather than political nuance. 

The White House has been mum.

-- Michael Muskal

Ralph Nader shakes up Virginia governor's race with charge that Terry McAuliffe once tried to bribe him

Terry McAuliffe, the money man of the Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaigns, is running for governor of Virginia. Yes the behind-the-scenes back-slapper is looking to move out front.

With two other competitive candidates in the Democratic primary, McAuliffe has borrowed a page from Barack Obama's playbook, organizing a massive grassroots effort, campaigning (as seen above) with backing from will.i.am, stumping as an agent of change, someone who can "shake up" politics and business in the Old Dominion.

Now comes Ralph Nader, the bad boy of Democratic politics, to shake up McAuliffe.

A onetime car safety advocate and perennial presidential candidate, Nader is widely viewed as the spoiler who robbed Al Gore of the controversial 2000 election eventually decided for George W. Bush by drawing votes away from the Democratic vice president in Florida.

Now, Nader is telling reporters that in 2004, when McAuliffe was the Democratic National Committee chairman, he offered presidential candidate Nader an unspecified amount of money to spend in 31 states if he promised to stay out of 19 battleground states where he could potentially hurt Democrat John Kerry.

Although McAuliffe's staff has not denied the allegation, it's clearly are not happy about this.

"It looks like Ralph Nader misses seeing his name in the press," said spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith. "Terry's focused on talking with Virginians about jobs, not feeding Ralph Nader's ego."

Nader made the charge in an interview with the Washington Post, calling to verify the allegation, which was made in a recent book by Theresa Amato, who was Nader's national campaign manager in 2000 and 2004, called "Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny."

Nader not only confirmed it, he made clear he thinks the former DNC chairman and Syracuse, N.Y., native now running for Virginia's governor is unfit for office. Nader's actual words: “Terry McAuliffe is slipperier than an eel in olive oil.”

With the primary election on June 9, it's not clear how much such an allegation will hurt among the Democratic base, who regard Nader with all the warmth of a skunk at a family reunion.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo credit: Bill Tiernan / Associated Press

War of words: a glossary to the debate over Sonia Sotomayor

The Obama administration is no stranger to the language wars, having found its voice on a variety of issues. Nor are Republicans exempt from the sugarcoating that accompanies the bending of a phrase.

But for those of you who never met a euphemism you didn’t like, here is a political and linguistic Baedeker on the debate over the nomination of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David H. Souter on the Supreme Court:

Activist judge — As far as conservatives are concerned, this is among the worst things any judicial nominee can be. An activist judge uses his, or her, position on the bench to make law rather than sticking to existing statutes and, especially, the Constitution. The problem, of course, is that one person’s vigorous activity is another’s caution. Don’t believe that? Just watch anyone cross a busy street in any major city. How you view the pedestrian’s enthusiasm depends on whether you are driving the car.

empathy — Both as a candidate and as president, Barack Obama cited this quality as one he really wanted for his choice for the Supreme Court. In general, he meant that the nominee should have the ability to feel the plight of ordinary people and to understand the possible impact of a judicial ruling. When Sotomayor spoke at the White House this week after her selection, she reassured everyone that she would be aware of the “real-world consequences” of her decisions. As the 1975 soft-rock hit made abundantly clear, “Feelings” is a very slippery standard indeed. One person’s heart-wrenching moment is another’s horror over being stuck in an elevator with an endless soundtrack. Any mention of real-world consequences also raises conservative concerns that a judge would issue a ruling beyond the circumstance of the pending suit and its law. Expect “empathy” and “feelings” to be use cautiously, if at all, at her confirmation hearing. But similar characteristics with other names might crop up.

Founding Fathers — They're those colonists who petitioned for their rights as Englishmen, then became hotblooded revolutionaries and founded the United States of America when their petitions were rejected by the mother country. Expect numerous mentions of these guys, especially in a debate over what was their original intent in the Constitution and whether current jurists should be bound by it. Pointless elementary school history, you think? Tell it to Sotomayor, who said that if confirmed, it would be a “profound privilege” to apply the principles set forth by the Founding Fathers to the questions and controversies the nation faces today.

Federalist Papers — The collection of papers written by James Madison (“The Father of the Constitution”), Alexander Hamilton (father of the Bank of New York and the New York Post) and John Jay (father of the Supreme Court and first chief justice of the United States). This is the work to which everyone turns in order to understand the deep thinking of the Founding Fathers. Ironically, much was written as propaganda to get the Constitution ratified and first appeared as op-ed pieces in friendly newspapers. Expect it to be cited in the hearings and, like all tomes, to be used to back any point.

Federalist Society — Technically, it is the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, though its name has been shortened by journalists. It is a group of conservatives and libertarians seeking to change the judicial standard to one closer to the original language and intent of the Founders. A major think tank in conservative circles, especially on the powers of Supreme Court justices.

Now Nevadans weigh in on gay rights -- the casinos too

 

While Californians plot their next moves in the battle over gay marriage, activists in Nevada are struggling to secure rights for domestic partners.

Despite their libertarian leanings, Nevada voters twice backed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. But the Legislature recently passed a bill that bestows domestic partners – gay and straight – with essentially the same rights as married couples. Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons vetoed the bill -- saying only voters should grant marriage-like rights to unmarried couples – and it’s unclear whether the bill’s supporters can round up enough votes to override it.

But the bill has some powerful backers -- the state’s gaming companies, which are sometimes referred to as Nevada’s Fourth Estate, who are alarmed that, if it fails, LGBT tourists might boycott the Strip.

In the early '90s, gay-rights supporters called for a boycott of Colorado after voters approved a ban on anti-discrimination laws protecting gays and lesbians. Officials said the state lost millions of dollars in convention business. In a recent letter to Nevada lawmakers, Jan Jones, senior vice president of Harrah’s Entertainment, pointedly said the financially ailing state couldn’t afford “to lose any more revenue to other destinations because of a reputation as a place which is not socially or politically the right place to do business or to vacation.”

And MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman recently told The Advocate, a leading gay publication: “We make a very real, concerted effort on a lot of these issues, and to have the sense that you're fighting against your own state is very frustrating.”

Another of the bill's supporters, incidentally, is someone who knows both the downs and the ups of marriage: Dawn Gibbons, the governor's estranged wife.

-- Ashley Powers

Top photo: Las Vegas' iconic welcome sign. Credit: Associated Press.  Bottom photo: Jim Gibbons. Credit: Associated Press

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Obama, back from Hollywood, tackles Mideast peace. Hmmm, is there a reality TV show in there?

In the early weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama felt hemmed in by the Washington bubble.

Tom Daschle, his nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, was hitting some unexpected bumps in Congress as senators raised questions about a certain $120,000 bill in unpaid taxes. Eventually the former Senate majority leader took himself out of the running.

Republicans were voting in lock step against the president's economic stimulus package. Eventually, the $787-billion bill passed with only three Republican votes, including one from Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, who's now a Democrat.

So Obama told his aides that he wanted to get out of Washington every so often, to do an occasional town hall, field a question from a critic, have an impromptu meal at a local dive, feel the love.

Today he returned from a two-day trip to Nevada and California, where he raised more than $6 million for the Democratic National Committee, mingled with the stars and celebrities in Hollywood, even made his peace with officials in Nevada still smarting over the president's admonition to companies like AIG getting government bailout money not to take junkets in Las Vegas on the taxpayer's dime.

Now he returns to an even trickier negotiation. Meeting this afternoon with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office, followed by a private session with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama is hoping to lay the groundwork for his trip to Egypt next week.

Talk about getting out of town.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo: Jason Reed / Reuters

How Team Obama sneaked Sotomayor into White House without tipping media

Much has been written about how President Obama narrowed his Supreme Court selection from 40 to the final four: federal appeals court judges Diane Wood of Chicago and Sonia Sotomayor of New York, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

But NPR's Nina Totenberg provided fresh details this morning about how Sotomayor, on everybody's short list, eluded the New York stakeout of cameras parked in front of her Manhattan condo, and the equally eagle-eyed reporters in Washington camped out on the White House lawn.

Apparently, Sotomayor walked out of her New York condo Thursday morning as if she were heading to work -- turning the corner with a brown bag lunch in her hand. But this time she wasn't going to the courthouse. Instead, Sotomayor stepped into a waiting car. Her best friend had lent the family car to the cause, and offered her husband as a chauffeur. He drove the judge all the way to the White House (think New Jersey turnpike. She arived at 1 p.m. and was quickly "whisked inside with little fanfare and no public notice."

It was a long day. First, Sotomayor met with Cynthia Hogan, legal advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. Then it was Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House lawyers and political strategist David Axelrod. Only then did she meet with Obama, for about an hour.

On Friday, Biden called and interviewed her for another two hours.

On Monday night at 8 p.m. Obama called Sotomayor, who was still in her office, to tell her she had won the nomination, the first Latino nominated to the high court. Still in her office, she drafted remarks, e-mailed them to the White House for tweaks, went home, packed and prepared to leave Manhattan.

And how did she elude the stakeout this time?

Same best friend's car, same driver, this time in the dead of night, arriving in Washington at 2:15 a.m. on Tuesday, checking into a tourist hotel and driving into the White House at 7:30 a.m. for the ceremony.

Team Obama is famous for being able to keep a secret. But the Great Sotomayor Head Fake adds new luster to the team's reputation.

It helps that Sotomayor, seen in a photo above with her nephews Conner and Corey at Yankee Stadium, was not yet a nationally famous face. (By the way the White House has a delightful slideshow of family photos on its site.)

In any event, the whole incident kind of makes you wonder why we in the media do these stakeouts anyway.

:-)

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo credit: Sotomayor family photo provided by the White House

Gov. Schwarzenegger thinks Rush Limbaugh's lost a lot of weight

Maybe it was his good-natured stint on Jay Leno's show Tuesday night. And/or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might have been trying to dodge answering cable media's favorite contemporary gotcha question of Republicans:

What about Rush Limbaugh?

So there he was on CNN being all California-friendly and relaxed, and the ditz pops the predictable query. And the governor, who's already made many enemies on the GOP's more conservative side with his fiscal policies and buddy-buddyness with the Great Change Agent, tried to make a joke out of it.

He said many people say the most popular radio talk-show host in history is the 800-pound gorilla in the party. Ha-ha.

But then the governor couldn't resist adding that he thought Limbaugh was down to about 650 now.

In fairness, the GOP's most famous bodybuilder also went on to say the right side of his party has a very important role to play and to predict a great future for his party -- if it enlarges its ideological tent to encompass more centrists and where, presumably, cigars will be allowed. Watch this.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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