Huckabee: Republican attacks on Obama 'deplorable'

He could go down as the first Republican to spar with conservative icon Rush Limbaugh and live to talk about it.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the Hudson Union Society some weeks ago that Republican attacks on President Obama for everything from visiting Dover Air Force Base to opening the White House to local trick-or-treaters on Halloween are hurting the country.

Now, his comments are circulating on the net, posing a direct counter to Limbaugh, who has criticized Obama's Dover visit as a photo op.

Said Huckabee:

When he was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the right say, "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op." No, I think it was the commander-in-chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I'm grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all -- as Americans -- should give him credit for doing that.

Perhaps cognizant of public opinion polls that show Obama personally popular with most Americans, even those who disagree with his policies, Huckabee added: "When he and Michele hosted the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say. 'Good, I'm glad that he and the first lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.' And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man."

Finally, recalling that liberals regularly reviled George W. Bush no matter what he did, Huckabee, a former pastor, pleaded for comity.

I hated it when people did that to George Bush. They couldn't even laugh at the man's jokes. They found something wrong with everything and if we do that to Barack Obama, then shame on us, shame on us. No wonder our country is so divided when that happens.

Huckabee made the comments while on book tour for "A Simple Christmas." Republican insiders, mindful of all the attention focused on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue," are calling Huckabee's "the other book tour."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Should Treasury Secretary Geithner be fired?

President Obama is just back from an eight-day trip to Asia. Perhaps he hoped to sleep in a bit today.

But amid growing discontent over the administration's handling of the economy -- and new revelations about misspent or at least misreported stimulus funds -- anger on Capitol Hill is sending a dramatic wake-up to the White House.

The target of much of the anger is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a former New York Federal Reserve banker who bailed out AIG and let Lehmann Bros. fall and who has watched the dollar sink to all-time lows.

At a session of the Joint Economic Committee on Thursday, Republicans let him have it.

 "Conservatives agree that as point person, you failed. Liberals are growing in that consensus as well," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas). "For the sake of our jobs, will you step down from your post?"

Geithner shot back at Republicans with this line: "You gave this president an economy falling off the cliff."

But Democrats are growing critical too, with progressives arguing that the administration is tilting toward Wall Street and away from Main Street. Here's Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) calling for Geithner's resignation.

Even members of the Congressional Black Caucus apparently think the first black president in history has been slow on the uptake. They are threatening to hold up a financial regulatory reform package unless the White House takes action on jobs. "The recession has created a unique systemic risk that threatens all parts of the African American community, including the poor and the middle class," explained Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

Not everyone agrees. Columnist David Brooks hailed Geithner's policies the other day, saying that he was mostly right and his critics were mostly wrong. The financial sector is in much better shape than it was then. TARP money is being repaid, and the debate now is what to do with the billions that were never needed. It now seems clear that nationalization would have been an unnecessary mistake — potentially expensive and dangerously disruptive."

So far the administration is defending Geithner, with a spokeswoman saying that he has helped "steer the American economy back from the brink and is now leading the effort on financial reform."

What do you think?

-- Johanna Neuman

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Atty. Gen. Eric Holder on hot seat about sending 9/11 trials to NYC: 'We need not cower in the face of this enemy'

It was a hearing in which both sides gave as good as they got.

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, criticized Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. for deciding to hold the trials of alleged 9/11 plotters in New York City, calling the move "dangerous, misguided and unnecessary" because it would put the city at greater risk and give Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, a platform.

But Holder, noting the long and successful record of New York prosecutors in managing terrorism trials, scoffed at that, insisting that the defendants' "hateful ideologies" will be no louder in civilian court than before a military commission. Noting that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Chief Ray Kelly think the city can be protected during the trial, Holder said:

I have every confidence that the presiding judge will ensure appropriate decorum. And if Khalid Shaikh Mohammed makes the same statements he made in his military commission proceedings, I have every confidence the nation and the world will see him for the coward he is. I'm not scared of what Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will have to say at trial, and no one else needs to be either. 

The attorney general also took a swipe at the George W. Bush administration, saying, "For eight years justice has been delayed for the 9/11 attacks. No more delay. It is time; it is past time to finally act." 

In short, said the attorney general, "we need not cower in the face of this enemy."

 -- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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Eric Holder defends decision to try 9/11 terrorists in federal court

Obama angry about leaks on Afghan policy, 'absolutely' a firing offense

In a round of interviews before he left China, President Obama made clear that he was not happy with sources within his administration who had leaked details about his deliberations on Afghanistan.

"For people to be releasing information during the course of deliberations, where we haven't made final decisions yet, I think is not appropriate," he said.

CBS' Chip Reid asked the president if he was as angry as Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the leaks.

"I think I'm angrier than Bob Gates about it," he replied. "We have deliberations in the situation room for a reason; we're making life-and-death decisions that affect how our troops are able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing info in the course of deliberations is not appropriate."

"A firing offense?" Reid inquired.

"Absolutely," Mr. Obama responded. 

And, in an interview with CNN, Obama promised to end the war in Afghanistan before he leaves office. 

"My preference would be not to hand off anything to the next president," he said. Perhaps thinking of the full plate that was left to him by President Bush, Obama added, "One of the things I'd like is the next president to be able to come in and say I've got a clean slate." 

Pledging to announce his decision with transparency, Obama said, "The American people will have a lot of clarity about what we're doing, how we're going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost, what kind of burden does this place on our young men and women in uniform and, most importantly, what's the endgame on this thing." 

 -- Johanna Neuman

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Palin to Biden: 'Drill, baby, drill' not that complicated

(UPDATE: 1:28 p.m. An additional quote from the program and a link to the full transcript has been added below.)

Rush Limbaugh has said of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue," that it is "truly one of the most substantive policy books I've read."

So the conservative icon was determined not to follow the media herd. In a half-hour interview with the Republican Party's hottest commodity, Limbaugh did not ask Palin about her quarrels with John McCain's presidential campaign, her interview with CBS' Katie Couric, her clothes, her husband or her ambitions.

Instead, he offered her a platform for policy, a chance to burnish her credentials, to add gravitas to the resume.

On the green revolution: "A lot of snake-oil science. ... Somebody's making an awful lot of money" from the fear of global warming.

On healthcare: "There are lots of common-sense solutions before we get the federal government involved."

And, finally, on the "drill, baby, drill" chant that defined her appearance before the Republican National Convention last summer: "What is complicated about tapping into safe supplies" of oil?

Responding to Vice President Biden's recent comment that addressing environmental issues is more complicated then just drilling, Palin said, "It's not that complicated, it's political."

(UPDATE: The full Limbaugh-Palin transcript is now available here. He also asked Palin about the loss of her endorsed Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, in New York's 23d District:

Well, I think what you saw there is -- and of course it's not just the Republican machine, it's the Democrat machine, too.  You know, if you're not the anointed one within the machine, sometimes you have a much tougher row to hoe and that's what Hoffman faced. He was the underdog. 

I think great timing for him, though, to stand strong on his conservative credentials and essentially come out of nowhere and prove that an American without that resume, without that machine backing can truly make a difference in an election like this.

RUSH:  Well, now, you used the term, "If you're not the anointed one by the party machine, you're the underdog and you have a tough row to hoe."  Based on things that I read, the Republican establishment would not anoint you to be a nominee of their party should you choose to go that way. 

Palin, who upset the entrenched GOP establishment in Alaska to win the gubernatorial primary, chuckled.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Will prayers sway Lieberman on healthcare? Rabbis rally. Priests, ministers, imams too

Connecticut's Joe Lieberman is a unique figure in Washington. He's an independent who caucuses with the Democrats but campaigns for Republicans like Arizona's John McCain.

He's also an observant Jew who honors the Sabbath. The senator makes an exception for work when the Senate is in session on Saturdays.

Now, an interfaith group of clergy is lobbying him to drop his plans to filibuster any healthcare bill that contains a public option. Their strategy: prayers.

During a Sunday night vigil, a crowd walked from Stamford High School, Lieberman's alma mater, to his condo building across the street. According to the Stamford Advocate's Devon Lash, residents went out on their balconies to listen to rabbis, ministers, priests and imams speak from behind a sidewalk pulpit.

"We are praying for the senator to change his heart and his mind," said the Rev. Tommie Jackson, of Faith Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Stamford. 

Then Monday, a multi-denominational group of clergy sent a letter to Lieberman asking him to abandon his filibuster threats. "A lot of groups who have historically supported [Lieberman] are praying for him to come back home," Rabbi Ron Fish, leader of the Concerned Clergy Of Connecticut, pictured above.

The letter, signed by 70 members of the clergy, posed this argument: "Whether from the words of Torah or the Gospels of Jesus, whether from the Talmud or the Koran -- our traditions all are explicit and clear on one thing: We are commanded to seek the welfare and healing of all those in our midst, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Rabbi  Ron Fish, of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk, Conn., participates in candlelight vigil urging Sen. Lieberman to back healthcare reform.  Credit: Chris Preovolos / Stamford Advocate

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Palin's book sparks attack on vegetarians

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has never made any bones, if you will, about her culinary preferences. She's a carnivore, a hunter and proud of both.

So it's not really a surprise that her book, "Going Rogue," published today, extols the virtues of eating meat.

"If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore," she wrote. "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

But the former Republican vice presidential candidate did not stop there.

“I love meat," she writes. "I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska's animals -- right next to the mashed potatoes.”

A vegetarian from Cleveland took issue with Palin. In a blog on the Examiner, Daelyn Fourtney wrote that Palin's remarks "will surely receive a chuckle and thumbs up from many avid hunters and steak house patrons. It is a sad statement on our society when we applaud those who refer to animals as the centerpiece of their dinner plate."

Now, Fourtney is reporting that she has received a lot of hostile e-mails from conservatives assuming her to be a left-wing pinko. A sampling of her inbox:

* “The liberal/socialist media elites are terrified of America's new Reagan and it's so much fun to see their PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) on display...including this Fortney writer.” –freeperjim

“Politicizing Food now?...is nothing sacred? ... off, Alinksy Vegan Radicals.” – Tyler

“You liberals and militant vegs. apparently need a humor transplant.” –Keith

The Cleveland food writer -- in some quarters now known as the "Rogue Vegetarian" -- said her politics are separate from her eating habits.

"I have chosen to live a vegetarian lifestyle because I believe in the sanctity of life for all creatures," she said. "Assuming that one is left or right based on what they choose to eat is a dangerous road to travel."

Still, she said, she's not counting on a Christmas card from the Republican Party this year.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Sarah Palin with a caribou she shot in Alaska. Credit: Associated Press

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Sarah Palin's steamy passage about husband Todd, plus surprisingly kind words about Hillary Clinton

It's not the typical kind of passage for a political memoir. But hey, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Pallin isn't the typical kind of politician.

Amid rumors that Palin and her husband Todd, known as Alaska's "First Dude," were getting a divorce, the governor recounts this moment in her odyssey. If it reads like a Harlequin novel, viewer discretion advised.

“That day in sunny Texas when the divorce rumors were rampant in the tabloids, I watched Todd, tanned and shirtless, take the baby from my arms and walk him back to the ranch house so Trig could nap while I made calls,” she writes in "Going Rogue," the much-publicized memoir out Tuesday. "Seeing Todd’s blue eyes smiling, I chuckled. ‘Dang,’ I thought. ‘Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd?’”

Palin's book, "Going Rogue," is being released Tuesday with a huge publicity drum roll -- beginning with today's interview with Oprah Winfrey  -- and considerable speculation about whether the publicity will help Palin resurrect her political career.

In the meantime, various quotations are leaking out. One of the most intriguing is the Republican vice presidential candidate's view of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then battling Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

From the book: "Should Secretary Clinton and I ever sit down over a cup of coffee, I know that we will fundamentally disagree on many issues, but my hat is off to her hard work on the 2008 campaign trail. …[A] lot of her supporters think she proved what Margaret Thatcher proclaimed: 'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.' "

Here's Clinton's response.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Gatty Images

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What's real price tag on war in Afghanistan?

The casualties are sobering --  nearly 1,500 deaths to date among U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

So are the stakes -- the prospect of a Taliban resurgence that likely would reverse recent gains for women and girls and the destabilization of neighboring Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons and Al Qaeda cells.

But as President Obama weighs a decision on whether to deploy more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, a new front in the debate is emerging in Washington -- the financial costs.

The White House Budget Office estimates that it will cost about $1 million for each additional soldier sent to Afghanistan. So, a surge of 30,000 to 40,000 troops -- which is what Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is recommending -- would add $30 billion to $40 billion a year to the deficit.

At the Pentagon, the comptroller disagrees, estimating the cost of deploying and maintaining one soldier in Afghanistan for a full year  at $500,000. So, bottom line would be $15 billion to $20 billion.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Obama recently made reference to the costs as one of the factors in his decision. In Japan on Friday, on the first stop of his eight-day visit to Asia, Obama said he was taking his time to deliberate because he wanted to make sure that "when I send young men and women into war, and I devote billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money, that it's making us safer." With costs and security in mind, he added, "our goal here ultimately has to be for the Afghan people to be able to be in a position to provide their own security. ...The United States cannot be engaged in an open-ended commitment."

An escalation in military spending could put Obama in the awkward position of winning Republican votes for the budget while losing Democratic ones for the policy. And a drain on the nation's bottom line also could imperil domestic programs favored by the White House.

A new surge, said Wisconsin Democrat David Obey, would "drain the spirit of the country ... as well as drain the U.S. Treasury, it would devour virtually any other priorities that the president or anyone in Congress had."

The added red ink is unlikely to make the decision any easier -- either for Obama or the public.

"It reflects the political climate," Georgetown University military analyst Christine Fair told Reuters. "The leadership is confused, we're broke, and most Americans don't know why we're there."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Rogue rage: Team McCain strikes back at Palin

Arizona Sen. John McCain has been a gentleman abut the whole thing, artfully dodging questions, urging his staffers to hold their tongues too.

But for many of the top political names who worked on McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, "Going Rogue," by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is just too much to take quietly.

In the book, Palin attacks campaign manager Steve Schmidt for silencing her. She accuses communications aide Nicolle Wallace of forcing designer clothes on her and cajoling her into doing that disastrous interview with CBS' Katie Couric out of pity for the anchor's low ratings. She complains that the McCain campaign charged her $50K for her own vetting.

Schmidt calls Palin's memoir "total fiction." He added: "Why is the bald guy always the villain?"

As for the allegation about Wallace, former campaign manager Mark Salter told Politico that was unlikely.  Wallace "did not decide which interview requests the candidates would accept," Salter said. "Nor was she tasked with securing the candidates’ agreement." Wallace said the account was "totally fabricated."

As for the vetting accusation, campaign counsel Trevor Potter told the Atlantic, "I can confirm that she was not billed for any vetting costs by the campaign."

Using the book for "petty and pathetic" score-settling, said former McCain strategist John Weaver, belittles Palin's own stature.

"Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie 'Harvey,' complete with imaginary conversations," he said. " The score-settling by someone who wants to be considered a serious national player is petty and pathetic. The problem wasn't who her interview was with, the problem was her interview," he added.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Brian Adams / Runner's World

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