Just POlitics

Judicial wars

The Washington Post reports on how both sides in the judicial nomination wars are gearing up for the Supreme Court nominations that are inevitable:

The brochure is hardly subtle. "Emergency instructions for a Supreme Court Retirement," it screams in bold red letters. Delivered by e-mail to tens of thousands of NARAL Pro-Choice America supporters, the missive directs them to "print, cut and fold this card and keep it in your wallet. When a Supreme Court justice retires, you'll be READY for action."

Cardholders are instructed to call their senators and declare that a new justice must support abortion rights. They are also told to log on to a Web site "for more action instructions," and to "TELL everyone you know!"

Conservative wars

The NY Times reports on the battle at the National Interest group:

On Friday, 10 well-known board members, including the conservatives Midge Decter, Samuel P. Huntington and Francis Fukuyama, announced their resignations, saying they disagreed with the narrowly realist foreign policy of its new owner, the Nixon Center.

At issue is the perspective laid out in the most recent issue by Robert F. Ellsworth, vice chairman of the Nixon Center, a "realist" foreign policy research group that acquired sole control of the journal last year, and Dimitri K. Simes, president of the center and co-publisher of the journal. In an editorial headlined "Realism's Shining Morality," they wrote: "Overzealousness in the cause of democracy (along with a corresponding underestimation of the costs and dangers) has led to a dangerous overstretch in Iraq," arguing that United States interests may sometimes require cooperation with undemocratic regimes.

Fukuyama has been a critic of the invasion of Iraq. However, the latest flap came over the Nixon Center not supporting the inevitability of democracy in the world, which Fukyama supports. He plans to carry on the debate about the war in Iraq and American foreign policy by starting another journal, The American Interest, with three others from the National Interest board: Zbigniew Brzezinski, a liberal and President Carter's former national security adviser; Eliot A. Cohen, a military scholar and neoconservative, and Josef Joffe, a leading German editor.

Russia destabilizing S. America

Russia arms manufacturers will deliver 10 helicopters to Venezuela, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Friday, citing a source in the defense industry. Venezuela last year agreed to purchase an estimated 50 MiG fighter jets from Russia as well as other arms and vehicles to ostensibly improve its aging military equipment and secure its border with Colombia. U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said last month the purchase from Russia had a potentially "destabilizing effect on the hemisphere."

Concerns continue to mount regarding possible conflict between leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and neighboring Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe. The two nations have an acrimonious relationship, even though the two countries exchange billions of dollars in trade every year.

Bush at Gridiron

The LA Times covers President Bush’s attendance at the Gridiron Club:

The Gridiron event is a 120-year tradition among Washington journalists and elected officials in which, for one night, members of the press turn the tables on the powerful people they report and write about daily. Some of the press skits were about steroid use in professional sports. But when Bush's turn came, he said that in looking out at the press corps he was confident none were on steroids.

"Those are all natural bodies," he said.