Hotline After Dark -- No Harry Potter Spoilers Here
Iraq continues to dominate the cable news, with most of the discussion being about the Pentagon briefing and Amb. Crocker's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Cmte:
CNN's McIntyre: "Two things seem increasingly clear from today's developments. Congress is losing patience with the war, and the U.S. military has no plans to end the surge in September" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," 7/19).
CNN's Bash: "The U.S. ambassador to Iraq downplayed the importance of benchmarks, devised by his own administration as a reliable way to judge the Iraqi government success. His public testimony came after privately warning lawmakers, CNN is told, that the Iraqi government will have difficulty meeting those benchmarks by September" ("Situation Room," 7/19).
FNC's Griffin, on the Pentagon briefing: "General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker answered their questions from Baghdad. Notably absent, however, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel, who are all pushing for a troop withdrawal" ("Special Report," 7/19).
Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), on the briefing: "I didn't leave it less optimistic, because I haven't been all that optimistic in the last few weeks. But the bottom line for me is this: we do not have the force structure to maintain the level of troops we have in Iraq now, and certainly to increase them. So, whatever General Petraeus tells us in September, we are still going to have to reduce the number of troops in Iraq. And that's why I think it would be wise to let the Iraqis know that now, that there will be a gradual reduction in troops" ("Situation Room," CNN, 7/19).
Bill Press, asked why most members did not attend the briefing: "To get 50 members of the House and 40 members of the United States Senate to go to Virginia, to cross the river, is a phenomenal feet. You can't get 90 members of Congress for free drinks in this building if you invited them. I think it was a very good turnout. ... If you want the leadership of the Senate and the House at an event, the White House knows how to reach them. .. They just didn't do a good job of it" ("Tucker," MSNBC, 7/19).
PLAME OUT
CNN's Todd: "Two and a half weeks after Scooter Libby's sentence was commuted, more bad news for Joe and Valerie Wilson" ("Situation Room," 7/19).
MSNBC's Shuster: "The ruling today was far more critical of how Congress wrote a particular law than whether Valerie Wilson deserves money for having her cover blown" ("Countdown," 7/19).
NOT DEF TO THE POLITICAL SCENE
Russell Simmons was in the "Situation Room" and asked which '08er would lead in the African-American vote:
Simmons: "Whoever is going to look to change the condition of suffering of many in our communities is the leader. In other words, those who want to fight poverty and ignorance and those who want to get equal high-quality education, those who might want to really address poverty in a meaningful way, for me, that's the concern. Senator Obama has talked a great deal about poverty, for that, I applaud him. John Edwards has said a lot of very important things about poverty. So it's important that we talk about lifting people up" (CNN, 7/19). [EMILY GOODIN]
