Morning copy 11.07.2005

UPDATE: Thanks to SerandEz for responding to critics head on. There's not enough "debate" in this country.

George W. Bush

The MSM really has to quit giving bloggers space on their pages. Here is some pro-Bush insanity from Opinion Journal:

Toss in the Middle East: In the next three years or so, Iraq should slowly grow stronger and stronger. If the U.S. decides to take action against Syria (or Iran, for that matter), the already changing Middle East will learn democracy even faster. Mr. Bush's allowing Israel to direct the path it takes is proving wise, forcing the Palestinian people to choose democracy or terror. While it is still unclear which will win out, at least now they are battling over it.

Ronald Brownstein has some more reasoned analysis in the Los Angeles Times:

From the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina to the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, Bush faces a broader array of problems than most of these predecessors: It sometimes seems as if the White House is at the end of an assembly line whose product is grief.

But the experiences of these past presidents still illuminate the opportunities — and risks — he faces.

Torture

Dana Priest and Robin Wright in the Washington Post cover Dick Cheney's fondness for brutality.

At the same time Rice has emerged as an advocate for changing the rules to "get out of the detainee mess," said one senior U.S. official familiar with discussions. Her top advisers, along with their Pentagon counterparts, are working on a package of proposals designed to address all controversial detainee issues at once, instead of dealing with them on a piecemeal basis.

Samuel Alito

The Los Angeles Times has a story on Alito defying labels, and therefore walking toward confirmation. This excerpt is from one of the Sunday talkies:

"My instinct is that we should commit" to an up-or-down vote, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "I think that judgment won't be made until the bulk of us have had a chance to actually see him and speak to him. But I think the probability is that [such a vote] will happen."

The nominee is juxtaposed with Edwin Meese III in the New York Times:

It was a time of re-examination of basic principles. Mr. Meese was focused on reorienting the law toward a more conservative interpretation of the Constitution. The office, which advises the attorney general, was fired with zeal. But Mr. Alito, after eight years as a civil servant, brought something else, friends say: a respect for stability and continuity in the law, as well as deep admiration for President Ronald Reagan's emphasis on family, neighborhood and work.

Paris Calling

It is getting worse in France, New York Times. The lede includes rioters using shot guns.

"The republic is completely determined to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear," Mr. Chirac said at a news conference in the courtyard of Élysée Palace after meeting with his internal security council. "The last word must be from the law."

The Washington Times reports that police in France fear heavier weaponry.

Iraq

Harry Reid won't be thrilled with this, New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 - With Democrats stepping up their attacks over prewar intelligence on Iraq, the Republican leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Sunday that the panel's initial work had found no evidence of "political manipulation or pressure" in the use of such intelligence.

And but however

This from the Guardian:

Tony Blair repeatedly passed up opportunities to put a brake on the rush to war in Iraq, a failure that may have contributed to the country's present anarchy, according to Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's ambassador to Washington at the time, in his book DC Confidential, serialised in the Guardian from today.

Sir Christopher Meyer's first passage.

Evangelical environmentalists

The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 - In their long and frustrated efforts pushing Congress to pass legislation on global warming, environmentalists are gaining a new ally.