PERMANENT WAR
With close to 90 political and judicial appointments gathering dust
on Capitol Hill and fellow Republican John McCain
partially responsible for their nonconfirmation, Karl
Rove was the bigger man, and cut a deal with the
unpredictable Arizona senator to break up the logjam a bit. McCain
had been holding up the confirmation process to ensure that his
choice for a seat on the Federal Election Commission, Democratic
operative Ellen Weintraub, would be approved by
the White House.
The White House had been in no hurry for the FBI to move on a
background check of Weintraub, a well-known DNC fundraising
specialist who supports almost all of McCain’s campaign finance
reform ideas. McCain began blocking votes on Bush’s nominations two
months ago, even though Republicans and Democrats had cut a deal to
bring many of the nominations to the floor for a vote. Only one
nonjudicial confirmation was approved in July, and that was for
fellow Arizona native Richard Carmona as Surgeon
General.
Rove cut a deal with McCain, promising that Weintraub would be
seated on the FEC before October 31 (the FEC isn’t expected to
fully adopt and finalize the McCain-Feingold campaign finance
reform rules until then, anyway). This was apparently good enough
for McCain … for now. But more trouble is brewing between the
White House and McCain, and it could turn pretty ugly.
McCain has been meeting with Democrats in the Senate, mapping
out his role in whatever moves the Democrats choose to make related
to health-care issues this fall. The big one is senior prescription
drug benefits, an issue McCain has been involved with for some
time. The White House was angered when McCain signed on as lead
Republican to New York Democrat Sen. Chuck
Schumer’s generic drug bill that would expand a 1984 law
aimed at bringing lower-cost generic drugs to market. The bill
would limit brand name drug companies to just one 30-month stay for
drug patents, instead of the multiple stays they are allowed
today.
“I don’t know why the White House is pissed off about this,”
says a McCain staffer. “It’s not like there aren’t other
Republicans who are backing it.”
That’s true, but McCain’s seeming willingness to be a constant
thorn in the Bush presidency’s side has become a bigger problem
than perhaps even the White House anticipated. “It isn’t like there
is a sense that now that we’ve appeased him on Weintraub, that we
think we have clear sailing, because we don’t.” says a White House
staffer who’s done work on Capitol Hill. “With McCain you’re always
aware that he has another hurdle he’s going to put in front of you.
We know prescription drugs is going to be one, there is probably
going to be another after that. It’s inevitable.”
AL’S LATEST SULK
Former Vice President Al Gore was not satisfied
with the slot he was to receive at the Democratic Leadership
Council’s New York meeting this week, and declined an invitation to
speak at the “National Conversation,” which takes place in
Manhattan today and Tuesday. “Gore was pushing for a ‘keynote’
style speech, a big one,” says a DLC staffer. “But we aren’t doing
it that way, everyone is getting a chance to speak, especially
those with a national reputation. He wasn’t comfortable traveling
in a pack.”
Gore apparently was further upset that his former running mate,
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, would be given what he
perceived to be preferential treatment. Unlike Gore, Lieberman has
been an active DLC member for years. “Lieberman isn’t getting
anything that the other speakers aren’t getting. It’s a speaking
engagement, nothing more,” says the DLC-er. “You have to wonder
about a guy who is acting like a spoiled child toward a group he
needs badly if he is to succeed down the road. It is sort of
odd.”
On the face of it, it doesn’t appear that Lieberman is getting
much of a special spotlight. He’s due to speak on Monday, along
with Sens. Tom Daschle and John
Kerry. Sen. John Edwards and Rep.
Dick Gephardt are scheduled for Tuesday, when Gore
presumably would have had a slot. But ironically, his absence only
adds to the attention that will most likely be showered on John
Edwards, who is primed for what his staff considers to be a major
address to a group he’s looking to build tighter bonds
with.
