White House rejects GOP lawmaker's call for shakeup

And when is Coleman up for reelection?

"The White House is rejecting a Republican senator's call for a staff shakeup. Press Secretary Scott McClellan says President Bush has a "smart" and "experienced" team that is "fully capable.""

1. No surprise McCellan would say that.

2. Presidents change their staffs based on whether the staff id what the President wants not whether the congress is happy about that.

Coleman cited the White House handling of Hurricane Katrina,

Which was nothing more than an MSM manufactured scandal against Bush while the real cuplrits, Blanco and Nagin, minshandled every damn role they are to play in a natural disaster and gutless Reps like Coleman running for the hills rather than calling the press out on its lies and misinformation later admitted to on the backpages of their papers.

the failed Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination

Which I DON'T remember Coleman playing a big role in nuking. Infact, my understanding was that the president was pressured into that nomination because RINO's and gutless Republicans in the Senate couldn't be trusted to confirm someone like Alito. Coleman has a lot of gall to use this as example when he stood in cowardice ready to confirm Miers and let McCain/Lott scuttle the abolishment of the filibuster. JUST AS THE OTHER REPS DID IN THAT BODY. Yes, I am STILL fruious at THEM we have judges in limbo.

and the plans for an Arab company to manage terminals at six U-S ports.

PR could have been handled better. But I don't recall the President putting the image out Arabs were pre-disposed to terrorism and should be blacklisted. That is what the world saw from the FIASCO of the handling of the Congress of the issue.

My recommendation to the Senator from the Liberal state- Butt the hell out of the President's staff and concentrate on your own.

I agree somewhat with Coleman. A more inarticulate, inept bunch of non politicians ever assembled. They seem incapable of "getting out in front" of issues, and framing the issues, and articulating the WOT...........

Press Secretary Scott McClellan says President Bush has a "smart" and "experienced" team that is "fully capable."

Then his boss must be the problem.

To Scott McClellan, anybody would look smart.

Miers is not on the SC, the Arab company is not taking over "ports" and never were and unless Bush is God, Katrina was just a natural disaster so what has the administration done that deserves the CONGRESS to say who should be there?

The President is in desperate need of a new Chief of Staff.

Allen-Coleman '08

Hate Bush, Hate Bush, Hate Bush, let all the Bush haters chant together.

Spare me your reply that you voted for President Bush twice BUT… just spare us this crap. You “people” (despise intended) are not fooling anyone.

I am a total Bush fan.

But he has the same problem as his father, an inability to keep the dims from demonizing everything he does.

Anyone notice they don't actually REPORT the Coleman statements? I suspect this is another Junk Media drive by. Will reserve judgment until I actually SEE the transcript. I suspect Asso Propagana is lying to us again. I suspect they are yet again putting their OWN spin on the Coleman statements. We shall see but is sound like Coleman made the same mistake a lot of Republicans do. He did not counter the spin lie offered up in the Junk Media and so they selectively quoted him to feed the current Junk Media lies.

And when is Coleman up for reelection?

Norm Coleman is a first-term Republican senator from Minnesota, elected in '02, after the RATs messed up and politicized Wellstone's funeral.

Norm Coleman is my senator, whom I helped elect. I disagree with his ANWR position (typically Sierra-Club-Sellout) But on most others he gives at least lip-service to conservative issues and causes. The one difference being free trade issues, which is, and always has been LIBERAL. Pie-headed idealism. So he went along with CAFTA, and also with John Snow's assurances that "China was being handled."

I think Norm has been awakened as to how unrealistic it is to entrust our lives, liberty...and trade...to international organizations. He is showing an increasing sensibility to the need to protect our sovereignty, and insist on bilateral accountability with everyone.

His first major heads-up was his investigations of the U.N. Oil For Food program frauds. He became expert at the levels of complicity and the links of the U.N. high-ups in this...calling for the resignation of Kofi Annan. But unfortunately, Foggy Bottom kept the President from siding with Norm on this, and he opposed the Congressional moves that Norm Coleman made to force a confrontation with the U.N. on this.

As we are now seeing with the Iran Snafu...the U.N. is truly 'broken' and truth be told, it has been since the 60's. And any successor organization will also get 'broken' in short order...because it is a fundamentally stupid idea. The sooner we return to the concepts of sovereignty and limiting our entanglements...rejecting the World Citizen's push for more Globalism...the better.

If only this current administration and his staff would seriously...and sympathetically read... George Washington's farewell address from 1796. Useful still to this day are the warnings he issued therein...even anticpating the Culture War (PCism, Multiculturalism, Moral Relativism, etc) we have today, where both Bush administrations (GHWB and GWB) have arguably remained AWOL, when he questioned the patriotism of anyone shaking the foundations of morality and religion in our government...to the need to avoid entangling alliances...and too close an affection for other nations:

On faith's connection to successful self-rule:

"Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
28 It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ?

On avoiding corruption of our own rulers by trade and alliances:

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 34 As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the Public Councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 35 Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. 36 The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

""The one difference being free trade issues, which is, and always has been LIBERAL""

So coleman is a protectionist against free trade?

There is some irony in having Press Secty Scott McClellan handle this question, as in my mind, he is one of the weakest links in the administration.

Yes, Coleman and others on Cap Hill should be defending the administration on Katrina and not digging the hole deeper, WHEN BUSH DID NOTHING WRONG ON KATRINA.

... yet Bush WH is as much to blame as the biased media. Why? We cant defend Bush if *he* doesnt defend himself.

Adminstration has some great folks (Rummy, Rice, Secty Snow at Treasury) but they are lousy at PR these days, and have been so since they lost Ari Fliescher.

Beam yourself up, Scotty!

""The one difference being free trade issues, which is, and always has been LIBERAL""

"So coleman is a protectionist against free trade?"

Yeah, that was my reaction as well!

I am a pro-market free economy pro-capitalist pro-growth small Government (and social) conservative.

The conservative position on trade is to support low taxes (low tariffs) and as little Government interference (ie protectionism) as possible.

CAFTA tends in that direction far more than status quo, so the conservative position is to support it.

Protectionism, merchantilism, and socialism are just different forms of Government malfeasance in the economy.

Bottom line: Coleman is a pretty good Senator for the state that gave us Wellstone and Mondale.

Absolutely right. They are doing an awesome job, but are unable to articulate it.

The conservative position on trade is to support low taxes (low tariffs)

FALSE.

It is to encourage reciprocity. Not only of taxes, but of like playing fields. Hence the multifarious government interferences (which Adam Smith knew nothing of) to tilt the playing field would be neutralized. Low taxes are one thing. But that is not what you get when the flaming liberals supplanted our tariff-financed government (which had a routine budgetary surplus) with the income tax.

Check out the true conservative position of the 1896 GOP attached below.

As for this point:

Bottom line: Coleman is a pretty good Senator for the state that gave us Wellstone and Mondale.

That is absolutely correct. And Mondale was the alternative. I couldn't bear the idea of that nasal, sanctimonious pie-in-the-sky liberal getting back in the Senate.

Republican Party Platform.

Adopted at St. Louis, June 16, 1896.

The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their representatives in National Convention, appealing for the popular and historical justification of their claims to the matchless achievements of thirty years of Republican rule, earnestly and confidently address themselves to the awakened intelligence, experience, and conscience of their countrymen in the following declaration of facts and principles:

For the first time since the Civil War the American people have witnessed the calamitous consequences of full and unrestricted Democratic control of the Government. It has been a record of unparalleled incapacity, dishonor and disaster. In administrative management it has ruthlessly sacrificed indispensable revenue, entailed an unceasing deficit, eked out ordinary current expenses with borrowed money, piled up the public debt by $262,000,000 in time of peace, forced an adverse balance of trade, kept a perpetual menace hanging over the redemption fund, pawned American credit to alien syndicates, and reversed all the measures and results of successful Republican rule. In the broad effect of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted industry and trade with prolonged depression, closed factories, reduced work and wages, halted enterprise and crippled American production, while stimulating foreign production for the American market. Every consideration of public safety and individual interest demands that the Government shall be rescued from the hands of those who have shown themselves incapable of conducting it without disaster at home and dishonor abroad, and shall be restored to the party which for thirty years administred it with unequalled success and prosperity. And in this connection we heartily endorse the wisdom, patriotism and the success of the Administration of President Harrison.

Allegiance to Protection Renewed.
We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of Protection as the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foundation of American development and prosperity. This true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry; it puts the burden of revenue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American producer; it upholds the American standard of wages for the American workingman; it puts the factory by the side of the farm, and makes the American farmer less dependent on foreign demand and prices; it diffuses general thrift and founds the strength of all on the strength of each. In its reasonable application it is just, far and impartial, equally opposed to foreign control and domestic monopoly, to sectional discrimination and individual favoritism.

We denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional, injurious to the public credit and destructive to business enterprise. We demand such an equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into competition with American products, as will not only furnish adequate revenue for the necessary expenses of the Government, but will protect American labor from degradation to the wage level of other lands. We are not pledged to any particular schedules. The question of rates is a practical question, to be governed by the conditions of the time and of production; the ruling and uncompromising principle is the protection and development of American labor and industry. The country demands a right settlement, and then it wants rest.

Reciprocity Demanded.
We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated by the last Republican Administration was a national calamity, and we demand their renewal and extension on such terms as will equalize our trade with other nations, remove the restrictions which now obstruct the sale of American products in the ports of other countries, and secure enlarged markets for the products of our farms, forests and factories.

Protection and reciprocity are twin measures of Republican policy and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has recklessly struck down both, and both must be re-established. Protection for what we produce; free admission for the necessaries of life which we do not produce; reciprocal agreements of mutual interest which gain open markets for us in return for our open market to others. Protection builds up domestic industry and trade and secures our own market for ourselves; reciprocity builds up foreign trade and finds an outlet for our surplus.

We condemn the present Administration for not keeping faith with the sugar producers of this country; the Republican party favors such protection as will lead to the production on American soil of all the sugar which the American people use and for which they pay other countries more than $100,000,000 annually. To all our products--to those of the mine and the field, as well as those of the shop and the factory--to hemp, to wool, the product of the great industry of sheep husbandry, as well as to the finished woolens of the mill--we promise the most ample protection.

Merchant Marine.
We favor restoring the early American policy of discriminating duties for the upbuilding of our merchant marine and the protection of our shipping in the foreign carrying trade, so that American ships--the product of American labor, employed in American shipyards, sailing under the Stars and Stripes, and manned, officered and owned by Americans--can regain the carrying of our foreign commerce.

The Currency Plank.
The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the enactment of the law providing for the resumption of specie payment in 1879; since then every dollar has been as good as gold.

We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country. We are, therefore, opposed to the free coinage of silver, except by international agreement with the leading commercial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to promote; and, until such agreement can be obtained, the existing gold standard must be preserved. All our silver and paper currency must be maintained at parity with gold, and we favor all measures designed to maintain inviolable the obligations of the United States and all our money, whether coin or paper, at the present standard, the standard of the most enlightened nations of the earth.

Justice to Veterans.
The veterans of the Union armies deserve and should receive fair treatment and generous recognition. Whenever practicable, they should be given the preference in the matter of employment, and they are entitled to the enactment of such laws as are best calculated to secure the fulfillment of the pledges made to them in the dark days of the country's peril. We denouce the practice in the Pension Bureau, so recklessly and unjustly carried on by the present administration, of reducing pensions and arbitrarily dropping names from the rolls, as deserving the severest condemnation of the American people.

Foreign Relations.
Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous and dignified, and all our interests in the Western hemisphere carefully watched and guarded. The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States, and no foreign Power should be permitted to interfere with them; the Nicaragua Canal should be built, owned, and operated by the United States, and, by the purchase of the Danish Islands, we should secure a propert and much-needed naval station in the West Indies.

The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sympathy and just indignation of the American people, and we believe that the United States should exercise all the influence it can properly exert to bring these atrocities to an end. In Turkey, American residents have been exposed to the gravest dangers, and American property destroyed. There, and everywhere, American citizens and American property must be absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost.

We reassert the Monroe Doctrine in its full extent, and we reaffirm the right of the United States to give the doctrine effect by responding to the appeals of any American State for friendly intervention in case of European encroachment. We have not interfered, and shall not interfere, with the existing possessions of any European Power in this hemisphere, but those possessions must not, on any pretext, be extended. We hopefully look forward to the eventual withdrawal of the European Powers from this hemisphere, and to the ultimate union of all the English-speaking part of the continent by the free consent of its inhabitants.

Suffering Cuba.
From the hour of achieving their own independence, the people of the United States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other American peoples to free themselves from European domination. We watch with deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined contest for liberty. The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba, and being unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Government of the United States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island.

The Navy.
The peace and security of the Republic, and the maintenance of its rightful influence among the nations of the earth, demand a naval power commensurate with its position and responsibility. We therefore favor the continued enlargement of the navy and a complete system of harbor and seacoast defenses.

Foreign Immigration.
For the protection of the equality of our American citizenship and of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low-priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who can neither read nor write.

Civil Service.
The Civil Service law was placed on the statute book by the Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our repeated declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended wherever practicable.

Free Ballot.
We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and that such ballot shall be counted and returned as cast.

Lynchings.
We proclaim our unqualified condemnation of the uncivilized and barbarous practices well known as lynching and killing of human beings, suspected or charged with crime, without process of law.

National Arbitration.
We favor the creation of a National Board of Arbitration to settle and adjust differences which may arise betwen employers and employed engaged in inter-State commerce.

Homesteads.
We believe in an immediate return to the free homestead policy of the Republican party, and urge the passage by Congress of the satisfactory free homestead measure which has already passed the House and is now pending in the Senate.

Territories.
We favor the admission of the remaining Territories at the earliest practicable date, having due regard to the interests of the people of the Territories and of the United States. All the Federal officers appointed for the Territories should be selected from bona fide residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded as far as practicable.

We believe the citizens of Alaska should have representation in the Congress of the United States, to the end that needful legislation may be intelligently enacted.

Temperance and the Rights of Women.
We sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent the evils of intemperance and promote morality.

The Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of women. Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and welcome their co-operation in rescuing the country from Democratic and Populistic mismanagement and misrule.

Such are the principles and policies of the Republican party. By these principles we will abide, and these policies we will put into execution. We ask for them the considerate judgment of the American people. Confident alike in the history of our great party and in the justice of our cause, we present our platform and our candidates in the full assurance that the election will bring victory to the Republican party and prosperity to the people of the United States.