Administration

Republicans are "desperate" in their opposition to healthcare reform proposals before Congress, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) asserted late Thursday evening.

Waters, pointing to remarks by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) that this GOP is looking for a "great white hope," said Republicans would "reveal who they are" over time.

"We are trying to keep the focus on comprehensive universal health care reform," Waters said during an appearance on MSNBC. "And they're going all over the place. They're desperate. They don't have leadership. They don't really know what to do."

"I think we're going to continue to see a lot of crazy things happening, like all of the outrage that is being demonstrated at these town hall meetings, like the kind of statements that Congresswoman Jenkins made," Waters added.

Jenkins had apologized for her remark, saying any racial connotations associated with the comments were unintentional.

Waters seemed to suggest that more Republicans would make racially tinged statements in the future, thereby "revealing" their true beliefs.

"They will define themselves. They can't help it," she said. "And I think what we should do is sit back and watch them, so that the American people can see what we're really up against."

"And I think the president would like it that way," Waters added. "He would not like to engage them in the discussion about their racist remarks. That's not the way he handles things."

A bicycle safety expert said President Obama should have been wearing a helmet while he was bike riding on Thursday.

During a bike ride with his family in Martha's Vineyard, Obama did not wear a helmet while his two daughters did.

David Mozer, director of the Internional Bicycle Fund, said, "We encourage him to wear a helmet."

Mozer noted that Obama has worn helmets while bike riding before, adding that helmets "aren't as dorky as they were years ago."

White House spokesman Bill Burton said on Thursday he was unsure why Obama did not have a helmet on, saying, "I know he generally wears bicycle helmets."

Mozer pointed out the healthcare cost-benefits of buying and wearing a helmet, stating that head injuries are slow to heal and expensive to treat.

But Michael Bluejay of Bicyclesafe.com doesn't believe helmets are necessary.

In an e-mail, Bluejay wrote, "It's no more irresponsible to bike without a helmet than it is to drive without one. The benefits of helmets are largely unproven, especially considering that when helmet use surged in the 1990's, so did head injuries among cyclists. And the countries with the lowest helmet use also have the lowest fatality rate for cyclists. I promise you, if the head of any European country went biking without a helmet, it would be a non-issue, as it should be here."

President Obama will not weigh in on whether he thinks the Massachusetts governor should be able to point a quick successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters at Martha's Vineyard on Thursday that the president prefers to leave the decision up to state officials.

"The decision of how Massachusetts will be represented in the United States Senate is up to the people and representatives of Massachusetts, and their governor," Burton said. "That's just not a scale that he's going to put his thumb on."

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has backed efforts pushed by the senator shortly before his death to appoint a quick interim senator to fill the vacancy before a special election could be held.

With the high-stakes debate over healthcare continuing this fall, a successor to Kennedy could be critical in determining the fate of reform Kennedy termed the cause of his life.

The White House declined to say how the senior senator's absence would affect the political calculus over healthcare, arguing that it would be inappropriate at this time.

"People are going to have discussions about this, but the president thinks today isn't the appropriate time to do that," Burton said.

The press secretary also described the personal role Kennedy had played with Obama, especially during the height of the presidential campaign.

"It was obviously incredible and immeasurable in some ways. He endorsed President Obama as a candidate at a time that provided a cannon burst for the campaign," Burton said. "It would be hard to replicate on any other way."

Biden said he hoped younger Kennedys would pursue elected office when asked during an appearance on NBC this morning whether a Kennedy family member should succeed the late senator.

"They have so much talent," Biden said, referencing his having spent time with many members of the Kennedy family while attending the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. "There are some remarkable young women and men in that family who are totally, thoroughly capable of being United States Senator, and governor."

"I hope some of them decide that elected public office is a battlefield they want to compete in," the vice president added.

Many Kennedys have pursued public life, from Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and onetime Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) to California First Lady Maria Shriver.

Some Kennedy relatives have been discussed as potential heirs to Ted Kennedy's senate seat, including his widow, Vicky, and former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.), the senator's eldest son.

A Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday stood behind former Vice President Dick Cheney's opposition to a preliminary Justice Department probe into interrogations of terror suspects that may have broken the law.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) made his remarks on Twitter today:

Cheney's right, thank God after 911 he was there instead of his detractors, lest America would have suffered even more terrorist attacks.

"The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions," Cheney said in a statement on Monday.

"President Obama's decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security," he added.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Monday that he will appoint career Justice Department prosecutor John Durham to open an investigation of several incidents in which terror suspects may have been tortured by government agents.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

Adm. Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is poised to serve a second term as the nation's top military officer.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold Mullen's confirmation hearing Sept. 15.

President Obama sent Mullen's nomination to the Senate already in May.

Mullen's first two-year term as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ends Oct. 1. President George Bush nominated Mullen on June 28, 2007. Mullen, who is well regarded on both sides of the aisle, took his post on Oct.1, 2007.

-Roxana Tiron

President Obama ordered flags at all U.S. government buildings to be flown at half-staff until the end of Sunday in honor of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The president issued a proclamation on Wednesday afternoon making the official decree of mourning for the veteran senator, also ordering U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff on the day of Kennedy's burial.

It is not clear when Kennedy will be buried, though preliminary reports have suggested his body will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of his two brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.).

Obama said in the proclamation:

Senator Edward M. Kennedy was not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy. Over the past half-century, nearly every major piece of legislation that has advanced the civil rights, health, and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. With his passing,an important chapter in our American story has come to an end.

Former President Jimmy Carter eulogized the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a firm advocate for the disadvantaged while acknowledging that the 1980 Democratic primary between the two like handed Republicans the presidency.

"We've never seen anyone in the Senate that more assiduously and constantly and enthusiastically dedicated his life to trying to make sure that everything that the U.S. government decided was in the best interest of the people who were deprived of poor, neglected or felt the ravages of discrimination," Carter said during an appearance on CNN.

Kennedy challenged the incumbent President Carter during the 1980 presidential election. Carter managed to fend off Kennedy, only to go on to lose the presidential election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan that fall.

Carter acknowledged the rift between the two men caused by the primary -- as well as the broader split within the party -- but said the two had long ago buried the hatchet.

"The Democratic Party division that was promulgated between the Kennedy group and mine never was healed during that summertime and the fall campaign," Carter said. "And that was one of the factors that was important in a general election."

"But after that occurred, and even before I went out of office, Ted Kennedy and I were completely reconciled as far as friendship was concerned," the former president added. "And since then, whenever I had a major problem that dealt with the Carter Center's business overseas or in any way related to health or welfare or the benefit of poor people in this country and others, I have called on Ted Kennedy as a friend and he's always been fully supportive."

Carter said he hoped that Kennedy's lifelong dedication to healthcare in the U.S. would be in the mind of senators as they take up legislation to overhaul healthcare this fall.

"I believe that would really be the culmination for the Kennedy family of acknowledging the great contribution that he's made to our country," he said.

While Americans should honor the legacy of the Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Republicans won't allow healthcare reform to proceed in the late senator's honor, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said Wednesday.

"Certainly people honor Sen. Ted Kennedy for all of his work," Hensarling, a top House Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC. "But at the end of the day, this is a democracy, and I think the voice of the people have been heard quite loudly in the month of August."

Lawmakers have already invoked Kennedy's memory in the right over healthcare reform that's been stalled in Congress.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) said that health reform legislation should bear Kennedy's name, while other lawmakers and groups have made a similar push.

"I would hope that this would cause individuals -- especially on the Senate side, as well as us in the House -- to sit down like never before to try to make sure that we pass a bill in a bipartisan way, and do it in short order," Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said this morning, appearing alongside Hensarling on CNBC. "I think that would be a fitting tribute to Sen. Edward Kennedy."

Hensarling, a former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, dismissed those appeals.

"I don't believe that's in the cards if anybody's listening to the American people, regardless of people's leadership, legacy, or passions," he said. "I hope that at the end of the day, people vote their conscience and their principles."

A visibly shaken Vice President Joe Biden mourned the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a remarkable figure in the history of the U.S. Senate, as well as a close personal friend.

"Today we lost a truly remarkable man," Biden said in remarks Wednesday morning, at times choking back tears. "To paraphrase Shakespeare, I don't think we shall ever see his like again."

"We truly, truly are distressed by his passing," Biden said of himself and his family.

The vice president detailed his closeness to Kennedy as a member of the Senate throughout the decades, including the Massachusetts senator's extensive outreach to Biden after his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident shortly after Biden's election.

Biden also recounted his seat in the Senate being positioned literally across the aisle from Kennedy in the Senate, saying he was a "witness to history" every day the Senate was in session.

"Don't you find it remarkable that one of the most partisan and liberal members serving in the history of the Senate had...so many of his foes embrace him?" a mournful Biden asked.

The vice president had been to talk about the stimulus and recovery during remarks at the Department of Energy this morning, but waved off the event as planned.

"I quite frankly think it would be inappropriate for me to dwell too much on the initiative that we're announcing today, and not speak to my friend," he said. "I apologize for us not being able to go into more detail about the energy bill, but I just think for me it would be inappropriate today."