Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) is drawing on his own background as a Vietnam War protester in inviting veterans of the war in Afghanistan to testify in front of the committee this week.
"One of the lessons that I learned a long time ago and lived out here was that it's important to listen to the troops, it's important to listen to the folks who are implementing these policies and putting their lives at risk," Kerry told National Public Radio in an interview. "And they often have perspective that isn't adequately heard."
Kerry's 1971 testimony, which called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam, was controversially used in ads during the 2004 presidential campaign to damage Kerry's efforts.
"So I think it's very important to have that kind of a hearing, and I guess that's sort of one of the lessons from the past, if you will," Kerry added.
It will take a "significant amount of work" for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to become a leading voice for women in the Republican Party, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said in an interview.
Gingrich named Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison are the GOP's emerging women leaders, snubbing Palin, who remains popular in the party's conservative base.
Gingrich told Christianity Today that the list of leading GOP women would have to start with Lingle and Hutchison.
"I would start, frankly, with Linda Lingle in Hawaii, who was a terrific governor who got re-elected in very difficult circumstances," Gingrich said. The former House Republican leader said Hutchison would "automatically" be a national figure if she succeeds in her bid to become governor of Texas.
The magazine, though, pressed Gingrich for leaving Palin off the list, despite her having run for the vice presidency last fall, and having continued to remain a focus of national media attention.
"She is probably the most successful figure in the party right now, and she's a formidable figure," Gingrich explains. "I think to go from there to becoming a national leader would take a significant amount of work."
"Sarah Palin has an obvious role if she wants it," he added. "The question for her has to be, are she and her family willing to go through another couple of years of the kind of media coverage that they currently get?"
President Obama should stop trying to blame all of his problems on the previous administration, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said.
The brother of former President George W. Bush said the blame-shifting was his one "humble criticism" of the new administration.
"If I had one humble criticism of President Obama, it would be to stop this notion of somehow framing everything in the context of everything was bad before I got here, and focus on his duties -- which, we all want him to succeed," Jeb Bush told Fox News's Sean Hannity in an interview to air tonight. "But constantly pushing down the previous president to make yourself look good, I think is a bad thing."
Bush's comments come amid a steady flow of sniping between some figures in the past and present administration. Most notably, Vice Presidents Cheney and Biden have been going back-and-forth in media stints over Cheney's allegation that the Obama administration had made America less safe.
President Obama and Vice President Biden both got 50/50 marks for the peacefulness of their 2008 votes while in the Senate, according to a grassroots peace organization that released a scorecard of last year's elected leaders.
Both Obama and Biden were on the campaign trail for much of 2008 during the key votes the group Peace Action used to compile its scorecards, but split evenly on the group's priorities on votes they did make.
Obama sided with the group in voting for an increased foreign relations budget, but bucked them by voting for a nuclear arms treaty with India.
Obama missed three votes -- a funding supplemental for the war in Iraq, missile defense legislation, and a torture ban -- which the organization scored.
Biden made all but one vote, siding with peace action on international relations funding and a torture ban, but differing with them on supporting funding for Iraq and the treaty with India.
Read Peace Action's full report here.
Concerts featuring foreign performers are fair game for political fundraisers, the Federal Elections Commission ruled today.
About a year after Sir Elton John caused a stir when he performed at a $2.5 million fundraiser for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign at Radio City Music Hall, the FEC ruled that the act was a "volunteer service" exempted from the "contribution" regulations in the Federal Campaign Act.
At the time of the fundraiser, the FEC did not have a quorum and could not rule on complaints filed by the anti-abortion 527 group American Right to Life Action and Judicial Watch alleging that the Clinton campaign was illegally accepting an in-kind contribution from a foreign national.
"The Commission found no reason to believe that a violation occurred and [has] closed the file," the FEC ruled.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will endorse Sen. Bob Bennett's (R) reelection bid in Utah, maintaining Romney's sway in one of his strong political states.
Romney will appear alongside Bennett on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, and help him campaign throughout Utah.
The endorsement is a move to fend off a potential conservative primary challenge to Bennett from state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who has signaled his openness to challenging Bennett.
"Gov. Romney is very active on behalf of the Republican Party, organizations and individual candidates as we head into the critical 2010 cycle, and he's particularly excited about supporting Sen. Bennett for re-election," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.
Romney has also been a prolific fundraiser in Utah, a state witch which he shares a common faith in its large Mormon population.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) backed the plan for GM and Chrysler put forth yesterday by President Obama, the candidate Romney may face in the 2012 presidential election.
"I think a lot of people expected the president just to cave, write a check, and just hope for the better," Romney said Tuesday morning on CNN. "I think he's expressing some backbone on this."
Romney grew up in Michigan, where his father was governor and, at one time, chairman of a now-defunct auto company. The former 2008 presidential candidate, though, was also sure to tout his own calls for bankruptcy last year, when Chrysler and GM first approached the government seeking support.
"That's something I think he should have said months ago," Romney claimed. "There were a number of us who said bankruptcy or a bankruptcy-like process was something that was needed to get GM and Chrysler on their feet again."
Romney, who won the Michigan Republican primary during the 2008 nominating process, called for the use of the "club" of bankruptcy to force the restructuring of the state's native industry.
"If the parties want to do it voluntarily -- and apparently, at this stage, it's looking like they haven't been able to -- then you're going to have to have that kind of a club to be able to have these companies restructure their excessive costs," he asserted.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he's open to backing his former running mate, but seemed to indicate there are a number of candidates he'd consider.
"I'd like to see her compete," McCain said of Palin's presidential aspirations on Meet the Press Sunday morning. "We've got some very good candidates."
But McCain also dropped the names of some of Palin's fellow Republican governors, perhaps hinting he may back a candidate other than Palin. In particular, McCain named Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and dark-horse candidate Utah Gov. John Huntsman.
"I'd have to see who the candidates are and what the situation is at the time," McCain explained. "I have no doubt of my respect, love, and admiration for Sarah and her family."
President Obama now says the economy is "fundamentally strong," and his former presidential adversary, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is glad Obama finally agrees.
McCain was hammered during the campaign for saying the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" amidst a market that was tanking and numerous bailouts of financial services companies.
"I think we're in agreement," McCain said Sunday morning on Meet the Press. "I think what the president's saying now is needed to be said."
"We still have the fundamentals of a very strong economy, and some confidence is needed," he added.
"Life isn't fair, we all know that," McCain explained when pressed by host David Gregory on Obama's having promoted the economy after having blasted McCain for saying largely the same thing.
Vice President Biden is apparently open to running for president again at theend of the Obama administration, despite an expectation that the vice presidency would be his final job.
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