Bush agenda revives GOP proposals

WASHINGTON — President Bush made nice with the Democrats for the television cameras after they won control of Congress, complete with pictures filled with handshakes and smiles, and vows of working together. He even tossed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the side, making many people think that maybe he was going to move more toward the center and reach out for bipartisan openings.

But the agenda he has sent to Congress since then is full of Republican proposals that have no chance of winning bipartisan approval, enrage Democrats, rally his conservative base and appear to be intended to paint Democrats as obstructionist.

Bush has resubmitted several judicial nominations that had been blocked even before last week's election. He has asked again that the Senate confirm John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. And he has urged approval of warrantless eavesdropping on suspected terrorists without any accommodation to Democrats' demands that a court sign off on the spying.

None of these proposals is expected to win approval in the lame-duck session of the Republican Congress, and all are assured of defeat when the Democrats take over in January.

Bush's proposals could be simply his opening bid in what would be a tough round of negotiations with the Democrats. Or they could be a political gambit designed to frame the Democrats as obstructionists while rallying a conservative base dispirited by last week's election losses.

Either way, they contradict the initial post-election image that indicated Bush was ready to reach out to Democrats.

"I intend to work with the new Congress in a bipartisan way," he said the day after the election. "The message yesterday was clear: The American people want their leaders in Washington to set aside partisan differences, conduct ourselves in an ethical manner and work together to address the challenges facing our nation."

Then this week Bush sent to the Senate six appellate-court nominations that waved a red flag before Democratic bulls. They included:

• U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle of North Carolina, who has been blocked for years by Democrats who accuse him of being hostile to civil rights and often overruled by higher courts.

• William Haynes, a former Pentagon general counsel to Rumsfeld, who has been assailed by Democrats for his role in crafting Bush administration policies on detentions and treatment of suspected enemy combatants.

• Michael Wallace, a private-practice attorney from Mississippi who was rated unqualified by the American Bar Association and who has been criticized by Democrats as being hostile to civil rights and to the poor.

• William Myers, a mining lobbyist from Idaho who is opposed by environmentalists.

"Barely a week after the president promised to change course by working in a bipartisan and cooperative way with Congress, it is disappointing that he has decided to stay the course on judicial nominees," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Democrats take over in January.

If Democrats think Bush's moves will anger voters, at least one Republican strategist countered that they will be applauded as overdue by conservatives.

"There is a real question as to how enthusiastic the Republican leadership was last year on these nominations," said strategist Keith Appell. "Now there is an opportunity for the Republican leadership in the Senate to re-establish itself with the conservative grassroots by fighting for these nominees."

Bush also is pushing Congress to ratify his warrantless eavesdropping without any hint of accommodation to Democrats, who want the spying to continue but with court oversight.

White House spokesman Tony Snow defined bipartisanship in that case as the Democrats supporting the president's plan because both parties now share power — and the responsibility to protect the country against terrorists.

Controversial pick

for family planning

The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women."

Dr. Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said Thursday.

Keroack, an obstetrician-gynecologist, will advise Secretary Mike Leavitt on matters such as reproductive health and adolescent pregnancy. He will oversee $283 million in annual family-planning grants that, according to HHS, are "designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who want and need them with priority given to low-income persons."

The Keroack appointment angered many family-planning advocates, who noted that A Woman's Concern supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six pregnancy service centers in eastern Massachusetts.

The Washington Post