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Washington News
Biden Touts Obama's Foreign Policy, Ties Romney's To Bush Vice President Biden's foreign policy speech in New York Thursday garnered a good deal of online and print coverage, but none of the broadcast network newscasts mentioned it Thursday evening.
The AP reports, "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. That was Vice President Joe Biden's message for...Mitt Romney in a campaign speech Thursday that blended a robust defense of" President Obama's "foreign policy record with a harsh attack on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's positions. Appearing before 500 students at New York University Law School, Biden said Romney approaches foreign policy with a Cold War mentality and is uninformed about the challenges facing the US abroad."
USA Today says Biden "praised President Obama's foreign policy record -- and attacked Mitt Romney -- by using what is becoming a new campaign mantra. 'Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,' Biden said during a speech in New York City. He added that 'the reverse' might true had Romney been president."
Carl Cameron, on Fox News' Special Report reported, "Launching the first barrage of foreign policy criticism of the general election race," Biden "cast Mitt Romney as inexperienced, inconsistent and ill-informed," as well as a "rigid throw-back to the George W. Bush era and a flip-flopper at the same time." Biden: "We know that when the Governor does venture a position, it's a safe bet that he previously took or is about to take an exactly opposite position."
The New York Times reports Biden painted Romney "as a cold war relic who would leave American troops stranded in Afghanistan. The president, Mr. Biden said in a speech at New York University, ended the war in Iraq, devised an exit strategy in Afghanistan and restored America's moral stature. Mr. Romney, he asserted, has distorted that record and would drag the United States back to the go-it-alone policies of the Bush administration that culminated in the Iraq war."
The Los Angeles Times says the President's "selection of...Biden as his running mate in 2008 gave the Democratic ticket greater heft on foreign policy, often a perceived weakness for Democrats in presidential races," and, "now, just shy of the first anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the president's reelection campaign is trying to use Biden to turn national security into a political weapon against" Romney.
The Washington Times says the speech "is another in a series of attempts by the Obama campaign to link Mr. Romney...to the policies of former President George W. Bush."
Parties Exchange Broadsides Over Student Loan Rate Hike The political dimension of the Obama Administration's push to keep student loan rates from rising generated coverage in national media outlets focused on the parties' skirmishing. The AP reports on the political rancor surrounding a scheduled doubling of some Federal student loan rates. Noting that both parties agree that the current rate should be maintained the AP describes the sparring over how to pay for maintaining the current rate, adding, "Thursday's partisan blasts were the latest, vivid example of how lawmakers are missing no chances this election season to portray themselves as seriously addressing voters' concerns about the economy and other issues while accusing the other side of blatantly playing political games."
The New York Times also covers how the parties are engaged in "a blazing battle" over what would ordinarily be "reserved for the deep weeds of Congressional committees," noting that the "election-year fight for the allegiance of college students and their hard-pressed parents grows out of a combination of soaring college costs, mounting student debt and a sluggish job market for graduates. This has made a top-tier issue of preventing the interest rate, now 3.4 percent, from reverting to 6.8 percent." The Times states that this fight is typical of this Congress, in that "both sides agree on a desired result, but they disagree on how to pay for it."
The Washington Times expands on the theme of the parties' differences over how to pay the $6 billion tab for maintaining the current rate, noting that as proposals have been floated to target petroleum firms, the healthcare act, or "high-paid lawyers and consultants," the parties are each "offering up one of its favorite political targets in an effort to frame the debate as a choice between young college students and others whom each side paints as less worthy."
Student Loan Debt Holding Back Economic Recovery USA Today reports that "mounting student loans are burdening young workers who are key to overall spending." Though mortgage debt has declined more than 7% since the onset of the recession, student loan debt increased by $117 billion last year as many Americans have gone back to school to increase their competitiveness in "amid a bruising job market."
New Secret Service Scandal Contradicts Napolitano Testimony A new Secret Service scandal was again a dominant story in last night's broadcasts, as both ABC World News and NBC Nightly News indicated the agency was now under review for an incident involving agents having sex with prostitutes in El Salvador. The latest controversy also features prominently in today' leading national dailies and wires, with sources in particular emphasizing the new revelations come just one day after DHS Secretary Napolitano assured the scandal in Cartagena, Colombia was "an isolated incident."
On ABC World News, Pierre Thomas reported "authorities are investigating new allegations about sex with prostitutes in El Salvador prior to a March 2011 presidential trip. A government contractor tells a Seattle TV station that he accompanied Secret Service personnel to strip clubs where he witnessed them drinking heavily. He says at least two of the men brought prostitutes back to their hotel." Nonetheless, "administration officials have said their investigation is far reaching, but they have found no evidence of rogue behavior beyond Colombia," ABC said.
NBC Nightly News reported, "One day after the Homeland Security Secretary said she believed it was an isolated incident, tonight; the Secret Service is investigating another allegation, this one during last year's trip to El Salvador. It's an allegation only, not yet verified, but it adds to the growing headache for the people charged with protecting the President."
The Washington Post notes House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King "cautioned that the new inquiry is just part of the agency's broad investigation into whether agents and officers have interacted with prostitutes in the past." King said, "It doesn't mean that there's any validity to it. ... They're looking into all allegations." The Post notes Seattle's KIRO-TV "first reported Wednesday night on the El Salvador trip." The Post adds, "If the allegations are true, they would appear to contradict statements made Wednesday by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that the Secret Service was unaware of any behavior similar to the Colombia incident having occurred in the past 2 1 / 2 years."
The AP (4/27, Caldwell) adds lawmakers "questioned" Napolitano's assurances the Colombia incident was an aberration, citing Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman, who both expressed disbelief Napolitano truly believed such behavior was rare. In addition, the AP notes complaints by Sen. John McCain, who compared the response by DHS and the Secret Service to that of the Pentagon, saying, "Secretary Napolitano and especially the director of the Secret Service has been pretty forthcoming in many aspects of this, unlike the Pentagon, which has completely stonewalled."
Campaign News
Obama Pressured To Reimburse Taxpayers For Travel Costs On NBC Nightly News, Kelly O'Donnell reported that "when the President travels, the price tag is big. His trip this week cost $179,000 an hour for everything that goes with him," but "the White House says it was official business, and so the government, not the Obama campaign, paid for it." O'Donnell said House Speaker Boehner claims "this particular trip was a political stunt," and accused him "of campaigning on the taxpayers' dime." Boehner: "Frankly, I think this is beneath the dignity of the White House. ... It's time for the Obama campaign to pony up and reimburse the Treasury." According to O'Donnell, "This boiled over after the President visited colleges in three battleground states."
Carl Cameron, on Fox News' Special Report, reported that the President "does not start campaign-funded trips until next week, meaning his recent trips to key swing-state college rallies packed with youth voters were taxpayer-funded official business. The chairman of the RNC has already filed a Federal Election Commission complaint demanding taxpayers be reimbursed," and Boehner "agrees."
The Wall Street Journal , in an article titled "GOP Blasts Obama For Travel Costs," notes that on Wednesday, the RNC asked the GAO to look into whether the Obama campaign ought to reimburse taxpayers' for the cost of this week's travel. White House spokesman Eric Schultz says, "When there is political travel, we follow all rules and regulations that all other administrations have followed."
The Los Angeles Times says Boehner called the President's "visits to college campuses a blatant campaign pitch for reelection -- and 'pathetic.'" The Times notes that Boehner and "other Republicans have said Obama should reimburse for the costs of using Air Force One and other government resources when he makes the case on the road, as he is doing this week," but "the White House dismissed the criticism, saying travel is part of the president's job."
The Hill says Boehner "unleashed one of his harshest denunciations of President Obama," hitting him over the travel issue and "accusing the White House of a 'pathetic' attempt to stir up an election-year fight over student loans. 'This week the president traveled across the country on taxpayers' dime at a cost of $179,000 an hour insisting the Congress fix a problem that we were already working on. Frankly, I think this is beneath the dignity of the White House,' Boehner said at the outset of his weekly Capitol press briefing." The Hill adds that the President's trip to North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado "was billed as official White House business, but Boehner said that claim 'didn't pass the straight-face test' and that Obama was creating 'a fake fight' purely for political purposes."
House Majority Leader Cantor, appearing on CNBC's Kudlow Report, said, "I would think that anybody looking at these campaign stops would know that this is about politics. It's not about policy. It's not about the commander in chief of our country going out to meet Americans. It's about a presidential candidate out campaigning."
Barbour: Obama Camp Preparing To "Carpet-Bomb" Romney With Attack Ads Politico reports that ex-Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) "predicted Thursday that the Obama campaign will soon begin carpet-bombing Mitt Romney in an effort to disqualify the Republican in the eyes of independents and prevent the election from becoming a referendum on the president's job performance." Barbour, a former RNC chair, said, "Obama didn't have to run in a primary, so he's sitting on a stack of money so tall that a show dog couldn't jump over it. And he can't run on his record. So the time to really try to run down the Republican, carpet-bomb him, is about to start."
The Hill reported on its website that Barbour, "who is involved with the Republican-affiliated outside groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, suggested that if Obama goes on the attack before Romney is prepared to defend himself, the super-PACs would provide some air coverage for him. 'Everybody who wants a new president wants to keep the voters' attention on those policies and the results of those policies,' Barbour told The Hill."
Obama Campaign's Targeting Of Romney Donors Draws Criticism Kim Strassel, in her column for the Wall Street Journal , denounces the Obama campaign for singling out donors to the Romney campaign and criticizing their businesses. Strassel says this represents an overreach by an incumbent president's campaign as it could be seen as a threat against other employers considering donating to Romney.
Three New Electoral Vote Maps Show Obama Leading Romney Several prognosticators and pollsters have new electoral vote projections out. Politico reports that in its first map of the season, Karl Rove & Co. has President Obama safe or ahead in states totaling 284 electoral votes, with Mitt Romney at 157. A new assessment by Sabato's Crystal Ball says Obama "starts with a presumed base of 247 electoral votes...but not all of them are truly secure. Romney starts with a much firmer but not ironclad 206." The latest MSNBC count has 231 "in the solid, likely, or lean categories" for Obama, to 197 for Romney. In its aggregation, RealClearPolitics has Obama at 227, Romney 170.
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