Happy Tuesday!
Hello everybody and welcome to the Shuster "Daily Briefing" for March 3, 2009. Thanks to all of you who have been following show developments via Twitter.
Our interactions got some high profile pick up today in the form of a Doonesbury comic strip.
For the record, I've never used Twitter to talk about vacations, bagels, or anything else. I think Twitter serves all of us better if we use it to share news/info/points of view about the news and what we are doing on 1600. But, I suppose the PR isn't a bad thing either.
President Obama held a high profile meeting today at the White House with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. On conference calls, I keep calling him "Tony Blair" and I'm now worried about making that mistake on air. Ugh. Anyway, the Brits want the Obama administration to agree to some international regulations for all financial institutions. The Obama administration isn't sure it wants to go along with what the Europeans are proposing. In any case, if Brown and Obama had disagreements today, they didn't let it show in front of the TV cameras.
We will start tonight's show with a White House update from NBC News correspondent Tom Costello. Tom usually covers transportation issues. And the President made a trip today to the Department of Transportation. So, Tom will give us the news from both events.
Then, we will turn to the latest in the GOP civil war over Rush Limbaugh. RNC Chairman Michael Steele apologized last night for his criticism of Limbaugh earlier in the week.
It's pretty amazing that Republicans feel compelled to apologize to Rush when they criticize Limbaugh comments like these: "The dirty little secret is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so." Every Republican in the country wants Obama to fail? Michael Steele is no longer willing to say Rush is wrong. Republican Sen. John Barrasso, on our program, refused to say "Rush is wrong."
Tonight, we will ask former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul.
In our second block tonight, we will look at the latest developments in the Wall Street bailout. The CEO of Bank of America said he "miscalculated" and should not have requested as much TARP money as he did.
I appreciate that the TARP money indicated to investors that BOA was perhaps in more trouble than reality. None the less, I'm curious why the CEO still got paid over $10 million last year?
In "Hypocrisy Watch," we will return to Rush Limbaugh. Remember his effort to extend the Democratic primary battle last year between Clinton and Obama? Rush called it "Operation Chaos."
Well, now it's Rush who is complaining about open primaries. Hypocrisy indeed.
By the way, one of the stories I covered several years ago has finally reached something of a conclusion. D.C. police today announced the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Chandra Levy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/03/AR2009030301967.html?hpid=topnews
In our back half, we will chat with the Huffington Post White House Correspondent Sam Stein, Washington Post reporter Chris Cilizza, and Republican strategist/media guru Tucker Bounds. You will remember Tucker from the McCain campaign. Also, we have some fun items to alleviate any strains you may be feeling today. We've learned what music Bill Clinton has been listening to on his iPod.
Tonight's "Quote of the Day" comes from U2's Bono:
"As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both."
Thanks in advance for watching tonight's show. "1600" airs at 6 p.m. in Washington, D.C.; 5 p.m. in Little Rock; 4 p.m. in Boulder, and 3 p.m. in Carmel, Calif.
Shuster
