Morning News Roundup

Not getting out of bed early enough to get these done before coming to the office so they're a little later these days...on to the news.

• In another test of the strength of fervor over the immigration issue yesterday, Republican incumbent Representative Chris Cannon (UT-3) beat back a primary challenger by 14 pts, far more than polling had indicated. The challenge was promopted by Cannon's seemingly soft views on immigration.
• Speaking of immigration, Washington Times reports that Senators may finally be coming around to a "borders first" policy that would delay any discussion of amnesty or a guest-worker program until that crucial first step has been taken. Hopefully, such a compromise will end the House-Senate stalemate and put some sort of meaningful immigration reform bill on the President's desk before November.
• In a half-heart-warming story, House Republicans are starting to talk about maybe, possibly passing some weak legislation slapping the Times on the wrist for leaking the SWIFT story...hardly what I think is appropriate, but write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them that revealing secrets during war time, especially when these secrets have been cleared by Congress, is a vile act and one that should be punished harshly (this coming on top of the President's ringing condemnation yesterday).
• In what really is heartening news, as we see the first sign of real serious policy discussion in Congress in ages, the President is calling for a reexamination of Social Security reform and further tax reform. While the cuts may just be a partisan issue, and should be approached carefully, the White House and Republican leadership needs to do a far better job of laying out the need for reform to the American people. However, it also looks like the Senate is backing off on another try at the death tax, even though Frist and Co. are getting pressured by their House counterparts.
• Israel went into Gaza last night, decisively so. When will the Palestinian people realize that they're the ones most inconvenienced by such incursions, while the Hamas tomfoolery thtat sparked it is largely unpunished? I think it will be interesting to see how Olmert handles this crisis; he is the first Israeli PM not to be of the founding generation. Sharon was a war hero and veteran, having taken up arms for Eretz Israel on multiple occasions. Ben-Gurion once told him that "it doesn't matter what the world says about Israel, it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive." That sort of perspective also characterized Sharon late into his political life, whether or not it holds true for Olmert remains to be seen.