Countdown Newsletter -- 05/01/06: W's Mojo

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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It's time for the White House to go on the offense and "get our mojo back." Josh Bolten said Sunday in his first interview since taking over as the president's chief of staff. Bolten made no promises of pulling up President Bush's all-time low approval ratings, but he said he and Bush have decided they want to be more open with the media and the public. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3830920.html

Oh, but the kind of openness described below... not so much.
Enter Colin Powell...
Just back from Baghdad and eager to discuss promising developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself knocked off message Sunday, forced to defend prewar planning and troop levels against an unlikely critic - Colin Powell, her predecessor at the State Department. For the Bush administration, it was a rare instance of an in-house dissenter going public. On Rice's mind was the political breakthrough that took her and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq last week and cleared the way for formation of a national unity government. Yet Powell sideswiped her by revisiting the question of whether the U.S. had a large enough force to both oust Saddam Hussein and secure the peace. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3831009.html

Monday marks the third anniversary of President Bush's jet landing on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and his speech declaring major fighting in Iraq over, all in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425394

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On the platform at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.... a critique of his presidency by the political satirist Steven Colbert. Colbert made jokes about the elusive weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, opportunistic pictures on aircraft carriers and the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina. Castigating Mr. Bush for not changing policy even when circumstances demanded it, he said: "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday." Colbert was scathing about Mr. Bush's failures in Iraq. "I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq." http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1765025,00.html

Illegal immigrants and their allies gathered Monday for marches, prayers and demonstrations on a planned national day of economic protest, boycotting work, school and shopping to show their importance to the country. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12573992/

Anna Nicole Smith, a one-time stripper and Playboy Playmate of the Year, prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court today in her celebrated legal struggle over the estate of her late billionaire husband, J.. Howard Marshall II, who wed her in his 89th year and then died. Her victory at the high court, which was unanimous, does not mean she will get the millions she claims, at least not yet. She must now return to a lower court for further proceedings in her 11 year old dispute with the deceased man's son, who has accused her of gold digging. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12577236/

The Empire State Building has survived a plane crash, a fire and, in the movies, a love-enflamed ape scaling its peak. Today it turns 75 years old. http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN27250792

A man who entered the Empire State Building wearing an old-man mask and a sophisticated fat suit was arrested Thursday after dangling from a railing on the 86th-floor observation deck in a possible stunt, police said. http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_117220541.html

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) -- A 62-year-old retired schoolteacher is fighting with a cable company over a hefty bill for porn and gangsta rap programming she says she never ordered. The charges of more than $1,000 appeared on Claudia Lee's February Cablevision bill, shortly after she bundled her cable TV, computer and phone services. "They are harassing me and trying to make me pay for something I didn't do," said Lee, who lives alone. Cablevision spokesman Bill Powers said Lee may not have ordered the pay-per-view programming, but someone in her home did. On Friday, however, Cablevision issued a statement saying, "We are suspending these charges pending a full investigation..."Lee said the only regular visitor to her house is her 81-year-old mother, "and I don't think she wants to watch porn." http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PORN_BILL?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

Other News...
Rush Limbaugh must submit to random drug tests under an agreement filed Monday that will dismiss a prescription fraud charge against the conservative commentator after 18 months if he complies with the terms. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12578855/
President Bush said Monday that a report from his two top foreign policy officials on their visit to Baghdad shows that Iraq's leadership is "more determined than ever to succeed" now that a new permanent government is in place. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12577894/
The French woman who received the world's first partial face transplant has complete feeling in the new tissue five months after the operation, she told a Sunday newspaper. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12577076/
General Motors Corp. is recalling about 400,000 pickup trucks due to defective brake lights. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12577354/
A diner found a piece of human flesh on his hamburger shortly after a restaurant worker accidentally cut his finger, and a spokeswoman said the company was "very, very sorry." A kitchen manager at the TGI Friday's at College Mall injured himself Tuesday and no one immediately realized he had lost part of his finger while others rushed to help him. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12578348/
A Chinese businessman has bought a MiG-21f plane from a U.S. seller on the online auction Web site eBay for $24,730 and plans to use it to decorate an empty space at his offices, a newspaper reported Sunday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FIGHTER_JET_MEMENTO?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME