Boehner Says Barton Will Remain Ranking Member

Robert Hune-Kalter-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) will continue to serve as Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee despite the Texas Republican’s widely criticized apology to BP.

“Joe Barton recanted his apology to BP last week, and apologized to colleagues today,” Boehner said during a press briefing at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

The White House had suggested that House Republicans reconsider Barton’s status, pointing out that it may be unwise to let somebody with the Congressman’s views to have such a prominent voice in shaping energy policy.

Boehener was joined at the briefing by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence (R-Ind.). The Republican leaders blasted the Democrats’ for declining to submit a budget.

Barton’s apology came during BP CEO Tony Hayward’s Capitol Hill appearance last week. Barton described the White House’s attempt to have BP set up a $20 billion escrow account to handle claims arising from the Gulf Coast spill as a “shakedown.”

“I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that … amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize,” Barton said.

McChrystal Could Be Fired Over Rolling Stone Remarks, Says Gibbs

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that it’s possible Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, could be fired over disparaging comments he and some of his aides made about President Obama and others in the administration during an interview with Rolling Stone that will hit magazine stands later this week.

McChrystal was summoned by Mr. Obama to travel from Afghanistan to Washington today after excerpts of the story were leaked to various news organizations overnight. When asked whether the President might relieve the general of his duties, Gibbs replied, “all options are on the table.”

Gibbs said he showed Mr. Obama particularly incendiary parts of the story on Monday evening, and that the President was visibly “angry.” Mr. Obama had not spoken directly with McChrystal as of today, said Gibbs, but that will change when the two meet tomorrow. The purpose of the meeting, according to Gibbs, will be “to find out what the hell [McChrystal] was thinking.”

Obama's Approval Ratings High In Europe, Low Among Muslim Countries

By Brandon Kosters
Talk Radio News Service

Andrew Kohut, President of the Pew Research Center, told reporters on Monday that a recent survey done by his organization found that European nations possess a fairly favorable view of the United States and President Barack Obama.

"In many respects, [Obama] is more popular overseas than he is in the United States," said Kohut, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in downtown Washington, D.C. The U.S., he added, is generally more popular globally than it was during the presidency of George W. Bush.

Kohut said 24,000 interviews were conducted with residents from 22 nations between April 7 and May 8, 2010.

According to the poll, the U.S.'s favorability rating in France is 73%. A similar poll taken in 2008 found that that number to be just 42%. Moreover, 84% of those polled in France said they support Mr. Obama's policies. "Only the Kenyans gave Obama a better rating then did Western Europeans," he said, adding that Western Europeans generally expressed positive views about Obama's economic policies.

Yet, approval ratings among predominantly Muslim countries were quite low, due to many expressing disappointment with how Obama has handled the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, said Kohut, President Obama's approval rating in Egypt is currently 17%, the lowest it has ever been there.

The Pew survey also found that approval ratings in Mexico have dropped sharply, a fact Kohut attributed to the recent illegal immigration law that was passed in the state of Arizona.

Today At TRNS

Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner is in Orange Beach, Alabama and Gulfport, Mississippi covering the BP oil spill.

White House Correspondent Victoria Jones will be covering the White House press briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Goodman Tamboli will be covering the release of opinions by the Supreme Court.

The Washington Bureau will be covering:

The New America Foundation (NAF); and The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is holding a briefing on Burma's suspected nuclear program. Robert Kelley, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will be talking.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is holding a discussion on the findings of the Pew Global Attitudes Project 2010 Survey of 22 nations, which examines attitudes toward the United States, including confidence in President Barack Obama and views of American foreign policy. Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, will be talking.

Public Citizen is holding a discussion on "Lightning-Rod Issue: Executive Pay at Firms Rescued by the Troubled Asset Relief Program." Public Citizen Robert Weissman; and Ken Feinberg, special master of executive compensation at the Treasury Department will be talking.

Virginia Politician Urging State To Adopt Arizona Immigration Law

By Linn Grubbstrom
Talk Radio News Service

The top elected official of a Northern Virginia county located less than 40 miles from the nation's capital says he wants his state to pass a very similar version of the anti-illegal immigration law passed earlier this year in Arizona.

Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, says he will lobby Virginia lawmakers this year in an effort to persuade them to pass a measure that would increase the power of state and local law enforcement to capture, detain and deport illegal immigrants. The plan Stewart is pushing would also outlaw day laborer centers, places where illegals are known to gather.

Stewart, who earned national notoriety in 2007 for instituting a county-wide crackdown on illegals, told Talk Radio News Service that adopting the Arizona bill would drastically decrease Virginia's crime rate.

"The first two years after the crackdown on illegal immigration in Prince William we had a 37 % drop in the violent crime rate," he said. "Based upon that experience we believe that we would have similar results in the rest of the Commonwealth of Virginia."

In fact, of the 2,000 people arrested last year for major crimes -- including violence -- in Prince William County, only 121 were found to be living in the state illegally. That figure represents a significant decline from the level recorded before Stewart initiated the crackdown two years ago.

However, on a statewide level, over 17% of those arrested in Virginia last year for violent crime offenses were found to be non-residents: A frightening statistic in Stewart's view.

"We need to bring the rule of law to all of Virginia," he told the Washington Post in an interview this week.

Though Arizona has faced mounting threats of economic boycotts by cities and businesses in neighboring states, Stewart insists that enacting such a bill in Virginia would have minimal negative impacts on the state's economy.

"Businesses do even better, because when you crack down on illegal immigration, the quality of life improves and the crime rate goes down and that's the type of environment that businesses want to move to."

Stewart said he expects to encounter push-back on the effort from federal officials, but added that a lack of federal enforcement of the nation's immigration laws has created a need for action on the local level.

"In their typical political fashion I would expect that the Obama administration will try to intimidate the Commonwealth of Virginia, try to sue the Commonwealth of Virginia. But we have to do what is right precisely because the federal government has refused to do anything about illegal immigration."