Two fronts

We are watching both the White House and Capitol Hill tonight. The Hill is a focus of attention because of today's Katrina testimony (from the Louisiana Governor and the NOLA Mayor) and the White House because of the President's speech today on Iraq. As was our experience, every day there's been an incremental change in the lexicon of the war... today was apparently no exception. We'll likely begin tonight at one of those two places. Also our series of reality checks will continue tonight with a look at the battle for "hearts and minds" in Iraq.

We'll look at the issues at the Red Cross right now (at the end of December without their CEO) and the news today about mass transit security in this country. We'll also air our promoted story having to do with one man's effort to help us all out of automated telephone hell: the "please press 1 for more options" people... we'll tell you where to find out how to bypass all that and get to speak with a real, live human.

If the network evening newscasts did as their lead stories the videotape items repeated most often on cable, tonight we'd lead with a drag race after which a yellow Chevrolet goes crashing over a guardrail and running into a cameraman's platform at 115 miles per hour. It's the video highlight of the day on MSNBC. I also note that the President has done another sit-down interview, this time with Brit Hume of FOX News. Notably, it was Brit's last formal interview with the President (the President's answer to one of his questions) that gave rise to the fiction that the President didn't consume any news beyond what his aides told him. I believe there will be at least one more high-profile media interview with the President in this pre-holiday series of "availabilities." While my attention has been devoted to other matters, I'm told there are a number of e-mails on a matter very basic to our profession, asking if the White House in any way "pre-screened" our questions, and of course the answer is no. 

Please join us for Nightly News tonight.