Think Progress

RADICAL RIGHT -- STEELE HITS SALTSMAN: 'MAGIC NEGRO' STUNT 'REINFORCES NEGATIVE STEREOTYPE' OF GOP:  The Hill reported last month that current Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman candidate Saltsman sent out a Christmas greeting that contained a CD with the song "Barack the Magic Negro" on it, which sparked criticism from several of Saltsman's opponents. "I am shocked and appalled," current RNC chair Mike Duncan said. Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis, another RNC chair aspirant, called the move "in bad taste."  However, Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell -- the two African-American candidates for RNC chair --  had "been the easiest on Saltsman." Yesterday, during a debate, all of the candidates agreed that the GOP needs to bring in more minorities. In an interview with The Progress Report after the event, Steele finally strongly criticized Saltsman's "Magic Negro" stunt and said he is harming the effort to make the party more inclusive. "Oh it doesn't help at all. Absolutely, it reinforces a negative stereotype of the party," Steele said. "This is not representative of the party as a whole, this is not a direction that we want to go in or a system that we believe."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH 'SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING' PARDON OF IRAQ WAR VET WHO KILLED UNARMED IRAQI CIVILIAN: In February 2008, a military judge convicted U.S. Army sniper Sgt. Evan Vela of  killing an Iraqi civilian "who wandered into the hiding place where six soldiers were sleeping." Vela, who received 10 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, was found guilty of planting an AK-47 on the dead Iraqi man's body and lying to military investigators about the shooting. According to a letter sent by the White House to Vela's family, a request to pardon Vela is being "seriously considered" by President Bush. The soldier's father, Curtis Carnahan, said that the letter he received "also noted there are other ways for his son to be released," including being granted clemency. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) have written letters to Bush on behalf of Vela, urging that the president grant him clemency. They argued that Vela "was simply following the orders of his superiors."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH CITES FAILED SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION PUSH AS HIS BIGGEST DOMESTIC POLICY ACHIEVEMENT: Yesterday, the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes reported that he and fellow conservative Bill Kristol met with President Bush last Friday for a lunch in the president's "private dining room adjacent to the Oval Office." Barnes reported that the President cited his push to privatize Social Security as his biggest domestic policy accomplishment. "Bush said his effort showed it's politically safe to campaign on changing Social Security and then actually seek to change it," wrote Barnes. Though it seems odd that Bush cited an unsuccessful effort as his biggest domestic policy achievement, it is understandable given that he doesn't have much else to include on a list of successes. But not only was Bush's drive to privatize Social Security an utter failure, the concept is also widely unpopular with the American public, and if enacted, would have had disastrous consequences for Americans' retirement funds. A recent Center for American Progress Action Fund report found that if a worker had retired on Oct. 1, 2008, after 35 years of contributions to private retirement accounts, that retiree would have lost nearly $30,000 in retirement funds because of the downturn in the stock market over the last two years.

Yesterday, the Secretary of the Senate rejected Roland Burris's appointment to the legislative body "because his certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White." White has refused to sign the certificate, siding with Senate leadership in believing that Burris should not be seated. Burris, nevertheless, is heading to Washington and insisting that his appointment is legal.

Despite increased calls for a cease-fire from Europe and warnings from aid organizations of a growing humanitarian crisis, Israel moved its forces deeper into Gaza toward the southern Khan Younis on Tuesday. Since the fighting began 12 days ago, 590 Palestinians have been killed, and 2,500 have been wounded, while nine Israelis have been killed.

Former Republican congressman Bob Barr states, "In 1996, as a freshman member of the House of Representatives, I wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, better known by its shorthand acronym, DOMA, than its legal title." But now, he says, "I have come to agree with [Obama] that the law should be repealed."

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush may decide against running for Senate, the St. Petersburg Times reports this morning. Bush "may conclude after completing his methodical review process that there are other ways he can help rebuild the GOP."

Speaking for the first time at length about his imprisonment, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Muhammad Saad Iqbal tells the New York Times that he left U.S. custody with a severely infected ear, lower back problems and a dependency "on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants." Iqbal says the maladies were "the result of a gauntlet of torture, imprisonment and interrogation" that he was put through.

In the coming months, Congress plans to move aggressively against the tobacco industry "by regulating cigarettes, raising per-pack sales taxes and ratifying an international antitobacco treaty." The measures "are ones that the Bush administration opposed, vetoed or declined to act upon," but that President-elect Obama supported while in the Senate.

Toyota will be "suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March," an "unprecedented" suspension for the top automaker. Data released yesterday also showed that the auto industry "capped off 2008 with its worst sales in 16 years as Americans continued to steer clear of dealerships in December."

Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards are expected to appear in federal court today "to answer to manslaughter charges in the 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad." Prosecutors contend the guards fired on unarmed Iraqis trying to escape while the defendants claim they were under attack "when a car in a State Department convoy they were escorting broke down."

And finally: Prominent Twitter users -- including Britney Spears and President-elect Obama -- had their accounts hacked yesterday. Users first noticed the suspicious message "Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay" on the Fox News account. CNN’s Rick Sanchez, another victim of the scheme, later Twittered that he had been at the gym when a fake message from his account went up. Twitter said that it had solved the breach, explaining that "accounts were compromised after a hacker accessed tools the support team uses when a Twitter user can’t remember or wants to reset their login info."