Tip Sheet for the Week of April 14

The Beltway Boys give you the scoop on what to watch for in the coming week.

KONDRACKE:  Here's Fred's tip sheet for next week's political action.  You're ready.

BARNES:  All right, I have one.  Next Wednesday, members of the U.S.-China Maritime Commission will meet to discuss the details of the spy plane incident.  Now, this meeting you know is a concession to the Chinese in the beginning, which they wrung during the whole hostage crisis.

And here, the Chinese are going to come and whine and say you have to move these reconnaissance flights farther away from China.  The best way to deal with that is the day before resume these reconnaissance flights on the same path and in the same manner that we've had them for years.

KONDRACKE:  Yeah, I think this is going to be a very contentious meeting.  And I think the Chinese are going to try to get us to stop the flights...

BARNES:  Oh, of course.

KONDRACKE:  ... and are not going to give on the issue of interception.  And we may end up having to get a check (ph) to protect those planes.

Item two, all eyes will be on Cincinnati next week as that city recovers from civil unrest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a black man.

BARNES:  Well, of course, you have to restore order.  Now Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI are all sending in investigators to find out what went wrong there.  Having another riot and stealing a TV from a department store isn't going to help.

KONDRACKE:  Well, look, there is a nationwide problem with racism in police departments.  And -- yes, there is even in the District of Columbia...

BARNES:  Oh, I don't think so.

KONDRACKE: ... which is a majority black...

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES:  I reject that entirely, Mort.

KONDRACKE:  ... Well, I'm sorry.  And it's got to stop.  And the Bush Administration should see to it that it does stop.  And they'll deserve a lot of political credit for it.

BARNES:  The problem is the criminals, not the police.

KONDRACKE:  Well, the police are trouble.  Not the whole problem, obviously.

Item three, Thursday is the sixth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  Timothy McVeigh faces execution next month.

BARNES:  Give Ashcroft credit.  He had to let the families of the people who were killed watch on closed circuit.  And he hasn't let Timothy McVeigh have TV interviews where he can pose as a martyr.

KONDRACKE:  Yeah.  Timothy McVeigh gets 15 minutes a day on the telephone.  And I predict that end the end of those 15 minutes the sympathy level for that guy is going to be just what it is now, zero.

BARNES:  Right.

KONDRACKE:  Item four, next week kicks off the Summer of the Americas, which President Bush is scheduled to attend.  It will be his first big international meeting on the international stage.

BARNES:  Well, he's going to go lacking one thing he needs.  And that's fast track, the ability to get some...

KONDRACKE:  Trade, free trade.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES:  ... free trade agreements through.  And his stature would be enhanced if he had that.

KONDRACKE:  Well, the problem is that he may not get it.  I mean, it's going to be very difficult to get it through Congress because the Democrats want labor and environmental standards built in.  And there are enough Republicans who are turning against trade, unfortunately.

BARNES:  It's difficult. 

KONDRACKE:  Item five, mark your calendar, Fred.  Next Sunday is Earth Day.  Look for the greens to come out in force against President Bush's recent environmental actions.  I know you're going to be marching...

BARNES:  Right.

KONDRACKE:  ... with your sandals and your tie-dyed tee shirt.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNES:  All the granolas.  Look, they're going to be hysterical about Bush turning back environmental laws and so on.  Nothing of the kind is happening.  They'll be hysterical.  They'll be wrong.  The press will side with them.  However...

KONDRACKE:  I know.  But, listen, what George Bush needs to do is to start figuring out how to explain what he's doing better.  He is getting clobbered in the media on his environmental policy.