Who should try Nidal Malik Hasan -- military or federal courts?

An Army hospital spokesman said today that Nidal Malik Hasan is now conscious and able to talk.

The 39-year-old Army major and combat psychiatrist is accused of unleashing a bloody massacre Thursday when he opened fire at a processing center at Ft. Hood Army military base, killing 13 and wounding 29.

The question now: Who will prosecute him?

Tom Kenniff, a former Army JAG officer and Iraq war veteran who served in Tikrit, said Friday he thought the judge advocate general's office on Ft. Hood will have exclusive jurisdiction over this case. "It's possible he could also be charged by the Feds with committing an act of terrorism, but my guess is the Army will get first crack at him," he said in an online chat for the Washington Post.

But Sunday, Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman said the Homeland Security Committee he chairs will investigate whether federal officials missed any red flags that Hasan had become a terrorist threat.

“We don’t know enough to say now, but there are very, very strong warning signs (Hasan) had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act,” Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday.

A finding of terrorism could trigger a decision by the Obama administration to take the case to federal court, and an admission that Hasan's alleged action was the first act of terrorism on American soil since Sept. 11. President Obama flies to Texas on Tuesday to participate in a memorial for the 13 victims.

Murder in either case is punishable by the death penalty, but the appeals process in the military justice system apparently tends to discourage executions. According to  the Houston Chronicle, of the  47 service members charged with murder in recent decades, 15 have received a death sentence, and none has been executed since 1961.

"We're in for a long haul," Scott Silliman, retired career JAG Air Force officer who now directs the Center on Ethics and National Security at Duke University Law School, told the paper. The Army "will not try to move the case too quickly because that might build in a problem down the road."

Meanwhile Hasan's family is asking that he be allowed to consult with a lawyer before speaking to investigators. In a statement Saturday, Eyad Hasan, the suspect's brother, said his family has “faith in our legal system and that my brother will be treated fairly.”

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Specialist Braden Purrentine trains a horse in front of flags flying at half-mast for the victims of Thursday's massacre at Ft. Hood. Credit: Reuters

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Does House healthcare bill end abortion coverage?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a great vote counter. 

As the healthcare vote on Saturday night demonstrated, she knew just how many votes she had to turn to win the bill. And she did it by allowing lawmakers from swing-state districts -- many with strong Catholic constituencies -- to first vote against insurance funding for abortion. 

Abortion foes hailed the move as what was called "a nail in the eventual coffin of Roe v. Wade."

Now, as the bill moves to the Senate, pro-abortion groups are mobilizing for a fight.

"It is unconscionable that anti-choice lawmakers would use health reform to attack women's health and privacy, but that's exactly what happened on the House floor," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "The fight is not over. ... We will continue to mobilize our activists and work with our allies in Congress to remove this dangerous provision from the healthcare bill and stop additional attacks as the process moves to the Senate."

Added Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "Women do not plan to have unintended pregnancies. ... Proposing a separate abortion rider or single-service plan is tantamount to banning abortion coverage since no insurance company would offer such a policy."

New York Democrat Anthony Weiner said this morning that the House bill, in effect, leaves women without protection. Even if someone wants to purchase her own policy that covers abortion, he said, she might have trouble finding an insurance company to offer it. Take a listen.

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-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer leave a Democratic caucus where President Obama spoke in advance of the House vote on healthcare reform. Credit: Getty Images

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How the State Department tried to derail Reagan's 'Tear down this wall' speech in Berlin [video]

Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the unofficial end of the Cold War. The wall had gone up in the dead of night on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961, when East German soldiers closed the border to West Berlin. In the decades to come, thousands of East Berliners tried to climb the wall to freedom, and hundreds were gunned down.

On this momentous anniversary, there is much speculation about what role President Reagan played in ending the Cold War, especially in the speech he delivered at the wall two years earlier. That was the famous occasion, in June of 1987, when the president known as the Great Communicator called on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

I was at the wall with Reagan that day, covering the speech as a reporter. I was expecting Reagan's trademark tribute to the universal aspirations of freedom. Instead, I remember being struck by the directness of his language. On reflection, it was not really surprising. This, after all, was the president who had earlier labeled the Soviet Union an "evil empire."

According to former White House speechwriter Anthony Dolan, the line almost didn't make it into the speech. As drafts circulated within the inner circles of the administration's foreign policy team, State Department and National Security Council staffers waged a fierce campaign -- and up to the very last minute -- to get the president to drop the line.

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Dolan said, "With a fervor and relentlessness I hadn't seen over the prior seven years ... they kept up the pressure until the morning Reagan spoke the line."

The key to Reagan's philosophy, said Dolan, was that rogue regimes really were evil, and that the best way to confront them was to expose their moral weakness.

The former speechwriter took a hit at President Obama's policies toward Iran and Burma, worrying about "the impact of the administration's systematic accommodation of criminal regimes and the failure to understand what 'good vs. evil' rhetoric can do."

The wall is down, and Germany is reunited, but some rhetorical wars never end.

You can read Reagan's speech after the jump, or watch it above.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: A West Berliner talks to an East Berliner over the wall in 1962. Credit: NATO / Getty Images

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George W. Bush makes secret visit to mourning families at Fort Hood; Laura Bush goes too

Last night former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura made a secret visit to the devastated military families at Fort Hood.

The Bushes instructed the commander of the mourning military base that they wanted no publicity. With their Secret Service detail, Bush and his wife made the 30 mile trip unannounced from their ranch near Crawford, Texas Friday evening.

Fox News broke news of the visit this afternoon. Other sources said the former first couple spent about two hours meeting with the wounded, family and soldiers, talking quietly and at times hugging them as they did in private at other times of crisis such as post-9/11.

Most presidents come to feel a genuine respect and affection for the people they lead as commander-in-chief and sometimes the affection is reciprocated.

Many base workers and residents on Fort Hood are still reeling from the shooting this week by Major Nidal Malik Hasan that killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others. (See video below.)

The White House announced today the Obamas plan to attend a memorial service there on Tuesday. Some foreign news reporters have begun to write unflattering comparisons of the emotional Bush vs the ever-cool, possibly cold Obama.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press, 2003.

Bipartisanship erupts between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton; they cancel joint LA, NY appearances

George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who some may remember as previous presidents who disagree on many things, today agreed and abruptly pulled out of a joint public appearance scheduled for this winter in Los Angeles.

The money was no doubt good but it seems the 42nd and 43rd presidents grew unhappy with the confrontational way the event was being promoted.

The politically dissimilar pair have also dropped out of a similar, later appearance in New York City.

"We canceled the event because of a violation of contract and a promoter who insisted on billing it as something it wasn't," said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Democrat Clinton. David Sherzer, a spokesman for Bush, also confirmed the event was off.

McKenna said the forum was never intended to be a clash between the men -- "the hottest ticket in political history," a news release called it. It was instead supposed to be a moderated panel discussion. Unlike, say, what usually goes on in Washington.

"It's unfortunate that an overeager promoter ruined the opportunity to hear a serious discussion of the issues between two former presidents who have a great deal of respect for each other," McKenna said.

Officials of the promotion company, hired by New York's Madison Square Garden, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Clinton, who defeated Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, in 1992 to win the presidency, and Republican Bush, who defeated Clinton's VP, Al Gore, in 2000, appeared together at an hourlong forum in Toronto last May. No riots ensued, but that was in Canada.

The two were set to appear Feb. 22 at University City's Gibson Amphitheatre as part of the American Jewish University's public lecture series. The appearance was announced back in August, with tickets set to go on sale this week at prices ranging from $75 to $125.

A second appearance was scheduled for Feb. 25 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, with tickets ranging from $60 to $160.

McKenna would not discuss the fees forfeited by the two former presidents, who aren't exactly on welfare anyway. But they reportedly received $150,000 apiece for their Toronto evening together. McKenna said money was not a consideration in their decision in to cancel the events.

-- Mark Z. Barabak

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Photo: Associated Press (Bush at Clinton library dedication 2004).

Sunday shows: Steele, Kaine, McDonnell, Gorbachev

UPDATE: 2:44 p.m. Saturday NBC has updated its lineup below.)

ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos": Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee; along with Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee; and a roundtable with Democrat Donna Brazile, Republican pollster Frank Luntz and ABC's Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital With Al Hunt": House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Reps. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Republican consultant Ed Rollins.

CNN's "GPS With Fareed Zakaria": Aspen Institute's Walter Isaacson, "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" author Robert Caro, columnist Peggy Noonan, "Creating Black Americans" author Nell Irvin Painter and former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

CNN's "State of the Union" with John King: GOP Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Republican pollster Bill McInturff, Democratic pollster Peter Hart, James Carville, Mary Matalin and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

"Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: McDonnell, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). With roundtable of Brit Hume, NPR's Mara Liasson, the Weekly Standard's Willliam Kristol and the New York Post's Kirsten Powers.

UPDATE: NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi (Republican) and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania (Democrat), David Brooks, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Republican strategist Ed Gillespie and NBC's Tom Brokaw. Meet the Press has added Gen. George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, to its guest lineup.

Related items:

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Inside Tuesday's elections: The lessons and warnings for Obama, GOP

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images (McDonnell).

Weekly remarks: Obama salutes the troops, Haley Barbour sees elections as 'wake-up call'

Weekly Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House

I’d like to speak with you for a few minutes today about the tragedy that took place at Fort Hood. This past Thursday, on a clear Texas afternoon, an Army psychiatrist walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center and began shooting his fellow soldiers.

It is an act of violence that would have been heartbreaking had it occurred anyplace in America. It is a crime that would have horrified us had its victims been Americans of any background. But it’s all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable because of the place where it occurred and the patriots who were its victims.

The SRP is where our men and women in uniform go before getting deployed. It’s where they get their teeth checked and their medical records updated and make sure everything is in order before getting shipped out. It was in this place, on a base where our soldiers ought to feel most safe, where those brave Americans who are preparing to risk their lives in defense of our nation, lost their lives in a crime against our nation.

Soldiers stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world called and e-mailed loved ones at Fort Hood, all expressing the same stunned reaction: I’m supposed to be the one in harm’s way, not you.

Thursday’s shooting was one of the most devastating ever committed on an American military base. And yet, even as we saw the worst of human nature on full display, we also saw the....

What H1N1 swine flu? Majority of Californians intend to ignore the late vaccine: Times/USC poll

A new poll confirms that the Obama administration and federal health officials have failed to convince Americans -- at least those in the most populous state of California -- of the seriousness of a H1N1 swine flu pandemic.

A majority of those registered voters polled by a new survey team involving The Times and the University of Southern California said they believed the new, delayed vaccine was safe.

But a majority also said they had no intention of getting it.

The findings come from a new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Poll. The survey, which interviewed 1,500 registered voters from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3, was conducted for The Times and USC by two nationally prominent polling firms, the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies.

Today's results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Only 5% of those polled said they had already been vaccinated. Of the rest, 52% said they didn't plan to get vaccinated. Of the 40% who said they wanted the vaccine, 12% said they already had attempted to find it but couldn't. 

Of those polled, 70% said they think the H1N1 vaccine is safe for most people, and only 17% said there was a strong chance the vaccine is unsafe.

Last month the Obama administration declared a national emergency over the H1N1 pandemic, as The Ticket reported here. But the government program has come under fire for long delays in deliveries of the vaccine.

Rep. Ron Paul has even called the federal program a "total failure." Obama officials, who are overseeing the vaccine distribution, have blamed the delays on manufacturers.

A previous national poll, as The Ticket reported here, found a large majority of Americans also intended to skip the recommended medical action.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Baltimore Sun (Another satisfied young vaccination customer).

Eric Cantor takes on Rush Limbaugh, harsh GOP rhetoric

Can it be? Another Republican leader taking on Rush Limbaugh? Apparently so. And that leader is Virginia’s Eric Cantor, the second-highest-ranking GOP member in the House.

But first a little history. Earlier this year Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, labeled Limbaugh’s talk show “incendiary” and “ugly.” After Limbaugh and his many listeners expressed their displeasure, Steele apologized--and pretty quickly, too.

Which makes today’s comments by Cantor all the more interesting. In a segment on “Political Capital with Al Hunt” being aired today, he touches on Limbaugh comments that have been, shall we say, less than inclusionary.

He also suggested that harsh rhetoric from party members might harm the GOP in the long run:

"The Republican Party in its root is a party of inclusion and we ought to be promoting that and making sure that voices are heard."

This bit of news comes from Bloomberg, in an article about Cantor's comments on the show, which airs on Bloomberg Television. As the article states:

"His comments about Limbaugh and other members of his party put him at odds with some party leaders. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, also took issue with Limbaugh’s comments, then relented.

"Cantor was critical of Republicans such as Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, who called the Democratic health plan a greater threat to America than terrorists and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who took fellow Republican Olympia Snowe to task for voting with Democrats. Pawlenty later said the Maine senator is 'absolutely welcome' in the party."

Follow this link for Bloomberg's full report.

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: Eric Cantor. Credit: Associated Press

Californians say no more gay marriage votes: Times/USC poll

A majority of California voters opposes putting the issue of gay marriage back on the ballot for another referendum.

According to a just-released survey by the new polling team of The Times and the University of Southern California, a small majority of Californians favors the right of gay couples to marry.

But a far larger proportion of the 1,500 registered voters in the new poll opposes putting the issue back on another statewide ballot next year. This week Maine became the 31st state where voters, in effect, defeated the idea of gay marriage in a statewide vote.

Not surprisingly, same-sex-marriage views were sharply polarized by political party; 66% of Democrats thought it should be legal and 71% of Republicans opposed it. Nonpartisan voters were less enthusiastic than Democrats but still backed it, 59% to 34%.

Overall, the smallest majority of 51% of California voters favored marriage rights for same-sex couples and 43% opposed them, according to the survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

However, a surprisingly large number of Californians -- almost 60% -- were certain that they did not want the issue revisited in 2010, just one election cycle after it last hit the ballot.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

Gunman shouted 'Allah Akbar' before opening fire, witness says. Will the rampage affect Obama's decision?

A witness has told investigators that the Army major who allegedly opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Ft.  Hood Army Base Thursday shouted  "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is Great" and the rallying cry of suicide bombers around the world -- before unleashing his bloody assault that left 13 dead and 30 others wounded.

In a briefing with reporters this morning at the base, Col. John Rossi said, "We do have a witness who reported that."

And this morning on NBC's "Today" show, Lester Holt aired tape of the father of a soldier who said that his daughter told him the same thing.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No one knows for sure yet. Lots of investigations are underway. This morning, after obtaining a search warrant, federal authorities seized the suspect's computer. Maybe it will turn out that anger is just anger, that motive is less important than fury.

But there are other reasons to suspect that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist who treated combat veterans and who was described as a devout Muslim, was motivated by political animus against the United States.

Reports say he had received unsatisfactory reviews while he was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, in part because he reportedly got into arguments with soldiers about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He said maybe Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor," retired Col. Terry Lee told Fox News. "At first we thought he meant help the armed forces, but apparently that wasn't the case. Other times he would make comments [that] we shouldn't be in the war in the first place."

And then there are the Web postings, which authorities are now investigating. As the Los Angeles Times reported this morning, in a post on the website scribd.com that appears to be from May, a writer named "NidalHasan" likened a suicide bomber to a soldier who jumps on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow officers in that both were sacrificing their lives "for a more noble cause."

That cause, the post read, "is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan."

The massacre will no doubt weigh on President Obama as he decides whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. This afternoon he visits soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, a trip planned before the shooting.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Republicans threaten to retaliate against Dede Scozzafava in NY-23. 'If this is my end, so be it'

Dede Scozzafava is the moderate Republican assemblywoman who withdrew from the congressional race in New York's District 23 and threw her support to Democrat Bill Owens. You could call her the forgotten player in the race.

In a district that had been in Republican hands since the 19th century, Scozzafava's support helped Owens beat back a conservative maverick, Doug Hoffman, whose surging candidacy was fueled by Tea Party activists angry about her moderate views on abortion, gay marriage and President Obama's $787-billion stimulus package.

Now, Republicans in the New York Assembly are threatening to retaliate by stripping Scozzafava of her party roles.

Minority Leader Brian Kolb is openly talking about removing her as the GOP floor leader. The two have held several meetings, with Kolb expressing his disappointment in her action.

For her part, Scozzafava is talking about whether she even wants to stay in politics, or seek a seventh term in the Assembly next year. She told Kolb that she was sorry if she put him in an awkward position, but she doesn't sound sorry to have robbed conservatives of a voice in Congress.

"If this is my end, so be it," she told the Watertown Daily Times. "At least I know we have a congressional representative who is going to put the interests of the district above the interests of the Club for Growth and Rush Limbaughs of the world."

The move to punish Scozzafava is reminiscent of what Democrats wanted to do after Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman, who had been the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, went out and campaigned all through the 2008 presidential campaign for Republican John McCain.

As Ticket reported earlier, the Democrats were also pretty ticked off last month when Lieberman threatened to filibuster a healthcare bill if it contained a public option.

Lieberman gets to chair the Government Reform Committee because he caucuses with the Dems, and many of them wanted to strip him of his chairmanship after the presidential defection.

The man who persuaded them not to: Barack Obama.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: Associated Press

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