Centrism by any name would still smell

Just remembered that I'm so old, I once guest posted at Unity08.

Don't judge. They personally invited me to blog. They pitched it to me as a populist movement and I briefly believed them. Only put up one post before I figured what it was really about.

Not much has changed since then, except the names.

Hooked on Warren

Admit while I admired her work, I haven't really followed her Senate launch all that closely until today. So I hadn't really caught the excitement until just now when I watched this clip of Elizabeth Warren on Morning Joe. The twitter didn't do the segment justice this morning. She smacked Joe Scar and his pretentious band of creepy cons to smithereens in that interview.

Meanwhile, Mika's girl crush couldn't be more apparent. A crush I've seen echoed all over the internets and in which I have now fully enjoined. Elizabeth Warren is so a rock star. She makes me want to join her back-up band.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Coleman Concedes

Okay, this surprised me. I didn't expect it at all.

Mr. Coleman stepped outside his home just a short while ago to give his news conference. He indicated that he and Mr. Franken had a positive, personal talk and he told the Democrat that being senator was the “best job he’ll ever have.”

The Republican’s statement began this way: “Ours is a government of laws, not men and women. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has spoken and I respect its decision and will abide by the result. It’s time for Minnesota to come together under the leaders it has chosen and move forward. I join all Minnesotans in congratulating our newest United States Senator – Al Franken.”

Guessing either Pawlenty told the GOP he wasn't going to buck the polls and intended to certify or else the RNC decided they sank enough millions into a losing battle.

Of course, there are other theories...

Ha! ||RT: @GregMitch: Norm Coleman: Now I'll have to chance to take that trip I've long planned--hiking the Appalachian Trail.

[hat tip HoneyBearKelly]

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Finally -- Franken!

So the Minnesota Supreme Court rules Franken is the winner. Of course everybody knew that for the last almost eight months, but now it's official. All that remains to be seen is if Pawlenty will do the right thing and certify him. He'd be crazy if he didn't. Public opinion strongly favors an end to this charade. I'm thinking a lot depends on whether he intends to run for re-election or not.

Of course, I fully expect Coleman will still want to take it all the way to SCOTUS. TPM runs down some of his possible strategies at the link. But for the moment, I'm visualizing thunderous applause when Sen. Franken enters the chamber for the first time.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

How low can Coleman go?

Remember when the Republicans were screaming that Al Gore should get over it and do what's best for the country and concede? And remember when they said they same thing to John Kerry in 04? No? Neither does Norm Coleman.

I'm all for fighting for fair outcomes. I thought the Democrats should have fought longer and harder. But it's pushing on six months now. Time to give the people of Minnesota a full voice in the Senate.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Mac attack - the last gaffes

Everybody is doing retrospectives but I think some of the finer missteps of Campaign 08 have been missed so let me fill in the blanks on McCain who offered some of the most amusing gaffes outside of Bushworld. He started out with so much promise. He was the toast of the media gaggle.


So what went wrong? Well, there was the infamous green screen.


His remark about the economy being sound was definitely a lowlight but this one is often missed.


And of course, there was his unfortunate choice of a running mate. A source of endless amusement that started at the convention.



But my personal all time favorite seems to have been overlooked entirely.


And of course, he invented the Blackberry too. It's unclear whether he ever learned to use it.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]

Counting the vote

I'm off to the dentist soon so just some quick hits this morning.

No real surprise here. The despicable Saxby Chambliss wins in GA in the run-off election. They still use Diebolds don't they? I expect this time they preinstalled the "right" software so they didn't have to send in the CEO on a secret mission to install it in the middle of the night as they did last time he ran. And it's interesting that once again, the results outpaced the polling.

Neither is it a shock that Jeb Bush is considering a run for the Florida Senate seat recently opened up by the retirement of Martinez. The hell of it is, he could probably win despite his brother's wholesale destruction of America. He was a popular governor and compared to W, he looks like a genius.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota race between Franken and Coleman is still up in the air. It's coming down to the rejected absentee votes but in an interesting twist "171 previously uncounted ballots surfaced in Ramsey County" leaving me wondering how many other counties misplaced ballots and just didn't notice, or report it.

I have a feeling that Election 08 will go down in the history as the longest one ever. Then again, they all sort of run into each other now. It says something about the process that I've already had to create a category for Election 2010.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Senator Al Franken

Nate Silver is the new rockstar of polling. I believe he was only wrong once since the primaries started. He's now predicting Franken will win in Minnesota by 27 votes.

If he nails this one, the rest of the pollsters may as well get out of the biz. He will have rendered them all obsolete.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

You be the judge

This is fun. Minnesota Public Radio has posted ten challenged ballots in the Franken.Coleman recount and asks you to vote on how they should be counted. I thought the voter intent was pretty obvious, as were the ones that should be rejected.

I voted with the majority every time. Try it for yourself.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Ted Stevens officially defeated

I suppose it wasn't the present Ted Stevens was hoping for on his birthday, but it feels like a gift to the rest of America. The Alaskan recount process finally proceeded to the point where Democrat Mark Begich can be declared the winner of the hotly contested senatorial race. Frankly, knowing a few Alaskans personally, I can't believe it was as close as it was, meaning how embarrassing is it to vote for a convicted felon. But then again it is a red state and Stevens did have the kind of seniority that delivers the prime federal pork. I assume a lot of those voters depend on the handouts to make a living.

In any event, Begich becomes the first Democratic Senator from Alaska since Mike Gravel held the seat and we will be blessedly spared from any further speculation about Sarah Palin moving to the national stage via that route. Win - win.

And now there are four...

This is unexpected. Joining Senators Leahy, Sanders and Dorgan, long time cohort of Joe Lieberman, Sen. Tom Carper, a regional chair of Lieberman's failed 04 bid for the presidency, "said the Connecticut Independent should pay a price for his campaign attacks against President-elect Barack Obama." He told The Hill on Monday,"There need to be consequences, and they cannot be insignificant."

I'm still not that happy with the closed door session, but maybe this won't turn out quite the way I expected after all. I would be very happy to be wrong and see Lieberman pay some meaningful price for his choices.

Update: The Politico posts the scenario for how it will go down and quote "insider Democrats" as giving Joe good odds on keeping the DHS Committee gavel.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]

In Obama we trust?

The election is over and we're entering into that limboesque time zone where the holidays are approaching and the newly elected won't take power for another couple of months. Nothing much is going to happen and it's a bit too early for year end reviews so as always happens in times of a slow news cycle, Leftopia has begun to bicker.

I don't want to get too deep into the weeds about this myself, but I will say that I think it's rather silly and counterproductive to be clutching our pearls over every rumor about what President-elect Obama intends to do. It's all speculation right now. Filler for the ravenous 24/7 newsbeast and I'm in the camp that thinks we should give him some space and wait until he announces something himself before we start pushing back against imagined affronts to the progressive agenda.

And no, that doesn't mean I think we should hold back once he does, contrary to those who deride a Cult of Obama that barely exists. I'm not saying there isn't one, but it's comprised of the sort of people who are already organizing to give Obama a national holiday. I believe most who counsel patience are going to step up as soon as something real happens, and make no mistake, I fully expect our new President is going to piss us off sooner than later by going all gooey centrist.

Meanwhile, as Glenn points out, we do have Democrats in office that fully deserve some attention right now.

It is worth remembering that the Democrats who are going to exert dominant political control are the same ones who have provoked so much scorn -- rightfully so -- over the last several years, and particularly since 2006. This is the same Democratic Party leadership which funded the Iraq War without conditions (and voted to authorize it in the first place); massively expanded the President's warrantless eavesdropping powers; immunized lawbreaking telecoms; enacted the Patriot Act and then renewed it with virtually no changes; didn't even bother to mount a filibuster to stop the Military Commissions Act; refrained from pursuing any meaningful investigations of Bush lawbreaking; confirmed every last extremist Bush nominee, from Michael McConnell to Michael Mukasey; acquiesced to even the worst and most lawless Bush policies when they were briefed on them; and on and on and on. None of that has changed. That is still who they are.

And they are ones that are still in power for the next two months. I might respectfully suggest we put our energy into pushing back against their next boneheaded bows to imaginary bi-partisanship rather than waste it on projecting into the future. I believe the wingnuts have that ground well covered already.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Stuck on stupid

Everybody is linking to this but it's worth repeating for the archives. Man, did we dodge a bullet when the electorate came to their senses and just said no to McCain and Failin' Palin.

BLITZER: Does that mean you want to come up with a new Sarah Palin initiative that you want to release right now.

PALIN: Gah! Nothing specific right now. Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations.

I'm still not over the horror that the GOP thought it was a great idea to make this woman a serious candidate for high office. Kevin Drum sums up this incomprehensible choice well:

...I continue to think that the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate represents the breaking of a consensual cultural barrier far more fundamental than most people realize. It’s not just that she was inexperienced (Spiro Agnew and John Edwards weren’t much more experienced than Palin when they ran for VP) but that she was — obviously, transparently, completely — uninterested in and uninformed about national policy at nearly every level. We’ve simply never seen someone so completely unmoored from the normal requirements of national office before. She was chosen purely at the level of celebrity, and an awful lot of people seemed to be just fine with that.

That's the truly frightening part. Not only did educated people who should know better support the pick, they continue to defend her even now. Brings whole new meaning to that once popular phrase in Wingnuttia, stuck on stupid.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Not over until....

In Alaska:

Begich, who was losing after election night, now leads Stevens by 814 votes -- 132,196 to 131,382 -- with the state still to count roughly 35,000 more ballots over the next week.

We partly have the secessionists to thank for that:

But depending on the final tally, America just might owe the Alaskan Independence Party -- whose candidate, Bob Bird, earned more than 10,000 votes -- a modest debt of gratitude. Last time, the AIP received about 3% of the vote; this time, Bird is clearing more than 4%, which would be one of many factors -- the greatest of which would be Stevens himself -- enabling a Democratic win.

Meanwhile in Minnesota:

The unofficial lead held by Coleman over Franken remained at 206 on Tuesday, when government offices were closed for Veterans Day. It's not clear whether that margin includes votes from all the counties, which were supposed to certify their ballots by midnight Monday.

Both sides are assembling hundreds of lawyers and observers to witness the recount. This one will be a nailbiter down to the bitter end and you can be sure some will be bitter when this is finally decided. Hope it's not us Franken supporters.

Oh, and don't forget Georgia.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Cruising the 'tubes

A few more quick links since I'm likely to be tied up most of the rest of the day.

Mikevotes finds some intrigue. I wonder what this was all about?

The motorcade encountered crowds of people gathered outside the White House as it made its way off campus and headed toward Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. After arriving, President-elect Obama went into a previously unannounced "private" meeting at the airport's Fire Station 301. We're not being told who it's with but it will last about an hour. Podesta was not in the meeting, or at least did not stay around in the meeting, because he was spotted walking the other direction down the tarmac a few minutes after we arrived.

Dan finds his inner teenager.

Over at Swashzone the OctOpus finds a cure for post-election letdown.

On November 8, 2008, the Saturday night after the election, our community gathered up all yard signage and held a cookout with music followed by a bonfire. Those thousands of iniquitous yard signs that pitted neighbor against neighbor went one-by-one into the eternal fire … never to be seen again.

Nice post. Read it all.

A belated Happy Blogiversary to one of my favorite women in Blogtopia.

Speaking of Blogtopia, another one my favs, yes the marsupial who coined that phrase, uncovers the formerly unnamed source of the so-called rumors about Palin's ignorance on foreign affairs. They sounded pretty credible to me.

And finally, our correspondent in Red State country, who just celebrated a birthday yesterday, finds denial is not just a river in egypt. Crazy stuff.

Bonus link: If you're in the mood to take a break from politics for our own ExPat Brian has some terrific old rock and roll on the blog.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Links and coffee

I slept for 11 hours last night so I'm a bit groggy and I have a dentist appointment today that is likely to be long so just a few links to get us started this morning. The first two via Avedon who of course always has much more on the homepage. I also like the Secret Service code names for the Obama family and find Bush's name particularly apt.

And I'm apparently the very last to hear that Krazy Kristol may be losing his prime real estate at the NYT. That would certainly be a gift to journalism.

Moving on, under the heading tone deaf, conservative pundit Michael Barone firmly inserted foot in mouth with this remark.

A roomful of academics erupted in angry boos Tuesday morning after political analyst Michael Barone said journalists trashed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republicans' vice presidential nominee, because "she did not abort her Down syndrome baby."

Barone said in an e-mail that he "was attempting to be humorous and ... went over the line."

Who in their right mind "jokes" about Down's babies? And speaking of that baby, Barone would have done better to "joke" about how Palin hauled that poor infant around like a sack of flour, shamelessly using him as a stage prop. Not to mention her ruthless exploitation of the youngest daughter Piper. If Palin was a black woman on welfare, DSS would taken those kids away for conduct like that.

And finally Joe Lieberman's fate still hangs in the balance. Steve B reiterates a point I made earlier.

Look, the proposal that's on the table is a "compromise." In fact, for Lieberman, it's a generous compromise. In one side, we have the possibility of kicking Lieberman out of the caucus. On the other side, we have the possibility of doing nothing, effectively rewarding Lieberman's betrayals. In the middle, we have Harry Reid's offer: Lieberman stays with the caucus, keeps his seniority, but gets a different committee to lead. This really isn't complicated. [...]

In other words, what Lieberman is asking for here is special treatment. Worse, he's asking for special treatment he hasn't earned, as evidenced by his awful two-year tenure as the chairman of the committee he wants to keep.

That's the real issue. It's not like he was doing such a great job as Chair of DHS committee. There's no reason he should keep that gavel. I sincerely hope the full caucus also notes as Steve does, that there's plenty of precedent for stripping him of his Chair. Rewarding Holy Joe for his betrayal to the party hardly seems like a good precedent to set.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

What happened to the GOP

We're in that sort of limbo between now and Inauguration Day when nothing much is likely to be happening in the political world so most of the news cycle is consumed with speculation about what the new President and Congress will do, much handwringing and unsoliticited advice for those about to take power and endless post mortems on the the campaigns. This falls into the latter category but in the reams I've read on the subject, I thought it best described what the GOP has come to stand for over the last eight years.

They mock the advice of Nobel Prize-winning economists and praise the financial acumen of plumbers and builders. They ridicule ambassadors and diplomats while promoting jingoistic journalists who have never lived abroad and speak no foreign languages. And with the rise of shock radio and television, they have found a large, popular audience that eagerly absorbs their contempt for intellectual elites. They hoped to shape that audience, but the truth is that their audience has now shaped them.

Ignorance is bliss. How sad.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Lieberman's fate in the hands of the full caucus

There's a lot of speculation about what is going to happen to Joe Lieberman's chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. The establishment Dems are all over the place from letting bygones be bygones to various degrees of punishment. Of course, I'm already on record as wanting him to be kicked out of the caucus and stripped of his gavel. Obama is wisely staying out of it, as is appropriate now that he's President and no longer a Senator. Meanwhile, Greg Sargent has the latest buzz from inside the Beltway.

In the wake of Obama's statement today that he doesn't hold any "grudges" against Lieberman and his decision not to take a position on whether Lieberman keeps his chairmanship, I emailed a leadership aide to ask whether the vote would definitely go forward. His response:

"Yes -- this is a decision that will be made by the caucus next week. Absent a stunning series of events there will be a vote next week in the caucus on whether to strip Senator Lieberman of the chairmanship."

That would appear to make it official.

This strikes me as the way to go. Joe went really far off the reservation and not only campaigned against Obama but also against down ticket Democratic candidates. It seems just to me that everyone on the caucus should get to vote. I hope it's an open vote and not a secret ballot though, so we can find out where they all stand.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Looking back at McCain

Slow news day. Atrios is pondering what the most hilarious moment of the McCain campaign might have been. He suggests perhaps when McCain met Levi. The Atriots in the comment section nominate many more:

Cheney endorsing McCain...

The moment Dave Letterman caught John McCain interviewing with Katie Couric instead of his show.

I thought it was when McCain was eyeing up Palin right after they announced she was VP choice.

The cottage cheese/lime Jell-O speech, and the wonderful YouTube aftermath.

John McCain wandering aimlessly about the set of the town hall debate, looking for Mr. Puddles.

Paris Hilton: The "Hey old guy" ad.

Thousands flock to Obama speech in Berlin, McCain counters by speaking live at the gourmet-mustard display.

McStain rally: "Is Joe here? Where's Joe the Plumber?" Silence. "Well, you're ALL Joe the Plumber."

There's lot's more in the comment section at the link but many of those have to do with Palin. Limiting it just to McCain, my favorite was the weird dance he did after the last debate, complete with the tongue sticking out and not just because that post was one of my best traffic draws and most commented on in the history of the blog.

But how about you dear readers. Anybody else have a favorite?

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

First transgendered Mayor in America

Not to take anything away from President-elect Obama's history making moment, but in some ways I think the first transgender mayor is also pretty stunning and even more historic. Stu Rasmussen was re-elected as mayor of Silverton, Oregon, pop. 9,433, after having transgendered between terms of office.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal in a state like California that is known for quirky candidates but for a small, rural and decidedly conservative community to not only accept Ms. Rasmussen but re-elect her after the change is a big deal and huge step forward for both her town and the transgendered community at large.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]