On the brink?

In less than a year, many of the pillars of the American economy have crumbled. It feels a bit like 2001, but much worse. When the tech bubble burst, you felt kind of dumb for having believed in it at all. "Pets.com? Web Van? Who could have ever thought those companies would succeed?"

This is much different. Many of the titans of the American system have either vanished or been drastically altered- AIG, GM, Citibank, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc. When Enron and WorldCom imploded, it was a question of how those rotten companies avoided detection. Now, people are questioning whether or not the entire system might collapse.

One thing that must change is how we reward people in the finance industry. Finance companies should be devoted to raising capital and then providing it to companies that can utilize the capital for expansion. Financiers should be compensated in a way that matches is commensurate with their success in allocating capital. Frankly, I'm not sure what the heck we have been rewarding in recent years.

Is the system rotten? Have we done enough to fix it?

20th Congressional too close to call- so what?

The special election in New York's 20th Congressional District is too close to call. This is a stunning repudiation of President Obama. No, wait, a stunning repudiation of RNC Chairman Michael Steele. OK, no one knows what it means. But why let that stop us?

The 20th is a Republican district that now Senator Kirsten Gillibrand won in 2006. It sounds like we will be waiting for weeks, if not months, to find out who won. At least now Al Franken will have someone to keep him company.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner asked to resign

"GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced his resignation early Monday -- the latest change for the troubled automaker. White House and GM sources had told CNN Sunday that Wagoner would resign as part of the federal government's bailout strategy for the troubled automaker. "On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I 'step aside' as CEO of GM, and so I have," Wagoner said in a statement posted to the GM Web site."

No matter how bad you have things at your job, I'm willing to bet you have never been asked by the President of the United States to step aside from your current position for the good of the economy and the country. It's always good to keep some perspective. One of the common questions on government job applications and background investigations is something like "were you ever fired or asked to leave any previous jobs?" I'm guessing "by the President himself" isn't the preferred answer to that.

I like that the government is starting to demand some actual accountability from the auto industry, and that the car manufacturers will need to prove they are viable long term to continue to get taxpayer financial assistance. As much as I love my Camry Hybrid, there is no reason in 2009 that somebody should have to buy a Honda or Toyota - rather than an American car - if they want a fuel efficient vehicle. Hopefully, Detroit will use this opportunity to once again put America at the forefront of the auto industry. The proposed Chevy Volt is a step in the right direction.

The crisis of credit visualized

An excellent 10 minute summary of just what happened to cause the current economic and credit problems. Kind of a "credit crisis for dummies" .....


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

The politicization of the Supreme Court

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that John Roberts misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be a moderate — and that the United States is now “stuck” with him as chief justice."

If Reid really believed that, then he is an idiot. There was never anything "moderate" about John Roberts. He was a Bush appointee who had clerked for Rehnquist, worked in the Reagan administration, and was on the steering committee for the conservative Federalist society. Maybe because he had a friendly demeanor and was a decent looking guy he was assumed to be "moderate"? Most liberals would have been shocked if he had turned out to be anything but conservative, and most conservatives would have been outraged.

And the reality is there is nothing wrong with that, at least in my opinion. Bush was a conservative President, and since he actually won in 2004 (contrasted with his 2000 "victory") he earned the right to appoint Supreme Court Justices. A good portion of modern day Presidential campaigns center around the types of liberal or conservative judges that will be selected depending on which party wins. Voters know that everything from the right to choose, to environmental laws, to health and safety legislation will all be impacted by the courts. It's part of the calculus now in who you vote for for President.

Yet appointees for the high court still have to parade in front of the Senate and pretend that their whole judicial and academic history didn't really mean anything, that they have no real opinions on the major legal issues of the day, and they will be judicial moderates (whatever that means) when they are confirmed to the bench. Why go through the charade? Why not just accept that liberal Presidents will appoint liberal judges and conservative Presidents will appoint conservative judges? Isn't that how democracy is supposed to work?

The man who survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This guy is either the luckiest guy in the world or the unluckiest - I still can't decide. He was in Hiroshima on business the day the A-bomb was dropped. He survived it, then went home two days later to Nagasaki - the day before that city was hit with the other A-bomb. And he is still alive today, at age 93. Amazing.

You have to think this guy just rolls his eyes when other people are telling stories about how bad they had things. I mean no matter how cool your story is, he can always top it. I'd love to know where he went next after that 3 day stretch. And how many times he heard "No, that's OK Tsutomu - you just go on without me, I'm going stay here."

Friday musings

What will Arnold do after he leaves office?

What's Bush up to these days?

Did Quinn Snyder watch the Missouri game last night?

Did you know he's coaching in the NBA Developmental League? I had to look that up.

Will the Dems pull out the special election in NY?

Does Hillary like being Secretary of State?

Skip 2012, who is the Dem front runner in 2016?

Has the economy bottomed out?

If we've gone from Debbie Gibson to Britney in 20 years, what will pop stars be like in 2025?

How about you? What's on your mind?

The President gets around

The NY Times has an interesting article about how the Obamas are much more out and about than any of their recent predecessors. Bush was very much a homebody and liked to go to bed really early, but even compared the Clintons, the Obamas are very active on the social scene.

I imagine one of the most difficult things about being President is that you become so insulated. Think back to Nixon and LBJ- the longer they were in office, the more paranoid and detached from reality they became. Back in 1992, George H. W. Bush was viewed as being very out-of-touch. His campaign visit to a grocery store just reinforced that notion and it is part of why he lost the election.

It certainly helps a politician if he or she is viewed as being someone that voters can relate to. One of the reasons that Bush "won" two national elections is because he was viewed as more likeable than Bush or Kerry- the magical concept that he was a guy you could share a beer with.

I'm curious to see if Obama continues to get out and about later in his term. Can't imagine that the Secret Service is a huge fan of this, but let's hope that Obama continues to break out of the White House fishbowl.

Protesting Obama at Notre Dame

President Obama will be giving the commencement speech at Notre Dame and some folks are all riled up about it. For example, the Chicago Tribune quotes this young lady:

"In many ways, the president does not have a whole lot in line with the mission of this university, especially in terms of its Catholicism," said Mary Daly, president of the campus Right to Life club. "People look to this university as a leading example of American Catholicism."

Perhaps Mary's parents can ask for a refund of her tuition. I'd be pretty upset if I'd spent 100k on my kid's education and they displayed such an intolerant, sheltered view. The whole point of college is exposure to new ideas.

I felt the same way when Bush went to schools to speak. I disagreed vehemently with his policies, but I agreed he had a right to speak and felt that the President of the United States should be treated with respect.

Thoughts? Should universities only invite non-controversial speakers for commencement? And how many of those are there? Even Bill Cosby is controversial now!

Social media

One of the big stories of 2008 was the convergence of politics and social media- blogs, Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. Barack Obama was the biggest adopter of these new tools and they were part of his success. The MyBO network was the central hub for his volunteers to connect with one another. Even though there were some technical glitches, his announcement of Joe Biden via text garnered a ton of publicity and cell phone numbers.

Politicians are trying to recreate the Obama magic in the next election cycle. The biggest question is: How much of Obama's success was because of social media and how much of social media's success was because of Obama? Will politicians who lack Obama's rhetorical gifts be able to inspire people to organize online?

Fast Company has a really interesting article about Chris Hughes- he has the dual distinction of being one of the founders of Facebook and being an integral part of Obama's online operation. One snippet:

It was Hughes's instinct for satisfying Facebook's users, ironically, that would lead him beyond the site. In the fall of 2006, as midterm elections approached, Facebook took the then bold step of allowing political candidates to set up modified profile pages, well before celebrities and products could have fan pages of their own. When a freshman senator from Illinois came knocking, it was Hughes who provided the customer service. Barack Obama wasn't a midterm candidate, but he wanted a Facebook profile anyway. The approach came in an email from Reggie Love, Obama's now famous body man. "I liked the Facebook idea," says Jim Brayton, then the senator's Internet director, "but Reggie really got it immediately." After Love set up the profile, Brayton says, they realized its potential for an Obama presidential campaign. "We quickly wanted to be able to do more with it. Chris got it right away."

Another example of the growing importance of technology in campaign's is visible in my own Congressional district. Ellen Tauscher will be stepping down to take a job in the State Department. The presumed favorite to replace her is State Senator Mark DeSaulnier. The only other person on the Dem side that I know for sure is running is Adriel Hampton.

I'd never heard of Adriel until a couple of days ago, but he is pretty well-known in some of the progressive politics circles. From what I can tell, he seems like a Twitter fanatic: http://twitter.com/adrielhampton

If Twitter and Ning are going to be the cornerstones of his campaign, I'm curious to see how effective his campaign can be. He's a huge underdog to Sen. DeSaulnier so he will need something to be a game changer. From what I've seen, his Twitter posts primarily consist of asking for cash and publicity- we'll have to see if he uses it to flesh out his platform.

NY 2010 : Senate and Governor

Interesting polling out today on the potential NY races:







Governor

David Paterson gets crushed in a primary by Andrew Cuomo (67% to 17%)

David Paterson would also get crushed in the general election by Rudy Giuliani (33% - 56%). But at least we would all get to hear the phrase "9/11" a whole lot more.

Cuomo vs. Giuliani in the general is a lot closer, with Cuomo up 51%-41%

Senate

Gillibrand beats Rep. Peter King 47%-23%.

Gillibrand is tied (41% - 41% percent) against former Governor Pataki.

NY is a heavily Democratic state, but it has shown in the past that it will elect Republicans statewide (like Pataki). And if the economy isn't showing signs of progress by 2010, all Democrats could be in some trouble if the electorate blames them. Still, I like the chances of the Democratic party holding both the Senate seat and the Governorship - particularly if Cuomo gets in the race.

Kagan for the Supreme Court?

Now that she has been confirmed as Solicitor General Kagan sure has the resume for a future U.S. Supreme Court Justice: Clerked for the Supreme Court (Justice Thurgood Marshall), Dean of Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General.

"She is widely regarded as a serious candidate for any opening on the high court that would be filled by President Barack Obama, her former University of Chicago Law School teaching colleague. Justices John Paul Stevens, 88, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76, and David Souter, 69, are considered the most likely to retire during Obama's presidency."

And I really like the fact she is only 48 years old right now. The Republicans seem to have mastered the art of late of appointing relatively young (and very conservative) Supreme Court Justices like Alito, Roberts, and Thomas - increasing the odds of them serving decades and decades and saddling us with bad decisions for years to come.

And speaking of Harvard Law School, did you know who the only other President besides Obama who went there was? Rutherford B. Hayes. Wouldn't have been towards the top of my list of guesses.

Not sure what this says about our country....

but I've observed that the median number of visible tattoos on people in Vegas this week is 4. Ahhhhh, sweet Americana.

More AIG fallout

Sure, the massive bailouts and executive bonuses are outrageous. But one of the lesser commented on problems with the company is they are making it hard for me to proudly wear my Ryan Giggs Manchester United jersey. You know, the one with the giant "AIG" sponsor logo emblazoned right on the front.

I guess it could be worse. I mean it could have been a company that was caught selling war bonds to the Taliban, or having collaborated with the Nazis in WWII. Given the amount of money involved in the sponsorship deal it would probably have to be something like that for an EPL team to try to get out of it.

Dodd's in trouble

Sen. Chris Dodd should be a shoe-in for reelection in 2010- he's a long serving Senator in the very blue state of Connecticut. Plus, he's Chariman of the Senate Banking Committee so he can raise tons of money.

However, he can't seem to make up his mind about whether or not he was involved in changing legislation so that it allowed AIG to pay out bonuses (that's a polite way of saying he lied about it).

From CNN: On Tuesday, Dodd denied that he had anything to do with adding the language.

"When I left the Senate, it was not in there. So when I wrote the language, there was no such language like that," he said then.

But, saying his previous comments had been misconstrued, Dodd said Wednesday that he added the exemption after getting pressure from the Treasury Department.

"I agreed reluctantly," Dodd said. "I was changing the amendment because others were insistent."

This comes after allegation of shady real estate deals and a sweetheart loan from Countrywide. From a home state paper: Dodd and other government officials deemed to be "Friends of Angelo" — a reference to former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo — received discounted rates and fees, according to a former Countrywide employee. Dodd, who refinanced two mortgages with Countrywide in 2003, has said that he was unaware of any favorable treatment and that his loans were not out of line with mortgage rates available at the time.

These days, being a "Friend of Angelo" is the equivalent of a NCAA basketball player being in a hot tub with someone named "William the Fixer"- it just don't look right.

GOP Senators complain - right on cue

Well, that didn't take long. Just a day after Coach K's barb, GOP Senators Alexander and Cornyn jump in on the "Obama shouldn't be doing an NCAA bracket" nonsense.

Alexander continued: "But he picked North Carolina and he caused the Duke coach, our Olympic coach, Coach K, to say, respectfully, you might be spending less time on the brackets, Mr. President, and more time on the economy. I think that's what we'd like to see, with respect."...Texas Sen. John Cornyn took a much harsher tone Thursday in a floor speech, saying that Obama might want to spend less time making basketball predictions and more time filling the many job openings still at the Treasury Department.

Right, because how long does it take to do an NCAA bracket? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? It makes about as much sense as complaining that Obama shouldn't have had dessert after dinner because that's 5 minutes he could have spent doing something else. Funny how these same GOP Senators didn't seem to mind when George Bush set the all time vacation record for a President in the middle of two wars and a faltering economy.

And speaking of Coach K, Slate.com nicely sums up just what it is people don't like about Duke basketball. Lots has been written on the topic, but they may have put it best...

"With point guard and assistant-coach-in-waiting Greg Paulus getting an early start on his bench-sitting career, this squad fails to fulfill the most-irksome Blue Devil trait: the cultivation of underachievers who comport themselves like overachievers."

Cuomo loaded for bear

Andrew Cuomo is continues to go after AIG and other financial institutions. He's been hammering on AIG to release the names of the executives who received bonuses. Cuomo realizes that people are irate at this seemingly duplicitous behavior....and I'm sure it plays really well politically. The New York AG could very well challenge Governor Paterson in the 2010 primary.

From First Read: AIG has until the end of the day to comply with a subpoena for bonus info.
On the broader issue, Cuomo said he has been investigating the bonus practices of all TARP recipients.

Coach K takes issue with Obama

Or at least with his NCAA hoops picks.

Of course that may have something to do with Obama picking UNC to win it all while having Duke losing in the Elite 8. What really got me though was this : "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets," Krzyzewski told a reporter from the Associated Press on Wednesday."

I had been waiting for somebody to start with the "Doesn't he have more important things to do" nonsense, but I figured it would come from some Republican talking heads. As if he was locked in his room for the last 4 days, spending 18 hours a day trying to figure out his brackets, shouting down cabinet secretaries as they tried to interrupt with economic or foreign affairs news.

Bush refuses to criticize Obama

Bush declined to critique the Obama administration in Tuesday's speech, saying the new president has enough critics and that he "deserves my silence." Former Vice President Dick Cheney has said that Obama's decisions threatened America's safety.

It's interesting to see Cheney still playing the hatchetman and fearmonger while Bush takes a much more supportive tone toward the new administration. Not sure what explains it, but I think it may be a combination of a few things:

1) There is a certain tight fraternity among ex-Presidents, and they generally take the high road and try not to directly criticize each other (at least early on). Bush is following in this classy example. And by all accounts he was very friendly and helpful to the incoming Obama administration during the transition.

2) Bush knows how ridiculous it would look for him to be criticizing the new guy after his 8 year reign of incompetence, and just months after he dumped 90% of the world's problems on the guy's lap.

3) He can play the statesman, letting Cheney look like an ass for pre-emptively blaming Obama for any future terrorist attacks.

4) He really just doesn't care that much. He was never a policy wonk, he set Presidential vacation records, and may truly just not be interested in debating economic and foreign policy any more. The last few months in office he looked like a guy who just couldn't wait until it was over. Which, coincidentally, was the look 80% of America also had.

Obama endorses U.N. gay rights statement

The Obama administration on Wednesday formally endorsed a U.N. statement calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, a measure that former President George W. Bush had refused to sign.

Really? Bush refused to endorse the idea that being gay shouldn't be a criminal offense? I understand the current debate over civil unions, gay marriage, etc, etc - but I would have figured the argument that being gay shouldn't constitute a crime wasn't particularly controversial - even for the Bush/Cheney administration. Guess I figured wrong.

Presidential picks

Barack Obama has picked....UNC to win the whole thing. You can see his complete bracket here.

Is it just good politics that his Final Four bracket contains teams from Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Kentucky (Louisville and Memphis)? Could be, but I don't think Kentucky is much of a swing state. I think Obama is just a hoops junkie and those are the 4 teams he likes- check out Andy Katz's interview with him.

UPDATE (3/27): Yeah, I realize Memphis is in the fine state of Tennessee...but they aren't in the tourney any more.

Senator Grassley (R-IA) still on a roll

Right after his suggestion that AIG executives should commit ritual suicide, Senator Grassley now claims that AIG is "sucking the tit of the taxpayer." The best part is the looks on the faces of his fellow GOP Senators behind him as he is speaking. I'm pretty sure I saw Senator Cornyn thinking "wait, what did Chuck just say?"

Bill Maher on Government

From his New Rules segment....


"You know, the stimulus package was attacked as "typical tax-and-spend," you know, like repairing bridges is left-wing stuff. "Ooh, there the liberals go again, always wanting to get across the river."

Folks, the people are the government. The first responders who put out your fires? That's your government. The ranger who shoos pedophiles out of the park restroom. The postman who delivers your porn. I mean, how stupid is it when people say, "Oh, yeah, that's all we need, the federal government telling Detroit how to make cars, or Wells Fargo how to run a bank. You want them to look like the post office?" Yeah, I say.

You mean the place that takes a note in my hand in L.A. on Monday and gives it to my sisters in New Jersey on Wednesday for 42 cents? Well, let me be the first to say, I would be thrilled if America's health care system was anywhere near as functional as the post office."

Ron Paul to appear in the new Bruno movie

Ron Paul will apparently feature in a small part of the upcoming Bruno movie. Like most people in Sasha Baron Cohen's films and TV shows, he will not come off particularly well.

I completely understand how an old white dude from Texas may not be a regular viewer of the Ali G show, but shouldn't there be one intern or staffer familiar with the show who can say "don't go on!"? Well, Paul can't look any worse than most of the people that were interviewed in Borat, can he?

Senate - CT: Simmons to challenge Dodd

Looks like former Congressman Rob Simmons is going to challenge Chris Dodd in the 2010 Senate race.

The Republicans don't have many chances to pick up seats in 2010, in fact they are still defending a bunch of vulnerable ones (their 2004 Senate gains are all up this cycle), so you can expect this to be a heated race with lots of money being spent on both sides. Especially with the early polls showing the race dead even.

If the economy doesn't start picking up by 2010, Dodd could be in some trouble. His mortgage refinancing controversy could make him the target for all the general anger that the electorate is feeling towards the greedy lenders, the banking execs, and all the bailouts these days. Of course, if things start improving he will just remind everyone he was a supporter of the Obama economic reforms, while his opponent voted with George Bush and his policies for years and years.

Still, for a respected elder statesman who was just running for President - its a surprise to suddenly see him in a contested race.

Petraeus

The skinny:“THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that General Petraeus is planning on delivering the commencement address at the University of Iowa in 2010.”

He apparently does not have any ties to Iowa, so it certainly is logical that if he wanted to dip his toe in the Presidential waters, this would be a good way to do it. Much like Colin Powell in 1996 or Wesley Clark in 2004, I expect Petraeus to be the subject of immense speculation unless he makes a Shermanesque statement that he is absolutely not running.

The GOP has no definitive front-runner for 2012 so I'm sure they'll be taking a look at Gen Petraeus.

Jindal to turn down some stimulus money

Looks like Bobby "Kenneth" Jindal is going to turn down about $100 million for his state in stimulus money

Of course, he is still going to happily take the rest of the $3.6 billion or so. As always, Jon Stewart summed it up best.....

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Is it 1962 again?

Maybe Russia is getting nostalgic about the Cold War and Cuban Missile crisis?

Russia expressed interest in using Cuban airfields during patrol missions of its strategic bombers, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. "There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us," Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev told Interfax.

I certainly can't imagine the United States having any problem with Russia landing strategic bombers 100 miles from our country.

Russia certainly seems to be struggling to regain its direction and relevance after the historic failure of their ideology, and the resulting damage to their country. Maybe Michael Steele can help?

The Bush "Library"

Shockingly, George W. Bush is having trouble raising money for his library. It is projected to cost $300 million. Man, that's a lot of coloring books! I envisions a multi-media center that has a lot of sock puppets- very similar to how they gave Bush his national security briefings.

Politico reports:

"The former president and first lady have already begun holding small private dinners to persuade wealthy friends to invest in a monument and incubator based on the values and events of his presidency."

What sort of monument is fitting for the Bush Presidency? Let's all ponder that one for a minute.

Jon Stewart is awesome

More Steele news

Man, Michael Steele, RNC Chairman and uncle to Mike Tyson's kids, just can't get out of his own way. He's now backtracking from an interview he gave to GQ in which he sounded entirely too reasonable to be the head of the GOP:

Asked whether he thought women had the right to choose abortion, Steele said: "Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice."

On Thursday morning, Steele attempted to clarify his remarks in a statement.

"I am pro-life, always have been, always will be," he said. "I tried to present why I am pro-life while recognizing that my mother had a 'choice' before deciding to put me up for adoption."

The one thing that Dems can't have...

Would be a whole lot of stories like this.

It seems that Congresswoman Maxine Waters helped st up a meeting between the Treasury Department and a bank for which her husband sat on the Board of Directors. At the meeting, the bank pleaded for federal money.

Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, requested the September meeting on behalf of executives at OneUnited, one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks. Ms. [Waters'] husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank’s board of directors until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 in stock in the institution. Treasury officials said the session with nearly a dozen senior banking regulators had been intended to allow minority-owned banks and their trade association to discuss the losses they had incurred from the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But Kevin Cohee, OneUnited’s chief executive, instead seized the opportunity to plead for special assistance for his bank, federal officials said.

Perhaps Congresswoman Waters did nothing wrong, but Democrats need to be extraordinarily careful because of the huge degree of latitude that the public is giving to President Obama and Congress to end the financial crisis. If there is an appearance of corruption, public support could evaporate.

Did he have a hooker with him?

Senator David Vitter, family man and prostitute enthusiast, allegedly had a wee bit of a tirade at Dulles Airport. It seemed that the airport workers had the audacity to treat the distinguished Senator like one of the little people and he didn't take so kindly to it.

Roll Call reports: According to an HOH tipster who witnessed the scene, the Louisiana Republican arrived Thursday evening at his United Airlines gate 20 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart, only to find the gate had already been closed. Undeterred, Vitter opened the door, setting off a security alarm and prompting an airline worker to warn him that entering the gate was forbidden.

Vitter, our spy said, gave the airline worker an earful, employing the timeworn “do-you-know-who-I-am” tirade that apparently grew quite heated.

Personally, I am a huge fan of the "Do you know who I am?" tirade. I was always surprised that it didn't work better for Michael Irvin when he was arrested for doing some blow and pot in a hotel room with a couple of "self-employed models". I'm trying to find a pic of the mink coat that Mike wore to court, but no luck so far.

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston split up

While you never want to see this happen, is there anybody out there who is honestly surprised the engagement didn't last the year?

Levi, who apparently once proclaimed on his Myspace page that he didn't want kids, must have secretly been relieved that McCain lost in November. Because there is no way he walks if his mother in law was now the sitting Vice-President.

Better late than never: McCain prepping economic plan

Well, I'm sure he wishes he had thought of it back in 2008 before the election, but apparently John McCain is now working on an economic plan.

And there is no man I more want to hear an economic plan from than the guy who had so many houses he couldn't remember how many he had, and who thought the fundamentals of the current U.S. economy were "strong".

Too early to talk about 2012?

Absolutely not! BoGlo looks at the return of Mitt. In a party of pygmies, Mitt doth stride the world like a Goliath. Plus, it is one more chance for me to again link to my all-time favorite YouTube video:

Arlen as a Dem?

Kos makes the case.

Specter won reelection by the skin of his teeth in 2004 and the conditions are much worse for him this time around. He's become even more of an outcast within the GOP in recent years.

It is starting to remind me of the late 80s and early 90s when Southern Democrats started switching over to the GOP.

The American Spectator had a piece in 2004 on the party switchers:
Another factor is Democrats' ability to convince a Republican to join their ranks; historically, they've had a harder time getting lawmakers to cross over to their side of the aisle. In the last 50 years, 16 Democratic members of Congress have become Republicans; only five have done the reverse. Democrats-turned-Republicans in the Senate include Phil Gramm of Texas, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Lott (although the retiring Gramm and Thurmond will be gone next year). After the GOP won control of both houses of Congress in 1994, Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado and Richard Shelby of Alabama became Republicans, as did five House members. The only recent Republican-turned-Democrat is Rep. Michael Forbes (R-N.Y.), who lost his seat one year after his 1999 defection.

As for Richard Shelby becoming a Republican....good riddance!

Jim Bunning- still crazy after all these years

In a way, I'll be bummed when Jimbo gets knocked out of the Senate next year. Dude is kind of hilarious- check out this exchange with reporters:

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., has conducted a poll on his 2010 bid for election to a third term, but he isn't making the results public.

"Let's say I did the polling," the senator told reporters on a conference call this morning.

What does that mean?

"That means it's none of your g--d--- business," Bunning said, who then followed up with a laugh. "If you paid the 20 grand for the poll, you can get some information out of it

Return of the South

The once-solid Democratic South disappeared for over 40 years, with a couple of brief hints of return when the Dems nominated Southerners (Carter and Clinton). Obama's victories in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina are the best hope that South may be back in play for Democrats.

The NY Times has an interesting article about what started the fracture of the Democratic South.

Mr. Sam- now there was a Speaker of the House!

Krugman says Obama isn't doing enough

It does feel like the government is a step behind in proposing solutions for the financial crisis. Krugman argues that a second stimulus plan is needed sooner rather than later. Every time I think we may have hit the bottom, things manage to get worse.

Here's Krugman's take.

Hi, Science- we missed you!

Nice to see that science is once again welcome in the White House.

NY Times reports on President Obama lifting the onerous ban on stem cell research that Bush had imposed. Pledging that his administration will “make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology,

One more reason why elections matter.

Update: And Nancy Reagan expresses her support for Obama's action:

I’m very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research,” she wrote in a statement released shortly after Obama reversed the Bush administration limits. “These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers."

Barbara Boxer looking good for 2010

The latest polling shows Boxer with commanding leads against all her potential 2010 opponents in the Senate race:

Boxer: 54 percent
Schwarzenegger: 30 percent

Boxer: 55 percent
Carly Fiorina: 25 percent

GOP primary:

Schwarzenegger: 31 percent
Fiorina: 24 percent
Assemblyman Chuck Devore: 9 percent
Undecided: 36 percent


With previous races against Bruce Herschensohn, Matt Fong and Bill Jones, Boxer never seemed to draw the GOP's best. Or, come to think of it, maybe she did given the state of the modern day GOP in California. Arnold looked to be her most serious challenger, but she is up 24% over the decreasingly popular Governator. And I've never been one to think Arnold was really going to run for Senate. He likes to be in charge, to be the hero of his own movie. Governor is an executive position that appeals to those instincts. Being 1 of 100 Senators, debating arcane provisions of Senate procedure, is just not something I see him being interested in.

Michael Steele - the party starting to end?

Reports today that top Republicans at the RNC are starting to have enough of Michael Steele.

I'm still kind of amazed he got the job in the first place. I know the GOP saw the lesson of the 2008 election results as "we need high profile minorities" rather than "our policies failed the country for 8 years", but Steele was still an odd choice. I remember watching his failed Senate campaign and thinking he was kind of a goof, who made all kinds of odd statements, and didn't run a particularly good campaign. And in his brief run as RNC chair he is pretty much doing the same, talking about how he is going to appeal to urban voters with an "off the hook" message, picking fights with Rush Limbaugh, and showing a general lack of organizational or strategic ability over at the RNC. It will be interesting to see how long he keeps that job.

Vanilla Ice apologizes

I'm not sure why in 2009 he finally decided to apologize for his music career, but good for Vanilla. He probably decided it was the only way he would get back in the news. Hopefully George Bush was watching - I'm hoping someday he apologizes to everyone for the last 8 years. My favorite though was washed up outfielder Willie McGee, who at age 40 had this classic when asked if he was contemplating retirement: "The level of my game is not where I think it should be," McGee said. "I'm not going to subject the fans to that for many more years."

Jon Stewart on Rush and O'Reilly

Another Daily Show classic....

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

A Party in Limbaugh

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Politico shares info on the CA Gov race

Jerry looks strong.

Dumb idea of the day

"California Assemblyman Joel Anderson plans to introduce a bill to force Google Earth and similar services to blur images of so-called 'soft targets' like schools, hospitals, churches and government buildings to protect them from terrorists. 'All I'm trying to do is stop terrorists,' said Anderson. 'I don't want California to be helping map out future targets for terrorists.' Concerns that detailed satellite imagery and photographs available on Web services could help terrorists plan attacks are not new, with reports that terrorists have used such imagery to carry out attacks in Iraq and Israel, and an Indian court is considering a ban on Google Earth following reports that its imagery played a part in the Mumbai terrorist attacks."

Apparently, he is worried that Google maps might be a terrorist tool. I am going to go ahead and say that Assemblyman Anderson is the bigger tool.

Arnold's popularity going.....

Down. He's managed to successfully alienate independents, Republicans and Democrats. I'm guessing that Barbara Boxer isn't having many sleepless nights thinking about Arnold running against her for Senate.

Tennessee Poll: 1 in 6 Admit To Telling Racist Jokes About Obama

This raises a lot of questions for me, but chief among them is what media polling group thought to themselves "You know what the people want to know? I'll bet they wonder what percentage of people in Tennessee have read at least one racist joke about Barack Obama".

http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/03/03/mtsu-poll-one-in-six-tennesseans-admit-to-telling-racist-jokes-about-the-president/

"RACIST JOKES: “Nearly one in six Tennesseans has told a joke about Barack Obama’s race, and three-fourths say they’ve heard or read at least one, even though only 15 percent of Tennesseans say they would find such a joke funny.”"

GOP senators given 'Comrade of the Month' award

Yes, because nothing says "communism" quite like voting for a bill to repair our capitalist system and structures.


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/03/gop-senators-given-comrade-of-the-month-award/

"The Club for Growth has bestowed the three moderate senators who supported President Obama’s stimulus plan with their monthly “Comrade of the Month” award."

Pay enough and Bush will give you a speech...

No, that's not a threat. The ex-President (I love calling him that) is ready to hit the lecture circuit. For only a 100 large (give or take), all this can be your's:

On a slightly different note

The SF Chronicle reports on the resigning of fullback Moran Norris:

Although Norris' play declined in 2007 from '06, at his best he's a capable lead blocker at 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds. Even more important, he was Gore's closest friend on the team when he was here previously.

Uhhmmmm, really? The most important thing was that Gore needed his best friend back? Was he lonely in the huddle?

I realize it isn't a political post, but damn it, people, I need answers!

JC Watts back in the mix?

It is not a coincidence that two of the "new faces" of the GOP, Bobby Jindal and Michael Steele, happen to be different faces than the traditional white male normally associated with the GOP. With the news that JC Watts is contemplating a return to public office, the GOP may have officially exhausted its bench of minorities.

Dick Cheney - enemy of fish?

I think someday that needs to go on Cheney's tombstone. "Dick Cheney: Vice-President, Secretary of Defense, one of the great enemies of healthy fish."

http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4098


"Steve Wright, a former commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, blasted the invitation, calling Cheney "one of the great enemies of healthy fish and wildlife conservation in the U.S. over the last eight years.""

It could be worse for California....

We could be AIG- they lost more than $61 Billion in the 4th quarter alone. If you manage to lose $61 really large in 3 months, don't you maybe think about just calling it a day?

Here are some interesting ways of getting a grasp on what a monumentally big number that is.

Franken vs. Coleman still going....

While the outlook is generally seen as positive for Franken at this point, it looks like there are still another couple weeks of court hearings to go in this Senate race. How long has this thing been going on for? I seem to recall Harry Truman on the campaign trail for Franken at one point, but I could be remembering wrong.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000003064213

The Steele-Rush duel

Obama's plan to make Rush Limbaugh the public face of today's GOP is looking more and more brilliant all the time. In an Obama vs. Rush debate, the American people will choose Obama every single time, and you can see that in all the recent polling. Now the actual RNC leader, Michael Steele, is pushing back. But I'm not sure how much better Steele is than Rush when it comes to the public face of a political party. All in all, I think every day the GOP spends deciding who officially represents them between Rush Limbaugh and Michael Steele is a day the Democrats won.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/02/gop.steele.limbaugh/index.html

"Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with CNN that he, rather than Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party." And Steele described Limbaugh as a performer. "Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele said. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.""

The cheap Governor

The NY Times profile of new Illinois Governor Pat Quinn shows the he throws nickels around like manhole covers. Apparently, he travels super cheap at the Super 8 and only rarely does he bill tax payers for his travels. After Blago, I'm sure the fine people of Illinois appreciate the thriftiness.

And it will help the Governor in the 2010 primary. If popular Attorney Gerneral Lisa Madigan challenges him, that one could be a thriller.

Claire McCaskill on Twitter

The Missouri Senator is one of the cooler people to follow on Twitter. She mixes the political with the everyday snippets of life and posts very regularly.

Check her out here.

Could California go bankrupt?

It is hard to imagine that a state with the tremendous amount of resources that California has could possibly go bankrupt. However, even with the budget plan finally passing, we are in a precarious position. If the economy worsens and revenues decline further, what will the state do?

When Orange County declared bankruptcy in the mid-90s (and I was always leery about allowing a guy who was really in to jade jewelry for himself control all of the county money), it was truly startling. Now imagine if the state of California were forced in to a similar situation.

Could it happen?

Rush is the star of CPAC

Mitt Romney may have won the straw poll, but there is little doubt that Rush Limbaugh was the star of the conference. One of the reasons that Rush is popular with the right wing is that he clearly states what he believes. He doesn't water-down his dislike for President Obama- Rush admits he is rooting for Obama to fail. Compared to the gobbly-gook that Bobby Jindal was spouting, I'm sure that is welcome to GOP listeners.

Salon has a good take on his appearance at CPAC and his standing in the party.

" Limbaugh exhorted conservatives to stay upbeat, blasted the alleged socialist agenda of the "Democrat Party," and called out the new president, the one he hopes will fail. "President Obama: Your agenda is not new, it's not change, and it's not hope," Limbaugh thundered, to wild applause in the Omni Shoreham's packed Regency Ballroom, as overflow crowds in three of the hotel's other convention rooms watched by live feed."

Even though I can't stand Rush, he is more authentic than this guy:

Iran attacks Hollywood over movie 'insults'

Not that you'd be expecting a subtle cultural debate from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the movie 300 is anti-Iranian? Sure, I guess in the way the Battle of Thermopylae was.

And the Wrestler? If anything, having the phony bad guy wrestler be called "The Ayatollah" is a parody of American culture and all the ridiculous stereotypes we used to have Hulk Hogan fighting against. The Iron Sheik and his "evil" Russian partner Nikolai Volkoff (pictured) of course coming to mind.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/01/iran.hollywood/index.html

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) wants a new GOP

"There was at least one 2012 presidential contender missing from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend, traditionally a testing ground for any Republican even remotely considering a White House bid. That could be in part because Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. risked getting booed off the stage for some of his views..... The party needs to be more intellectually rigorous, and to compete for the votes of the young, the elites and minorities, he said in an interview with POLITICO. To do so, the GOP needs to tack toward the middle on environment, gay rights and immigration."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19455.html

While I commend Huntsman, I think it says something about the state of today's Republican party when you are considered a radical reformer - likely to get booed off the stage - if you advocate intellectualism, a clean environment, and civil rights.

Romney wins CPAC poll

Romney 20%, Jindal 14%, Palin 13%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 10%, Huckabee 7%.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003063709

I'm sure Joe the Plumber would have been in double digits had he thrown his name in the ring. Of good news for the GOP, Romney is the only person on that list that I can see with a realistic chance of winning a general election someday. If his being a Mormon and a formerly centrist (even sometimes liberal) Governor of Massachusetts doesn't offend this far right wing crowd, then he has a decent chance of getting through a GOP primary. And he just sold off two of his four mansions, showing he is just a regular guy going through tough economic times like everyone else. I'll bet even John McCain can name the number of houses Romney now owns.