THIS POST WILL BE STICKY. YUCK! AND CONTINUALLY UPDATED. YUCKIER!
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Napping and throat clearing his way to a three-hundred-and-forty-ninth place finish in the Republican primary was apparently not enough to allow Fred Thompson to save the Republican Party in 2008.
So he gave up, turned his old campaign website into an Italian house of gambling, and then proceeded to take a very long nap.
But now, he’s back!
And even though he can’t be president, he still gets to do two things that are almost as awesome:
1) Replace Bill O’Reilly on the radio, and record himself snoring loudly (but all folksy like!) for an hour each day.
2) Act in this amazing, life affirming commercial with Charles Barkley:
He may not have been able to save the Republican Party, but at least Fred Thompson got to save radio and television!
Every administration seems to roll in with a head-scratcher or two (for instance, Condi Rice as NSA) and Leon Panetta as CIA director is the first one in the Obama admin for me (Richardson was an odd pick for Commerce, but I could see the upside). Can anyone make a good case for Panetta in the comments? I just don’t get this one. At all.
Addled, cry-baby old fart George H. W. Bush appeared on the family’s news network this weekend for a confab with Chris Wallace, during which he wished another scourge on a nation that has already suffered enough: a presidential term for his son “Jeb.” Even a deluded, Depends-dependent fool like GHWB realizes that the timing may be problematic:
I mean, right now is probably a bad time, because we’ve had enough Bushes in there.
Bush the Elder totally misses the point: It’s not the number of Bushes so much as the epic level of incompetence the most recent just demonstrated, which by rights should doom anyone sharing that last name to a lifetime of political irrelevance. But I guess you can’t expect a father to recognize his son’s world-historical cretinism—even if practically everyone else on the planet does.
Just off the lobby, where a lavish $65-a-plate Sunday brunch was underway, almost none of the well-dressed diners mentioned Obama or his family already ensconced in a suite upstairs.
Don’t let the cool demeanors fool you, though, said one diner. “That’s what everyone’s thinking about even if they don’t say it,” Terrance Mason said later, a safe distance from the elegant dining room. “Just to be in the same building, to be breathing the same air. It’s amazing.”
Ha ha. “It’s amazing.” Too funny. Bonus points in comments to the first person who finds a blog post or comment where this quote is driving someone insane. I love this game!
First up, surprising local news. And no, I’m not talking about Shanahan getting fired because: a. That’s football b. That’s football and c. Did I say, that’s football? (Football lovers, don’t hate on me or I’ll say stuff about “large, over hormoned, over paid, hulking, over paid, etc. and over paid.") Here is a Bathing Beauty picture for disappointed football fans who wanted to talk about Shanahan:
No, the big news in Colorado is Gov. Bill Ritter’s surprise pick to replace Senator Ken Salazar (who’s been tapped by Obama for Interior Secy). As Rocky columnist Mike Litwin put it: “As you may have noticed, the Democrats have an unusually deep bench just now, but Ritter reached all the way past the bench and went deep - deep into the stands” to select Michael Bennet, the current Superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Not the least surprising thing about the pick is that Bennet has never sought or held elected office. On the other hand, before he was hired as school superintendent he’d never had any jobs in education either, which hasn’t kept him from doing a great job for DPS. Bennet is actually a pretty exciting choice. He’s super smart, works like a demon, is known as a problem solver and has been successful at every job he’s tried.
The drawbacks are that, since he hasn’t ever run for an office, besides being a Democrat, not much is known about his policy positions. In addition he’s not especially well known outside the Denver metro area which is going to make running for the office statewide in 2010 (and he says he will) a challenge. But, like I said, Bennet is a super smart guy and if I can figure that out so can he, so I’m sure he’ll be introducing himself to the rest of the state pretty shortly.
Also it’s reported that Ritter was blown away by Bennet when he interviewed him so I’m assuming the policy thing will not be a problem. Although it should be noted that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was considered pretty much the top contender. So, for a little history, before taking the DPS job, Bennet was Hick’s chief of staff. And before he ran for gov. two years ago Ritter was the Denver District Attorney. Who was reportedly miffed when Hickenlooper was way more than fashionably late getting on the endorsement wagon. Could this be payback time? Who knows. Anyway, I’m glad we get to keep Hick as mayor because he’s doing a great job and hey, it’s cool to say “Mayor Hickenlooper.” Like living in Mayberry.
Next up, faced with declining revenues from gasoline taxes, as consumers switch to more efficient cars, Oregon is looking outside the box (or at the box) and trying out the idea of a mileage tax instead of gas tax. A small box attached to the dashboard keeps track of your mileage then channels that information to the pump when you fill up and taxes you accordingly. OK, look, I see the problem with declining revenues. Everyone’s hurting for cash these days. But to encourage people to use less gasoline then charge them for it? That just ain’t right.
Back to politics - will the election in Minnesota ever come to an end? Well, it’s getting there - the recount is finished and the State Canvassing Board is set to certify the results on Monday - with Al Franken 225 votes ahead! But all is not over yet.
At least two things, however, still stand in the way of Franken becoming Minnesota’s newest U.S. senator: the possibility of a ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court that more wrongly rejected absentee ballots should be counted, and a legal contest that Coleman attorneys all but promised should Franken prevail.
Groan.
And last, but not least, thanks again to all who took part in our Health Care Survey a couple of weeks ago. I have summarized everything and shot it off into cyberspace to be perused by the Health Care Transition Team. After mulling and reading everything over, the biggest point I picked up on, and the biggest problem with the system we have, is that health care is treated as a product for sale in this country and not as a necessary service. So I tried to emphasize that point.
Happy Sunday everyone! Holidays over and back to the work grind tomorrow for most of us. Talk amongst yourselves about any of the above or just diss PUMAs. And be very good to each other. /snark
I’m posting these rare live Elvis Costello videos because we listened to Armed Forces last night when ours pals Elisa and Mark were over and it made me realize that I don’t listen to him as much as I should. You’d be hard pressed to come up with an artist or band who lunged out of the starting gate with three stronger albums than My Aim is True, This Years Model and Armed Forces. Feel free to do so in the comments.
BJinChicago concluded his recent post at Partizane with the following:
Jerome R. Corsi at World Net Daily has also been exploring the Rezko/ Obama real estate story (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84101) and shares what he has found out about the Obama house and Miceli at the Cook County’s Assessor’s Office. Corsi brings up the name of Kenneth Conner. Conner is suing the Bank of Harvey over his dismissal, which occurred after Conner questioned the Obama/ Rezko adjacent lot appraisal submitted by Rezko, which Conner deemed to be fraudulently high.
So what’s up with Patrick Fitzgerald? Chicagoans are beginning to whisper that he too has played B-Ball with Obama at a Chicago gym. Like Diogenes with his lantern, I seek an honest man….
Anyone who cites the lying wingnut scumbag Jerome Corsi as a reputable source isn’t going to need a lantern to find “an honest man,” they’re going to need a full frontal lobotomy.
Early this morning the Palmetto Expressway in the Miami area was inexplicably blocked by a “drop” of thousands of pairs of used shoes, neatly tied together by the shoestrings.
The Miami Herald reports that the shoes are being scooped up, sorted and will be donated to charities. But what were they doing there in the first place? So far no one has come forth with an answer. Speculation ranges from an accident with a truck carrying the shoes to a prank to an elaborate Bush protest (ala the Iraqi guy who heaved a shoe at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad recently). It is a little strange that, if a truck accidentally lost the shoes, nobody has come forward to explain. So I guess it’s all open to speculation at this point.
Is this an omen? A harbinger of a crazy year to come? Open thread.
Harry Reid is drawing a line in the sand with his sword and it’s going to be there on Tuesday. “Cross not, pretender Burris” he proclaims “or I’ll, I’ll, . . . call the Doorkeeper and he’ll call the COPS and they’ll call the Sergeant-at-Arms! Proceed at your own peril, Sir!”
Yes, Harry and other senior members of the Senate have their ducks lined up, in a row and ready to go. But, but, can they really do that? I know they’ve issued statements saying they’ll seat former IL Attorney General Roland Burris (who, in case you’ve been locked in a closet over the last few days, was appointed by IL Gov. Rod “Helmet Hair” Blagojevich to fill Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat) over all their collective dead bodies, but, rhetoric aside, can they legally refuse to do that?
I feel compelled to point out that missed in many discussions about the Burris appointment is the fact that the Senate is probably unable to prevent him from being seated as a matter of constitutional law. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 (and 8-0 among justices deciding on the merits) in Powell v. McCormack that “in judging the qualifications of its members, Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution.” It is possible to distinguish the cases—the fact that Burris is appointed obviously mitigates the problems with Congress interfering with the integrity of elections that Douglas discusses in his concurrence. Still, the bottom line of Warren’s majority opinion is unequivocal and directly on point; if Burris were to litigate an exclusion a lower court would almost certainly rule in his favor, and I doubt that the Supreme Court would overrule.
He concludes that, absent any evidence that the appointment process itself was illegal (i.e. that Burris actually engaged in a “pay to play” scheme) and considering that Burris himself is qualified under the Constitution to be a senator (age, citizenship, residency) then, while the Senate could block him from joining the Democratic Caucus, there is no legal ground to refuse to seat him.
However Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBLOG doesn’t think it’s that clear.
