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Blogs Eric Reads
- Since he’s decided to be a Democrat again, Joe Lieberman tried to scratch the McCain ‘08 bumper sticker off of his car. He only got half of it off, but that will probably be enough for him to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee. The decision from Senate Democrats will be handed down today. (Washington Post)
- On the other side of the aisle, convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens gets a lucky break, sort of. In honor of his 85th birthday today, Senate Republicans were planning on voting to expel him from the GOP caucus. They’ve put their plan on hold since it looks like Stevens might actually lose his election and the whole thing would just be moot. Happy birthday, dear Tubes! (CNN)
- Must… control… schadenfreude… Focus on the Family, American’s very own Colorado-based Taliban, has had to lay off 20 percent of its staff after pumping half a million dollars into California’s Prop 8 and then suddenly realizing that they were out of money to pay people. Beating up on the gays is a higher priority for these “Christians” than the livelihood of the people who work for them. Nice one, Dobson. (Colorado Independent)
- Some random Dartmouth professor, who is in no way involved in the actual counting of votes in Minnesota, says that Al Franken will beat Norm Coleman. This would certainly be nice. The only thing is that he’s basing his prediction on statstical models and voting patterns but not, you know, how many ballots were cast. (Huffington Post)
Sunday Blogging, Christmas Cross-Burning Edition
- Celebrate the election of the first Black Presidizzle of the USA by putting this burning cross on your front lawn! That’s the message from the American Family Association, which is offering this “beautiful Christmas Cross” on their website for only $81.85 + shipping and handling. This year, the science-hating, gay-hating, and generally hateful AFA is honoring the Baby Jesus Ku Klux Klan style. Ugh. Makes me want to declare a war on Christmas. (AFA Online via Balloon Juice)
- Meanwhile, in the sane world, Barack Obama’s election has spurred the Iraqi cabinet to approve a security agreement that will set a January 1, 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of American troops. Said one Iraqi politician, “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.” (New York Times)
- The 2008 election continues! Bill Clinton is heading to Georgia to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Jim Martin. Martin is looking to replace Shameless Saxby Chambliss who, if you’ll recall, was responsible for the despicable ad in 2002 that put triple amputee and true American hero Max Cleland on the same screen as Osama bin Laden. If you live in Georgia, make sure you vote on December 2! (CNN)
- And finally, the GOP Civil War took to the airwaves this morning, with Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and Michael Steele all making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also on TV this morning which I find weird since, y’know, his state is on fire again. (Associated Press)
Weekend Update
Hey, did you miss me?
- Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders have both publicly called for Sen. Joe Lieberman to step down as the chairman of the Homeland Security. I’m all for it considering how Lieberman just spent the past year and a half running around the country telling everyone that only his BFF John McCain can keep us safe. Unfortunately, the rest of the Senate Democrats are doing what Senate Democrats usually do (i.e. being a bunch of pansies). Incidentally, this pansy-ness is the same reason why millions of schoolchildren think that it takes 60 votes for the Senate to pass a bill. (TPM Election Central)
- Did you know that Rahm Emanuel calls DC “Fucknutsville?” Or that he’s a ballerina? Or that he hates Arby’s? It’s true, as you can see from these witty t-shirts! (RahmFacts.com)
- OMG OMG OMG OMG HILLARY WILL BE SECRETARY OF STATE!!! Or at least that’s what the internets are saying. Personally, I don’t know why she would give up what is basically a Senate seat for life for a job that she can only have for a maximum of eight years. Also, when was the last time a Secretary of State was elected President (since we all know that’s what Hillary’s really after)? (Huffington Post)
- The President’s Weekly Radio Address is going 21st century! From now on, the President of the United States will address the nation each week on YouTube. Barack Obama is aware of all internet traditions. (Change.gov)
- Mark Begich now leads Ted Stevens by over 1,000 votes, but holy crap do Alaskans not know how to count or something? The election was last fricking week and not only are we still waiting for all the votes to be counted but this race could go into an automatic recount! Hopefully we’ll know who the next Senator from Alaska is by 2010. (State of Alaska)
- The only thing that stopped Vladimir Putin from marching all the way to Tbilisi and hanging Georgian President Saakashvili ”by the balls” was that he didn’t want to seem like George W. Bush. Heckuva job, Georgie! (The Times)
South Carolina Priest Refusing Communion for Obama Voters
Why does this church get a tax exemption?
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
“Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president,” Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
“Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.”
Yet another example of religion being used to threaten and intimidate voters.
Republicans Abandon Ship!
- Ah, remember the good old days, when John McCain was the Republican nominee for President of the United States–you know, two weeks ago? Well, he lost the election (which means the GOP no longer has to believe in any of the same shit he does) so the RNC has filed a lawsuit claiming that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional. Yes, you read correctly. The Republican Party wants the Republican nominee’s crowning achievement overturned. I guess they never liked that geezer after all. (Marc Ambinder)
- Well, looks like Palin for President is not off to the greatest start. Here’s five Republican governors telling the TV folks that Palin isn’t going to be ready for the top of the ticket in 2012. They were also unhappy about having to stand behind her at a press conference while she took questions about running for president in 2012. They did not like the appearance that they might be Palin supporters. Because they are not. At all. And they want that to be very clear. (YouTube/CNN)
- Palin for Senate isn’t going so well either. What, you didn’t know she was running for Senate? Yeah, she told CNN that she would be interested in running in a special election for Ted Stevens’ seat after he was reelected to and then expelled from the Senate. Only problem with that is that Mark Begich now leads Stevens by over 800 votes with many of the remaining votes expected to come from Begich friendly districts. (The Caucus/Anchorage Daily News)
Something Is Rotten In the State of Alaska
- In case you forgot, the day before the election Alaska’s Personnel Board–a group of Palin appointees–released it’s own Troopergate report clearing Palin of any wrongdoing. Except they missed a spot, since it looks like Palin may have committed perjury. Trooper Wooten’s attorney testified under oath that Palin called him in January 2007. Palin testified under oath that she didn’t. That means someone’s pants are on fire. Only replace “pants are on fire” with “a felon.” (The Daily Dish)
- And speaking of America’s Governor, Palin said in an interview with CNN that she would be willing to serve in the administration of a friend of terrorists. No, seriously. In the same interview, Palin said that it would be her “honor to assist and support our new president” and that she was “still concerned” about Obama’s ties to “an unrepentant domestic terorrist.” Um, putting aside that the presidential campaign is over, you can’t exactly say both of those things in the same breath and expect to still have any credibility. (CNN)
- Don’t worry, all hope is not lost for Seward’s Folly! As of 2:09 pm local time today, convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens’ lead over Democrat Mark Begich is down to 971 votes. Nate Silver says that there are about 60,000 ballots left to be counted and that most are from rural districts where Begich performed well. (State of Alaska/FiveThirtyEight)
Still Counting the Ballots
In Alaska:
With tens of thousands of votes left to be counted, the Alaska Senate race is far from over. The state Division of Elections announced Friday that there are 81,224 ballots yet to be counted in Alaska, where two embattled Republican incumbents are leading their Democratic challengers for now.
What’s more, the winner of either race will not be known for almost two weeks during counting. The state is scheduled to review the final results on Dec. 1, according to Elections Division Director Gail Fenumiai, though vote tallies will be updated in the meantime starting Wednesday evening.
Convicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R) led Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) on Friday by 3,257 votes — or about 1 percent of the total ballots that had been cast, counted or uncounted.
Similarly, embattled Rep. Don Young (R) has not been declared the victor despite his 16,939-vote lead over state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz (D), who has yet to concede the race because of the high number of outstanding ballots.
And in Minnesota:
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie pledges to oversee a fair, accurate and open recount of the nearly 2.9 million ballots in the Senate race.
“Minnesotans have an expectation of a nonpartisan election recount,” Ritchie said late last week.
Yet a fight with partisan overtones is shaping up over the recount of the race between U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, and Democrat Al Franken.
On Friday, the Coleman campaign questioned the integrity of the vote counting by citing “improbable shifts” in vote tallies that it said benefited Franken.
Ritchie responded by scolding the Coleman campaign for trying “to create a cloud” over the recount and “denigrating the election process.”
Picking up these two seats would put Democrats that much closer to that magical 60, but it’s going to be real tough. Keep an eye on Alaska and Minnesota (and Georgia, which has a Senate runoff election scheduled for December 2). The 2008 election isn’t over yet.
GOP Loser Musgrave Hasn’t Conceded Yet
I guess she’s still coming to terms with her twelve-point loss:
Bitterness generated by the bruising battle between Betsy Markey and Marilyn Musgrave apparently lingers days after voters decided the winner of the 4th Congressional District.
Incumbent Republican Musgrave, who lost to Democrat Markey by a 56 to 44 percent margin Tuesday, has yet to call and congratulate Markey on her win.
Musgrave also hasn’t conceded the race, said Markey spokesman Ben Marter. “She has yet to admit defeat,” he said. “It’s a little bizarre.”
Calls to Musgrave’s campaign and congressional office went unanswered Friday.
Palin Blamed for Obama Death Threats
The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of “palling around with terrorists”, citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.
The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling “terrorist” and “kill him” until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.
But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin’s attacks.
Goshdarnit, who would’ve thought that her stirring up hatred towards Barack Obama would cause her listeners to hate Barack Obama.
Here’s to hoping that this was her last trip out of Alaska.
Deep Thought
If you had come to me on September 12, 2001, and told me that George W. Bush would be the worst president in American history and that in 2008 we would elect a black man named Barack Hussein Obama, I would have laughed in your face.