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Blogs Eric Reads
Bush Gets PEACE Award, and more
- Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church will today award Still-President Bush the first-ever “International Medal of PEACE” in recognition of his tireless efforts in the fight against the use of condoms by people with AIDS. I’m sure the neocons have been praying for months for someone to make up an award for Bush and–what do you know!–they got one with the word PEACE in capital letters. It’s World AIDS Day and Neocon Christmas all rolled into one! Update: Pandagon commenter Ellen wonders if this is a pathetic response to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize. Hm. (ChristianNewsWire via Pandagon/The Guardian)
- Tomorrow is the Georgia Senate runoff election, and GOP superstar Sarah Palin is back on the stump for Saxby Chambliss. But since the whole country has settled on the fact that Palin is a first-class moron who probably cost McCain the election, the Democrats are matching her with Ludacris, who, in addition to actually being from Georgia, probably has a better command of the English language than Palin. (Ben Smith)
- Good news for universal healthcare fans! Looks like everybody in the frickin’ world–businesses, hospitals, doctors, unions, insurance companies, lawmakers–wants it. Hopefully Secretary Daschle is figuring the whole thing out now so he can start working on it on January 20. (Los Angeles Times)
- Also, that thing with Hillary Clinton we’ve been hearing so much about is happening at 10:40 am eastern time. (Washington Post)
- After ceremonially pardoning a turkey this morning, Sarah Palin stepped outside to do a little press conference. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to notice that one of the turkeys not fortunate enough to receive her pardon was being slaughtered right behind her. Oops. On a positive note, I guess, the turkey wasn’t killed from a helicopter. Warning: This video may not be appropriate for children or vegetarians. (YouTube)
- Senators Hillary Clinton (yeah, she’s still in the Senate at least for a few more days) and Patty Murray introduced the Protecting Patients and Health Care Act, which would block the Department of Health and Human Services’ planned last minute anti-women regulations. Nice catch, Senators. Bush and his crew are going to keep screwing America up until midnight January 19. (Feministing)
- Gas is under $2 a gallon again! Woohoo! Except apparently this is called deflation, and it is a bad thing. I can’t quite wrap my head around why expensive things suddenly becoming cheaper is bad thing, but I guess that’s why I’m not the Washington Post. (The Washington Post)
- After collapsing while giving a speech last night, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is “conscious, conversant and alert” in the hospital. Some of the news orgs have videos of him collapsing, but I’m not going to link them because I think that’s a little too creepy. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery. (CNN)
The Cabinet So Far
Here’s who I’ve got in the Obama cabinet as of this morning.
- Attorney General: Eric Holder
- Secretary of Health and Human Services: Tom Daschle
- Secretary of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
- Secretary of State: Maybe Hillary Clinton? Who really knows?
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)
11/11
- Sarah Palin, who is now talking to the press as much as possible, blames her campaign staff for expecting her to read the speeches that were placed in front of her and do other non-mavericky things. Also too, she hopes God will show her the way to the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. This will be the ultimate test of my faith. (The Caucus)
- Some Alaskan got Ted Stevens to autograph a VECO hat. VECO, of course, is the oil company that bribed Stevens resulting in his conviction on seven felony counts. Ha! (Wonkette)
- So the Clinton people are all still pissed off at the Obama people. This time, it’s because they don’t think the President-Elect has done enough to help Hillary Clinton pay off the campaign debt she racked up by attacking him. If Barack Obama won’t cut Clinton a check for $5 million to pay Mark Penn, it is a slap in the face!!!!! (Politico)
- It’s Veterans’ Day. May God bless all those soldiers across the world who have served in defense of their nations and their people.
“And I can see Russia from my house!”
Tina Fey for the win.
(via)
Losing the Hillary Vote
If John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was designed to win over still-bitter Hillary supporters, then they’re off to a rough start:
Palin was lauded for speaking of Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in her speech Friday in Dayton, acknowledging the role their candidacies had played for other women, including herself. It was seen as a smart political gesture toward winning over some of the Clinton supporters who feel disenfranchised and may not vote for Obama in November.
She gave essentially the same speech today at a minor league baseball stadium outside of Pittsburgh. But when she said Saturday that Clinton “showed determination and grace in her own campaign,” there were an audible boos smattered amid the cheers. Palin ignored the boos and continued on with her speech.
Combined with Palin’s comments on Clinton’s “perceived whine” during the primaries, it comes as little surprise that Palin’s selection is actually costing McCain female support.
Sorry John, looks like American women vote with their heads, not their ovaries.
Sarah Who?
CNBC definitively says Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be John McCain’s running mate.
A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager.
Sounds to some people like McCain is making a play for the sixty-or-so PUMA idiots that are still running around because, when push comes to shove, they really don’t care what Hillary Clinton actually has to say. Of course, Palin is so anti-choice that intelligent people won’t have any trouble figuring out that she’s actually the exact opposite of Hillary.
Update: On the other hand, ABC definitively says it’s not Palin. Someone’s going to have egg on their face tonight.
Update 2: Well, not the best day for ABC News. Fortunately for us, they aren’t in charge of investigating Palin for corruption.
Hillary in Denver
In case you missed it, she really knocked it out of the park at the DNC last night, including with a giant smack-down for the PUMA idiots who like to go on about how the uppity presumptuous Obama hasn’t grovelled enough to earn their vote.
Watch it:
Obama Donates Legal Max to Clinton
From the AP via TPM, Barack Obama has donated the legal maximum of $4,600 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in order to help her pay off her debt. I wonder how the PUMAs (otherwise known as traitors to everything Hillary Clinton stands for) will spin this one. Onward to Unity!
Update:
Update: Double Unity!
This just in: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton each contributed $2,300 to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. They made the donation today.
After Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton were finished speaking here, the contributions were announced to reporters by Jamie Smith, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton. The news comes one day after Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, announced that they had each contributed $2,300 to Mrs. Clinton to help retire her campaign debt.