CAPITOL HILL (CNN) — Just hours after Congressional leaders posted the final version of a $789 billion stimulus deal, staffers on Capitol Hill faced both a surge of demand on key Web sites and an apparent technical glitch that crashed those sites off and on throughout the morning.
A spokesman for the Senate appropriations committee told CNN Radio that their site had been up and down all Friday morning. He said technicians had found an apparent server problem that was not related to increased demand.
Well, the Big 3 bailout failed in the Senate last night because Senate Republicans didn’t want to pay auto workers a fair wage, to which the auto workers shockingly objected. Anyway, it now falls to the White House to take some of the money previously allocated to bailing out millionaire bankers and use it to bail out some $50k-per-year blue collar workers. Good luck selling that one to the millionaires. (Washington Post/Politico)
Clinton supporters are putting pressure on NY Gov. David Paterson not to appoint Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, noting that Kennedy has never been elected to any office. I thought dashing good looks and poltical experience were hereditary in the Kennedy family? (NY Daily News)
Illinois House Democrats and Republicans are meeting to discuss the logistics of impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Huzzah for bipartisanship! Also, Illinois newspaper editorial boards are humorously conflicted over whether Blaggy should resign or be impeached. Hmmmm…. (AP/FOX News)
The next U.S. Senator for Alaska will be Mark Begich:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has lost his bid for a seventh term. The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,724 votes after Tuesday’s count. That’s an insurmountable lead with only about 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted.
Stevens, who turned 85 Tuesday, also revealed that he will not ask President George W. Bush to give him a pardon for his seven felony convictions.
Begich leads by 1.18%, surpassing the 0.5% threshold for a mandatory recount. Congratulations, Senator-Elect Begich!
Update: Oh yeah, that makes 58!
Update 2: Really, this is just obligatory at this point. Tubes Techno Remix!
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)
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)
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.
President-Elect Obama is wasting no time getting in getting to work. First up, reversing the Bush Administration’s war on science. His transition team is putting together a long list of regulations and executive orders on climate change, stem cells, reproductive health, and other issues that Obama can rescind after taking office. Thank God. It’s good ot have a pesident who believes in science again. (Washington Post)
More than half of Americans said they closely followed Obama’s press conference yesterday, and 52% say his remarks set the right tone. Voters are fairly confident that he can handle the economic crisis. Over a quarter of the GOP can’t figure out of if they love him or hate him. (Rasmussen)
Speaking of the GOP, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is threatening to filibuster judicial nominations that have not been named for Supreme Court seats that are not vacant. Kyl doesn’t think that judges should make the rulings based on “the factors in each case”…um, what? What the heck are they supposed to base their decisions on then? Oh, and because this is a Republican that we’re talking about, it goes without saying that three years ago when the Republicans contolled the White House and the Senate, Kyl strenuously opposed the filibuster of judicial nominees. My, how times change. (Phoenix Business Journal/PBS)
If Kyl gets his way, though, it might get a little bit easier to overcome that filibuster. Sen. Ted Stevens leads in Alaska, but Nate Silver isn’t ready to count Democratic challenger Mark Begich out yet. According to Silver, most of the ballots remaining to be counted are early and absentee ballots in which Begich currently leads. Does anyone know what Nate Silver is going to do after this election is totally over? The man is a genius. (FiveThirtyEight)
Also, Harry Reid is getting ready to cut up to two Republican seats in each Senate committee to reflect the increased Democratic majority. Hopefully this will prevent a lot of Obama’s intiatives from getting stuck in committee. Back to work. (The Hill)
While John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama have all called on Ted Stevens to resign, hopefully-soon-to-be-former Alaska Congressman Don Young offers the strangest defense of Stevens I’ve seen so far:
“I can remember Richard Nixon, you know, his years of service, what he’s done, and everybody [was] ridiculing him, and he ended up being the greatest president in the history of our century. … The Senator will be re-elected. He will appeal it. When he does go, he will win it because there’s no way this is a jury of his peers,” Young told the Anchorage Daily News.
I don’t even know what to say. Richard Nixon was the greatest president of the twentieth century? Is Young thinking of some other Richard Nixon? You know, one who didn’t resign the presidency in disgrace and probably only stayed out of prison himself because he was pardoned on the way out the door?
Anyway, Young is also under investigation for having ties to VECO, the same firm that bought Stevens some of the gifts that got him convicted, so Young can’t really call for Stevens’ resignation without resigning himself. But the Richard Nixon defense? Please.
“Yesterday, Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty of corruption. It is a sign of the health of our democracy that the people continue to hold their representatives to account for improper or illegal conduct, but this verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation’s capital.
“It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all.”
I am innocent. This verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial. I ask that Alaskans and my Senate colleagues stand with me as I pursue my rights. I remain a candidate for the United States Senate.
Here’s hoping that Stevens becomes a big issue for the GOP across the board for the next week.
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