Bring Palin back in 2012, poll says

By Alex Leary, Times staff writer
In print: Sunday, November 30, 2008

No sooner had Barack Obama won the presidential election than pundits started looking to 2012 and possible Republican challengers. A Gallup Poll asked people to rank the top 10 candidates they would like to run. Topping the list: Sarah Palin (67 percent), Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Second to last: Gov. Charlie Crist (23 percent), one below former Gov. Jeb Bush (31 percent). The telephone poll was taken Nov. 5-16 and included 799 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article920456.ece

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What hath Obama Wrought?

As for myself, I note that all new cabinet members are either:

1. From Chicago

2. A former Clinton Administration member or

3. A Saul Alinsky pupil

Obama himself is 1 and 3.

Somewhere, Mr. Alinsky is grinning from ear to ear.

Stephanopoulos: Obama Cabinet Unparalleled in 'Brain Power'
Good Morning America's news team on Monday gushed at the sheer brilliance of Barack Obama's incoming cabinet, including his "team of economic gladiators." Former top Bill Clinton aide-turned journalist George Stephanopoulos rhapsodized: "We have not seen this kind of combination of star power and brain power and political muscle this early in a cabinet in our lifetimes." (What does that say about Stephanopoulos' friends in the Clinton administration?) Co-host Robin Roberts was equally enthusiastic. Speaking with Stephanopoulos, she cooed: "Some would say it's a team of rivals, a la President Lincoln, or is a better comparison a team of geniuses as FDR did?" Continuing the fawning, Stephanopoulos readily agreed: "Well, one Obama advisor told me what they like is a combination of team of rivals and 'the Best and the Brightest,' which was the David Halberstam book about the incoming Kennedy administration. I think there are parallels to all three

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Robert Gibbs will be White House Press Secretary

Politico’s Mike Allen reports today that Robert Gibbs, communications director in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and a key strategist who “helped plan and package” his “rapid move to the national stage,” will be named as the Obama administration’s White House Press Secretary. Allen adds that the “announcement is likely to be viewed favorably by reporters because Gibbs has unquestioned authority, access and institutional memory.”

'Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary -- Gibbs, a native of Auburn, Alabama and a graduate of North Carolina State University, began working with President-Elect Obama in April 2004 serving as Communications Director for his United States Senate race and later as his Senate Communications Director. Gibbs held the position of Communications Director for Obama's presidential campaign until becoming Senior Strategist for Communications and Message during the general election. Earlier in his career, Gibbs served as Communications Director for Senator Fritz Hollings and worked on Senator Debbie Stabenow's 2000 Senate campaign. He also served as press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and worked for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign. Gibbs lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Mary Catherine, and their five-year-old son, Ethan.

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Pro-life dealt a blow with latest pick

Obama selects more staff
By MIKE ALLEN | 11/22/08 3:33 PM EST Text Size:



Ellen Moran, executive director of EMILY’s List, was named White House communications director by President-elect Obama on Saturday.

Moran, a well-known grassroots organizer, has also managed statewide Democratic campaigns and managed the Wal-Mart corporate accountability campaign for the AFL-CIO.

EMILY's List, one of the most important Democratic constituency groups, says it is "dedicated to building a progressive America by electing Democratic pro-choice women to office."

As expected, the White House press secretary will be Robert Gibbs, a top strategist on Obama's campaign who helped chart his leap from the U.S. Senate to the presidency.

Dan Pfeiffer, the campaign communications director, will be deputy director of communications.

The transition released these biographies:

Ellen Moran, Director of Communications: Moran currently serves as executive director of EMILY’s List, where she oversees the national staff and charts the overall strategic direction of the organization. This was Moran’s second tenure at EMILY’s List, rejoining the organization from the AFL-CIO, where she coordinated Wal-Mart corporate accountability activities and served in the Political Department. In 2004, she took a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to direct independent expenditures for the Democratic National Committee, managing placement of presidential advertising and directed television, radio, mail, and phoning efforts in 20 states. In 2000, Moran directed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s $50 million issue advocacy campaign. Moran's political experience includes managing campaigns for governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House; working on the national campaign staff of Tom Harkin’s 1992 presidential campaign; helping plan both Clinton inaugurals; and conducting international democracy work in Indonesia for the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 1993, Moran designed EMILY’s List’s campaign staff training program and served as its first director. Moran also oversaw EMILY’s List’s first foray into voter mobilization in 1994. A native of Amherst, Massachusetts, Moran holds a degree in political science and English literature from Wheaton College.

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What Kind of New Broom is This?

Craig's clients at times at odds with U.S.

KENNETH P. VOGEL | 11/22/08 7:05 AM EST

As a top Washington lawyer, newly named White House counsel Greg Craig has represented high-profile clients, from Bill Clinton to John Hinckley to Alexander Solzhenitsyn to Elian Gonzalez’s father.

But less well known is Craig’s work in the 1990s for at least four foreign governments or leaders facing a variety of tricky situations in Washington.

Craig represented Argentina, Bolivia, Panama and the prime minister of Haiti as a “foreign agent,” basically a lobbyist for foreign governments and businesses with issues before the federal government. But those governments, which paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Craig’s power law firm Williams & Connolly, got more than just traditional lobbying from him.

When the U.S. government in 1990 unfroze bank accounts belonging to deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega so he could pay to defend himself against drug charges, Craig went to federal court to try to seize Noriega’s cash for Panama.

Soon after Bolivia elected as its new president in 1989 a former revolutionary leftist who ran as a Social Democrat, Craig oversaw the planning of meetings between him and a cadre of influential members of Congress then, including Sens. George Mitchell (D-Maine); Bob Dole (R-Kan.); Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a former Craig boss; Joe Biden (D-Del.), whose position as vice president-elect makes him a current Craig boss; and Reps. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) and Peter Kostmayer (D-Pa.).

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15871.html

Now who is he, exactly? According to The Politico, he is a longtime aide to Teddy Kennedy. And here’s some more:

Craig, who had been friends with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham at Yale Law School, was recruited for the impeachment job by John Podesta, then deputy White House chief of staff and now a leader of Obama’s transition. A Washington Post profile in 1998 by Lloyd Grove and John Harris reported: “Craig brought along his best bedside manner when Clinton summoned him to the White House residence on the night of Sept. 10 — the day after independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s lurid report to Congress was published on the World Wide Web. On a balcony overlooking the South Lawn, Clinton and Craig sat talking for two hours.”

OK, so his biggest claim to fame is that he helped our ethically challenged former president beat the impeachment rap. Is that the hallmark of a new broom in D.C.?

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/11/17/jpinkerton_1117/comment-page-5/

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Geithner Said to Be Chosen for Treasury Secretary

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, November 21, 2008 -- 4:37 PM ET
-----

Geithner Said to Be Chosen for Treasury Secretary

President-elect Barack Obama will name Timothy F. Geithner to
be his Treasury Secretary, according to a knowledgeable
Democrat, elevating a Treasury veteran who as president of
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has all year been at the
center of the worsening economic crisis.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Who is Timothy Geithner?

President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for Treasury secretary is relatively young, largely unknown and a proud workaholic. He is known for staying out of the spotlight, preferring to operate quietly behind the scenes to watch over financial markets as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Geithner

Timothy Geithner, 47, has had a seat at the table since the credit crisis erupted in August 2007 and eventually sparked the deep economic downturn the nation is facing now. As a result, at least until his confirmation hearing, he’ll be criticized for having a major role in a government response that hasn’t always instilled confidence in financial markets — even if it prevented a wider financial meltdown.

As the Fed’s man on Wall Street, Mr. Geithner was a key architect of the $30 billion bailout to prevent the bankruptcy of Bear Stearns Cos., leading to charges the government was stoking moral hazard. He shaped the Fed’s lifeline to investment banks that followed, and was among the officials involved in assessing the implications of the troubles around Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings, American International Group and numerous other firms (from Wachovia to Citigroup) that have come under market pressure.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/11/21/who-is-timothy-geithner/

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Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Nomination, Confidants Say

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, November 21, 2008 -- 2:44 PM ET
-----

Clinton to Accept Secretary of State Nomination, Confidants Say

Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat
and accept the nomination for secretary of state after
additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about
the nature of her role, two confidants of Mrs. Clinton said
Friday.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

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Obama: Don't expect much anytime soon....

Nov 21, 2008 5:39 am US/Central

Obama Advisers To Public: Temper Expectations

Reporting
Mike Flannery

CHICAGO (CBS) ― President-elect Barack Obama and his inner circle fear that some voters expect him to turn around the economy, wind down the war in Iraq and, perhaps, cure cancer -- all by the Fourth of July.

They know they must manage and lower those expectations, CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports.

A top economic advisor to Obama had a glum warning for the rest of us Thursday morning: Neither the job market nor the stock market will be turning around any time soon.

"This might be a long haul," said Robert Reich, who was President Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. "2009 is going to be a very hard year. Some economists say we won't be out of this for two years, others are saying it may be three, or four, maybe five years."

Now on Obama's transition team, Reich worries about what happens after the new president is sworn in Jan. 20.

"We all have to be very careful about the expectations that we are putting on this man, our president-elect," Reich said. "If we all assume it's going to be the first 100 days, we're going to be disappointed."

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/Obama.advisers.expecations.2.869896.html


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Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapses while giving a speech

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech on national security to a prominent conservative lawyers' organization.

Associated Press

In this Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, file photo, Attorney General Michael Mukasey addresses the American Bar Association.

Mr. Mukasey, 67 years old, appeared to slur his words about 20 minutes into his speech at the Federalist Society's annual dinner, held in the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington. Mr. Mukasey was defending the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies in front of an audience of about 400.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, who provide security for the attorney general, rushed to his aid before he fell to the floor.

Mr. Mukasey appeared to be somewhat alert as he was carried on a stretcher by District of Columbia fire department medics. He was heard to say he thought he had fainted. A medic could be heard to tell the attorney general "just relax."

He was taken to George Washington University Medical Center and appeared to be alert and in good condition, according to the D.C. Fire Department.

Mr. Mukasey became attorney general in 2007. At Justice, he has won plaudits for his no-nonsense style.

Text of his prepared speech here


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On track, but who's driving the train?

by Janet Crain
Personally I believe Obama wants his "team of rivals" near so he can watch them and hopefully control them. By appointing Hillary as Secretary of State, he has effectively eliminated any serious Democratic competition for his 2012 candidacy for re-election.

Obama plans to name Clinton to state

By MIKE ALLEN | 11/20/08 10:48 PM EST

President-elect Barack Obama is "on track" to name Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as his secretary of state shortly after Thanksgiving, two senior Obama aides said.

Financial disclosure issues have been worked out, aides said.

The officials said they expect her to accept. Clinton aides had no comment.

The choice unites the two rivals in the most protracted presidential primary in American history, giving Obama the Team of Rivals Cabinet he had promised.

Former President Bill Clinton authorized unprecedented disclosures about his finances to Obama's vetting team, and transition lawyers are satisfied, officials said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15843.html

NYT columnist Maureen Dowd: "What worries me, though, is that much of the media attention today is focused on the wrong relationship question. Everyone is asking how she would manage the relationship with former President Bill Clinton and his own global speaking, fund-raising and philanthropic agendas. You have to believe that they’ll do everything they can to try to figure that out — but it’s not a done deal yet. Obviously, Mr. Clinton would have to restrict some of his activities. The important question, the answer of which is not at all clear to me, is about the only relationship that matters for a secretary of state — the kind of relationship he or she would have with the new president. My question: Is Obama considering Mrs. Clinton for this job in order to get her off his back or as a prelude to protecting her back?

NYT's Thomas Friedman: "Bill has the satisfaction of seeing that he has roiled the previously serene and joyous Obamaland. It may be Obama’s very willingness to take the albatross of Bill from around Hillary’s neck and sling it around his own that impresses Bill. Obama is overlooking all his cherished dictums against drama and leaking and his lofty vetting standards to try and create a situation where the country can benefit from the talent of the Clintons while curbing their cheesy excesses, like their endless cash flow from foreigners. And in turn, Bill is doing all he can — he’s disclosing sketchy donors and business interests and figuring out how he could curb his global gallivanting to have fewer conflicts of interest — to help his wife get the job.It says it all that, at the moment Washington became obsessed with news that Hillary was a contender for State, Bill was getting a half-million for an hour’s worth of chat sponsored by the National Bank of Kuwait, delivered from behind a podium with a camel and Arabic lettering on it. Last year, Bill made $10.1 million in speaking fees."

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What if Electoral College Elects Sarah Palin to Presidency?

Satire By John Lillpop

What if Barack Obama is declared a non-citizen and ineligible to serve as U.S. President?

That is most improbable, right? Perhaps, but not impossible.

In fact, a challenge to Obama's citizenship is scheduled to be the subject of a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court on December 5, 2008. A conference is a meeting of the Supreme Court Justices where cases are reviewed and the court decides which ones to accept for formal review.

The formal election of Barack Obama by the Electoral College is scheduled for December 15, just ten days following the Supreme Court conference.

What if the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case of Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells, the secretary of state in New Jersey, and rules that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen as he must be according to the U.S. Constitution in order to qualify for the presidency?

Would electors at the meeting of the Electoral College simply ignore Barack Obama and choose a president and vice president from among Joe Biden, John McCain, and Sarah Palin on December 15?

A majority of 270 votes would be required for each position.

In the interest of constitutional continuity, perhaps President Bush and Dick Cheney would agree to step aside early to allow Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take over the Oval Office.

Senator Robert Byrd would, by law, become Vice President, until the swearing in of the 111th Congress, when the 90-year old Byrd would yield to youth in the person of Senator Inouye, the 84 year old from Hawaii.

A most delicious irony would occur if the electors installed Governor Palin as President and Joe Biden as her VP, leaving John McCain out in the cold where he belongs!

A Palin administration so conceived would cause moon bats at Daily Kos and elsewhere to go ballistic, providing laughs and hilarity for months, if not years.

Palin-Biden? Has a nice ring to it,right?

* SOURCE

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Change You Can't Believe In

President-elect promised change, picking insiders

Nov 20 05:20 AM US/Eastern By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts.

Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a well-known Washington personality, seemed more likely than ever to be his secretary of state. Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America's top diplomat, her associates said Wednesday

Obama is ready to announce that his attorney general will be Eric Holder, the Justice Department's No. 2 when Clinton's husband was president. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, is another veteran of the Clinton White House.

Daschle's selection to head the Health and Human Services Department—confirmed Wednesday but not yet announced—isn't at the same level of Cabinet prestige as the top spots at the State and Justice departments. But the health post could be more important in an Obama administration than in some others, making Daschle a key player in helping steer the president-elect's promised health care reforms.

Daschle could push Obama for quick action on health care reform next year, if he follows his own advice.

Daschle said efforts during the Clinton administration, led by Hillary Clinton, took too long and went into too much detail, giving every interest group an opportunity to find something they didn't like about the plan.

"The next president should act immediately to capitalize on the goodwill that greets any incoming administration. If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it," Daschle wrote in a book he released this year, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." "This issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol."

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Deja Vu All Over Again

ENPR: Obama Administration Looking More Like Clinton Third Term

by Timothy P. Carney
11/19/2008

Obama continues to tap the Clinton Administration for his own administration, dashing the hopes many liberals had voiced in the spring that the Democrats would no longer be the Clinton Party.

Obama Administration

Appointments: As the Obama Administration continues to take form, the new team increasingly looks like Clinton-Administration-Meets-Chicago.

1. It is all but official that Obama intends to tap Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State, and it is clear that Clinton is considering the job. She has dispatched lawyers to assist in the vetting process, but she could, in the end, still say no.

2. The question before Clinton: Is secretary of State her best available path the presidency in 2016? It's certainly more promising than another four to eight years in the Senate, and the governorship does not at the moment appear available to her.

3. The question before Obama: Will the Clintons' penchant for ethical indiscretions hurt his administration, and is there any healing-old-wounds value to picking her. It certainly wins him media adulation, but what doesn't?

4. Senate confirmation would give Republicans another chance to Clinton-bash, but she would face no serious resistance in that chamber, and would probably get a majority of Republicans along with all Democrats.

5. A vacancy in her Senate seat would set off an interesting scramble. For one thing, it would give Gov. David Patterson (D) an opportunity to use an appointment to help his own cause. Patterson faces a possible primary from Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo (D).

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29562

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Bush pushes conscience rules for health providers

Last-minute Bush abortion ruling causes furor

Hat Tip: Jem

Excerpt:

A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job-discrimination laws.

The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their "religious beliefs or moral convictions."

It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to "assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity" financed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/18/america/abort.php

Rules are Hard to Change by New Administration

While executive orders and rules that are not yet in effect can swiftly be reversed or altered by Obama’s appointees or his own executive orders, rules that go into effect before he takes office will be extremely difficult to undo. Rescinding a rule would require the new administration to re-start the rule-making process, which can take years and prompt legal challenges. Another strategy that has been talked about lately – getting Congress to disapprove the rules through the Congressional Review Act — carries political risks and has been used only once before.

“The problem with what the Bush administration is doing is that these rules are extremely cumbersome to adopt, and they are every bit as cumbersome to undo,” said David Vladeck, an administrative law professor at Georgetown University. “It condemns the next administration to spend years fighting on the old administration’s agenda.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15758.html

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Napolitano, Arizonan Governor will head Homeland Security

By MIKE ALLEN | 11/19/08 11:18 PM

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has been chosen to be secretary of the vast and troubled Department of Homeland Security.

November 20, 2008
Categories: Arizona

Napolitano out of the Senate picture

It looks like we can forget about that dream Arizona Senate matchup between John McCain and popular Arizona governor Janet Napolitano (D) in 2010.

President-elect Barack Obama is prepared to tap Napolitano to serve as his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. If Napolitano leaves the governorship, Arizona’s Republican Secretary of State, Jan Brewer, would become governor.

Napolitano is unable to run for a third-term in Arizona because of the state’s term limits law.

Democratic operatives have been eagerly eyeing McCain’s seat as a potential pickup in 2010 – and saw Napolitano as their strongest challenger. Arizona gave its home state senator just a five-point margin of victory in the presidential election, and the fast-growing state has been trending in a Democratic direction lately. One public poll even showed Napolitano leading McCain in a hypothetical 2010 matchup.

But the speculation involving Napolitano was a bit premature. One leading Arizona Democratic operative said that Napolitano was never likely to challenge McCain, and only would have run if he stepped down from the Senate.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1108/Napolitano_out_of_the_Senate_picture.html

By Anthony Caroto, published Feb 28, 2007

llegal immigration is a hot-button issue, finally. Nowhere else is this more a problem than in Arizona, and Governor Janet Napolitano is fed up. She's pretty much on her knees now and begging Congress to stop pussyfooting around and start implementing realistic goals.

We've heard too much talk about border security and not enough action. All of America is waiting - and time is running out." Gov. Napolitano said in a speech at the National Press Club.

"Foreigners who have degrees in special fields should be automatically entitled to come work in the United States regardless of existing federal visa restrictions." Added Napolitano

Her solution is a combination of border enforcement, a temporary worker program to deal with the demand for workers to fill jobs in the U.S. and strong cooperation with Mexico and other trade partners.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/163645/illegal_immigration_and_arizona_gov.html

...Napolitano’s heart lies with the shamnesty crowd. She vetoed a bill cracking down on phony matricula consular cards for illegal aliens and rejected efforts allowing more cooperation between local law enforcement and the feds. She opposes assimilationist measures on English language and ID requirements to prevent voter fraud; she supports in-state tuition discounts for illegal aliens.

In short, she’s a double-talker and double-doer who will ensure the immigration chaos status quo.

http://www.michellemalkin.com

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Eric Holder: could it get any worse?

While promising Hope and Change, Obama's real promise is clearly being translated as Hopeless Corruption. The pick of Clinton Administration figure Eric Holder who was criticized in a Congressional report for ethical violations involving the infamous pardon of fugitive criminal Marc Rich, followed by the appointment of corrupt Clinton Administration figure and Freddie Mac board member, Rahm Emanuel.

There were figures in the Clinton Administration who were dirtier than Eric Holder, but not many and Eric Holder's career both before and after his time in the Clinton Administration is a very ugly one.

Let's begin with Pardongate, when Eric Holder was involved in giving his nod to the pardon of fugitive tax cheat Marc Rich and in withholding information from the Justice Department. A Justice Department that he will now ironically head as Attorney General.

"A forthcoming Congressional report on the last-minute pardons by President Bill Clinton says Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was a "willing participant in the plan to keep the Justice Department from knowing about and opposing" a pardon for Marc Rich, the financier.

The 476-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, harshly criticizes the Clinton White House for its handling of the 177 pardons and commutations granted on its last day.

The most controversial pardon went to Mr. Rich, a commodities trader who fled the country in 1983 rather than face trial on charges of tax evasion, racketeering and trading with the enemy. The report says that Mr. Rich's lawyers tried to circumvent prosecutors, who would oppose the pardon, and take their case straight to the White House.

Mr. Holder, the report says, played a major role, steering Mr. Rich's lawyers toward Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel. Mr. Rich hired Mr. Quinn, whose Washington contacts and ability to lobby the president made the difference, according to the report. It says that Mr. Holder's support for the pardon and his failure to alert prosecutors of a pending pardon were just as crucial.

The panel criticized Mr. Holder's conduct as unconscionable and cited several problems. It cited his admission last year that he had hoped Mr. Quinn would support his becoming attorney general in a Gore administration.

It's 8 years later but the Crook Fairy finally granted Eric Holder his wish to become Attorney General. And Obama has an Attorney General who conspired in the illegal pardon of a fugitive criminal in the hopes of making himself Attorney General.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2008/11/eric-holder-obamas-crooked-pick-for.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/19/eric-holder-four-more-years-of-depravity-at-doj/
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UPDATE: Obama's Birth Certificate Paper Chase

Alan Keyes Files Suit Over Obama’s Birth Certificate

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Ken

A constitutional crisis is looming large over Barack Obama’s Election Day victory.

Alan Keyes and others have filed a petition asking that California’s 55 Electoral Votes to not be cast until Obama produces a birth certificate to verify his eligibility to hold office.

This is the latest challenge to Obama, and the first by someone as well respected as Keyes.

Video of Obama’s grandmother Sarah attesting to seeing him born in Kenya

Link to the entire World Net Daily article

Some interesting and important bits and pieces:

“The vault (long Version) birth certificate, per Hawaiian Statute 883.176 allows the birth in another State or another country to be registered in Hawaii. Box 7C of the vault Certificate of Live Birth contains a question, whether the birth was in Hawaii or another State or Country. Therefore, the only way to verify the exact location of birth is to review a certified copy or the original vault Certificate of Live Birth and compare the name of the hospital and the name and the signature of the doctor against the birthing records on file at the hospital noted on the Certificate of the Live Birth.“


The “certificate of live birth” posted by the Obama campaign cannot be viewed as authoritative, the case alleges. “Hawaii Revised Statute 338-178 allows registration of birth in Hawaii for a child that was born outside of Hawaii to parents who, for a year preceding the child’s birth, claimed Hawaii as their place of residence,” the document said. “The only way to know where Senator Obama was actually born is to view Senator Obama’s original birth certificate from 1961 that shows the name of the hospital and the name and signature of the doctor that delivered him.”

The case also raises the circumstances of Obama’s time during his youth in Indonesia, where he was listed as having Indonesian citizenship. Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship, raising the possibility of Obama’s mother having given up his U.S. citizenship. Any subsequent U.S. citizenship then, the case claims, would be “naturalized,” not “natural-born.”


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Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will be secretary of Health and Human Services

Politico.com Breaking News:
-----------------------------------------------------

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, a senior Democratic official said.

For more information...http://www.politico.com

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Susan Rice: No One is Ready for the 3:00 AM Phone Call......

SPOTTED, yesterday: Susan Rice walking up the driveway to the West Wing. Politico Playbook
Wednesday Nov 19, 2008

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Senator Clinton as Secretary of State:

What Obama adviser Susan Rice really said



Obama Advisor Rice Gets Basic Foreign Policy Fact Wrong


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Minnesota Recount has Begun

Update: The Minnesota Canvassing Board has certified the results rebuffing last minute appeals from Al Franken. The board agreed to proceed with the recount while considering the Franken campaign’s arguments. Likewise, a Ramsey County judge will meet soon to hear a complaint from the campaign. The recount is set to begin Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Coleman campaign has declared victory. “Senator Coleman has, for the third time, been named the winner of the 2008 election," said campaign manager Cullen Sheehan. “We look forward to the beginning of tomorrow's recount, and to what we believe to be the ultimate conclusion of the final chapter of this year's election -- the reelection of Senator Norm Coleman.”

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/18/recount_begins/index.html?source=newsletter

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Obama vows to move full steam ahead, but to use no coal to produce the steam

by Janet Crain
President-elect Obama is proposing to move swiftly to implement climate change, enacting legislation which will include bankrupting the coal plants and sending utility bills skyrocketing. Plus adding 35 cents to one dollar per gallon on gasoline in a cap and trade system. These hidden taxes are unfair and regressive. They tax the very rich and the very poor at exactly the same rate. The student with no job, the unemployed, and the minimum wage earner will pay the same as the wealthiest person. The only difference is the wealthy can afford to pay more. They also can afford to buy a more fuel efficient car and appliances. Reading the list below shows why this cap and trade system is favored by the law makers. The ultimate beneficiaries will be lawyers and so called environmental experts writing the complicated laws that will create a nightmare of regulations. Write to your representatives NOW!

CTC regards carbon taxes as superior to carbon cap-and-trade systems for six fundamental reasons:

1. Carbon taxes will lend predictability to energy prices, whereas cap-and-trade systems will aggravate the price volatility that historically has discouraged investments in less carbon-intensive electricity generation, carbon-reducing energy efficiency and carbon-replacing renewable energy.
2. Carbon taxes can be implemented much sooner than complex cap-and-trade systems. Because of the urgency of the climate crisis, we do not have the luxury of waiting while the myriad details of a cap-and-trade system are resolved through lengthy negotiations.
3. Carbon taxes are transparent and easily understandable, making them more likely to elicit the necessary public support than an opaque and difficult to understand cap-and-trade system.
4. Carbon taxes can be implemented with far less opportunity for manipulation by special interests, while a cap-and-trade system’s complexity opens it to exploitation by special interests and perverse incentives that can undermine public confidence and undercut its effectiveness.
5. Carbon taxes address emissions of carbon from every sector, whereas cap-and-trade systems discussed to date have only targeted the electricity industry, which accounts for less than 40% of emissions.
6. Carbon tax revenues can be returned to the public through dividends or progressive tax-shifting, while the costs of cap-and-trade systems are likely to become a hidden tax as dollars flow to market participants, lawyers and consultants.

http://www.carbontax.org/issues/carbon-taxes-vs-cap-and-trade/

Obama repeats vow to move rapidly on climate issues

By Eric Lichtblau and John M. Broder
WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama has indicated that he intends to move rapidly on one of the most ambitious items on his agenda - tackling climate change.

Speaking to a bipartisan group of governors by video on Tuesday, the president-elect said that despite the weakening economy, he had no intention of softening or delaying his aggressive targets for reducing emissions that cause the warming of the planet.

"Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all," Obama said. "Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."

He repeated his campaign vow to reduce climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies.

Some industry leaders and members of Congress have suggested that Obama's climate proposal would impose too great a cost on an already stressed economy - having the same effects as a tax on coal, oil and natural gas - and should await the end of the current downturn. A bill similar to Obama's plan failed to clear the Senate this year, largely because of concerns about its impact on the economy.

Obama rejected that view, saying that his plan would reduce oil imports, create jobs in energy conservation and renewable sources of energy and reverse the warming of the atmosphere.

"My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process," Obama said.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/19/america/transition.php

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Ted Stevens Will Not Be Back

by Janet Crain
Ted Stevens, longest serving Senator in the USA, has lost the race for another term. After his conviction for 5 felonies, voters at last decided not to return him to office. Stevens who turned 85 today escaped receiving the boot from his fellow senators on his birthday.



United States Senator from Alaska
December 24, 1968 – present
Served alongside: Ernest Gruening, Mike Gravel, Frank Murkowski, Lisa Murkowski

Ted Stevens, legendary Alaska senator, loses re-election bid after felony conviction
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD , Associated Press

Last update: November 18, 2008 - 7:47 PM

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.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/34686804.html

Democrats now have 58 seats and a real shot at the fillibuster-proof 60 if things go their way in Minnesota and Georgia. Simply put, Barack Obama will begin his presidency with a very muscular majority in the Senate.

Stevens was declared the loser in Alaska on Tuesday night after a two-week-long process of counting nearly 90,000 absentee and early votes from across Alaska. With this victory, Democrat Mark Begich has defeated one of the giants in the U.S. Senate by a 3,724-vote margin, a stunning end to a 40-year Senate career marred by Stevens' conviction on corruption charges a week before the election. The Associated Press called the race Tuesday evening. About 2,500 absentee ballots from overseas remain, but they would not change the outcome of the race.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15754.html

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Do the Alledgedly Altered Documents from Obama's Past Bother You? Vote in our poll........

There have been numerous revelations about discrepancies in Barack Obama's birth certificate and his selective service registration. Both appeared altered and raise questions as to their validity. Does this knowledge cause you to: (you may choose 2)

Feel it is much ado about nothing and probably a rightwing smear.

Be deeply troubled about this man's past and wonder what else he is hiding.

Be somewhat curious, this whole political thing is a circus anyway.

Think if it was important the media would have ferreted it out by now.

Vote on the poll at upper right >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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The Palin-bashers

Posted: November 18, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

Just who are the amorphous individuals attacking Gov. Sarah Palin as not being smart enough to have been vice president? What makes her less capable than Joe Biden? In retrospect, if Biden was such a brilliant pick, and if Michelle Obama is so intelligent, why were both kept off the main stage in the closing weeks of the presidential

race – while Sarah Palin was increasingly in public view?

I submit they are comprised of two factions – the first being those that never wanted her to be vice president – the other, those who are afraid she may succeed as a presidential candidate in 2012. Lumped into both groups are those who don't have a clue, which includes elitist Republicans who place a higher value on a person's alma mater than they do a person's ability.

The accusations now surfacing is that Gov. Palin isn't "smart enough" to even consider running for president, to which one might argue: like Al Gore and John Kerry were, and like Joe Biden is – but I digress. A pre-eminent business leader told me many years ago, "You don't have to be super smart to be successful – you just have to be smart enough to surround yourself with people who are."

To that point, Sarah Palin is not only smart enough to surround herself with smart people, but she is also both smart and capable. Her record of accomplishment in barely two years as governor of Alaska is extraordinary. She is a proven fiscal conservative who puts the best interests of the people ahead of "good ol' boy" politics and policies, and she isn't hesitant to take on malevolent factions of her own party. She holds to traditional values, not as a mace, but as a way of life.

Cont. here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81267

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Vote for Sarah Palin for Time's Person of the Year!!!

Time magazine is conducting a poll to help the editors choose their Person of the Year.

Go there and vote, be sure and slide the pointer to a ten before you submit.

(I just voted and Sarah has over 55,000 votes now!!! Spread the word, let's keep her up there at the top. Janet Crain)

http://www.tlaurl.com/157

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How Obama Got Elected

http://www.howobamagotelected.com

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The Really Scary Thing About Ayers

Who is responsible for these old washed up terrorists being hired at so many universities? JC


http://sarah-palin-2008.blogspot.com/search?q=ayers





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Reasons 3 and 4: Why the Sky isn't Falling and We Can Stop Beating Outselves Up, Really!!!

chris.cillizza@washingtonpost.com

3. Now that they control the White House and Congress, Democrats will usher in a new progressive era.

Not likely. At first glance, the numbers do look encouraging for proponents of a new New Deal era in government: Obama claimed at least 364 electoral votes and more than 52.5 percent of the overall popular vote, while Democrats now control at least 57 seats in the Senate and 255 in the House.

But look more closely, and you see a heavy influx of moderate to conservative members in the incoming freshman Democratic class, particularly in the House. Of the 24 Republican-held districts that Democrats won in 2008, Kerry carried just three in 2004. Democratic victories on Nov. 4 included Alabama's 2nd district (where Kerry took 33 percent of the vote) and Idaho's at-large seat (where Kerry won just 30 percent). In fact, according to tabulations by National Journal's Richard E. Cohen, 81 House Democrats in the 111th Congress will represent districts that Bush carried in 2004.

The fact that roughly a third of the Democratic House majority sits in seats with Republican underpinnings (at least at the presidential level) is almost certain to keep a liberal dream agenda from moving through Congress. The first rule of politics is survival, and if these new arrivals to Washington want to stick around, they are likely to build centrist voting records between now and 2010.

4. A Republican candidate could have won the presidency this year.

I doubt it. In the hastily penned postmortems of campaign '08, much of the blame for McCain's loss seems to have fallen at the feet of the candidate and his advisers, who (so the narrative goes) made a series of lousy strategic decisions that wound up costing the Arizona senator the White House. There's little question that some of the choices McCain and his team made -- the most obvious being the impulsive decision to suspend his campaign and try to broker a deal on the financial rescue bill, only to see his efforts blow up in his face -- did not help. But a look at this year's political atmospherics suggests that the environment was so badly poisoned that no Republican -- not Mitt Romney, not Mike Huckabee, not even the potential future GOP savior, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal -- could have beaten Obama on Nov. 4.

Why not? Three words (and a middle initial): President George W. Bush.

In the national exit poll, more than seven in 10 voters said that they disapproved of the job Bush was doing; not surprisingly, Obama resoundingly won that group, 67 percent to 31 percent. But here's an even more stunning fact: While 7 percent of the exit-poll sample strongly approved of the job Bush was doing, a whopping 51 percent strongly disapproved. Obama won those strong disapprovers 82 percent to 16 percent. And Bush's approval numbers looked grim for the GOP even before the September financial meltdown.

Just one in five voters in the national exit polls said that the country was "generally going in the right direction." McCain won that group 71 percent to Obama's 27 percent. But among the 75 percent of voters who said that the country was "seriously off on the wrong track," Obama had a thumping 26-point edge.

Those numbers speak to the damage that eight years of the Bush administration have done to the Republican brand. It's a burden that any candidate running for president with an "R" after his -- or her -- name would have had to drag around the country.

To be continued......

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Giving Credit Where it's Due......gulp!!! The ACLU

Government snoops have no right to pry into newsmakers' personal information

Posted by Christine Link, Cleveland October 31, 2008 04:45AM

Link is executive director of the ACLU of Ohio.

I was deeply disturbed to hear that state officials approved the use of government databases to obtain information about Joseph Wurzelbacher, also known as "Joe the Plumber." Rather than using state databases for their intended purpose, it seems some officials believe they can breach private information simply to satisfy their curiosity about someone in the public eye.

The most chilling aspect of this situation came from the explanation by Job & Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley stating that her office regularly conducts searches on peoples' personal information if they appear in high-profile news stories. Jones-Kelley had no evidence that Wurzelbacher owed any back child support, yet she still initiated the search. This is not only unethical, but a dangerous violation of our privacy.

It is appalling that government officials believe they may access a person's private information simply for being in a newspaper headline. This unethical practice only confirms that our state government does not have adequate checks in place to protect our privacy, leaving our most personal information vulnerable to the whims of a person's curiosity. Many people also could be frightened from speaking to members of the media or expressing their views because they could come under scrutiny of our state government.

This problem is crying out for immediate action by our top state leaders. All departments should have ethical procedures for accessing Ohioans' personal information, safeguards against people wrongfully accessing private data and clear consequences for violating these rules. In an age where so much information is available electronically at the touch of our fingertips, our leaders must create better safeguards against unfair breaches of our privacy.

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2008/10/government_snoops_have_no_righ.html

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Obama Voters get a Dose of Reality

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Media Bias Pays Off Big Time

General Electric is the parent company of NBC, MSNBC, CNBC. They are getting millions of dollars to bail out GE Capitol. Some suggest as a reward for MSNBC's unabashed media biased coverage of Barack Obama. Newsbusters Former Reagan-Bush WH operative now Fox News contributor Jim Pinkerton is among those who think so:

Click here to watch video:
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=e4qGaGprkU

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Martin Eisenstadt fooled 'em once, fooled 'em twice, maybe they were just fools

Note the doll house in the background where these two usually act out their fantasies. Geeeez!!!

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Eitan Gorlin as the phony McCain adviser Martin Eisenstadt.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth

mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

Now a pair of obscure filmmakers say they created Martin Eisenstadt to help them pitch a TV show based on the character. But under the circumstances, why should anyone believe a word they say?

“That’s a really good question,” one of the two, Eitan Gorlin, said with a laugh.

(For what it’s worth, another reporter for The New York Times is an acquaintance of Mr. Gorlin and vouches for his identity, and Mr. Gorlin is indeed “Mr. Eisenstadt” in those videos. He and his partner in deception, Dan Mirvish, have entries on the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com. But still. ...)

The pranksters behind Eisenstadt acknowledge that he was not, through them, the anonymous source of the Palin leak. He just claimed falsely that he was the leaker--and they say they have no reason to cast doubt on the original story. For its part, Fox News Channel continues to stand behind its story.

Mr. Gorlin and Mr. Mirvish say the blame lies not with them but with shoddiness in the traditional news media and especially the blogosphere.

“With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find,” said Mr. Mirvish, 40.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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Down but not out............

WaPo Weighs in:

By Chris Cillizza

Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page B03

The 2008 presidential election ended less than two weeks ago, but the mythmaking machine has already begun to churn. President-elect Barack Obama transformed the face of the electorate! The Republican Party will be a miserable minority in Congress for the next century! Cats and dogs are now living together! Below we explode the five biggest myths that have already sprung up around the election that was. 1. The Republican Party suffered a death blow.

There's no question that losing six Senate seats and 24 House seats (not to mention the White House) wasn't a step forward for the Grand Old Party. But there are two good reasons to believe that Republicans will be back on their feet sooner than many people expect.

First, much of the Republicans' permanent political class has concluded that electing Sen. John McCain as president would have amounted to applying a Band-Aid to a gaping wound. Given the state of the party -- bereft of a signature new idea and without many fresh faces -- plenty of Republican operatives have come to subscribe to what I'd call the Ra's al Ghul theory of rebuilding: Ghul, a villain in the movie "Batman Begins," advocates destroying the city of Gotham to rebuild it from the ground up. "It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die," he says -- a sentiment echoed by many Republicans these days, who argue that hitting rock bottom was the only way to allow new faces and ideas to emerge.

Second, historical electoral patterns suggest that Republicans could pick up a passel of Senate and House seats in 2010 -- the first midterm election under President Obama. Every president (save one) since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934 has lost seats in the House in his first midterm election. The exception? George W. Bush in 2002, when Republicans picked up six House seats and two Senate seats -- a historic anomaly widely credited to the world-changing events of Sept. 11, 2001.

To be continued:


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