GOOD RIDDANCE

As it starts to come to an end, let’s think back on the era of politics the Republicans have given us, starting (let’s say) with the Lewinsky impeachment. Faux outrage, hypocrisy, sanctimonious moralizing, lies, jingoism, relentless partisanship, lawlessness, cover-ups, authoritarianism, corruption, cronyism, and political appeals to resentment, ignorance, hate, and the lowest common denominators of human motivation.

They’ve put us through two wars without end, countless constitutional crises, a ruinous economic catastrophe, and a legacy of torture, secret prisons, surveillance, and a blatant disregard for human rights. We’ll be living with the aftermath of their reckless incompetence and ideological extremism for years to come – but we won’t be living with most of them any more.

The lasting question, about which I have no great hopes is, Has the nation learned a lesson? Will there still be a gullible majority the next time a candidate comes waving cross and flag, promising tax cuts for everyone and calling everyone who opposes him (her?) a godless traitor and enemy of the Real America?

In today’s news:

Many Republicans are going to fight to the death to block health care reform – not because they think it can’t work, but because they’re terrified that it will

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015769.php
[James Pethokoukis] Recently, I stumbled across this analysis of how nationalized healthcare in Great Britain affected the political environment there. As Norman Markowitz in Political Affairs, a journal of "Marxist thought," puts it: "After the Labor Party established the National Health Service after World War II, supposedly conservative workers and low-income people under religious and other influences who tended to support the Conservatives were much more likely to vote for the Labor Party when health care, social welfare, education and pro-working class policies were enacted by labor-supported governments."

Passing Obamacare would be like performing exactly the opposite function of turning people into investors. Whereas the Investor Class is more conservative than the rest of America, creating the Obamacare Class would pull America to the left. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, who first found that wonderful Markowitz quote, puts it succinctly in a recent blog post: "Blocking Obama's health plan is key to the GOP's survival."

We can’t say they aren’t clear about it: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015770.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2008/11/gaffe.php

“Why conservatives can’t govern” (thanks to Alicia for the link)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0607.wolfe.html
[Alan Wolfe, prescient in 2006] Eager to salvage conservatism from the wreckage of conservative rule, right-wing pundits are furiously blaming right-wing politicians for failing to adhere to right-wing convictions. . . .

The collapse of the Bush presidency, in other words, is not just due to Bush's incompetence (although his administration has been incompetent beyond belief). Nor is it a response to the president's principled lack of intellectual curiosity and pitbull refusal to admit mistakes (although those character flaws are certainly real enough). And the orgy of bribery and special-interest dispensation in Congress is not the result of Tom DeLay's ruthlessness, as impressive a bully as he was. This conservative presidency and Congress imploded, not despite their conservatism, but because of it.

Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the size and reach of the federal government. This mission, let us be clear, is an ideological one. It does not emerge out of an attempt to solve real-world problems, such as managing increasing deficits or finding revenue to pay for entitlements built into the structure of federal legislation. It stems, rather, from the libertarian conviction, repeated endlessly by George W. Bush, that the money government collects in order to carry out its business properly belongs to the people themselves. One thought, and one thought only, guided Bush and his Republican allies since they assumed power in the wake of Bush vs. Gore: taxes must be cut, and the more they are cut--especially in ways benefiting the rich--the better.

But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of managing government agencies whose missions--indeed, whose very existence--they believe to be illegitimate. Contemporary conservatism is a walking contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government. . . . [read on]

They can’t govern, they won’t be bipartisan – but they sure can whine

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10048
[NYT] The House Republican caucus has so far balked at a chance to meet with Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the former House Democratic strategist who has been named the new White House chief of staff. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-era-of-comity-and-bipartisanship-by.html
[The Hill] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday sent a message to Democrats that Republicans are not prepared to bend to a stronger majority.

In a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), McConnell urged Reid to adopt a more conciliatory tone and warned him that Republicans will unite against Democrats if he does not. The letter was signed by all 40 GOP senators . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/22/breaking-conservatives-react-sensibly-to-election-losses-eschew-acting-like-loons/

Love them earmarks

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/22/16152/806/383/664753

The kind of people they are

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/national_gop_groups_accuse_cri.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Now this is really something. The NRSC and Freedom's Watch are now airing ads in the Georgia Senate runoff accusing Democratic candidate Jim Martin of being against cracking down on people who abuse and prey on children.

The problem: Martin's own daughter was abducted when she was eight years old. Fortunately, she was returned safely. When asked for comment by Election Central, the NRSC declined to comment . . .

Newt gets pwned big time by his little sister, Candace. Ouch!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/candace-gingrich/a-letter-to-my-brother-ne_b_145739.html
Dear Newt,

I recently had the displeasure of watching you bash the protestors of the Prop 8 marriage ban to Bill O'Reilly on FOX News. I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, "There you go, again."

However, I realize that you may have been a little preoccupied lately with planning your resurrection as the savior of your party, so I thought I would fill you in on a few important developments you might have overlooked.

The truth is that you're living in a world that no longer exists. I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as -- and we embrace what it can be. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past.

Welcome to the 21st century, big bro. I can understand why you're so afraid of the energy that has been unleashed after gay and lesbian couples had their rights stripped away from them by a hateful campaign. I can see why you're sounding the alarm against the activists who use all the latest tech tools to build these rallies from the ground up in cities across the country.

This unstoppable progress has at its core a group we at HRC call Generation Equality. They are the most supportive of full LGBT equality than any American generation ever -- and when it comes to the politics of division, well, they don't roll that way. 18-24 year olds voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8 and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. And the numbers of young progressive voters will only continue to grow. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning, about 23 million 18-29 year olds voted on Nov. 4, 2008 -- the most young voters ever to cast a ballot in a presidential election. That's an increase of 3 million more voters compared to 2004.

These are the same people who helped elect Barack Obama and sent a decisive message to your party. These young people are the future and their energy will continue to drive our country forward. Even older Americans are turning their backs on the politics of fear and demagoguery that you and your cronies have perfected over the years.

This is a movement of the people that you most fear. It's a movement of progress -- and your words on FOX News only show how truly desperate you are to maintain control of a world that is changing before your very eyes.

Then again, we've seen these tactics before. We know how much the right likes to play political and cultural hardball, and then turn around and accuse us of lashing out first. You give a pass to a religious group -- one that looks down upon minorities and women -- when they use their money and membership roles to roll back the rights of others, and then you label us "fascists" when we fight back. You belittle the relationships of gay and lesbian couples, and yet somehow neglect to explain who anointed you the protector of "traditional" marriage. And, of course, you've also mastered taking the foolish actions of a few people and then indicting an entire population based on those mistakes. I fail to see how any of these patterns coincide with the values of "historic Christianity" you claim to champion.

Again, nothing new here. This is just more of the blatant hypocrisy we're used to hearing.

What really worries me is that you are always willing to use LGBT Americans as political weapons to further your ambitions. That's really so '90s, Newt. In this day and age, it's embarrassing to watch you talk like that. You should be more afraid of the new political climate in America, because, there is no place for you in it.

In other words, stop being a hater, big bro.

Obama’s Karl Rove?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015771.php
[T]he Obama transition announced yesterday that the Office of Political Affairs will remain in place, and it will be led by Patrick Gaspard, a longtime labor activist with the SEIU and the national political director for the Obama campaign. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112201998.html

The Bush recession

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/measuring-bush-recession

The future of the US auto industry

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/tnr-on-why-we-cant-afford-to-let-auto.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/21/homework-assignment-for-the-big-two-and-a-half-solve-retirement-and-health-care/

Obama’s weekly address lays out an exciting plan to jump-start the economy

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17pz0R_qZo



Text: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/22/105213/85/22/665098

Commentary: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/22/14244/025/986/665159

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015772.php

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/22/how_obama_is_already_taking_ch/

Updates on the Coleman/Franken recount in Minnesota. It’s all going to come down to disputed ballots and uncounted absentee votes -- and Coleman's attempt to create the perception that he's already "won" and that Franken is trying to steal it from him

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/22/92453/531

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/its-what-they-do-by-digby-karl-rove.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/22/19302/326/258/664854

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/after-another-day-of-recounting-ballots.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/22/222533/98

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/coleman_has_very_good_day_in_m.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10108

Lots of interest now in Tim Geithner, nominee for Sect’y of the Treasury. Who is he?

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/reading_about_timothy_geithner.php

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1952

The task ahead for Eric Holder

http://www.slate.com/id/2205185/
[Dahlia Lithwick] The U.S. Justice Department faces an internal crisis in morale and a public crisis in credibility. And while every Justice Department pushes its political agenda alongside its lofty goals of upholding the law, the Bush Justice Department sometimes pushed its political agenda in direct violation of the law. The question now is whether Eric Holder, Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, can fix it. . . .

Funny moment between Obama and Clinton during the Iowa debate

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245525.php

Obama’s Cabinet: missing liberals?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/nov/22/obama-white-house-cabinet-liberals

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015778.php#more

Excellent question: why are we hearing so often, post-election, that the US is a “center-right nation”? If we were, would it have to be repeated so often?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/chart_of_the_day_11222008.html
[David Sirota] The media has exponentially increased the amount of times it claims that this country is a "center-right nation" — at the very same time public opinion data shows the country is a decidedly center-left nation. . . . [read on]

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/the_new_center_right.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015777.php

Bush’s war on science continues

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015776.php

Ironic: we just had a campaign in which a central theme was the difference between celebrity and qualified leadership. Looks like someone hasn’t learned that lesson yet

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/move-aside-michael-deaver-sarah-palin.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/23/0451/3489/371/659656
ABC This Week: Incoming White House senior adviser David Axelrod on the Obama transition; Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the economic crisis.

NBC Meet the Press: Former Secretary of State and Treasury Secretary James Baker; Obama transition adviser and former Secretary of Commerce William Daley; Scourge of the liberal blogosphere Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

CBS Face the Nation: Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Obama chief economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.

CNN Late Edition: Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D); Failed Presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R); Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX); Pres. & CEO of Forbes Inc. Steve Forbes; Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

Bonus item: A new reason for Thanksgiving

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015774.php
[Gail Collins] Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning. . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

TWO MONTHS

We’re hearing more and more about Chapter 11 bankruptcy as an opportunity to restructure the auto industry. It very well might happen, but at what cost?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/21/prepackaged-bankruptcy-be-careful-of-what-you-wish-for/

What is it? http://www.superpages.com/supertips/what-is-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html

More on the dangers of a two-month wait between administrations

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] The interregnum of 1932-1933, the long stretch between the election and the actual transfer of power, was disastrous for the U.S. economy, at least in part because the outgoing administration had no credibility, the incoming administration had no authority and the ideological chasm between the two sides was too great to allow concerted action. And the same thing is happening now. . . . [read on]

Anybody out there have Verizon service?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/21/verizon_obama/index.html
Yet another public figure's privacy has been breached: Verizon says some of its employees, without authorization, accessed President-elect Barack Obama's personal cell phone records. . . .

Obama announces more of his economic team

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/obamas_cabinet_taking_shape_ge.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/21/18028/275/281/664847

The stock market responds

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/business/22markets.html
Stocks Soar on News of Choice for Treasury

More announcements on the foreign policy and national security side

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/hillary_all_but_certain_to_be.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/21/18312/761/285/664851

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE4AK08T20081121

The Cabinet so far

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/obamas_cabinet.html
[Kevin Drum] Whatever else you can say about this crew, there's not much question that Obama is assembling an extremely experienced and competent set of advisors. This is a team that can definitely hit the ground running. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015768.php
[Hilzoy] I'm quite impressed by the way Barack Obama's cabinet is shaking out. Eric Holder seems to be a superb choice for Attorney General, as is Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security. I'm really happy about Daschle at HHS -- both because I think it raises the chances that we'll actually get a serious health care plan through Congress, and because Daschle's appointment indicates that that's a serious priority for Obama. I'm still reading up on Timothy Geithner, but so far I'm quite impressed by him as well. . . .

Anybody who’s surprised by this hasn’t been paying attention

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/politics/22assess.html
[Obama is] surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues. . . .

Surprised? http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10096

Why Obama HAS to govern from the center

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/11/21/blue-dogs-in-orbit-over-waxman-victory/

The Minnesota recount: Coleman’s lead is now under 100 votes

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/franken_camps_claim_weve_cut_c.php

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/21/22137/425

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10095

Mystery Man

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245478.php

Why have Republican favorability numbers dropped so significantly AFTER the election?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245379.php

More on the decline of Republicanism (thanks to Duckham for the link)

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12599247
[The Economist] The Republicans lost the battle of ideas even more comprehensively than they lost the battle for educated votes, marching into the election armed with nothing more than slogans. Energy? Just drill, baby, drill. Global warming? Crack a joke about Ozone Al. Immigration? Send the bums home. Torture and Guantánamo? Wear a T-shirt saying you would rather be water-boarding. Ha ha. During the primary debates, three out of ten Republican candidates admitted that they did not believe in evolution.

The Republican Party’s divorce from the intelligentsia has been a while in the making. The born-again Mr Bush preferred listening to his “heart” rather than his “head”. He also filled the government with incompetent toadies like Michael “heck-of-a-job” Brown, who bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina. Mr McCain, once the chattering classes’ favourite Republican, refused to grapple with the intricacies of the financial meltdown, preferring instead to look for cartoonish villains. And in a desperate attempt to serve boob bait to Bubba, he appointed Sarah Palin to his ticket, a woman who took five years to get a degree in journalism, and who was apparently unaware of some of the most rudimentary facts about international politics.

Republicanism’s anti-intellectual turn is devastating for its future. . . .

The other day we heard about Bush appointees “burrowing” into permanent govt jobs. Guess where they’re burrowing?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112103359.html
The president of the nation's largest general science organization yesterday sharply criticized recent cases of Bush administration political appointees gaining permanent federal jobs with responsibility for making or administering scientific policies, saying the result would be "to leave wreckage behind."

"It's ludicrous to have people who do not have a scientific background, who are not trained and skilled in the ways of science, make decisions that involve resources, that involve facilities in the scientific infrastructure," said James McCarthy, a Harvard University oceanographer who is president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "You'd just like to think people have more respect for the institution of government than to leave wreckage behind with these appointments." . . .

Iraqi protests over the SOFA agreement

http://www.juancole.com/2008/11/thousands-demonstrate-against-us.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/2008112192922854370.html

Iraq: Bush's legacy

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/21/frankenstein_in_mesopotamia/
[Tom Hayden] The most important things, some say, are the things left unsaid. If so, the unmentionable thing would be the police state America is leaving behind in Baghdad. . . .

For example, there has not been a single Congressional inquiry into the oblique revelations in Bob Woodward's latest book about secret operations launched in May 2006 to "locate, target, and kill individuals in extremist groups". The top intelligence adviser on these operations, Derek Harvey, told Woodward that the killings gave him orgasms. These were extra-judicial killings, with the Pentagon acting as judge, jury and executioner. The definition of "extremist" was stretched to include anyone named by an informant as a supporter of the Sunni insurgency, supported by an overwhelming majority of Sunnis. . . . [read on]

Will Afghanistan become Obama’s Iraq? (thanks to Ahmad for the link)

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175003/tariq_ali_flight_path_to_disaster_in_afghanistan

What we don’t know (yet)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/11/21/BL2008112101582.html
[Dan Froomkin] When and if the curtain is fully pulled back on President Bush's "war on terror," how much of what he said will turn out to be true, and how much of it will turn out to be fantasy and lies? . . . [read on]

The false debate over the Fairness Doctrine

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015759.php

O’Reilly: the Internet has a liberal bias. Hey, pal, right now DEMOCRACY has a liberal bias. Live with it

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/21/oreilly-internet-bias/

Bonus item: From 2004. Amazing irony, isn’t it?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/cover-of-time-circa-2004.html



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

STATE OF TRANSITION

We’re in a very dangerous time: a series of crises, an outgoing administration that seems mainly concerned with protecting its own “legacy” (what’s left of it), and a new administration with an aggressive change agenda but no opportunity to implement it for two more months. Can we hold out that long?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245273.php
[Josh Marshall] How much would things be different if Barack Obama had been sworn in on November 5th? . . . [read on]

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq. We already know that their Parliament has to approve it, while our Congress doesn’t. But even though it’s been signed, we haven’t even SEEN a translated version of it. Rachel Maddow tells us why

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#27831761



Bush’s pardon list: who’s on it?

http://www.propublica.org/article/i-beg-your-pardon-1120

A way of doing business

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112002011.html
An internal CIA probe has concluded that agency officials deliberately misled Congress, the White House and federal prosecutors about key details of the 2001 downing of an airplane carrying U.S. missionaries in Peru, according to a senior lawmaker who called yesterday for a new criminal inquiry into the case.

The agency's inspector general said CIA officers repeatedly ignored rules of engagement in a joint U.S.-Peruvian campaign to halt airborne drug smugglers, resulting in the downing of at least 10 other aircraft without proper warnings. Afterward, CIA managers concealed the problems from lawmakers and the Justice Department, the agency watchdog said.

Even the White House was kept in the dark, as agency officials and lawyers withheld key details while cautioning their staff to avoid putting anything in writing that might be used later in a criminal or civil case, the inspector general said in a report. . . .

Will Obama change policies on illegal surveillance?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/20/eyes-on-the-spies-what-obama-can-do-about-illegal-surveillance/

What are the prospects (really) for bipartisanship in Washington?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015751.php

Yes, change is gonna come: here’s what Henry Waxman’s aggressive takeover of the Energy and Commerce Committee means

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245192.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/in_big_win_for_liberals_waxman.php

Karl Rove, aging and increasingly irrelevant Boy Genius, now says Obama’s unprecedented use of the Internet is illegal

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015749.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/conservatives_rediscover_passion_for_limits_on_executive_power.php

It definitely looks as if Hillary’s in as Obama’s Sect’y of State, and I think that’s a good decision. But people keep raising questions . . .

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/19/clemons.hillary/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112003464.html
If Clinton's the Pick, Where Does That Leave Richardson?

Good question: why do Democrats feel they have to appoint Republicans as their Defense Sect’ys?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10063

As the recount proceeds in Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman’s lead keeps steadily shrinking. Could we see a big upset after all?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/so_whats_next_in_minnesota.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/20/161157/61/842/664286

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/11/20/franken-coleman-recount-update-is-that-toast-i-smell/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10073

It’s just too much damn fun ridiculing Michele Bachmann

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/20/111341/01/11/664100

As Republican Tom Davis said, if it was dog food they’d have to take it off the shelves

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_11_16_archive.html#9155847376935236121
The Republican Party's image has gone from bad to worse over the past month, as only 34% of Americans in a Nov. 13-16 Gallup Poll say they have a favorable view of the party, down from 40% in mid-October. The 61% now holding an unfavorable view of the GOP is the highest Gallup has recorded for that party since the measure was established in 1992.

And what’s the BAD news?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/20/92651/757/76/664043
[Polico] The Republicans’ only glimmer of good news: When Stevens — the longest-serving Republican in Senate history — conceded his Alaska race to Democrat Mark Begich on Wednesday, he spared them the unpleasant task of having to expel him from their caucus.

Very smart: how talk radio HURTS the Republicans

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/did-talk-radio-kill-conservatism.html

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2008/11/conservatives_are_from_radio_liberals_are_from.php

A clever parody of Fox News

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10064

Bonus item: Yes, the word “turkey” definitely comes to mind

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27831044



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

LONG AND DEEP

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122706319966040053.html
"When it gets rough out there, a lot of business leaders get out of the car and say, 'We're OK with minor reform.' I'm challenging you today, we're going to have to do big, serious things," Rahm Emanuel said, speaking to The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, a conference convened to elicit corporate opinion on the challenges facing the new president. . . .

Mr. Emanuel promised that a major economic stimulus would be "the first order of business" for Mr. Obama when he takes office Jan. 20. The focus of spending will be on infrastructure, specifically "green infrastructure," which he said would include mass transit, upgraded electricity transmission lines, "smart" electrical meters that allow consumers to save money by using electricity at off-peak hours, and universal broadband Internet access, which he said would encourage telecommuting.

He stressed that the new administration would "throw long and deep," taking advantage of the economic crisis to push wholesale changes in health care, taxes, financial re-regulation and energy. "The American people in two successive elections have voted for change . . .”

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/long_and_deep.php
[Matt Yglesias] I think everyone understands that Emanuel isn’t the most liberal Democrat in the universe. And it’s inevitable that any Democratic administration will include some folks who are to Emanuel’s left. And here’s Emanuel talking about the need to “throw long and deep,” provide major economic stimulus, and to overhaul the energy system. And that was during a talk whose subject was the fact that incremental health care reform isn’t good enough! That’s a lot of bold, ambitious policymaking and as long as we keep seeing progress toward these kind of bold progressive measures of course liberals will be mostly happy with Obama.

Serious about health care reform

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/optimism_grows_among_experts_t.php
Optimism Grows Among Experts That Obama Will Act Quickly On Health Care . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/dachle_pick_clearest_evidence.php
Daschle Pick A Clear Sign That Obama Will Attempt Ambitious Health Care Reform . . .

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=11&year=2008&base_name=tom_daschle_health_czar#111033
[Ezra Klein] CNN is reporting that Tom Daschle will not only be Health and Human Services Secretary, but also health reform czar under the Obama administration. This is huge news, and the clearest evidence yet that Obama means to pursue comprehensive health reform. You don't tap the former Senate Majority Leader to run your health care bureaucracy. That's not his skill set. You tap him to get your health care plan through Congress. You tap him because he understands the parliamentary tricks and has a deep knowledge of the ideologies and incentives of the relevant players. You tap him because you understand that health care reform runs through the Senate. And he accepts because he has been assured that you mean to attempt health care reform. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245041.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/experienced-hand-by-dday-roll-call-is.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/2009_democratic_agenda_/2008/11/what_winning_looks_like_health_care_division.php
[Mark Kleiman] I think the outlines of the final deal are now in view: a mandate on employers to buy insurance for their employees (other than the small businesses whose sacred right to exploit the rest of us by skimping on public goods contributions must not be challenged) and an individual mandate for small-business employees, the self-employed, and the unemployed to buy their own insurance, supported by hefty public subsidies.

Yes, of course that just kicks the cost-containment can down the road. But I'm satisfied to solve one problem at a time. . . .

Glenn Greenwald on Eric Holder, likely nominee for Attorney General

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/19/holder/index.html

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/11/19/BL2008111902194.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/eric_holder.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/19/eric-holder-four-more-years-of-depravity-at-doj/

Gov. Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security: a sign that immigration reform will be high on the agenda

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/19/napolitano/index.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/20/2816/5058

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/19/napolitano-to-dhs-skeletor-to-be-buried

Sect’y of Commerce?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/11/19/pritzker_tapped_for_commerce.html

Second thoughts about Hillary Clinton for Sect’y of State?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19friedman.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245046.php

I doubt Al Franken will win his recount in Minnesota, but this is good news

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/franken_gets_big_boost_from_ke.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245139.php

Ted Stevens (R-AK) concedes

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/its_over_in_alaska_--_ted_stev.php

Goodbye Ted

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/02/sen-stevens-hilariou.html
“I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially...

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes. . . .”

A good old-fashioned coot off: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=114548&title=headlines-braked-alaska



Every additional Democratic vote in the Senate makes it easier to overcome filibusters: but as Lawrence O’Donnell spells out clearly, there really isn’t anything magic about the number 60 because (a) the coalition of 60 votes shifts from issue to issue and isn’t driven only by party, (b) several conservative Democratic votes will be harder to hold onto than several moderate Republican votes, depending on the issue, and (c) what really drives votes are the politics of survival for Senators in their states. And what about Joe Lieberman? Good analysis: watch

Additional insight: why Obama isn’t campaigning for Jim Martin in Georgia.



More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/nov/19/senate2008-begich-60dems

On Obama’s supposed “problem” with the left blogosphere

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10040
[Chris Bowers] I feel the need to weigh in on the relationship between President-elect Obama and the progressive blogosphere.

The long and short of my view is this: it's all true. Everything you are writing and / or thinking about the progressive blogosphere is correct, almost no matter what you are writing or thinking. There is one exception: if you are arguing that the progressive blogosphere is any one thing, holds any one position, or represents any singular group, then and only then are you wrong. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_11_16_archive.html#7885354888978498221
[Atrios] I've been amused by the frequency at which "the bloggers" has become a new journalistic shorthand for "slightly unreasonable and noisy people on the internets" who the journalist can then courageously disagree with.

Hopelessly tone deaf

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/19/autos.ceo.jets/index.html
Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. . . .”

The kind of people they are (deep denial edition)

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/michelle-bachmann-denies-saying-she-wan
[John Amato] Michelle Bachmann is a pretty wild person as we've seen, but after spewing venom at Barack Obama for a few minutes with Hannidate, she then lied to Alan Colmes and denied saying this . . . [read on!]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015722.php
[Steve Benen] I imagine it's traumatic losing a close campaign one expects to win, but Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a very conservative Colorado Republican, seems to be taking her Election Day defeat to Democrat Betsy Markey a little too hard. . . . [read on]

Even if this is technically allowable, wouldn’t a person of integrity eschew it?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/56078.html
The Justice Department has agreed to pay for a private lawyer to defend former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against allegations that he encouraged officials to inject partisan politics into the department's hiring and firing practices.

Lawyers from the Justice Department's civil division often represent department employees who're sued in connection with their official actions. However, Gonzales' attorney recently revealed in court papers that the Justice Department had approved his request to pay private attorney's fees arising from the federal lawsuit. . . .

The phony baloney “card check” issue: the real anti-union agenda

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/card-check-please-by-digby-i-have-been.html

Theocracy watch: Kathleen Parker, conservative columnist, loses faith

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111802886.html
As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. . . .

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. . .

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. . . . The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it. . . .

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle. . . .

Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can't have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting. . . . [read on!]

The “Status of Forces Agreement” (SOFA) with Iraq: they want us O – U – T

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/examining_the_sofa.html

More: http://www.juancole.com/2008/11/parliament-session-on-security.html

Bonus item: A few years ago the Bushies stood astride the world, expanding their unaccountable authority over more and more areas of government, and building a “permanent Republican majority.” Now they seem tired, uninterested, and looking toward the exit

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_11_16_archive.html#5603735453640855592
[Atrios] As Dean points out, it's quite amazing how no one in this administration is ever responsible for anything that happens. Nobody could have predicted, blah blah blah. . . .

http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/
[P.B. Shelley] OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/20/13758/594/133/663970



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

TURNING THE PIVOT

Dems keep Joe Lieberman in their caucus and let him keep his committee chair. Lieberman sorta kinda apologizes for some of his anti-Obama comments during the campaign. A lot of the bloggers are unhappy that Lieberman didn’t get hammered – and I can understand why. But we’re learning something about Obama: he doesn’t operate that way

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/244866.php
[David Kurtz] He keeps his homeland security committee chairmanship, but relinquishes a subcommittee chairmanship and a seat on the separate Environment and Public Works Committee. And the Dem caucus passes resolution "rejecting" Joe's remarks about Barack Obama during the campaign.

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/reid_vast_majority_of_dem_cauc.php

How Obama saved Joe

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/howard_dean_supports_senates_l.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/18/163850/55/62/663040

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9997

The latest press meme: Obama’s outreach to former rivals Clinton, McCain, and Lieberman is making the “left blogosphere” angry. This from people who never knew or cared what the “left blogosohere” said about anything ever before

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27793606

Look. I don’t particularly like it when Obama’s people or the Dems go out of their way to distance themselves from the “left” – but let’s look at political realities. It’s not really surprising that they do this. If a bit of triangulating gives Obama and the Dems the political leverage to implement actually progressive policies, we ought to accept that

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/18/lieberman-suck-on-that-liberals/
[WP] Asked what it would mean if Lieberman kept his chairmanship, one Senate Democratic aide said bluntly: "The left has been foiled again. They can rant and rage but they still do not put the fear into folks to actually change their votes. Their influence would be in question."

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/party-wont-turn-left-dem-leader-says-2008-11-18.html
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is challenging the idea that the expanded Democratic majority and its leaders will make a hard left turn.

“For the first time in decades, we are a true national majority party—and if we want to stay that way, we must govern like one” . . .

The netroots ARE angry: http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/steny-hoyer-dont-expect-us-to-be-real.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/18/obamas-long-armshort-arm-stiff-of-the-netroots/

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/11/18/et-tu-howard/

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/18/11414/880

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/17/emanuel/index.html

This pivot toward the center, of course, is only justified if they actually follow through by implementing good policies. This is where we need to keep them honest. Here are some hopeful examples on energy, the environment, and health care

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/19/04337/000/781/663338

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/big-story-by-digby-there-is-lot-about.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/yes_we_can_combat_catastrophic_climate_change.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/how-can-we-afford-not-to-focus-on.html

More Cabinet speculation

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015715.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/kerry_for_interior.php

The fight already begins over Eric Holder, Obama’s Attorney General candidate and from all accounts a good and decent man. The GOP slime and slander machine rolls into action – they are eager to bloody Obama’s nose with one of his first Cabinet appointments, just as they did Clinton. They don’t really care who it is

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/eric_holder.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_obama_presidency_/2008/11/holder_as_ag_here_we_go.php

AP calls the Alaska Senate race: Ted Stevens is toast

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/11/stevens_loses_alaska_senate_ra.php

More evidence that we’re using other countries to hold prisoners indefinitely without charges or trial

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/suit_charges_us_using_other_co.php

More: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/56051.html

Bush political appointees “burrowing” deeper into the civil service bureaucracy (where they can stay in govt forever)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015713.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/more-laying-of-landmines-by-dday.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/bushies_burrowing_into_career.php

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/11/18/BL2008111801832.html

Not exactly stunning news, but Senate report concludes that Karl Rove DID have a hand in identifying US Attorneys for dismissal

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/new_senate_report_on_us_attorn.php

Chuck Hagel, possible Obama Cabinet nominee

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/18/hagel-takes-aim-at-limbaugh-senate-colleagues
"We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington, according to the Huffington Post.

"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office," a sarcastic Hagel continued. "They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything.”

Time magazine will soon pick their Person of the Year. Whatever your political persuasion, there’s not much doubt about who it should be, right? Well, there is if you work at the National Review

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTNkNmFjNWFiZDNhZDQxNmM1MWQ3OWU3ZGM1YTg2YmQ
[Kathryn Jean Lopez] I suspect that when Time magazine chooses their Person of the Year for 2008, there will be little internal debate. They’ve probably long picked The One — Barack Obama. . . .

But Time shouldn’t diss the not insignificant portion of the country that voted for Republican John McCain. And, specifically, they shouldn’t ignore the people who were energized by the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to his ticket. . . .

Bonus item: Campaign doodles

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/17/moos.doodles.cnn

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

WHITE HOUSEWARMING

Obama has a number of housewarming gifts that will be waiting for him on the doorway when he arrives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/244668.php
[Josh Marshall] Am I the only one worried that by the time Obama is sworn in on January 20th, the Paulson Treasury will have run through almost a trillion dollars to little or no effect?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/ok-well-stop-printing-money-now-by-dday.html
[Dday] The White House is saying that they may not use all of the bailout money before January 20 and that they will offer about $350 billion of it to President-elect Obama, in a magnanimous gesture, for him to use it as he sees fit. How gracious! The Bush Administration has only drawn $4 TRILLION dollars out of the Treasury and they're letting Obama handle the rest! . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/17/231858/72
[Jonathan Singer] Let the record reflect that George W. Bush is handing off a recession to Barack Obama . . .

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3823105&c=FEA&s=COM
Before the presidential election, reports began to circulate that the Pentagon was planning to propose a defense spending increase of roughly $450 billion over five years. That's in addition to the increases in the base budget already laid out in the 2009 Future Years Defense Plan.

The services have been laying the groundwork for the request for several months . . .

The withdrawal plan from Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703097.html
By agreeing to a fixed deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, President Bush contradicted years of promises that he would never agree to anything but a "conditions-based" plan for phasing out the American military role there. But he may also have given President-elect Barack Obama more flexibility in fulfilling his campaign promise to bring the troops home. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/testing-young-president-by-dday-day.html
[Dday] A day after the Iraqi Cabinet approved a withdrawal agreement that would remove US forces entirely from the country by the end of 2011, the White House is trying to snooker the press by saying that they agreed only to "aspirational dates." There is nothing aspirational about this agreement. It is a firm deadline for withdrawal that wouldn't even allow for residual forces in the country. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html

And a gift in return . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015703.php
[AP] Barack Obama's incoming administration is unlikely to bring criminal charges against government officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the George W. Bush presidency. Obama, who has criticized the use of torture, is being urged by some constitutional scholars and human rights groups to investigate possible war crimes by the Bush administration.

Two Obama advisers said there's little -- if any -- chance that the incoming president's Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provoked worldwide outrage.

The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are still tentative. A spokesman for Obama's transition team did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Additionally, the question of whether to prosecute may never become an issue if Bush issues pre-emptive pardons to protect those involved.

[Hilzoy] This is a big mistake. . . . [read on]

Updates on the five unfinished congressional races

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9985

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/17/184033/37

The war on Republican moderates

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015692.php

Is this the best the Republicans have to offer?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/17/republican-governors-ready-for-prime-time/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/17/gingrich_palin/index.html

Newt Gingrich, visionary

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015701.php
On the November 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, in reference to actions by individual protesters of Proposition 8, the recently passed California ballot initiative amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich stated: "I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us . . .” [read on]

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/newt-gingrich-thinks-his-gay-sister-is.html
Newt Gingrich thinks his gay sister is a fascist . . .

Theocracy watch (with the end of Sarah Palin’s candidacy we have downgraded it again from a “theocracy warning”)

http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/17/begun-this-war-on-christmas-has/
I swear, War On Christmas season just gets earlier every year. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/holy-moly-by-digby-this-is-from.html
[Newsweek] According to a 2006 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a third of white evangelicals believe the world will end in their lifetimes. These mostly conservative Christians believe a great battle is imminent. After years of tribulation—natural disasters, other cataclysms (such as the collapse of financial markets)—God's armies will vanquish armies led by the Antichrist himself. He will be a sweet-talking world leader who gathers governments and economies under his command to further his own evil agenda. In this world view, "the spread of secular progressive ideas is a prelude to the enslavement of mankind" . . .

Bonus item: Talkin’ smack

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/17/huckabee_book/index.html
Michael Scherer (formerly of Salon) has a sneak preview in Time of former presidential contender Mike Huckabee’s book, which will be released tomorrow. It looks like Huckabee doesn’t go easy on his once and future rivals. . . . [read on!]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

OFF TO A FAST START

Still waiting for Obama’s Cabinet appointments, but his WH staff is quickly taking shape. Many of them are smart, tough old pros. It’s wearying hearing the press bleat that this means Obama has sold out his message of change. This is just another of those damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you don’t stories that the lazy press loves. If Obama brought in a bunch of fresh faces and outsiders, the narrative would be, “too little experience in the ways of Washington, how can he get anything done?” If he brings in experienced hands, he’s not serious about change. The realistic answer is, of course, that the more serious Obama is about change, the MORE he will need people who can manage the levers of government and operate within the backhalls and corridors of Congress. And so it goes

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015683.php

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002986799

Who are they? http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/obamas_filling_the_white_house.php

http://news.aol.com/elections/article/obama-may-quickly-undo-bush-policies/242417

Obama’s an interesting case: at this stage it looks as if he’s going to do more or less EXACTLY what he campaigned saying he would do. What a concept!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111602440.html

A sticky situation for Hillary as possible Sect’y of State?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/244634.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/hrc_/2008/11/circular_firing_squad_of_rivals.php

Clinton and the Middle East: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/14/clinton-to-state-is-mid-east-peace-back-on-the-table/

A debate over John Brennan, possible choice to be Obama’s CIA Director. Is he too friendly to the Bush/Cheney policies on harsh interrogation and imprisonment?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/16/brennan/index.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/a_clue_as_to_the_identity_of_t.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/non-negotiable-by-digby-greenwald-and.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15643.html

Obama meets with Cheney: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9955

[NB: This debate raises some difficult issues for progressives. Any honest and realistic person understands that the dark, secret side of US foreign affairs involves a certain amount of ugly doings that never get made public, under either Democratic or Republican administrations. That doesn’t make everything morally equivalent: things clearly got badly out of control under Bush/Cheney. But Obama now faces his own reality check: which of these activities will he need to continue? What will he learn from his new intelligence briefings about international threats and dangers that might change his view of what is unfortunate but necessary?]

The Boss lays out the rules

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/obama_speaks.html
[Obama] I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm gonna make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world.

Homeland Security?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111602309.html

How far should Obama go in bringing Republicans into his administration?

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20081115_1043.php

Obama hasn’t even taken office yet and the pushback has already started

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/16/1002/9542/629/660423

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015681.php

More: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/803dbdbm.asp

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/819jyryw.asp

Really? REALLY? Are Republican Senators actually willing to sit back and watch the US auto industry crumble?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/17auto.html
Top Republican senators said Sunday they will oppose a Democratic plan to bail out Detroit automakers, calling the U.S. industry a “dinosaur” whose “day of reckoning” is coming. Their opposition raises serious doubts about whether the plan will pass in this week’s postelection session.

Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said it would be a mistake to use any of the Wall Street rescue money to prop up the automakers. They said an auto bailout would only postpone the industry’s demise. . . .

Nice to have a Nobel Prize winner on our side

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015686.php
[Steve Benen] On ABC's "This Week" earlier, George Will explained his belief that FDR financial/regulatory policies discouraged investment and created an environment in which the "depression became the Great Depression."

Fortunately, Will was sitting next to Paul Krugman. . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/will_v_krugman_on_the_depression.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/when-krugman-gets-scared-i-get-nervous.html

Joe Lieberman’s fate to be decided Tuesday

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/senate-dems-will-vote-tuesday-on.html
Senate Dems. will vote Tuesday on Lieberman -- and it's by secret ballot . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/17/34245/574

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015687.php

What a map: the states that voted more Democratic, and those that voted more Republican, in the last election

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/16/193532/50/35/662026

Obama’s election unleashes an ugly side of America

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/losin-it-by-digby-good-news-is-that.html

Obama’s going to run a technologically savvy administration, but personally he’ll have to take step backwards

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/11/16/obama_forced_to_give_up_email.html
President-elect Obama is a big user of his Blackberry, "but before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off," the New York Times reports.

"In addition to concerns about e-mail security, there is the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A final decision has not been made on whether Obama could go against precedent and become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that was unlikely..."

"Obama, however, appears to be poised to make technological history in other ways: Aides said he hopes to have a laptop on his desk in the Oval Office. He would be the first American president to do so."

I find this hilarious. Cokie Roberts, the doyenne of DC establishment snobbery, reports knowingly that the “netroots” don’t like the idea of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Now, I don’t know where she came across the term “netroots,” but I am pretty sure that she knows nothing about what the netroots actually think – and cares even less

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/cokie-thinks-netroots-will-be-upset-if.html

Background: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/31/1362/6498

Bonus item: Well, I guess THIS is what you’d call getting an early start

http://www.obamaimpeachment.org/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

LESSONS LEARNED (AND NOT LEARNED)

McCain-bashing continues

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/15/gop-senator-mccain-betrayed-republican-principles-2/
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday became one of the first high-profile Republicans to publicly criticize John McCain following his electoral defeat, blaming the Arizona senator for betraying conservative principles in his quest for the White House. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015676.php

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_11_09_archive.html#1246362073886231247

Why the election wasn’t such bad news for the GOP after all (a strange contrarian view from Chris Cillizza)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111303287_pf.html

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/winners-by-digby-chris-cilizza-explodes.html
[Digby] Chris Cilizza explodes five myths of the election and what do you know? It's all good for Republicans! This was actually a defeat for progressives, blacks and young people voting Democratic doesn't mean much, McCain didn't mess up --- Republicans couldn't have won anyway, Palin was a big plus and this is only a slight setback for Republicans.

There has been a lot already written about the pernicious meme that Obama didn't win a mandate, and it may have had some effect. It's fading a little bit. But the nature of the mandate is still being defined, and if Cilizza is indicative of beltway thinking, the fact that Democrats won seats from Republicans means that the country has rejected liberalism . . . [read on]

The battle for the Republican future (this will be fun)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11brooks.html
[David Brooks] It’s only been a week since the defeat, but the battle lines have already been drawn in the fight over the future of conservatism.

In one camp, there are the Traditionalists, the people who believe that conservatives have lost elections because they have strayed from the true creed. George W. Bush was a big-government type who betrayed conservatism. John McCain was a Republican moderate, and his defeat discredits the moderate wing.

To regain power, the Traditionalists argue, the G.O.P. should return to its core ideas: Cut government, cut taxes, restrict immigration. Rally behind Sarah Palin.

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the most prominent voices in the Traditionalist camp, but there is also the alliance of Old Guard institutions. For example, a group of Traditionalists met in Virginia last weekend to plot strategy, including Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. According to reports, the attendees were pleased that the election wiped out some of the party’s remaining moderates. “There’s a sense that the Republicans on Capitol Hill are freer of wobbly-kneed Republicans than they were before the election,” the writer R. Emmett Tyrrell told a reporter.

The other camp, the Reformers, argue that the old G.O.P. priorities were fine for the 1970s but need to be modernized for new conditions. The reformers tend to believe that American voters will not support a party whose main idea is slashing government. The Reformers propose new policies to address inequality and middle-class economic anxiety. They tend to take global warming seriously. They tend to be intrigued by the way David Cameron has modernized the British Conservative Party.

Moreover, the Reformers say, conservatives need to pay attention to the way the country has changed. Conservatives have to appeal more to Hispanics, independents and younger voters. They cannot continue to insult the sensibilities of the educated class and the entire East and West Coasts.

The Reformist view is articulated most fully by books, such as “Comeback” by David Frum and “Grand New Party” by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, as well as the various writings of people like Ramesh Ponnuru, Yuval Levin, Jim Manzi, Rod Dreher, Peggy Noonan and, at the moderate edge, me.

The debate between the camps is heating up. Only one thing is for sure: In the near term, the Traditionalists are going to win the fight for supremacy in the G.O.P. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16rich.html
[Frank Rich] ELECTION junkies in acute withdrawal need suffer no longer. Though the exciting Obama-McCain race is over, the cockfight among the losers has only just begun. The conservative crackup may be ugly, but as entertainment, it’s two thumbs up! . . . [read on!]

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/15/144412/46

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/15/14390/797

Karl Rove: I was still right

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015673.php

The decline of the South as a political force

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/11/the_south.html
[Kevin Drum] For many years, the Democratic Party controlled the agenda of American politics and Southerners controlled much of the Democratic Party. So the South had enormous political influence.

Later, most Southerners switched to the Republican Party, but by then it was Republicans who controlled the agenda of American politics. So the South still had enormous political influence.

As of January 20th, however, the Democratic Party will control the American political agenda once again. But Southerners are still Republicans, which means that their political influence will be nearly nonexistent.

In other words, for the first time since Reconstruction, the South will be almost completely shut out of national power. . . .

Conservative paranoia: it’s their secret weapon

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/paranoia-industry-by-dday-i-know-that.html

http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/10/obamas-secret-police.html

Gitmo and torture: how will Obama handle them?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/kicking-it-down-road-by-digby-more.html

Can Obama remove the abortion issue as a major factor in national politics?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/old-relics-by-digby-e.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/15/1001/9816/245/660807

The Minnesota recount: reasons for optimism

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/11/15/professors_see_recount_favoring_franken.html

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200811140017

Bad symbolism: $500 a bottle wine at the economic crisis summit

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/white-house-serves-500-wine-for.html

Right-wing talk radio: just as you suspected (thanks to Digby for the link)

http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentIssue/full_feature_story.asp?NewMessageID=24046

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_100741.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), BP Capital Management founder/chair T. Boone Pickens and a roundtable with New York Times' Tom Friedman, BBC's Katty Kay, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and PBS' Tavis Smiley.

CBS Face the Nation: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Newt Gingrich and Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA).

ABC This Week: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and a roundtable with New York Times' Paul Krugman, Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will.

CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: Rep. Charles Rangel, (D) New York, Ted Turner, Author, "Call Me Ted", Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist; CNN political contributor, James Carville, Democratic Strategist; CNN Political Contributor, and CNN's Ed Henry and Suzanne Malveaux.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_11_09_archive.html#4206710714736583331
[Atrios] 7 Appearances by Republican current elected officeholders
3 Appearances by Democratic current elected officeholders.
2 Appearances by Republican former elected officeholders.
1 Appearance by a Bush Cabinet Secretary.
T. Boone Pickens
Ted Turner.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/15/no-girlz-aloud/
[Emptywheel] No girlz . . .

Bonus item: Bill Maher’s New Rules (thanks to David S. for the link)



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***