Who should fill Hillary's Senate seat? How 'bout the Big Dog?

Yeah. He's backkkkkkkkk!!!! This morning's WaPo floats the trial balloon.

Who better than Bill Clinton to deepen and energize such a tradition? Why shouldn't former presidents continue their political lives in Congress? The British have long benefited from a tradition whereby former prime ministers acquire a seat and voice in the House of Lords. In today's unusual circumstances, surely beyond the imagination of any novelist, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not have to fret about suitable protocol for dealing with her spouse on foreign trips were he occupied, full time, with senatorial duties.

WaPo makes the case for why Governor Patterson should chose Bill Clinton. We already know he is well-qualified and loved, so the question Patterson faces is with the various groups in the Big Tent Party. Clinton is adored by most of the groups that make up the D party others in the field don't have that advantage.

Doing so would spare the governor the agonizing dilemma of choosing from the 20 or so Democrats already named as contenders for the junior senator's seat. Those mentioned include six sitting members of the House of Representatives (three of each sex), Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Caroline Kennedy and her cousin Robert Kennedy Jr., Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown (an African American), and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr. (who is Hispanic). In this no-win competition, Paterson has to balance claims of gender, race, ethnicity and geography. He could wind up gaining one grateful ally while alienating not only all the losers but also millions of members of the disparate constituencies that each represents.

Bill Clinton is the most attractive choice. Peace and prosperity are the two words that define the Clinton years. Our country is in ruin over the last 8 years of Bush, Bill Clinton understands business and is a fiscal conservative. Got that Republicans? Clinton was able to get rid of the national debt from the Ronald Reagan years and left George W. Bush with a surplus. Bush quickly spent, spent, spent... and accomplished nothing worthwhile. Catastrophe and carnage are the two words that define W. We shall never let another Bush govern anything ever again.

Pardon, me? Thanks, but no thanks, Sarah.

The ditz is at it again. Here is Sarah, who is supposed to pardon a turkey, but doesn't work out so well. Quite graphic, gross and annoying.

Wamp embarrasses Tennessee and himself

Hey, Wamp! The only thing asinine is you.

Wamp voted for the $700 billion bailout for banks and AIG, you know the rich New York guys. But, does he want to help the hard working blue collar guy out? No way, they are on their own.
Disgusting. Guess Wamp thinks this little stunt will help him be Governor of Tennessee, except what happens when our blue collar workers are hurting? Sorry guys, YOYO economics (you're on your own).

Kathleen Parker: Armband religion is what is killing the Republican Party

Living in Tennessee, where McCain beat Obama by 15 points, we may not realize the GOP is in deep trouble. Tennessee was one of a couple states where Republicans actually went up from 2004. The GOP won the State Senate and House. Now, they are hell bent on redistricting and filling political appointees to important offices that are in desperate need of sound expertise, but instead they will get some know nothing hack. Repubs here are thrilled and energized, but they need to look around for they are a big fish in a small, shrinking pond. The ominous signs for the GOP are apparent to many everywhere else but here.

The infighting has begun and the circular firing squads are formed. Pass the popcorn. Time to play the GOP blame game, from WaPo's Kathleen Parker:
Ouch.

.. 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.

This next one, I really wish Kathleen would have not written. I doubt Repubs will heed her words but she is right on about the future of the Grand Old Party.

...preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs.

Here's more snarky stuff from right winger Kathleen:

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.

With the exception of Miss Alaska, of course.

Kathleen sums up the problems for the GOP in the future in reality based fashion. The truth hurts, but she is right.

But, like it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian. The change Barack Obama promised has already occurred, which is why he won.

Among Jewish voters, 78 percent went for Obama. Sixty-six percent of under-30 voters did likewise. Forty-five percent of voters ages 18-29 are Democrats compared to just 26 percent Republican; in 2000, party affiliation was split almost evenly.

The young will get older, of course. Most eventually will marry, and some will become their parents. But nonwhites won't get whiter. And the nonreligious won't get religion through external conversion. It doesn't work that way.

Given those facts, the future of the GOP looks dim and dimmer if it stays the present course. Either the Republican Party needs a new base -- or the nation may need a new party.

Given the choice, I will take the latter. I have had my fill of hate-filled, xenophobic, charlatans having a national stage to divide our Nation.

Sweet. Jane.

Jane Hamsher of firedog lake conversed with Howard Dean about Lieberman today. As always, great stuff from Jane.

HOWARD DEAN: What I'm saying here is along comes Lieberman. He behaved very badly during the campaign and did some things inside the club that are unforgivable.

So what... if you run and get a mandate for reconciliation, is your first act to kick this guy out of the party?

Well, people of my generation think -- yeah, damn right we should. But in the new spirit of reconciliation, which is why I think Barack Obama got elected by 66% of the under 35 vote, maybe it's not the way.

I'm very willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the Senators and to Barack Obama on that one.

Do we want to have a big fight about what should happen to Joe Lieberman? I don't think so. I think we want to have a bigfight about whether we're going to have a decent health insurance program or a renewable energy program or not?

JANE HAMSHER: With all due respect, Governor Dean, we were all just told to go screw ourselves. That our concern for Barack Obama and that our concern about the war and everything else that we fought so hard for within the Democratic Party is meaningless.

And that Joe being happy, and giving into his threats -- and he did threaten the Democrats in his press conference -- is more important than we are. And so I don't think it was a matter of "reconciliation," I think it was...we were told to go Cheney ourselves. And I think that that really is the sentiment online.

HOWARD DEAN: I know, I'm sure they...I haven't seen the blogs about this because it's just happened...but I'm sure that the sentiment online is one of outrage. But I would line up with Barack. I don't think you were told to go screw yourselves at all, I think he that has now got to practice what he preaches during two years of campaigs that he wants to bring America together.

As objectionable as Joe's behavior was -- and frankly unprincipled -- I don't think that this is the thing that should divide us, and I don't think it's about his vote for FISA or anything else. What kind of a tone do we want to set? Do we want to have a purge as the first thing we do? I don't think so. I mean, I don't know...

JANE HAMSHER: But the tone we just set, with all due respect, is that Joe's lack of oversight on the Homeland Security Committee, and his refusing to investigate Katrina to pay back the Republicans, and his refusal to look into billions and billions of dollars worth of graft and theft is okay for political considerations. I think that's the message you're sending and I don't think that's the change people voted for.

HOWARD DEAN: Well I don't think that stuff is okay but I have to say I'm not terribly familiar with his record. But you know I would agree, that's not the change we voted for, I agree with that.
[]

JANE HAMSHER: Governor Dean, Greg Sargent just put up a post saying that you believe that the liberal blogosphere was motivated to take Joe Lieberman's gavel away because of revenge. Is that what you think this was?

HOWARD DEAN: I think some of it was anger over his behavior, certainly I have anger over his behavior.

JANE HAMSHER: But I think the larger issue here is that Joe was not qualified for the gavel they gave him, and has proved himself unqualified over the past two years.

HOWARD DEAN: Look I'm not going to a dispute with you over that, because it sounds like you know his record much better than I. I never looked into what he was doing as the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. I was too busy figuring out how to win the election. So I don't want to get into a debate on whether he's qualified or not.

JANE HAMSHER: But do you think that's something that the Senate should've looked at in deciding whether to give him the gavel or not?

HOWARD DEAN: Well, I hope they did.

Here's some more Sweet Jane from the Velvet Underground.

Hey Obama, the honeymoon is over. Impeach!

Dang. All that money and energy I gave and look what happened in two short weeks. From Talking Points Memo:

Howard Dean says that he's "fine" with the Senate's decision not to kick Joe Lieberman off the Homeland Security committee and suggested that the Senate had acted in accordance with what Barack Obama wanted.

This is unbelievable. Joe Loserman goes to the RNC, campaigns for McSame, spews lies about Obama and he gets to keep being the chair on the Homeland Security Committee. Hooey.

Oh, and Sen. Harry Reid, another spineless mud puddle, called Joe Lieberman a good Democrat. Excuse me, Harry, the Connecticut Dem was Ned Lamont. Lieberman is an Independant who showed up at the Republican National Convention and slimed you and your buddies. I don't think good Democrat is the proper term for Lieberman.

Latest pearls of wisdom from Phil Gramm

In Sunday's New York Times McCain's top economic advisor, Phil Gramm, ignores the financial experts and states there is no evidence de-regulation caused any of the global financial catastrophe.

“They are saying there was 15 years of massive deregulation and that’s what caused the problem,” Mr. Gramm said of his critics. “I just don’t see any evidence of it.”

So who caused it? Who do you think Gramm would blame? Yep, the Democrats and the downtrodden.

He blamed others for the crisis: Democrats who dropped barriers to borrowing in order to promote homeownership; what he once termed “predatory borrowers” who took out mortgages they could not afford; banks that took on too much risk; and large financial institutions that did not set aside enough capital to cover their bad bets.

So in Gramm's world, we (the nation of whiners) caused it. Hedge funds and brokerage houses (with no regulation) were ruined by the poor, stupid homeowners and the Democrats (who were powerless the last 8 years).

Gramm makes me grateful for Obama each and every day.

China's Terracotta Army at the High Museum in Atlanta

The First Emperor of China's burial site is one of the most fascinating archeological finds. The Emperor's tomb which legend has it is surrounded by rivers of mercury in the mausoleum has not yet been unearthed. But, the area surrounding the tomb is guarded by large pits filled with life-size terracotta Chinese warriors, horses, birds, acrobats, musicians and everyone else who pleased the Emperor. Over 7000 artifacts have been discovered so far. It is one of the most intriguing places on earth and now is a UNESCO protected site.

The exhibition starts Sunday November 16th. For more information, visit High Museum. For more cool pictures from China, visit Travel China.

Here is a background video on the First Emperor of China and his legend.


Hope everyone has a chance to visit the High Museum's exhibit before April 2009.

Hillary for Secretary of State?

Sounds good to me. I thought Obama should have picked her for Veep. Since that didn't happen I hoped she would replace Harry Reid as Senate Majority leader, but hey, this is even better. We still need to replace Reid, perhaps John Kerry would be a good choice.

Hillary is well liked around most parts of the world. She is smart, energetic and strong, she would make a great Secretary of State.

Veterans Day

Paulson gives another present to his bank buddies

Remember two months ago, when the sky was falling and the country had to bailout the banks? Paulson demanded $700 billion dollars for his friends on Wallstreet. We were to handover to Paulson the money with no strings attached. Even though Paulson came from Goldman Sachs, Congress was suppose to blindly trust him with absolute power and money.

The banks received the bailout and what happened? AIG top executives went to a luxury spa resort for 5 days spending $440,000. A few AIG exec's went on a hunting trip at an old English manor using up $86,000 for that little junket.

52% of the banks which received help used the money to pay shareholder dividends. Some banks used the money to go shopping and acquire other banks. Absolutely outrageous. We still hear talk on CNBC about how much of a bonus will Wall Street be getting this year because of the bailout. Hello? What is wrong with these greedy guys? What happened to laissez-faire? Capitalism is for the poor, not for Wall Street.

The latest kick in the face to American taxpayers came today from Washington Post, Paulson slipped in a repeal of Tax #382 which allows banks a windfall of another $140 billion dollars. From WaPo:

The change to Section 382 of the tax code -- a provision that limited a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers -- came after a two-decade effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according to lobbyists.

More "Shock Doctrine" abuse from the Bushies. 70 days can't come soon enough.

"Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job"

from the Onion:

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

Obama helps Martin out with first ad

Here we go. Back to work, time to campaign for Jim Martin in his run off against Saxby Chambliss.

When you hear the name Saxby, don't you wonder which plantation he owns? The name would fit well for an elitist, slave owning, fat Republican. One day, I will write a novel about Georgia during the Civil War; and, the rich plantation owner will be Saxby Chambliss. The hero and kind gentleman will be named Jim Martin. There will a full cast of minorities and liberals, who will fight the master, and burn the plantation down to the ground. I will write my novel some time after Martin wins, when I have free time. Until then... enjoy the first ad. :)

Finally Called: Obama wins North Carolina

Congratulations to my dad, for predicting the electoral map of 364 for Obama, 174 McCain. Good work.
Update on remaining races:
Three Southern States went Democratic: Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. We still have work to do in Tennessee, eventually it will happen.

Georgia's Senate race won't be decided until the run-off on December 2. In Oregon, Jeff Merkley defeated incumbent Gordon Smith, so the Dems gain another Senate seat.

Minnesota and Alaska are still up in the air.

Fox News: Palin didn't know Africa is a Continent

Ouch. McCain's aides are telling all about the bimbo veep nominee. Who did the vetting of Sarah? I heard on talk radio it was Bill Kristol of PNAC and the Weekly Standard. If it was Kristol, he needs to answer to how he arrived at her for the pick.

Run Off in Georgia Senate

Votes are still being counted down in Georgia. Both Chambliss and Martin expect a run off because the final tally appears to be short of 50% for either candidate. This means another month of campaigning and a special election December 2. Whew. I am tired but will be energized in a day or two to help out Jim Martin. Expect "That One" to help Jim Martin energize Georgia Democrats. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

“We’re in a runoff,” Martin said. “The runoff race begins right now.”

Martin said his campaign has already reached out to the campaign of President-elect Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is our next President

My God this is hard to type without overwhelming emotions. Obama will heal our country.

Peace and love to all.

Final Prediction

Here come's CHANGE.




My final tally is Obama 390, McCain 148.

Th following states will go for Obama: HI, CA, OR, WA, NV, NM, CO, IL, WI, MN, IN, MI, OH, PA, MO, FL, GA, NC, VA, NY, NJ, MD,DC, DE, RI, NH, ME, CT, MA. Both GA an MO are iffy, but I will place my bet on them.

McCain: AK, WY, MT, ID, UT, AZ, SD, ND, NE, KS, WV, AR, OK, KY, TN, MS, LA, AL, TX, SC.
For the Senate:

2 Independents - Lieberman, Sanders
Dems & Repubs currently are at 49/49

I predict GA will go to a run-off situation since no one will get 50+1%. This race will be decided December 2 and I fully expect 103 year old Ernest Smith to vote again for Martin. Martin will win it because the big guns of the Dem Party aka Obama will come down and work for Martin.

Dems will take these Senate seats: VA, NM, CO, AK, NH, OR, NC, and MN.

Bill predicts 412 Obama, 126 McCain.
Dad predicts 364 Obama, 178 McCain.

Karl Rove Guesses and other stuff

What's your prediction? Go to the 538 widget and click on to find out the electoral counts of states.

I am off to work at the polls. Check in later today.

GOTV.

Terribly Sad.

This is heartbreaking.

Madelyn Payne Dunham died at age 86 from cancer. She was Obama's grandmother and raised him for many years.

My deepest condolences for Barack, Michelle and the children.

103 year old Georgia man votes for the first time.

Guess who inspired him to vote? This is a sweet story, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

In his 103 years, Ernest Smith says, he never drank, smoked or voted.

Though he’s yet to sample tobacco or alcohol, on Thursday, Smith cast his first ballot — for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

“I voted, and I want to vote again,” said Smith. a testament to clean living. “It felt good.”

snip

Born in 1905 in Pembroke, N.C., Smith lived most of his life there and was first eligible to vote in 1928, when then the voting age was 21.

But for African-Americans like Smith, suffrage was far from universal. Literacy tests and poll taxes were enacted through much of the Jim Crow South to suppress black turnout.

Smith lives with his stepdaughter, Clara Elliott, 58. She kept him informed of the history that was unfolding in the Democratic primaries. When Obama secured the nomination, she encouraged her stepfather to register.

He was reluctant at first.

“We told him he had to go vote,” joked Robert Elliott, 64, Clara’s husband. After Smith cast his ballot in last week’s advance voting in DeKalb County, “he couldn’t stop talking about it.”

“I had tears rolling down my eyes,” Clara Elliott said. “It makes you think about how far we’ve come.”

Smith won’t be the only member of his family to vote for the first time this year.

Step-granddaughter, Chiquetta Route, said nothing will keep her from voting Tuesday.

“It made me want to vote even more,” said Route, 26. “On Tuesday I’m getting up at 4 a.m. [and] dropping the kids off, and I’m going to stand in line as long as it takes.”

Stand in line as long as it takes. The determination of voters in Georgia has left me awe struck. It has also infuriated me to see their Secretary of State, Karen Handel, a.k.a. Katherine Harris of Georgia, do everything in her power to disenfranchise and suppress their vote. This woman has no business being in charge of elections.

Republican Witch Plays Ugly Trick on Kids

Wow. A nasty woman in Grosse Pointe, Michigan refused to hand out treats to children unless they supported McCain. If they supported Obama or if their parents were Obama supporters, they got nothing. Way to go, Shirley Nagle. She just ruined any chance for Republicans for the next generation of voters in Michigan.

"We got them just where we want them"- John McCain

Remember that quote from John McCain on October 13th? Shouldn't that quote be changed to:

"we've got them just where they want us".

Check out today's Gallup poll, my friends:

Gallup Daily: Obama 52%, McCain 42% Among Likely Voters
Largest lead for Obama among likely voters to date

LOL, John.