Wednesday’s Mini-Report

November 8, 2006

First, a quick housekeeping note. As thrilled as I am with the election results, today is easily my most frustrating day I’ve had in nearly four years of blogging. A series of unforeseen tech problems, which are hard to identify and even harder to explain, have caused massive server problems for the last seven hours. They don’t even appear to be finished quite yet. On one of the most important political days in years, the timing couldn’t have been worse and I’ve spent the day tearing what’s left of my hair out. I wish I could say with certainty when all of this unpleasantness will be corrected, and comments turned back on, but rest assured, we’re doing our best. Ms. Carpetbagger seems to believe we’re getting closer. Maybe.

Update (7:23pm): Comments are back on. With any luck, they’ll stay that way.

And now, for those of you who are able to get to the site, today’s edition of quick hits.

* House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will step down from the House leadership. No big surprise there.

* George Allen’s recount effort isn’t exactly a sure-thing.

* Joe Lieberman’s first interview after re-election was with Sean Hannity. I just thought you’d like to know.

* James Dobson was on Ted Haggard’s “sexual immorality” counseling team, but not anymore. Today, Dobson quit.

* It’s not exactly national news, but I was delighted to see that Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline lost yesterday. That guy was a radical far-right crusader and his defeat will return some sanity to the fine folks in Kansas.

* 32 million votes compared to 24 million votes. No matter how you look at it, that ain’t bad.

* Those TABOR initiatives were a disaster from the start. With any luck, their defeat(s) yesterday should end this movement altogether.

* Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.)? You’re my schlemiel of the day.

* Another recount in Florida with a connection to Katherine Harris? What a coincidence.

* Looks like the media will pick up where it left off before the elections.

* It’s probably a little early, but line-up in the 2008 Senate races seem to lean in the Dems’ direction.

I’d like nothing more than to say, “If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread,” but I can’t quite do that yet because of these lingering server problems that have quickly become the bane of my existence. Thanks for your patience….

Update: Comments are back on. With any luck, they’ll stay that way.

I won’t comment.

  • Yay!! Welcome back, Comments. You were missed. 🙂

    In case the servers go down again, let me ask if there might be a possibility that some of the less rabid Repubs like Snow and Collins might be persuaded to jump the shark and join the Dem side?

    Pure speculation, of course, but this election itself has been such a wonderful surprise it gets one to thinking previously unthinkable thoughts. Know what I mean?

    Thanks for your hard work, Ms. Carpetbagger. We are your humble and obedient servants.

  • While I am not surprised that Lieberman was on Hannity’s show, I am also not terribly disappointed. Basically, I wouldn’t expect SH to look any further left for an interview, since anyone else that won yesterday would certainly rub it in his face. Also, Lieberman doesn’t lose anything by continuing to appear as has – straddling the middle ground.

    *surprise, surprise* Idaho is now the reddest state in the Union. This Blue Wave that swept through the country yesterday didn’t do much to Idaho’s impermeable borders. I believe we have the only state that has all Republicans in House, Senante, and Guber.

  • Guys, we PROBABLY have the Senate, but I still hear this voice going

    “Joe, Joe howya gonna go
    With Tony Snow
    Or Nancy Pelo’

    Oh, oh, you should know
    I’ll go with the schmo
    Who’ll give me mo’.”

    And he could get away with it by taking a Cabinet position and getting a Republican named in his seat, if he didn’t want to do something too blatant — though if he did, who could do anything to him.

    I hope it’s just the lingering effect of the paranoia that living in Bush country has given me.

  • Prup,

    Lieberman is not going to give up 6 years in the Senate for 2 years in a lame duck administration. He also isn’t going to give up his ample seniority and caucus with the Republicant’s.

  • Someone needs to tell Karl it’s too late. Disabling Democrat blogs won’t change a thing at this point.

    James Dobson was on Ted Haggard’s “sexual immorality” counseling team, but not anymore.

    Translation: sHaggard’s revelations made the son of a dob all hot and bothered.
    or
    The massive rejection of the Fundamentalists 4-Ever campaign mounted by him and his pals has left JD curled up in the fetal position & sucking on his thumb.

    House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will step down from the House leadership.

    Translation: His doctor told him to take it easy if he didn’t want his heart to pop like a squashed grape.
    or
    He knows once people dig into the Foley Follies some more he’ll be a large greasy piece of toast.

  • Looks like the media will pick up where it left off before the elections.

    Be prepared to hear a constant drumbeat of “Pelosi Democrats” over the next two years.

  • I usually click onto Hannity for five minutes or so a day to hear what the main topic is, Today I heard Leiberman talking.

    I wish I had a tape of the segment. They commiserated that Joe will do his best to bring Civility back to government. The word “civility” came up a lot.

    *Immediately* after Joe hung up, Hannity started talking about playing for everyone the “first lies of Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi” and when he came back from commercial, played a montage of “despicable” quotes from all your favorite Democrats (Gore yelling “he played on our fears” etc. — though, truthfully, about half of the quotes sounded like fair shots to me).

    I would love to have sat Leiberman down, had him listen to the post-“civility” segment, and asked for his comment…….

  • One more Leiberman comment. There’s speculation, of course, that he’d go R. Hannity tried to corner him about that, but Joe said he promised to caucus with the Dems (but would act independently).

    Here’s the smart thinking. The 2008 Senate map will look *very* different. We were on the defensive this time, and had to attack “unwinnable” seats. In 2008, (and I’m sorry I don’t know which seats, I read it on another blog), there will be 9 vulnerable R seats and only 2 vulnerable D seats. In other words, the burden is on the Republicans next time, and the likelihood is that the Democrats will pick up another one or two.

    If you were Joe Leiberman, looking at that map, and thinking the chances of the Republicans taking it back in two years were very slim, who would you “bet” on……..? (Everyone in the Senate should start whispering that in Joe’s ear…….every day…..)

  • ****surprise, surprise* Idaho is now the reddest state in the Union.***
    ————————————–gemstate.

    Hey—I can buy non-Idaho potatoes for two years. How ’bout the rest of you? Game for a boycott?

    And edo—what “seniority?” That move from “D” to “I” might have cost his his Party-status perks. He might not even qualify for a committee chairmanship now….

  • Lieberman is not going to caucus with the Republicans. He fought so hard for this term, you know that he’s going to want more. If he went back to the CT electorate as a Republican after spending so much time promising he’d be a Dem, he’d be lucky to escape with his life. So, he’ll be voting for Harry Reid as Majority Leader.

    Beyond that, he’ll be a pain in the ass about several key issues, but keep in mind that we aren’t going to be passing a progressive agenda over a veto anyway. Getting us the committee chairmanships is by far the most important part. I don’t like Lieberman, but I can live with him for now.

  • If you were Joe Leiberman, looking at that map, and thinking the chances of the Republicans taking it back in two years were very slim, who would you “bet” on……..? (Everyone in the Senate should start whispering that in Joe’s ear…….every day…..)

    Interesting scenario. But look at who Joe got his support from. The GOP backed him strongly in the election. Republicans campaigned along side of him. The GOP sent his scads of campaign cash (Richard Mellon Scaife, anyone?) Bush and Ken Mehlman withheld support for the GOP candidate on Joementum’s behalf.

    Joe’s in a real pickle. The GOP saves his political hide, but he wants to caucus with the Dems. I expect the Republicans will demand Joe pay them back at the worst possible times … Supreme Court nominee, a vote on Social Security privatization, censure resolutions … you name it. Joe may have said he’s with the Democrats, but his loyalties, as always, lie elsewhere.

  • Glad the Comments Section is back and running. Glad, too, that the Democrats won control of the House and (did I read right?) the Senate, too. Glad that Rumsfeld is out; now, hopefully, we’ll get a plausible and reasonable pull-out-of-Iraq policy and no more preemptive wars.

    Now there will be accountability and real checks and balances, mandated by the US Constitution, but were on hold by the callous formerly Republican-majority House and Senate. The Dems will restore true democracy to our shores!!

  • I’m surprised so few people have mentioned that all six of the Senate seats that went from red to blue came at the expense of incumbents. Democratic challengers took out Rick Santorum, Mike DeWine, Lincoln Chafee, Conrad Burns, Jim Talent, and George Allen. I wonder what the odds of that parlay would have been six months ago.

  • FINALLY, some 2008 election coverage! Geez, it’s been almost two days without pre-election coverage. I was really Jonesing.

    What do the numbers look like? Who has the money advantage? WHEN DO THE ATTACK ADS START?

  • Read Mark Schmitt (always a good idea anyway) at TAPPED about Senate 08, he had a pretty good rundown. Written in the middle of election night no less 😉

    I have to say I like the way Nancy Pelosi has presented herself: project calm, reasoned, adult competence. The visuals compared to Fat Hastert are great.

    Wonder what Hillary’s position is going to be…

  • Now that Webb has won in Virginia, I can finally say it…..

    It’s the Macacalypse!

    Macacalypse Now!!!

    George Bush never thought when he was born again he’d live to see the Macacalypse!

    Unfortunately for Incurious George, it’s the True Believers who got Left Behind in this rapture.

  • Great news on Webb – what a relief. After waking up to solid control of the House, then hearing the decision in Montana and the Rumsfeld resignation (yeah right, he resigned about as much as Charles I abdicated), and now Webb and the Senate, this day just keeps getting better and better.

    I decided I’m not too worried about Lieberman. Although he’s in the catbird seat and can demand some annoying perks and deference, he can do the math on 2008 (when there will be twice as many vulnerable republican senators as democratic ones), so (I’m hoping) he’s got relatively little incentive to join the Republicans for just two years no matter what they offer. Rumsfeld’s out, Bush is the lamest duck in history, and the Iraq policy that caused all the friction is dead in the water. With his about-turn on Rumsfeld, the president just turned himself into a joke, and any demands to “stay the course” are just going to get met with giggles and catcalls of “Mission Accomplished!!!”. The dems are likely to keep pushing the sort of middle class populist stuff that Lieberman likes and which enrages the Republicans and he can most effectively do all his centrist reaching-across-the-isle schtick from the democratic side, so the conservatives may end up wondering why the heck they ever thought it was a good idea to help vote in the 51st sort-of-democrat.

  • Poor George. He’s like that Shakespeare play about Richard the Third.

    “A scapegoat! A scapegoat! My kingdom for a scapegoat!”

    Sorry, George—but you keep firing them, just when you need them the most….

  • I decided I’m not too worried about Lieberman.

    Whatever that guy got himself elected for, he needs to not be doing it. I hope he resigns tommorrow.

  • “Macacalypse Now!”

    The fact that Allen’s defeat was almost entirely self-inflicted entertains me to no end. Nothing against Webb, but Allen was in cruise control when he began tripping over his tongue.

  • I continue to be stunned by the depths of hypocrisy of Dobson. He is a minister and one of the preeminent ministers admits to sin and he simply doesn’t have the time to help him. What a truly wonderful person Dobson is.

  • I’m glad to have the comments section back. If we’re doing the open thread thing I have a bunch of funny sites to post. Sound is required.

    http://demzinurcapital.ytmnd.com/

    http://demzinurhousetakinseatz.ytmnd.com/

    I tossed the two below in since they sort of explain where the above links came from if you’re just perplexed.

    http://catsinurstuffdoingthings.ytmnd.com/

    http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/08/pelosi_im_in_ur_hous.html

    http://itsjustajokenotpolotics.ytmnd.com/

    A lot of great ones about Rumsfeld, I could only find a few when I put this together though.

    http://rumsfeldresigns.ytmnd.com/

    http://rumsfeldnomore.ytmnd.com/

    http://rummygone.ytmnd.com/

    http://ivoted.ytmnd.com/

    http://unbelieveablenotbutter.ytmnd.com/

    http://strideodyssey.ytmnd.com/

    http://dowhatitsays.ytmnd.com/

    I threw the last three in for fun 😀

  • A lot of tinfoil hats here…Lieberman may not be far left, but other than on foreign policy, he is a fairly liberal on a lot of important national issues (especially on poverty and middle class issues). He’ll continue to follow his hawish foreign policy, but he’ll be right at home with most of the D agenda. He will have an axe to grind with Reid and Dodd, though.

  • Glad to see the site up and running again with comments, CB! I rarely comment here, but I make this one of my first stops every day in the blogosphere. Some of the best writing and commenters anywhere on the web IMHO. You and Ms. CB do fantastic work here, and I’ve been sorry to see that you’ve had so many problems over the past few days.

    As for the Macacalypse (love that, btw TC!), I’ve been biting my nails all day (and most of last night) worrying that this race would be the one that they would steal this time around. As much as I might have my differences w/Webb, I was very proud to see him come out last night and declare victory (and Tester as well) … more Dems need to employ the tactic of establishing the meme right off the bat to ensure they have the upper hand in the ensuing “battle” narrative. It worked for the repugs in 2000, and I’ve been bemoaning ever since their hesitancy to fight back with the same tactics used against them (as repulsive as that might be to me personally). That’s the way to win, and we finallly seem to be getting there.

  • Brad from Bradblog.com called on Allen to NOT concede, since there is no paper trail in Virginia, and therefore no way to ‘recount’ anything.

    Great news is new CA SecState, Debra Bowen (D-Honest).

    The numbers reported to have voted are FAR less than the number that tried to vote.

    Enormous numbers of voters were disenfranchized by various means, including the HAVA-ordered Katherine-Harris-like purge lists.

    • REPEAL or revise disgraced Rep. Ney’s HAVA law.

    One more; note that there are another 30-40 Rapepublican Representatives who are slated to go down in flames over Abramoff.

    Our lead in the House is going to grow with every conviction.

  • The timing of Bush’s nomination of Robert Gates for SoD continues to intrique me. A month ago, Gates’ ties to Iran-Contra might have made for contentious confirmation hearings in the Senate, with a Dem minority rightfullly questioning what went on during those days and the Repubs calling for a speedy confirmation during a time of war. But the upcoming Dem majority changes those dynamics.

    Is Bush hoping the 109th will push Gates through quickly? Or has he pre-empted the agenda of the 110th? Either way, he’s put Dems on the spot. They can gloss over Gates’ past and give Bush his man, or they can do an in-depth “partisan” inquiry and “put the troops at risk” by delaying confirmation during a war. Either way Bush wins and the Dems come off looking like (1) obstructionists or (2) another rubber-stamp operation. Seems unmistakably Rovian to me, but such is the price of winning a Congressional majority with an opposition president.

    These next two years are going to be very interesting.

  • beep52 – can’t Gates get confirmed by the lame-duck session of Congress in December? and if so, wouldn’t that fit perfectly with the Republican methods of the moment?

  • They couldn’t get us in a frontal attack so now they are attacking from the rear.

    Steny Hoyer. Remember that name. You thought it was going to be Pelosi. Incompetent as hell, I’ll grant you that. But you’d better pray that it is.

    Hoyer tried to repeal term limits for the president (isn’t that the problem? an out of control executive branch?)

    And here’s how he justified it and now that the SC is packed you can see this for what it really was.

    If at first you think this sounds good, yeah. Sure it sounds good. Until you get to the fine print at the bottom. I’ll highlight it so you can see what’s going on in this guy’s (uh…) head.

    —>
    *REPEAL 22ND AMENDMENT TO U.S. CONSTITUTION — (Extensions of Remarks –
    February 18, 2005)*

    [Page: E302] * GPO’s PDF *

    —

    SPEECH OF

    *HON. STENY H. HOYER *

    OF MARYLAND

    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

    THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005

    * Mr. HOYER . Mr. Speaker, I am introducing today a joint resolution
    to repeal outright the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. The
    22nd Amendment requires that no person who has served two terms or
    has served two years of another President’s term be permitted to
    serve another term of office.

    * The time has come to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the
    Constitution, and not because of partisan politics. While I am not a

    [Page: E303] * GPO’s PDF *

    supporter of the current President , I feel there are good public
    policy reasons for a repeal of this amendment . Under the
    Constitution as altered by the 22nd Amendment , this must be
    President George W. Bush’s last term even if the American people
    should want him to continue in office. This is an undemocratic
    result.

    * Under the resolution I offer today, President Bush would not be
    eligible to run for a third term . However, the American people
    would have restored to themselves and future generations an
    essential democratic privilege to elect who they choose in the
    future.

    * A limitation on the terms that a President could serve was not
    fully discussed by the Founding Fathers. However, Alexander
    Hamilton, in Federalist Paper 72, recognized that one important
    benefit of not having term limits on the President would be:

    We do not have to rely on rigid constitutional standards to hold our
    Presidents accountable. Sufficient power resides in the Congress and the
    Judiciary to protect our country from tyranny. As the noted attorney and
    counsel to Presidents, Clark Clifford, said:

    I believe we denigrate ourselves as an enlightened people, and our
    political process as a whole, in imposing on ourselves still further
    disability to retain tested and trusted leadership. The Congress and the
    Judiciary are now and will remain free to utilize their own
    countervailing constitutional power to forestall any executive
    overreaching.

    —–

    That was before the Supreme Court got packed. That was before the
    Republicans handed us their heads on a platter. Let’s take another look
    at the hook.

    I believe we denigrate ourselves as an enlightened people, and our
    political process as a whole, in imposing on ourselves still further
    disability to retain tested and trusted leadership. The Congress and
    the Judiciary are now and will remain free to utilize their own
    countervailing constitutional power to forestall any executive
    overreaching.
    news will be for a while. Stay on your toes… this is just the beginning.

    Hey! Thanks carpetbagger. 🙂

  • I don’t know why the thomas link didn’t show in the previous post, but that’s where I got the article.

    I won’t try it again for fear of what might happen to the formatting of this msg. 🙂

    You get the idea though…

  • Note to Dick Cheney:

    “BAH WOOGIE WOOGIE!!!”

  • Washington Post Headline this morn:
    Bush Ousts Rumsfeld.
    [Prolonged scream of frustration]
    Yes of course. He would have done it even if the Republicons kept the majority. Honest. Because he cares about the soldiers. That’s why he wants to put another dork with no combat experience in Rumsfuck’s place. And why a spy? That makes me v-e-e-r-y nervous and I’m not even wearing a tin foil chapeau.

    Oh well, since we see Bush will ditch anyone who is unpopular (gotta hang with the cool kids) when pressured, maybe we’ll see the back of Rove, Cheney and Rice before long.
    I’ll be waiting outside the White House with…a sign. Yes. That’s it. A sign. No rotten eggs or anything like that.

  • 71% of GOPers voted for Joe LIEberman. I live in CT and voted for Lamont. I was hoping never to hear Joe’s whiny voice again. My opposition to LIEberman did not start with the Iraq disaster, but after his stance on Teri Schiavo I knew I would never vote for him again. The government needs to stay out of our hospital beds and our bedrooms.

  • Just this thought about LIEberman becoming a Republican’t.

    It would mean that he got to spend every day in the Senate (admittedly only three days a week) in the company of the man who helped screw him out of the Vice Presidency, Dick Cheney.

    At least at 51/49 the Dickster would only come out of his hole for ceremonial occasions.

  • Hell No To Hoyer

    I slipped a gear there. I forgot Pelosi was going to be speaker.

    Hoyer is another Lieberman. Watch your back. The docs from the House Record are in #34 above.

  • Lieberman may not be a team player, but I can’t see any reason he’d feel like he “owes” the Bush administration for helping get him re-elected. This administration is done in two years and, as far as we can tell for the moment, most of the current cast members won’t be appearing in a spin-off come 2008. Once Virginia is decided and Webb makes it 51, Joe will come around and take his place as chairman or ranking member or whatever of various committees. And we’ll just have to welcome him.

    We’re going to have to work with Bush and Cheney the next two years if we’re going to get anything done; Lieberman may be a necessary figure in this process.

  • Idaho is not alone. Texas is also totally red at the state level. It’s humiliating. On the “good” side of things, our incumbent Republican governor only got about 40% of the vote, but the remaining 60% was split among 4 other candidates, so he got his “mandate”.

    • Comments are closed.