One of the big news items of the day was Bill Halter’s entrance into the primary race against Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). He’s become the darling of progressives disenchanted with Lincoln. But how progressive is he? Our Evan McMorris-Santoro spoke with him today to have him detail his positions on the key issues.
First Shelby. Now Bunning. I don’t know what the pithy way to phrase it is. But somehow the Democrats need to capture for people that the true horror of Republican rule would be every couple weeks having some cranky, seventy-something guy from the South pulling a freak out, screaming at the country to get off his lawn and shutting down the government until the veins in his forehead de-bulge.
As a nano-fry in the New York media world, it may be unwise to get in the face of Mort Zuckerman. But I could not help but draw your attention to this part of his statement this evening announcing that he had chosen not to run for senate.
Said Zuckerman: “However, at this time, it is very difficult to see how I can devote the necessary time to either a campaign, or to working in Washington, if I were to win.”
It’s that ‘working in Washington’ passage that jumped out at me. Because it captured the essence of this era of mogul rule and perhaps the deservedly low repute of the senate these days. After all, if nothing else, ‘working in Washington’ really would seem to be part and parcel of being a senator. It’s almost like, after careful consideration, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to set aside enough time for his day job.
Earlier I noted the NBC News report that Charlie Rangel had agreed to step down as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. It now seems the report should have read: “Source tells NBC News that Rangel is stepping down in order to force his hand and get him to step down because he’s close but actually hasn’t stepped down. But they’re really hoping he will soon.”
Because as of now Rangel is saying in the no uncertain terms that he’s not stepping down.
It’s really ain’t pretty. And no that’s not a typo.
Pelosi, on Rangel: “I guess he is still chair of Ways and Means.”
This evening we’re following the results of the Texas gubernatorial primary in the news section to the right there. Polls just closed. Results coming in shortly.
Sen. Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster collapsed quickly this evening. Just as Dems were considering making him actually filibuster, a deal was reached for Bunning to drop his filibuster in return for getting Senate votes on certain amendments Bunning favors but which are unlikely to pass. So sounds like a pretty complete capitulation.
The deal appears to have been engineered in part by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a sign that even the GOP was ready for this tawdry display of the Senate’s Republican-fueled dysfunction to end.