Perhaps this is something of an existential question. But do we really have to pretend that Rudy Giuliani has more than a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the Republican presidential nomination? Or can we all just stipulate that a multiple adulterer, who supports gay civil rights and choice, has deep and on-going ties to mobbed-up and now-disgraced Police boss Bernie Kerik, has a largely unscrutinized (outside of New York) resume, and had the bright idea of locating the NYC disaster center in the already-once-bombed World Trade Center probably will have some rough sledding in Republican primaries?
Did buggy electronic voting machines cost the Democrats a seat in Florida’s 13th District? The battle continues.
Whoopsie. U.S. Capitol Police fail to identify senator-elect Jon Tester. Luckily, no one gets punched:
The Capitol police weren’t quite ready for Tester, a farmer with a throwback flat top haircut and fingers missing on his left hand from an old accident with a meat grinder. They asked him to empty his pockets for inspection.
”Just like at the airport, you put it all through?” Tester asked.
The officer nodded, then recognized the newcomer and waved him through.
I sunk a lot of time three-plus years ago into reporting on Tom DeLay’s corrupt, but ultimately successful mid-decade redistricting in Texas. So we shouldn’t get too far past the 2006 election without noting that DeLay’s work has turned out to be a pretty big disaster for his state of Texas.
The whole gambit was intended to solidify the GOP majority in the House. And it accounted for the meager Republican House pick-ups in the 2004 election. But now that the GOP House majority is no more, the 2003 redistricting plan has left Texas with virtually no one with much seniority in the new majority party.
As this piece in the Star-Telegram explained on Sunday, Texas would have been in line to have three committee chairman in the 110th Congress. Now it will probably have none.
Those Republicans are pretty tough. They lose both houses of Congress. And they still won’t give Russert his testicles back.
I hear even Halperin is making a play for non-custodial visits.
The next front in the struggle for dignity and equality: demonization of global warming skeptics.
A split among readers on the question of whether the confirmation hearings for Bob Gates should be held in December by a GOP Senate or after the first of the year by a Democratic Senate.
From TPM Reader JW:
I don’t see the logic of waiting two months to confirm Gates just to use the hearings as a platform to talk about Iraq. The Democrats can do that using budget hearings, intelligence hearings, hell, whatever committee meetings they wish to. They can call Gates over to the Congress later if they want.
The fact is, they don’t have anything on Gates that would prevent him from becoming Defense Secretary. It’s pretty clear they’re going to have to work with Gates; why make him the whipping boy from the outset? He hasn’t done anything wrong yet and isn’t likely to know very much more about Iraq right now than the senators do. I think it’s better to take the high road with this nomination, since we all agree we want Rumsfeld out, let Gates get his feet, and ask him in January what he’s come up with.
I think the “use nomination hearings as a bully pulpit” logic shows that the Democrats are still thinking like a minority party. They got the subpoena power, they got the committees, they can open any can of worms any they want to and don’t have to snipe at the Administration from the bushes. Let the rabbits through now and hunt elephants in January.
If they really feel the need to fight a rearguard in the lame-duck Congress, try to keep Bolton out of the UN. That nomination is genuinely dangerous and distressing.
Then again, TPM Reader EC:
I have to agree with David, and I wanted to add something.
It really is important to maintain that the problems with Iraq don’t simply go away with Rumsfeld’s departure. The administration OWNS this one, and whether Rumsfeld leaves immediately or lingers until a successor is confirmed should not matter. Beyond that, I think delaying the hearings can be a win for Democrats in another sense. Stress that Democrats simply want a full airing of Gates’ qualifications and his plans for Iraq. After all, Iraq is one of the big reasons Democrats are now the Majority party. If there’s a mandate in any of this, it’s that the American people don’t trust a Republican Congress to run things…and that should certainly include the relatively important decision of who replaces Rumsfeld. Democrats should support an extensive, reasonable examination of any nominee for any position; that can’t and won’t happen if they appear too timid to challenge the administration on the timing.
The Democrats won…and they’ll be endlessly scrutinized by the not-so-liberal media. It’s time to worry less about appearances and more about doing the right thing. It’s by “doing the right thing” that Democrats will ultimately preserve and grow their majority. Not by kow-towing to a media that isn’t and won’t be on their side, ultimately lending weight to Republican claims of weakness.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. DeLay selling off campaign furniture and office supplies to raise funds. (ed.note: see second-to-last paragraph in the linked page.)
Bitterness and recrimination at the Republican National Committee about the White House’s choice of Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) to chair the RNC, according to the Washington Times:
Some RNC members, already dismayed by last week’s election that swept Republicans from control of Congress, expressed anger at the way Mr. Rove leaked his choice of Mr. Martinez immediately after a conference call in which the Florida senator’s name was floated for the first time.
The Martinez selection also signals that the White House intends to make another run at immigration reform, the paper reported, with Martinez as the point person.
House Republicans are really going to love the White House pushing immigration reform through a Democratic Congress that it couldn’t get from a Republican Congress. This is the first and perhaps best example of how the interests of the White House will not always be aligned with congressional Republicans over the next two years.