Just out from CNN …
CNN has learned that President-elect Barack Obama is getting foreign policy advice from an unlikely source: Republican Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser in the first Bush administration.
Two sources familiar with the conversations confirm to CNN that Obama reached out to Scowcroft for phone chats even before he ran for president, and the back-and-forth has continued in recent days as the president-elect assembles his Cabinet.
Scowcroft is very close to current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is rumored to be in the running to stay in the Cabinet for at least an interim period at the start of the new Obama administration.
Referring back to our post of a week ago.
The Clinton camp believes it has turned over all the information about Bill’s post-Presidency activities that the Obama transition team has asked for, and Hillary is awaiting the offer, a source tells TPM Election Central.
On CNN this afternoon Wolf Blitzer quoted some critical stuff I wrote yesterday about making Hillary Clinton the Secretary of State. So I wanted to add some context. It’s not just that I have doubts about the job Clinton might do as Secretary of State, which I do, it’s also that I want her to stay in the senate. I think it’s the perfect job for her. Hell, she’s my senator. I’ve voted for her. Her voice, ability to politick, her smarts, just who she is as Hillary Clinton are really needed there, especially as Ted Kennedy’s health may limit his ability to push big legislation in the way he has for decades. It’s not one or the other; it’s both. She’s needed in the senate.
I would note that of the readers who write in and explain why this is such a great idea, quite a few of them have an explanation that boils down to thinking that Obama needs to coopt Hillary, get her working for him on the inside so he doesn’t have to worry about her trying to undermine his presidency on the outside. That’s a much more cynical view of her motives than I’ve ever had.
Dean Baker explains how to prevent another Great Depression: Massive government spending.
As you can see in our feature to the right, Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed this evening while giving a speech to Federalist Society in Washington, DC. The only further word we’ve been able to find is from Mike Allen at The Politico, who says that as of 10:30 PM, “medical officials were still working on him on the stage.”
Late Update: From the AP, “Associate Attorney General Kevin O’Connor says Mukasey began shaking during a speech to the Federalist Society and collapsed. He did not immediately regain consciousness.”
Late Update Two: We’re still following this closely, now just minutes after 11 PM. As best we can tell no news service has any new substantive information about the AG’s health, other than the initial news that he began slurring his speech and then shaking and then collapsed. There seems to be no solid information about whether he regained consciousness.
I’ve been in contact with an attendee at tonight’s Federalist Society meeting where Attorney General Mukasey spoke for roughly twenty minutes before collapsing
According to this trusted eyewitness, events transpired roughly as follows.
Attorney General Mukasey was roughly twenty minutes into a speech defending the administration’s torture policies and particularly arguing against prosecutions of people who made decisions in the aftermath of 9/11 (essentially arguing against what he believed amounted to the criminalization of policy differences).
Some seven or eight minutes prior to the incident a heckler start shouting, calling Mukasey a “tyrant.” But the AG seemed unfazed by this; and members of the audience shouted the heckler down.
The eyewitness tells me that Mukasey seemed particularly in earnest about the argument he was making. And when he first began to falter it appeared he was merely choking up. Soon, what at first appeared to be choking up blended into slurred words. Twenty to thirty seconds later he collapsed, his fall broken by a nearby FBI agent.
The room fell silent. After a moment there were shouts from the table where Mukasey’s wife was sitting, calling to turn down the stage lights. A woman in an evening gown, presumably a doctor, ran up to the stage and the FBI agents hovering over Mukasey allowed her to attend to him.
The eyewitness told me that Mukasey collapsed at approximinately 10:06 and was taken off on a stretcher at approximately 10:33.
The one additional detail is that this eyewitness says that the medical personnel attending to Mukasey were talking to him for at least part of that period, at one point asking him “can you wiggle your toes.” In other words, it appears that Mukasey did regain consciousness to at least some degree before being taken to the hospital.
As emergency personnel were attending to Mukasey, a group of Republican luminaries, including former Attorney General Ashcroft and his wife, created a cordon between Mukasey and the audience to create some degree of privacy.
After Mukasey was taken away the audience was led in a prayer for Mukasey by former Congressman David McIntosh (R-IN).
The DOJ has now released a statement describing Attorney General Mukasey as “conscious, conversant and alert. His vital statistics are strong and he is in good spirits.” The AG is currently at George Washington University Hospital and will remain there overnight for observation.
Slowly but surely, the Minnesota recount is whittling away at Norm Coleman’s lead. With 46% of the ballots now recounted, Coleman’s initial certified lead of 215 has fallen to 136. There’s no real reason why the rate of change should remain at the same pace through the remaining 54% of the ballots. But the rate over the first couple days has them on track for something pretty close to a tie.
Remember too that there a few hundred disputed ballots that will be reviewed in December. So, there’s reason for some cautious optimism if you’re a Franken supporter. But this is still in ‘who knows’ territory.
More transition leaks and drips this morning in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.