"President-elect Barack Obama offered Sen. Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting Thursday in Chicago, according to two senior Democratic officials. She requested time to consider the offer, the officials said."
Hillary met with Obama in Chicago on Thursday, where the offer was made, and is considering accepting.
Read more.
Mark Begich is now up over 1,000 votes on Convicted Felon and Republican Senator Ted Stevens.
Counting of absentee votes is expected to be concluded early next week. There are still over 24,000 votes to count.
The Washington Post has more.
Convicted Republican Senator Ted Stevens has fallen behind Democratic challenger Mark Begich on Wednesday as officials started counting absentee votes, provisional ballots, and early votes.
Late Wednesday evening, Stevens trailed Begich by 814 votes. Stevens led Begich by 3,200 votes before the additional votes started being tallied.
There are still tens of thousands of votes to count and neither side is claiming victory or conceding defeat.
Stevens is waiting to be sentenced after being convicted for taking illegal gifts and lying to officials, including not claiming the gifts on his income tax returns.
Stevens is expected to be kicked out of the Democratically controlled Senate if he wins re-election.
Under Alaskan law, Governor Sarah Palin cannot appoint a replacement for Stevens if he were to win. Instead the state would hold a new election to fill the seat. Speculation has been that Palin may run for the open seat, but if Begich defeats Stevens the door will close for Palin.
Hopefully she'll crawl under a rock and we'll never hear from her again.
We've heard for the past week that Barack Obama intends on overturning George W. Bush's Executive Orders. Basically all laws passed in the middle of the night without Congressional approval and all, coincidentally, bad for the American people.
Now Politico brings us news that the Bush Administration made a huge gaffe. They aimed for the wrong date to get all of their legislation signed into law.
The Bush Administration were racing to finalize new laws before November 1st, the date they believed was the cut off date for Obama to be able to easily overturn anything Bush passes at the end of his term.
However, Bush's targeted date was wrong.
It turns out Bill Clinton passed a law called the Congressional Review Act in 1996. It's ironic since Clinton made the same mistake Bush did by passing many laws in the last 60 days of office and then had them overturned by the next administration.
The Congressional Review Act has a clause that will cost Bush any additional pillaging he and his cronies were planning for the end of their run.
Politico explains the Congressional Review Act and the specific clause that affects Bush:
"...any regulation finalized within 60 days of congressional adjournment — Oct. 3, in this case — is considered to have been legally finalized on Jan. 15, 2009. The new Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate."
As Politico sums up:
"In other words, any regulation finalized in the last half-year of the Bush administration could be wiped out with a simple party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Congress."
So King George's reign of terror ended over a month ago. Anything Bush signs into law for the rest of his term can be easily overturned by Obama with little or no help from Congress. The same goes for anything Bush signed into law since October 3rd. Anything Bush signed before October 3rd will take further Congressional action, but with the Dems controlling the House and Senate, much of Bush's hypocrisy can be turned back. Too bad we can't say the same about the last eight years.
Democrat Frank Kratovil, Jr. defeated Republican Andy Harris in Baltimore's 1st Congressional District as the Democrats added another seat in the House.
Kratovil's victory comes a week after the election and counting of absentee and provisional ballots.
However, Kratovil promised to be more of an Independent than Democrat and not stick to the Democratic agenda.
"I do not intend to go to Washington to blindly follow any particular party, any particular platform, any particular ideological agenda or even any particular president," Kratovil told several dozen cheering supporters outside the Queen Anne's County Courthouse. "I intend to do what, in many respects, Congressman Gilchrest did for 18 years, and that is to be an independent voice for the people of this district."
The win gives Democrats 8 of the 9 House seats from Maryland and means the Democratic Party has gained 20 seats from the Republicans in the House this November. There are still 6 House races that are up for grabs in recounts or runoff elections. Democrats currently hold an 81 seat majority over the Republicans in the House.
U.S. Representative Paul Broun, a Republican from Georgia, warns that "President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship."
Broun makes his claim based on a speech Obama gave in Colorado this past summer. Obama called for a civilian national security force.
Somehow Broun sees that as similar to Adolph Hitler's brown shirts, the SA, a political group consisting of mostly WWI veterans Hitler used to rise to power and eventually seize control of the government. However, the SA had no influence or power once Hitler became Chancellor. Their membership dropped by half and they became nothing more than a glorified club until Hitler had their leaders murdered on the Night of the Long Knives.
It's a fascinating history, but one that has absolutely nothing to do with Obama. But it doesn't stop Broun from using it to spread fear. One has to ask, at what point do the Republicans realize the fear game doesn't work anymore? The GOP played their ballad of fear throughout the election. That's why they are looking up at a Democratic President and Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Americans are sick of this crap.
But apparently Georgians aren't.
"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet Union did," Broun said. "When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist."
"You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler," Broun said.
So which is he, Mr. Broun? A secret Nazi, or Hitler's mortal enemy, a Communist? You're confusing your message of fear and hate. Or maybe you're just plain confused.
"What I'm saying is there is the potential of going down that road."
Alright then. If we are talking about theoreticals, let me throw some out. Obama might secretly be suicidal and launch a nuclear attack on the world minutes after being inaugurated. Or he may just install a pool outside the White House full of sharks with lasers on their heads.
Huffington Post has a more reasonable explanation:
"(Obama) spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama was referring in the speech to a proposal for a civilian reserve corps that could handle postwar reconstruction efforts such as rebuilding infrastructure - an idea endorsed by the Bush administration."
There's nothing Obama has done that makes me fear he's going to turn out to be a Manchurian Candidate. But deep down in the home of Deliverance, there's a different kind of thinkin'.
Remember, Broun comes from Georgia, the same fine state that gave us Republican Saxby Chambliss and one of the most classless, insulting campaigns in human history. Chambliss called triple amputee veteran Max Cleland unpatriotic and questioned his love of the country and willingness to defend it. Cleland lost both legs and an arm defending this very country. Georgia voters rewarded Chambliss by voting for him, not once, but twice. Now Georgians can take pride in Broun comparing the President-Elect to Adolph Hitler.
I'd say that Georgians should vote idiots like Broun out of office, but instead they keep rewarding these turds with their votes. Shine on, little star!
MoveOn.org is offering the new, "Yes We Did" Barack Obama poster by well known artist Shepard Fairey as part of a great deal.
Last week they offered a limited edition run for $80 donations. Now they are offering the regular edition posters for donations of only $20, not a bad deal at all.
Plus, your donation goes to help support Barack Obama and get more Democrats elected in run off contests in the House and Senate that will take place in the next month.
It's crucial we work to get the vote out again for the run off elections. It's always difficult to get younger voters to return to the polls for secondary elections, but this time, without Obama running, it will be even more difficult. But it's crucial we win the seats in Alaska, Minnesota, and Georgia. That will help Obama get his legislation passed without Republican interference.
So buy a poster if you can, donate a smaller amount if you can, but in any case, let's work to get the word out and mobilize our voters once again.
