Hillary At State - I Get It!

I still think it made little sense for Hillary to exchange her Senator for Life role for a walk-on spot at State but I'll tell you why Obama offered it to her - soon enough he will be pulling the rug out from under the "anti-war" Dems by making clear the already obvious, namely, all his talk and posturing about deadlines and forced troop withdrawals from Iraq is no longer operative.  And when he provides this clarification, Hillary at State will be obliged to defend it; Hillary the Senator might have been in a position to cluck-cluck and rally some Dems against him.

Now, Hillary's view on troop withdrawals was probably even phonier and more politically calculated than Obama's so it is possible that she would have been a repsonsible voice of reason even in the Senate.  And reason would have said that the situation in Iraq has improved to the point that Dems, given their own uneven history on national security, can't be saddled as the party that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq, even if it is under the pretense of committing to victory in Afghanistan.

Reason may also note that withdrawing US troops does not "end" the war in Iraq, it simply ends (or scales back) US involvement in the war.  Or should the world applaud the absence of US troops from Darfur and declare it pacified?

Well.  Hillary at State makes the suspension of deadlines less politically problematic.  My advice to anti-war lefties mirrors that to uneasy righties: Obama is your President - suck it up.

Comments

[Eric Ivers]

Hillary is a *junior* Senator from New York. While she has a huge profile, she has little seniority, and even less actual power there. At State, she is, what, 3 lives away from being President?

[bad]

I like this from your link TM:

Others are troubled by an announcement on Friday night that Mr Obama will retain the White House political office, an institution recently associated with George Bush's adviser Karl Rove, who has been blamed for running government as a permanent and highly partisan election campaign.

During the campaign, Mr Obama pledged to end "politics as usual" and the "perpetual campaign".

But a spokesman for the Transition team said: "An Obama White House will be focused on meeting the next challenge, not winning the next election."

Translation: We're going to do the same stuff but with gooder motives.

[JM Hanes]

Suckin' it up, boss!

[JM Hanes]

bad:

Democrats hit the mother lode with motive based political theory. Lions could be lying down with lambs, but if the peacemaker's intentions are impure, his achievements simply don't count. Dems' superior mind reading skilz facilitated the convenient discovery that Republican motives are, by definition, always bad.

[bgates]

During the campaign, Mr Obama pledged to end "politics as usual" and the "perpetual campaign".
At the rate he's going, he might be able to break literally every promise he made during the campaign before he's sworn in. Let's see how many I can list without Googling:
-public financing
-withdrawal from NAFTA
-supporting Wright
-putting new people in power
-telecom immunity
-debate anywhere, any time

and this Iraq business makes seven. That's low. I know Campaign Spot has used his "expiration date" line more than that. What am I missing?

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Barack to the Daily Kosacks: Drop Dead.

[JM Hanes]

Well, there was the FISA bill brouhaha.

Does it count if he's flipped back to an earlier position after changing it?

[kim]

Big laugh on the supers, who didn't want more of the Clintons.
=======================================

[Thomas Collins]

TM's reason seems logical. But I wonder whether Zero would have done this unless he had something bigger in mind than avoiding Hilary kibbutzing from the Senate. My speculation is that Zero actually plans to make a bold proposal on the Israel/Palestinian front, and needs a high profile figure at State to sell it. I'll bet Hilary and Zero have discussed this issue and that Hilary has indicated that she is on board with whatever proposal Zero is going to make.

[kim]

I still say it blows up. This appointment just doesn't make sense.
=======================================

[rhymin' simon]

You are forgetting she is the senator from NY . New york has significant Jewish population and Schumer and her successor would be toast in 2010. The New York jews will not be fooled.

[kim]

At what percent did those perspicacious ones vote for the fool Obama?
==============================

[Thomas Collins]

Before she ran for Senator, rhymin' simon, wasn't she making nice to Yasser's wife? If she has decided she wants to be "Present at the Creation" of a bold initiative (which if successful would put her in Acheson's league among SOSes), she may decide to let Chuckie fend for himself.

[rhymin' simon]

TC they all have baggage, we may come to see a Spitzer done on any or all of them if they do something really foolish.

[Thomas Collins]

You may be right, rhymin' simon. If nothing happens on that front, I'll just have to wipe the egg off my face. I do agree with you about the baggage of our new leadership. It would fill a couple of cargo planes.

[glasater]

78%--unbelievable......

[rhymin' simon]

With Obama taking on the Clintonistas to his ataff he is giving new meaning to his comment to Joe The Plumber of Spreading the Wealth. He is putting Clinton at SOS so they both can rob the country blind. Or the Clintons are making the invitations to foreign leaders to the Lincoln Bedroom.

[kim]

All the horrors the left and the press projected onto Bush come from their own twisted souls and are about to be inflicted on a conflicted nation. The reaction may well be awesome. The Supreme Court may end up very influential over the near term. Let us hope.
==================================

[Donald]

"New York jews won't be fooled". HMM. The is it a willful self hatred, or an overwhelming desire to destroy this country? Just wondering, just passing through.

[Donald]

Should have been..."well then"

[kim]

Say hi to greater Atlanta for me.
====================

[Bruce]

Two words: Vince Foster.

If Obama, Biden, Byrd and Pelosi plan to be somewhere at the same time (like on a plane) they should cancel the trip.

Secretary of State becomes President if those 4 die.

And it will happen.

Tragic plane crash. Food poisoning. Deranged gunman.

Something like that.

[clarice]

Another Osama Drop Dead,Kos, message:(via instapundit):
"Barack Obama is leaning towards appointing former deputy national security adviser Jim Steinberg as his Deputy Secretary of State, a well-connected Democratic source tells the Huffington Post.

The potential appointment of Steinberg -- an Obama adviser during the campaign, respected voice on international affairs, and Clinton-era national security official -- is significant for a variety of reasons, none more so than what it could mean for the department as a whole."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/23/obama-eyeing-jim-steinber_n_145815.html>Drop Dead Dopes

[Dennis D]

Hillary is perhaps the most corrupt person to ever inhabit the White House. She skated on thin ice during a number of escapades including perjury . She cannot get away with it forver and we have a better chance of catching her on the National Stage rather than New York State..

[Captain Hate]

My speculation is that Zero actually plans to make a bold proposal on the Israel/Palestinian front

Good luck with going down that path to nowhere; more reason to think of him as Carter 2. Even Clinton admitted he screwed up on this; well, as close as you can get Slick to taking blame for anything, because he mostly stuck Arafish with the rap.

[JM Hanes]

Via Instapundit, there's Good News & Bad News. First the good:

Before Hillary Clinton has been formally offered the job as Secretary of State, a purge of Barack Obama's top foreign policy team has begun.

The advisers who helped trash the former First Lady's foreign policy credentials on the campaign trail are being brutally shunted aside, as the price of her accepting the job of being the public face of America to the world.

She also gets direct access to the Prez without going through the National Security Council, AKA the last bastion of purge survivors. While I deny harbouring any unpatriotic schadenfreude, the entertainment value of potential infighting is considerable. The bad news?

Its turns out that Mrs Clinton's delay in accepting the president elect's offer to be his top foreign policy adviser had much to do with her negotiating the terms of the job and insisting on the right to choose her own state department staff and possibly even some of the plumb Ambassador postings.

How much do we suppose Joe & Val's glum, latter day, endorsement of Hillary! was worth? How far will the Clintonista resurrection go? Does even the ShadOw know? I'm thinking the water here may be too deep for even David Axelrod to tread. I'm still processing the significance of Obama wanting Hillary on board badly enough to throw his vaunted 300 under the bus, not into the breach.

[Porchlight]

I'm still processing the significance of Obama wanting Hillary on board badly enough to throw his vaunted 300 under the bus, not into the breach.

I still can't figure it out either. What does he gain and/or what has she got on him?

[clarice]

IIRC When the Wilson's fled to New mexico it was they aid to work on Richardson's campaign for President but I never saw them working for him. Then they endorsed Hillary and Richardson stabbed her in the back by endorsing Obama. (Note to the annointed one, be careful how you seat cabinet members). Then Kerry stuck out his patrician nose and money chest for Obama wanting desperately to be named Sec of State only to see it given to Hillary who fought Obama tooth and nail and has a directly opposite foreign policy.

Stranger than strange. And adds more fodder to my supposition that she finessed a courtesy call into a cabinet position.

[clarice]

**it was they Said**
**how you seat Your cabinet members*

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Per your link above:

Susan Rice, one of Obama's chief foreign policy aides on the campaign trail, has been thought to being [sic] heading towards an advisory role, a deputy position at the National Security Council, or the post of ambassador to the United Nations.

Oh, pleeeze make her U.N. Ambassador! If her utter cluelessness when it comes to dynamics in Africa extends to the world at large, assigning her the lead role in trying to implement Obama's internationalist agenda seems like hope & change I can live with.

[clarice]

Claudia Rossett can tell us all about Susan's progress there..HEH--Is that a sentence or an appointment? Would any sentient person commit suicide rather than take that posting?

[MayBee]

Perhaps Obama got his first real intelligence briefing and realized he had been surrounding himself with people who don't know what they're talking about.

Imagine if you'd just been read a list of the threats to our security, then walked back to your office to see Susan Rice and Samantha Power sitting there waiting for you.

[MayBee]

Hillary gives him the perfect excuse to drop the people he wanted to drop anyway. Kind of like when my kids tell their friends I won't let them do something as a way to get out of doing it.

[Captain Hate]

Maybee, I have a feeling a default position on how to figure out what's going on with the Obammy administration is think what petulant children would do.

[Porchlight]

Hope so, MayBee. Or maybe he'll have an official cabinet and a shadow cabinet, and Rice and Power will be in the latter. Won't go well if Hillary is the person he's trying to work around, however.

[JM Hanes]

"And adds more fodder to my supposition that she finessed a courtesy call into a cabinet position."

I'm not seeing it. If Hillary is the one trying to wrangle the job, why would it be Obama ceding perks and purging his own people? How could she really embarrass into a corner, when he could so easily (and credibly!) say that her unprecedented demands stalled out the appointment (confirmed with strategic leaks orchestrated by his very capable Chief of Staff)? It could conceivably still end that way, of course.

Hillary may really want the slot at State, but if this is her move, she would either have to have surrogates persuading Obama that he desperately needs her there or have some sort of trump card in hand. If it's an Obama move, there are any number of particular reasons he might be courting her (or by extension Bill and/or his benefactors!), whether poltical or diplomatic.

What am I missing here?

[clarice]

Who's telling us these people are going? The same people who told us he offered her the job and built up expectations? Just saying.
We are watching a shaodw puppet play.

[kim]

It just doesn't make sense. Why would either of them want her to be SoS? Why would any of the three(including Bill) want it?
========================================

[E. Nigma]

HRC is out of her depth as SoS. Again, she has no executive experience, and she will try to manage the swamp at Foggy Bottom. Good luck with that. I would guess that Obama will have at least TWO lines of foreign policy; one through State and another through the NSC. There may also (very likely) be a third he runs right out of the executive office.
The "new plan" for "peace in our time" in the Muddled East will be to force Israel to put its nuclear arsenal forward as a bargaining chip to persuade the Iranians to be nice and don't try to go nuclear on us. Please???

[JM Hanes]

MayBee:

"Imagine if you'd just been read a list of the threats to our security, then walked back to your office to see Susan Rice and Samantha Power sitting there waiting for you."

LOL! We've got yer nightmare right here! I would not be surprised to discover that, per usual, you are spot on. I hope all the folks (past, present & future) in and under the Obama bus are scribbling madly away in journals one and all. When Obama publishes the next installment of his autobiography fact challenged memoirs, perhaps there will (finally!) be a cornucopia of counternarratives for the history books.

[bgates]

How's this for a theory:
Obama expects the next two years to be pretty terrible on the foreign policy front. He wants expendable people in the important offices, so he can sacrifice them and put in his real dream team when things go south. (He doesn't think it's possible for the press to turn on him, and he's right.)
He needs a foil on the right to scapegoat. The Republicans, bless their hearts, aren't a credible obstacle. Reid/Pelosi aren't far enough to his right. The SC won't be either. Hillary's the designated conservative fall guy.
Meanwhile, whatever the Clintonites think of Obama's motives, they can't turn down executive branch positions. That's like asking Gollum to give up the ring.

[clarice]

SoS is more powerful and interesting that junior Senator--that's why she want it.

She can be trouble for him in the Senate, that's why he wants her out of there.

The dance is for each side to protect their future interests--hers in not being marginalized while in his cabinet. His in not giving away more than he most to shut her up.

[clarice]

**SoS is more powerful and interesting thaN junior Senator--that's why she wantS it.**

(I apologize for all these typos.)

[clarice]

bgates has a point--He promised to pull out of iraq right away and finds he cannot--Blame her.

[centralcal]

I try to imagine our boy king knowing all about the inner workings of the court. I cannot quite convince myself that he has much of a clue. He is totally dependent upon scheming courtiers.

Who is his most trusted adviser, I wonder? Who is it that whispers in his ear - put her there, put him here? Rahm?

[JM Hanes]

kim:

Obama could be trying to cover all his foreign policy/diplomatic bases, and/or co-opt the Clinton base which is still formidable, or just keep the enemy close. There are lots of twofers here. Hillary's sway in the Senate as The Inevitable One is forfeit, so on the plus side for the Clinton & Clinton (& Clinton?), there's player status, limelight, legacy and portfolio building (diplomatic and financial).

Clarice:

It seems to me that there's only been token objection to the leaks so far, but I'll just listen and learn, start prepping for Thanksgiving (though delegating the turkey slaughter to apparently unmentionable others) and see what ultimately transpires. As noted, I don't think we should just assume this is a done deal either. As a passe-temps, do we think Chelsea will make her international debut with Mom at State or back at Dad's Library?

[bad]

What are Hillary's qualifications for Secretary of State?

[JM Hanes]

centralcal:

Pofarmer has been thinking along those same lines, which make a lot of sense. Obama knows virtually no one and has virtually zero history or experience in Washington. Emanuel is practically the only person, outside of Axelrod & Co, that Obama will publicly admit to knowing the Chicago way, and oddly enough, on top of that little piece of shared history inside the loop, Emanuel just happens to be a beltway insider's insider too. Daschle has kept a pretty low profile, but he was there at the birth of O the candidate, so he could conceivably be part of the connective tissue.

It occurs to me to wonder if Reid/Schumer have done any back door lobbying to spring Clinton from the Senate too, although I'm not sure why it occurs to me. Reducing competition for the cameras could be reason enough for Schumer, of course, but I'm trying to remember why I have the impression that he saw her as an impediment or irritant where his own ambitions were concerned.

[clarice]

JMH, It's impossible to tell which leaks are his, hers or no one who knows'....As for Chelsea, I'm still waiting for her to enter medical school and save the downtrodden with Doctors without Borders..wasn't that what we were led to believe when she went off to Stanford?

Maybe I should just take up drinking and re eatch "Rome"..It's less distressing.

[Ken Hahn]

I'll tell you why Hillary is going to accept the SecState position. She has decided that Obama is going to make a mess and will be unelectable in 2012. She will pick a fight with Obama and resign in a huff in time to run for Governor in 2010. positioning herself to challenge Obama for the nomination. She really, really wants to be President. And she wants to humble the man who beat her this time even more.

[Jane]

I still can't figure it out either. What does he gain and/or what has she got on him?

Well if Joe Biden's prediction comes true, O will have someone to blame it on - altho that probably won't wash.

I keep thinking he doesn't care about foreign policy - his agenda has to do with making the means of production fairer.

[clarice]

JMH:"It occurs to me to wonder if Reid/Schumer have done any back door lobbying to spring Clinton from the Senate too, although I'm not sure why it occurs to me"

As I said it's all shadow puppetry but I think the Reid offer was O's idea to get her off his back and keep her out of the Cabinet.

He had to give Health to Daschle because he really owed him for his early help..In any event he wants HIS name, not hers, on this grand new program..But the notion of the super Senate job never appeared until AFTER she was leaking (and it was she) that she'd been offered/ was under consideration/would kill for (you choose from the various versions) the S of S position.

[bgates]

Bad - Ivy League law degree, 16 years as Washington resident, member in good standing of the Democratic party. Any one of those things is a strong indicator of infallibility.

How hard a job will it be? The past eight years the whole place was undermining its boss. In the next four, the biggest administrative challenge will be making sure that when the staff donate more than the legal limit to Obama's reelection campaign, they remember to use untraceable gift cards.

[clarice]

J,D, Dunn says this of Jones:
"
Jones brings a wealth of military and foreign policy experience to the table. He is universally respected among both Democrats and Republicans, but he did ruffle neo-conservative feathers by calling the war in Iraq a "debacle." His reputation as a "big picture" guy worries some right-wing Israeli bloggers who fear that his more even-handed approach will favor the Palestinians. According to The Jerusalem Post, leaked notes from Jones' Middle East Security report are highly critical of Israel's actions in the U.S.'s role in building a Palestinian security forces.

Coupled with Hillary Clinton's expected nomination as Secretary of State, Jones' selection could signal a seachange in U.S. foreign policy with relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict. A Clinton-Jones team would likely find their first task to aggressively resolve the "Core Issues" blocking the path to a recognized Palestinian state, which many feel is the lynchpin to normalizing relations between the U.S. and Middle East."

http://www.411mania.com/politics/columns/90949/MSNBC-&-Reuters:-Retired-General-James-L.-Jones-Likely-to-be-Named-National-Security-Adviser.htm>Who Knows?

[clarice]

Ed Lasky shares those concerns about Jones:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/10/another_foreign_policy_advisor.html>Who Knows,Part !!?

[bad]

Thanks bgates, I was afraid I missed something.

[centralcal]

Obama knows virtually no one and has virtually zero history or experience in Washington.

I don't believe Obama has experience in much of anything, except campaigning. He is not a man of any accomplishment. Even his memoirs are suspected of being ghost written.

That is why I find it almost impossible to believe that he is moving the pieces/players on the big chessboard. I think HE is the one being positioned.

[clarice]

Maybe we'll get lucky and Soros will die and take all his money with him.

[bad]

Wonder if he would fit in a turkey assassination machine...

[JM Hanes]

I love Rome! Has a new season started? On the website for the series, they had a bunch of fascinating backgrounders. I assume it's all still there, although the way the audio/video windows were set up you could miss a lot of lot of the subsets. The one on the gods, and how thoroughly alien Roman attitudes were to any concept of religion per se, was particularly interesting.

Back to the 21st c., I would not have believed that I could end up wondering if bringing Netanyahu back might be a good idea. That's enough to make you tired right there, but I really think the roller coaster ride of this past year, on top if the long grinding road of Iraq, has been exhausting on almost every level. In the relative tranquility of this unpressurized inter-regnum it's like returning to earth and realizing that you've been running on empty longer than you thought.

[JM Hanes]

"That is why I find it almost impossible to believe that he is moving the pieces/players on the big chessboard. I think HE is the one being positioned."

Not to worry, centralcal. Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney.

[clarice]

Must be, jmh..Lifson and I are both exhausted for no apparent reason.

It is a good idea to bring Netanyahu back, that's what it occurs to you.

Maybe we should all take a field trip to kos and Hamsher to console them on their loss:

< ahref=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/11/22/2008-11-22_barack_obama_doesnt_fear_the_enraged_imp.html?print=1&page=all>Suckers

[clarice]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/11/22/2008-11-22_barack_obama_doesnt_fear_the_enraged_imp.html?print=1&page=all>Suckers

[clarice]

***that's whY it occurs to you*****

[centralcal]

Not to worry, centralcal. Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney.

No, sh*t Sherlock, as the saying goes! I was thinking more of the Clintonistas, being in control, and not officially being in control, if you know what I mean.

As to Clarice's link "Suckers," I couldn't be more pleased. Down with Dean! (blech and good riddance). Down with hatefilled banshees (Ms. Jane H.) and Igors (Marcos).

Maybe, Soros helped the boy king ascend his temporary throne, but there is a huge cohort of inside players from another dynasty that will pull the strings of our transcendant marionette.

Remember that youtube video of Hillary in full George Orwell big brotherism mind bending speechifying to the throngs? Well, the joke is, we have simply replaced Hillary with Barack, doing his weekly radio/youtube appearance. Ah, technology, the more it changes, the more it stays the same!.

Personally, I am chuckling over my Manhattan, and breathing the heady fumes of a pot-au-feu on the stove, and thanking the Gods in heaven that we don't have to justify McCain for the next four years.

[Ann]

CC,

I have a pot-au-feu on the stove, too. Well, kinda, it is an English cut roast with vegetables and spices. Here's a toast for never having to support McCain again...never!!

My dog is home, too! :)

[centralcal]

Oh, what a relief for you Ann. I raised four children, and had cats and dogs during their growing up years (the cat for field mice, because we lived in the country) and I know how quickly they become a member of the family.

Any loss of a family pet, is an emotional one. So, I am happy that your beloved pet has come home again.

Ching, Ching - a votre sante. A toast to your dog's good health.

[kim]

Well I made my ham, sweet potato and apple mess today and now remind myself of McCain's leap to Kerry's side when the Swifties intoned.
========================================

[kim]

Well, good about the dog, too. Now I'm glad I resisted the impulse to bring up one of my favorite topics: Do dogs go to heaven? It's a sentimental favorite with me because it was one of the first really excellent internet conversations I listened to.
==========================================

[clarice]

Glad to hear that, too, Ann.

[centralcal]

Yum, Kim. Ham and sweet potatoes are among my favorites scents in the kitchen.

[Ann]

Ching, Ching: CC, Clarice and Kim!!

Yes, the Swifties, Global Warming, Gang of 14, Closing Gitmo, McCain Feingold , Amnesty Bill, Against Tax Cuts,... it is kinda of a relief, isn't it.

I think the same criteria for humans going to heaven is used on animals. I did have one dog that I still wonder if she made it. LOL

[kim]

Hah, Al Kamen at the WaPo has an out for Obama about Hillary and SoS. Her appointment would violate Article 1, Section 6 of the US Constitution, the emoluments clause.

H/t Bill Jempty at WizBang.
===========================

[Extraneus]

What are Hillary's qualifications for Secretary of State?

Heh. Let's face it folks, there isn't one of them who's "qualified," if the job description involves protecting U.S. interests. If it's to play domestic politics, with extra credit for helping to eliminate Israel, almost any of them will do.

Albright was an idiot. Warren Christopher was a fool. Wasn't Bill Richardson once Ambassador to the U.N.? Go all the way back to Carter, and think about what Democrat "foreign policy" has achieved.

It's a joke to think about these vipers in terms of who would do a better job at foreign policy. Regardless of which of them ends up Secretary of State, one thing is certain: We'll be weaker, and all of our enemies will be stronger as a result.

[centralcal]

Extraneus, sad and true. But what can we do now?

[bad]

On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.

Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners.

Wow! Too humble for church. What a guy.

LUN

[bad]

More from Politico: LUN

Obama was an infrequent churchgoer on the campaign trail, though he did make a series of appearances in the pews and pulpits of South Carolina churches ahead of that heavily religious state's primary.

I'm sure that was just a coincidence.

[kim]

Well, Barack, and Michelle, tell just how you value your faith experience in Chicago. We're all ears and chickens coming home to have their necks wrung.
========================================

[Extraneus]

If the alternative is to hope they do a good job, which they're incapable of even comprehending, there isn't much we can do, cc. All I can think of is to oppose them in any way possible.

We're about to have the least qualified President in history; an affirmative action President whose heart isn't exactly in the right place, but whose incompetence might minimize the potential damage. Hopefully we can do our part to help.

[kim]

It is a fact that Bill Clinton talked about God more than has Bush. It is also a fact that he did most of his talking about God in black churches. Maybe he values his faith experience more there than elsewhere.
===============================

[bgates]

tell just how you value your faith experience in Chicago
They go every week. 11 o'clock. Maybe twice a month. Not so much now that they have kids.

I'm just glad we're getting a president who has a deep spiritual grounding that informs his decisions with an ancient wisdom, instead of the freak we have now who thinks some imaginary invisible man talks to him.

[Syl]

I dunno peeps, I'm getting a weird feeling that even though Obama is left of center I'm not sure now exactly how far left he really is. He will surely do things not to our liking and time will tell how bad it might be.

But right now I don't feel half as paranoid as I did the day after the election. I do believe Obama really wants to govern well--whether he can or not is another matter--but I believe he wants to try.

Does that make me a turncoat? My opinion is subject to change, to time, and all that.

I followed a memeorandum link to HuffPo to get a dose of shadenfreude and clicked on one of their sidebar tidbits and found....

A senior Obama campaign official had shared with the Washington Note and Huffpo that:

Scoop: McCain and Obama Camps Coordinated on Building Staff Rosters for Next Government

Supposedly (if this is to be believed) last July the Obama and McCain camps cooperated on making lists of qualified people to put in various positions.

The funny thing is that just a couple of hours before I saw that I was telling Joe that I suspected the meeting Barack had with McCain a week ago was to go over cabinet and other choices.

Who knows, maybe McCain would have chosen Hillary for SoS too. LOL

[Syl]

Oops! Forgot the link.

[glasater]

WF Buckley recounts a conversation with a woman on religion and going to heaven. She told him that she did not want to go to heaven unless she was certain her dog would be there with her.

Buckley replied to the woman that if she did make it to heaven--would she really care if the dog was with her?

It is a Buckley story after all:-)

[Syl]

She'd discover her dog was god!

[bad]

I'm just glad we're getting a president who has a deep spiritual grounding that informs his decisions with an ancient wisdom, instead of the freak we have now who thinks some imaginary invisible man talks to him.

You really. really, really, really get it.

[clarice]

kim, In saxbe's case they just lowered his salary to what it would have been prior to Congress' raising it, and they'll do the same with her.
And Byrd won't mind this time--he'll say the precedent's been set.

[Angie Smith]

What did the Democrats and their group of liberal illuminatis such as Albright (Half-Bright!) and Carter achieve with their so-alled foreign policy? Absolutely nothing but turmoil and a dislike of us from many countries.

[Donald]

They have to Kim, it's the only real chance there is a heaven.

[kim]

Woof!
====

[Pofarmer]

Wording of Article 1, Section 6.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

That seems pretty straight for. Isn't Barry supposed ot be some sort of Constitutional law professor or something?

Yeah, I question the guys brains.

[kim]

See clarice's Saxbe workaround, just above.
==========================

[Captain Hate]

Here's a toast for never having to support McCain again...never!!

CHEERS!!!!

[Captain Hate]

Albright (Half-Bright!)

Not-at-Albright

[bad]

LOL Captain, you're on a roll.

[kim]

Albright's Daddy convinced Condoleeza Rice to switch majors from Music.
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[narciso]

Josef Korbel's record was remarkable; the daughter was less impressive, a typical liberal apparatchik; whose 'balls', comment after the BTR shootdown masked her weakness.
And she's drifted into pseudo truthiness over the last 7 years. One might say that his real protege, was more impressive, but she got lost at Foggy Bottom, with the Arabist and appeaser cliques; which was a real dissapointment.

[JM Hanes]

Condi really just ended up quietly disappearing into the woodwork, didn't she? That may be a story in its own right, but I often wondered if she was essentially charged with making sure nothing interfered with Bush's concentration on Iraq and on bringing that war to a successful close before his time was up. After getting off to what looked like quite a promising start to me, she seemed to transform herself into a keeper of the status quo and reverted to time tested diplomatic forms of treading water, with the usual bis of largely symbolic progress here and there.

[sophy]

I do not know how to use the Cheap metin2 yang ; my friend tells me how to use.