No, he wasn’t in cahoots with Gov. David Patterson to delay him having to choose Hillary’s successor. His reason for holding up the process was…honestly, I’m not quite sure. Here’s his reasoning…

A spokesman for Mr. Cornyn, Kevin McLaughlin, said, “this is not an effort to scuttle or block the nomination, but a legitimate policy difference. Senator Cornyn’s goal is to create transparency on all levels of government.” Mrs. Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed an agreement with the Obama transition team, putting some limits on foreign donations to his foundation, as well as stipulating annual disclosure of new donors.

But Senator Cornyn, in a letter to Mrs. Clinton last Friday, said he remained worried that her diplomatic activities would be compromised “unless tighter foreign fund-raising restrictions and transparency protocols are adopted.”

Only here’s the rub…the way things stand right now, instead of voting to confirm her today, the Senate is just going to vote to confirm her tomorrow. Even if we wanted to block the confirmation, we don’t have the votes, so the point of this exercise is lost on me.

I actually really like Cornyn and think he’ll be a great head of the RSCC, but this was just silly. Republicans are going to have to pick and choose our battles. Let’s be honest, the biased liberal media is going to call us divisive no matter what we do…so when we decided to take a stand, let’s make it count. Blocking Hillary Clinton (or Tim Geithner, for that matter) wastes a “those divisive Republican’s” news cycle that could be better used to fight the 2009 Fiscal Suicide Act, or the Big Labor Anti-Choice Act (otherwise known as “Card Check”).

Plus, Clinton and Geithner were gifts to us. Would we prefer Secretary of State John Kerry, or Treasury Secretary Paul Krugman?

UPDATE: Hmmm…

UPDATE DEUX: See?

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At least, that’s what they thought in my world.

Either way, here are the top ten most read blog posts of 2008.

1. Small Town Sarah
2. I Blame McCain
3. Obama’s Other Woman
4. Arne Duncan Don’t Need No Education
5. UFC 92 Predictions: Too Close to Call
6. Mitt Romney Announces his Candidacy for President
7. Mika is Much Hotter than 10
8. Newt Gingrich and iTunes
9. Thoughts on Rick Warren
10. What’s Next for Sarah Palin?
]]> http://johnbrodigan.com/2008/12/29/the-best-of-the-best-of-2008/feed/ 0 John Brodigan http://johnbrodigan.com/2008/12/20/geraldine-ferraro-hates-fairy-tales/ http://johnbrodigan.com/2008/12/20/geraldine-ferraro-hates-fairy-tales/#comments Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:02:34 +0000 Brodigan http://johnbrodigan.com/?p=1464 Continue reading →]]> With Hillary Clinton being appointed to the BAM Administration, that leaves an empty seat to be appointed by New York Governor David Patterson (you know, when he’s not raising our taxes on beer and iTunes). And you may not have heard, but the leading contestant is Caroline Kennedy.

Everyone loves the “fairy tale” aspect of the story. Well, not quite everyone. According to the New York Post, JBdotC’s newspaper of record, former NY congresswoman and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro has what she (and I, for what it’s worth) thinks is a better idea.

Geraldine Ferraro gave a thumbs down to Caroline Kennedy’s bid for the Senate yesterday. Ferraro…sent a letter to Gov. Paterson urging him to instead appoint one of New York’s six sitting female Congress members to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate. [She] said it’s not time for on-the-job training while New York faces a fiscal crisis.

“You can’t send someone down there who doesn’t know the issues. If you send someone down there who doesn’t know the legislative process, they’ll get chewed up alive. Our senator should be ready on Day 1. Just knowing people down there [in Washington, DC]? It’s just not enough.”

Personally, unless it’s the result of a sudden death, I don’t like the idea of Senate appointments at all. You don’t need to look any further than the state of Illinois for an example why. There should always be a special election…even if it’s just a one party primary.

The people of New York chose a Democrat to represent them four six years, so it’s only fair that Sen. Clinton is replaced by another Democrat. New York has TWENTY-SIX congresspeople with D’s at the end of their names who have dedicated their political careers to serving the people of New York, plus a ton of mayors and other local officials on top of that. All of whom I’m sure would love the opportunity to run for an open seat.

To pass over them just to coronate someone because their last name makes people feel good isn’t the way to go.

UPDATE: Speaking of last names…

“I definitely want to run,” he said yesterday. “I believe the average New Yorker will identify with me.”…Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, praised King. He “is exactly the sort of senator that New York City and New York State needs,” Giuliani said through an aide. “He is already an expert on terrorism, and his knowledge … would be invaluable in the Senate.”

Another former NYC mayor, Ed Koch, is a Pete King supporter as well.

I’m excited aboot this because I’m a huge fan of King’s, who also happens to be my congressman. Having both Rudy Giuliani (for Governor) and Pete King running in 2010 would be huge for New York Republicans. And if we could draft Greg Ball to run against Chuck Schumer, thing could really get fun.

The question remains, who runs for King’s open congressional seat? My the NY-3′s favourite blogger? Hey, stop laughing!

I’m not crazy aboot Susan Rice, though that has little to do with her background as much as it has to do with her annoying the hell out of me during the campaign. But she’ll be at the UN and have a notebook she can doodle in during cabinet meetings, so whatever.

Eric Holder I retain my indifference to, though apparently for everything aboot him the right doesn’t like there seems to be something the left doesn’t like as well, so take that for what it’s worth.

Other than that, if you substituted Joe Lieberman for Hillary Clinton, I would think that John McCain was the President-Elect. I could see J-Mac keeping Bob Gates. Jim Jones, if not National Security Adviser, would be Secretary of Energy. And I could even see McCain choosing Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security.

I was expecting Markos Moulitsas at the Pentagon and Katrina vanden Heuvel at the State Department. Instead, we’re getting a foreign policy team that more closely resembles Bush41. P.E. BAM chose experience and competence over ideology.

Much like with his economic team, no real complaints here.

–>Huckabee, Jindal Talk About Repairing GOP

–>Governors to Meet Obama With Hats in Hand

–>Jihad’s True Face

–>Hillary Clinton’s test at State: How she’ll work with Obama

–>Bolder Beats Bigger: Reining in rescue

3-1: Thomas Suozzi. Suozzi is known nationally (to the extent he is known at all) as the guy who ran a quixotic primary challenge against Spitzer in 2006. With two years of hindsight, however, Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, looks better and better. Suozzi’s geographic base (Long Island) is appealing for Democrats looking for a statewide winner, and Bill Cunningham, the top political aide to Paterson, is also extremely close to Suozzi.

This would makes things very interesting for New York over the next two years. Suozzi’s County Executive seat is up for election in 2009, and him not running again would leave things wide open for both sides (and as a Nassau County Young Republican, this just made things much more fun).

And then in 2010, we’d have the Governorship and BOTH Senate seats up for grabs. Rudy Giuliani is rumoured to be running, Andrew Cuomo is rumoured to be considering a primary challenge to current Gov. David Patterson, and both George Pataki and Pete King are considering Senate runs.

I think I’m really going to enjoy this.

UPDATE: Caroline Kennedy?!?

And I’ll be honest, as I look at some of the names for Cabinet positions…there’s not really all that much to complain aboot. I know some of my conservative brethren are beefin’ aboot Eric Holder, but I’m personally indifferent.

There was also criticism of Rahm Emmanuel for being an “extreme partisan.” And that’s true, Rahm is an extreme partisan…as head of the DCCC where being an extreme partisan is a job requirement (as it’s supposed to be for the RCCC as well). Rahm in the Clinton Administration was a centrist who pushed for free trade and welfare reform.

But let’s look at some of the rest:

The economic team looks to be Tim Geithner at Treasury, Bill Richardson at Commerce, and both Larry Summers and Bob Rubin as top White House advisers. I’ve always been a fan of Richardson, and the other three have all been applauded by economic folks on the left as well as the right. The DOW jumped 500 points upon Geithner’s name.  The only one of consequence who isn’t happy aboot Geithner seems to be Jim Cramer…and that just makes for some entertaining television.

For foreign policy you have Hillary Clinton at State, Jim Jones at the NSA, and Robert Gates staying at Defense. Clinton is more of a Hawk then some of the Republicans BAM was thinking of for the position. Jones was rumored to be in the running for Vice-President…then the next day unofficially endorsed John McCain and was an unofficial adviser on his energy plan (one of them may have even been the best man at the others wedding). And Gates is the current Sec. of Defense who did this weird thing where he held people accountable for fucking up.

(And as a side note, the fact that he replaced Don Rumsfeld in 2006 instead of in…oh, I don’t know…2003, is the source of great anger for us at JBdotC HQ)

(And as another side note, knowing that with every former Clintonite that gets appointed a piece of people like Chris Matthews and Andrew Sullivan dies inside, makes me feel a tingle down my leg I’ve never felt before)

Then there’s Janet Napolitano, a Governor from a border state, for Homeland Security. She’s for increased border security (though not “The Fence”), cracking down on employers who higher illegal immigrants, and creating an online database to help employers verify citizenship. Plus it’ll create a new Republican Governor (the AZ Secretary of State is an R), so that’s good too.

I know criticizing every appointment the other guy makes is part of the game we play, and had it been President-Elect McCain you would have MSNBC, NYTimes, and all of the other Obama supporters nitpicking over every decision he made, much in the same way the right is doing to P.E. BAM now.  But if we all take a step back, his picks have little to do with ideology (the source of most of our disagreements) as they have to do with experience and competence.  There’s really not a whole heck of a lot to complain aboot.

At least for now…

*That was a Sideshow Bob reference, so please save the hate mail.

**I hope everyone else is having as much fun saying BAM as we are.  My favourite is saying “BAMelot.”

For the past eight years, I never believed Hillary Clinton truly gave a shit aboot being a Senator. It was just a means to her real goal…becoming President. Obviously that didn’t work out for her…leaving her looking like the senator from Chris Rock’s “Head of State.” So what does she do now?

One option is to gamble on the next two years being an absolute failure, and then forcing a primary run in 2012 much like how Ted Kennedy did against Jimmy Carter in 1980. She’s the only D who would have the juice to do so, and already have a base of voters waiting for their orders…especially if the next two year causes them buyer’s remorse. The downside here is that challenging a sitting President usually doesn’t work out well for the party…it didn’t work out for the D’s in 1980, just like it didn’t work out for the R’s in 1976 (though it did work out for the R’s in 1980…I’m just sayin’).

The other option (if you agree with me aboot the Senate) is Secretary of State. Immediately after accepting the nomination, she would immediately leap frog Joe Biden and become the defacto number #2 in the Obama Administration. No offense to Smokin’ Joe, but the main reason he was picked was to bolster Obama’s lack of foreign policy cred. With Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, she’d be the top voice in foreign affairs, leaving Biden to break ties in the senate and inquire daily as to the health of the President. The downside here is…she’d serve at the pleasure of the President. Can you imagine Hillary Clinton taking orders from anyone?

Looking at those two options, I think “Madame Secretary” would make the most sense.

(H/T RightVoices.com for the pic)

UPDATE: Hmmm…

UPDATE DEUX: Looks like we have our Peggy Noonan back…

UDDATE TRES: Make that a double hmmmmm….

–>Let Hank Paulson explain.  No time, let him sum up…

–>You know who isn’t crazy aboot Hillary? Obama staffers.

–>Neither is Chris Mathews.  Are you as shocked as I am?

–>Obama fans…the movie!

–>We need less Lincoln and more FDR

–>In Detroit, Failure’s a Done Deal

–>England says, “Don;t be like us.”

–>Let the Obama flip-flopping begin

–>Let the Obama flip-flopping begin – Part Deux

–>Maybe Hillary wasn’t offered the job after all

–>Taxes, Taxes, yum yum yum…

–>Conservative media braces for a cold, cold winter

–>That didn’t take long.

Bill Richardson’s still my first choice, or if the President-Elect was a man of his word when he says silly things like “change” or “bi-partisan,” maybe even a Chuck Hagel or a Richard Lugar. If I can’t get Richardson, I’ll definitely take a Secretary Clinton over a Secretary Kerry (as in John).

Plus, speaking as a New Yorker, it would free up a senate seat. I’m not naïve to think the Governor (who’s a D) would give it to an R, but there isn’t really a heir-apparent to step up so I’d be curious to see who’d move up.

Parting Thought: Am I the only one who’s noticed that Barack Obama, who ran on change and turning the page and making a break from the Clinton’s, seems to be staffing the White House will all former Clinton people? Change I can believe in indeed!

.