I think I’ll serve as secretary of state as my last public position and the probably go back to advocacy work, particularly on behalf of women and children.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Suggesting that, no, she won’t run for president when Obama’s done. She’s hinted at the issue before but the comments today were the first very explicit ones she’s made about her future plans. We don’t believe her. If she waited a few more years, she would most likely be president. Knowing her past ambitions, it’s hard to believe she’d give them up like that. source
If the law is changed, successfully implementing repeal and assimilating openly homosexual Marines into the tightly woven fabric of our combat units has strong potential for disruption at the small unit level, as it will no doubt divert leadership attention away from an almost singular focus of preparing units for combat.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos • Offering perhaps the strongest argument against repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” His comments, made in front of a Senate panel, should be obvious in the wake of the Pentagon’s recent study, which showed Marines to be the branch most resistant to the idea of openly gay soldiers. From there, the responses grew progressively more positive, with the Army pushing for eventual repeal, the Air Force pushing for repeal in 2012, and the Navy pushing for repeal right freaking now. source
Oh Alan … Lame Duck congressman Alan Grayson decided to make the most of his last month in office by calling out every single GOP loudmouth he could think of on the floor of Congress today, pointing out that all of them stand to gain by extending the Bush tax cuts – many of them in seven figures. Best bit: Noting that George W. Bush will make over $100,000 from his own tax cuts. This oughta get a lot of play on Fox News tomorrow morning. source
Our debt crisis is a threat not just to our way of life but to our national survival. And the threat that we face is so real and so close that we do not have further time for gridlock or inaction. It’s necessary that we take strong, aggressive action now.
Idaho Sen. (and deficit committee member) Mike Crapo • Revealing that he, along with Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, would be voting in favor of the deficit committee’s proposal Friday. That means that, along with retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, three Republicans would be voting to send the proposal for a vote in Congress. Problem is, that brings the grand total up to around nine votes. Fourteen of the nineteen members need to vote yes. At least three other Republicans (including our boy Paul Ryan) and one Democrat (Max Baucus) will vote against it. But that may not matter, according to committee co-chairman Alan Simpson. “Whether we get two votes or 18, this baby ain’t goin’ away,” he said. He’s right; the ideas will remain no matter what happens. source
Assaulting a fellow member of Congress. Treasonous conduct. Selling appointments to a military academy. Bribing people. Committing acts of payroll fraud. Sexual misconduct with congressional pages (who, by the way, are 16 years old when working in Congress). And now the latest reason for a censure: Using rent-controlled apartments at extremely undervalued rates while not paying taxes, failing to report income on a property being rented out in the Dominican Republic, keeping tax loopholes that benefit major donors, fundraising with house letterheads, and overall general corruption. Charlie Rangel’s had a pretty busy past couple of years, hasn’t he? source
I am not saying this law should never change. I am simply saying that it may be premature to make such a change at this time and in this manner, without further consideration of this report and further study of the issue by Congress.
Sen. John McCain • Speaking during a Senate hearing today about “don’t ask, don’t tell.” McCain claims that repealing the law now would be “premature,” and points to numbers about Army and Marine combat units not being quite ready for the change. This is despite the fact that the military’s highest-ups have all made the case that the policy should change as soon as possible. Hm. source
If someone’s looking for me to say something negative about Sarah Palin, why, that’s not going to come from me. I mean, did you see what she did to the halibut the other night on her show? Yeah, I’m not in for that …
Presumptive 2012 candidate Mitt Romney • Dodging the issue of what he thinks of Sarah Palin by ripping on her fish-clubbing skills. Slick, Mit, slick. He was on Jay Leno (boo) talking about himself (boo), and was sounding awfully presidential. Will he run for president? Is water wet? source
The poor guy in this Young Turks/MSNBC joint recently lost joint custody of his kids because he’s agnostic. No, really. The judge in the case cited Craig Scarberry’s (lack of) religion twice in making the decision to rescind the joint custody he had for four years. Anyone else see this as a first amendment/freedom of religion violation? Because we certainly do. source
The Senate knows the rule and should follow the rule and they should be cognizant of the rule. Nobody ought to be surprised by the rule. It is in the Constitution, and you have all been lectured and we have as well about reading the Constitution.
House Majority Whip (for the next month or so) Steny Hoyer • Scolding Senate Democrats for doing something really moronic. See, any revenue-raising bill has to originate in the House. Usually, the Senate gets around this by using a discarded, recombobulated House bill as a shell. But they didn’t do that this time with the food-safety bill they just passed, because they’re inept and want to let the GOP walk all over them like they’ve been doing the last two years. Heckuva job. (thanks fuckyeahcoolquotes) source