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01 Jan 2010 19:44

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Politics: Janet Napolitano resignation calls are getting louder, bipartisan

  • We should have someone who doesn’t need to go in there and learn about terrorism, learn about security. How close were these 300 people on this plane from losing their lives because homeland security broke down? Boy, it was really close.
  • New Jersey State Senate President (and former governor) Richard Codey • On his feeling regarding Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Codey feels that the former Arizona governor isn’t a good fit for the post, in that she doesn’t have a background in security. Many Republicans feel the same way (and have been criticizing her for months). Now, we don’t think it’s gotten this bad yet, but the building bipartisan support should give the Obama administration pause. source

01 Jan 2010 19:08

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Politics: Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat fraught with controversy again

  • 2004 GOP candidate Jack Ryan had to drop out due to a sex scandal. They brought Alan Keyes to run against Obama instead. That didn’t work out too well. Obama won.
  • 2010 A year after the Roland Burris appointment saga, GOP Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (a fierce Obama opponent) is being dogged by rumors that he’s gay. Oy. source

31 Dec 2009 12:55

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Culture, Politics: JibJab’s take on 2009 pretty much nails everything

  • Wait, we take that back. We don’t see the Rod Blagojevich/Roland Burris saga, which was as funny as the Mark Sanford saga, if not funnier. Too bad, but they did a good job nailing the bizarre, insanely crazy year that was.

30 Dec 2009 20:40

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Politics: We screwed up the Underwear Bomber thing. Let’s stop dwelling.

  • You know they had information that an analyst could have quickly put together and said ‘something’s wrong here’ and it didn’t get done.
  • Former CIA and military intelligence officer Joseph Cuellar • Describing what CBS News refers to as “no sense of urgency” to stop a terror attack like the underwear bomber. Cuellar and others are calling the response inexcusable. OK, guys, after days of establishing this, how are we going to fix it? Right now, the incident is a total political echo chamber we need to escape, stat. source

30 Dec 2009 20:27

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Politics: Obama’s staff ain’t fallin’ for Dick Cheney’s barbs this time

  • criticism Former veep Dick Cheney’s take on Obama: “He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war.”
  • smackdown The administration’s take on Dick Cheney: “It is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers.” Ouch. source

30 Dec 2009 11:27

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Politics: Arlen Specter wins a cookie for this point on bipartisanship

  • Obviously playing politics As you might have noticed, we’ve been hard on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the last couple of months because of his seemingly obvious attempts to stonewall progress on health care, not offer any real solutions, and really just try to kill Obama dead in in the water. Which is why it’s nice to hear Arlen Specter, who caucused with the GOP at the beginning of 2009 only to switch sides, basically say it.
  • What the Senate needs The Senate needs some reforms, because right now it’s clearly weighted against the majority party too much. The House can get things done with a simple majority; the Senate, however, has all these useless votes and filibusters, and needs a two-thirds majority to even be useful. Arlen’s been on both sides, and he’s been a Senator long enough that his words should be heeded. Good show, man.

30 Dec 2009 10:55

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Politics: Fear the double-dip: Some analyst says we need more stimulus

  • The only reason that the U.S. economy is doing as well as it is, is because of the government stimulus package. Now, if the government doesn’t introduce another stimulus package, this one will burn off in the first half and in the second half we could easily slip back into recession.
  • Westwood Capital Managing Director Len Blum • Arguing for the need for more stimulus on CNBC this morning. He notes that the government isn’t exactly in a position to be giving out more stimulus money due to the massive amount of lending it’s doing at the moment. Is this guy full of it? Depends on who you ask. Others argue that we might see a soft landing instead of a double dip. We argue that CNBC is full of speculation and it’s kinda hard to trust the speculation from their network. source
 

29 Dec 2009 20:36

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Politics: Karl Rove gets divorced not from reality, but from his wife

You gotta hand it to Karl. When he carries around the old ball and chain, he keeps it secure. Well, for 24 years, anyway. So much for family values. source

29 Dec 2009 20:22

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U.S.: Quick question: Did the U.S. blow the underwear bomber case?

  • YES that’s what Obama is saying, not us source

24 Dec 2009 10:33

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Politics: Harry Reid’s mistake “no” vote leads to this clever recovery

  • I spent a very restless night last night trying to figure out how I could show some bipartisanship. And I think I was able to accomplish that for a few minutes today.
  • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid • On voting no for a bill that he spent weeks pushing the rest of his members to support. A funny little aside that in the end didn’t mean anything, as ultimately, he voted yes, and we all just laughed at the guy and said “aw, shucks, Harry.” source