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01 Dec 2010 09:54

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Politics: Heckuva job: Senate fails to extend unemployment benefits

  • God forbid we actually think ahead … working together and coming up with a common solution. It makes no sense to me.
  • Sen. Scott Brown • Arguing that the Senate missed a golden opportunity to work on an unemployment extension, instead working on other things while a bipartisan opportunity passed them by. Instead, a bill to extend unemployment for some by an entire year was introduced Monday night, which made it hard to draw consensus support, especially since the benefits weren’t paid for. “I’m not sure why it took so long to get to his point while we spent seven days on food safety,” Brown said. “I’m very, very curious to see what’s next.” source

30 Nov 2010 11:08

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U.S.: Lame-duck Senate passes food-safety bill with bipartisan love

  • good A food-safety regulation bill, made necessary in the wake of multiple salmonella crises, passed the Senate with bipartisan support.
  • bad The bill may not benefit organic or small-scale farmers, who could be treated to similar levels of scrutiny to the agricultural giants.
  • worse The bill was held up for months by GOP Senator Tom Coburn, who apparently thinks you should eat contaminated peanut butter. source

29 Nov 2010 01:30

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Politics: Max Headroom: John McCain all over place with DADT rhetoric

  • Was Obama an inexperienced politician when he said he’d repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell”? Well, he ran a better campaign than this dude back in 2008. (Thought we’d forget that, didn’t you?) Anyway, John McCain was on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday trying to explain how the current gays in the military policy makes sense, in a way that’s giving Candy Crowley some real meat to chew upon. Meanwhile, large chunks of Americans think the policy should be repealed. And that includes this guy’s wife.
  • See, I’m not like Obama at all! The storyline we’re expecting to see in the next few months goes like this: Democratic senators, like Claire McCaskill, will be falling over themselves to differentiate themselves from the president. Don’t expect her to have a fat lip from playing basketball anytime soon.
  • Soft Black Friday story ruined It seems like your normal mid-afternoon CNN story that you can completely ignore until around the 45-second mark, when the anti-fur protesters show up. Then it gets interesting. Hey protesters: People who watch CNN in the daytime don’t buy fur; they can’t afford it.

24 Nov 2010 16:48

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U.S.: Turkeys more worthy of Obama’s mercy than humans

  • four number of turkeys Obama has pardoned since becoming president
  • zero number of people the president has pardoned so far source
  • » A fairly recent phenomenon: Although the pardoning of turkeys seems like a longstanding presidential phenomenon, it’s not. The first pardoning took place in 1989 under George H.W. Bush’s watch. And the shipping of turkeys to the White House only started in the 1940s, on Harry Truman’s watch. We’re guessing Truman killed the turkey himself.

18 Nov 2010 20:12

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Politics: Charlie Rangel rambles about censure like a depressed old coot

  • Oh God, this crap is just depressing. Charlie Rangel is on his way to a censure, the House’s first since 1983. And Rangel is just rambling on and onnnnnnnnn. For the love of God. Hey Charlie, we understand why. But you look pathetic. source

16 Nov 2010 22:30

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Politics: Obama: Sorry I’ve dropped the ball on bipartisanship

  • I neglected some things that matter to a lot of people, and rightly so: maintaining a bipartisan tone in Washington. I think, moving forward, I’m going to redouble my efforts to go back to some of those first principles. And the fact that we are out of crisis – although still, obviously, in a difficult time – I think will give me the capacity to do that.
  • Barack Obama • Explaining the other day how he managed to lose his grip on bipartisanship during his first two years in office, and his desire to regroup and find it again. It’s OK man, and kind of understandable. The other side wasn’t looking for bipartisanship, either. Though we do admit that we kinda hoped that you would’ve kept more of a level head going into office. Get your fresh start dude. source

16 Nov 2010 12:08

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Politics: CHARLIE RANGEL GUILTY! Obvious ethics trial has obvious result

Our long national nightmare is over. Will Charlie Rangel be kicked out of Congress? Do we even care? We’ll find out in the next episode of “Lame Duck Congress.” source
 

14 Nov 2010 21:44

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Politics: Max Headroom: James Clyburn not THAT annoyed by his role

  • Not too bothered James Clyburn made a passionate defense for himself – and Democratic leadership in general – on CNN’s “State of the Union” today. He claims that the same team being criticized now led Democrats “out of the wilderness” four years ago, and could do it again.
  • The Ed Show annoys us Ed Schultz took on Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Clyburn, and for balance, had Ron Christie, a former Cheney staffer, on to defend Rush. Rachel Maddow is not like Fox News a lot of the time. Ed Schultz, however … man, why the loud yelling, dude?
  • Rand Paul: Cut everywhere In one of the Kentucky senator-elect’s first interviews since being elected two weeks ago, he seems much stronger than he did six months ago. But he still is fervent about Washington not changing his anti-big-government ways. Ah, idealism. Will it hold up?

14 Nov 2010 11:25

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Politics: Heath Shuler: I have no real shot against Nancy Pelosi

  • If she doesn’t step aside, I will challenge her … [but] I can add and subtract pretty well.
  • Rep. Heath Shuler • Admitting that while he plans to take on Nancy Pelosi for the House Minority Leader position, he realizes she’s pretty powerful and it will be hard for him to win. Which is too bad for him, because he feels he “entire House was pushed farther and farther away from moderate viewpoints” and that the Democrats are “too far left” on key bills. Maybe he can fight James Clyburn for that Assistant to the Regional Manager job. source

11 Nov 2010 11:02

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Politics: Alaska Senate: Early write-in counts favor Lisa Murkowski

  • 98% of write-in votes favor Lisa Murkowski so far source
  • » And despite Joe Miller’s wishes: Murkowski misspellings are being allowed, making it so that she’s even more likely to win when all the votes are counted. It’s going to take five days to count every single one of the write-in votes.