Top scientist says Bush’s ‘burrowing’ of political appointees will ‘leave wreckage behind.’
Top scientist says Bush’s ‘burrowing’ of political appointees will ‘leave wreckage behind.’
Yesterday, the president of the nation’s largest general science organization railed against efforts by the Bush administration to give political appointees “permanent federal jobs with responsibility for making or administering scientific policies, saying the result would be ‘to leave wreckage behind.’” James McCarthy, who heads the American Association for the Advancement of Science, called the “burrowing” of people without scientific backgrounds into science-related jobs “ludicrous“:
“It’s ludicrous to have people who do not have a scientific background, who are not trained and skilled in the ways of science, make decisions that involve resources, that involve facilities in the scientific infrastructure,” said James McCarthy, a Harvard University oceanographer who is president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “You’d just like to think people have more respect for the institution of government than to leave wreckage behind with these appointments.”
McCarthy particularly questioned the qualifications of Todd Harding and Jeffrey T. Salmon, who received civil service positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Energy Department’s Office of Science, respectively.
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Rove Claims Stock Market Is Dropping Because Obama Hasn’t Named His Treasury Secretary Yet
Rove Claims Stock Market Is Dropping Because Obama Hasn’t Named His Treasury Secretary Yet
Yesterday, stocks plunged for the second straight day, bringing “the Dow’s two-day drop to 873 points, or 10.6 percent, its worst two-day percentage loss since October 1987.” On Fox News last night, former Bush adviser Karl Rove tried to pin the blame for the drop on President-elect Barack Obama.
Though he admitted that there had been bad economic news yesterday, Rove questioned “how much of it is the news of the day.” “I mean, how much of it is that, and how much of it is the market saying, You know what? The economy is not in a good place and we’re looking at the future, and how much confidence should we have in the team that’s coming to make the economy better any time soon?,” said Rove.
He then suggested that the problem was that Obama hadn’t named his Treasury Secretary yet:
ROVE: Well, I got to tell you, I’m a little bit surprised. If the number one issue facing the country is the economy, then it strikes me the new administration, the president-elect, would be putting a lot of emphasis on getting a Treasury secretary and an economic team in place in order to signal to the country what he’s going to do.
But instead, we’ve seen a leak about the secretary of state. We’ve seen pretty serious rumors about who’s going to be attorney general, pretty serious rumors about who’s going to be head of HHS, Health and Human Services, who’s going to be Homeland Security counsel — Homeland Security department chief.
Watch it:
Though some economic analysts believe it would be helpful for Obama to name his econ team, it is laughable for Rove to blame the market’s problems on Obama. Indeed, the market is much more likely reacting to yesterday’s “grim economic data,” which included “a 16-year high in weekly unemployment claims and the failure of Congress to reach a deal to help U.S. automakers.”
Rove says the market is “trying to look four months, six months, a year in advance.” That may be so, but anyone hedging their bets is probably much more concerned about the economic outlook released by the Fed on Wednesday — warning “that a recession believed already to be underway could last until mid-2009 or later” — than who Obama picks to head the Treasury Department.
Transcript: More »
Fox News chief Roger Ailes signs up for five more years.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes signs up for five more years.
Rupert Murdoch’announced today that Fox News’s top executive, Roger Ailes, has signed a five year contract extension with News Corp. “Roger has done a remarkable job building FOX News into a force in journalism and built a great asset for News Corporation,” said Murdoch in a statement. Ailes said that he looks “forward to carrying out Mr. Murdoch’s legendary vision in the future.”
WSJ columnist blames financial crisis on the War on Christmas.
WSJ columnist blames financial crisis on the War on Christmas.
In his Wall Street Journal column today, Daniel Henninger argues that the “unprecedented economic ruin” that many Americans are facing is a casualty of the War on Christmas because “a nation whose people can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ is a nation capable of ruining its own economy”:
Notwithstanding the cardboard Santas who seem to have arrived in stores this year near Halloween, the holiday season starts in seven days with Thanksgiving. And so it will come to pass once again that many people will spend four weeks biting on tongues lest they say “Merry Christmas” and perchance, give offense. Christmas, the holiday that dare not speak its name.
This year we celebrate the desacralized “holidays” amid what is for many unprecedented economic ruin — fortunes halved, jobs lost, homes foreclosed. People wonder, What happened? One man’s theory: A nation whose people can’t say “Merry Christmas” is a nation capable of ruining its own economy.
After cataloging a series of complex economic factors that do relate to the financial crisis, Henninger concludes that what really went wrong is that “the steady secularizing and insistent effort at dereligioning America” led to “subprime personal behavior by borrowers and bankers.”
Waxman defeats Dingell to win chairmanship of House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Waxman defeats Dingell to win chairmanship of House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) will replace Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over global warming legislation. Waxman beat Dingell, currently the longest-serving member of the House, in a secret ballot vote of the Democratic caucus by 137-122. Yesterday, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee also voted 25-22 in favor of Waxman.
The pollution industry strongly backed Dingell, who often blocked environmental reforms, and fear-mongered that Waxman’s chairmanship would be “scary.”
Kagan: Status Of Forces Agreement Was ‘A Great Accomplishment For Us’ Because It’s ‘Opposed By Iran’
Kagan: Status Of Forces Agreement Was ‘A Great Accomplishment For Us’ Because It’s ‘Opposed By Iran’
On Sunday, after nearly a year of intense negotiations, Iraq’s cabinet overwhelmingly approved a security agreement that requires coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011. The next day, surge architect and American Enterprise Institute scholar Frederick Kagan appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, declaring that the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was a defeat for Iran.
“The Iranian leadership has been pulling out all the stops to get the Iraqis not to do this,” said Kagan, adding that it was “a great accomplishment for us” because “the Iraqi government has done it anyway“:
KAGAN: Well, actually, it’s opposed by Iran, not just Iranian-affiliated groups. The Iranian leadership has been pulling out all the stops to get the Iraqis not to do this. The Iranians are desperate for Iraq not to align itself strategically with the United States, and they have been literally trying to bribe everybody they can bribe in Iraq, and running a fantastic information operations campaign in Iraq to make this an unpopular and hard thing to do. And the Iraqi government has done it anyway. And that is actually a great accomplishment for us, and it tells us a lot about where this Shia Iraqi government actually stands on whether it wants to be aligned with the United States, or whether it wants to be aligned with Iran.
Listen here:
Kagan’s claims echo those of former Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor, who argued on Monday that the SOFA’s passage represented a “defeat” for Iran. But their argument misreads the reality on the ground.
As CNN’s Michael Ware, who has been reporting from Iraq for the last six years, told the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss, the SOFA agreement “could potentially be a victory for Iran” because “Tehran — whether we like it or not — was in the room” during negotiations. Watch it:
Though it’s true that Sadr has rejected the agreement, Iranian officials actually responded with “strikingly positive remarks on the security agreement after criticizing it for months.” Indeed, before the vote, Iraqis won a major concession barring the United States from launching attacks on neighboring countries from Iraq, which is thought to have softened Iranian resistance to the deal.
Reports: Daschle accepts job as HHS Secretary.
Reports: Daschle accepts job as HHS Secretary.
Roll Call reports that Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), who is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, “has been offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Barack Obama and has accepted the job.” Daschle is also set to take on the position of “health care czar” in the Obama White House. CNN’s Ed Henry is also reporting he negotiated the “health care czar” position in order to be “the point person on all White House health-related issues.”
Taxpayers to pay for Alberto Gonzales’ private attorney.
Taxpayers to pay for Alberto Gonzales’ private attorney.
This summer, six attorneys “rejected from civil service positions at the Justice Department filed a lawsuit” against “former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and three other top officials for allegedly violating their rights by taking politics into consideration” in the hiring process for the Honors and Summer Law Intern Programs. Today, McClatchy reports that the Justice Department has agreed to pay for a private lawyer to defend Gonzales, which could cost taxpayers up to $24,000 a month:
According to a person with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department has imposed a limit of $200 an hour or $24,000 a month on attorneys’ fees. Top Justice Department attorneys generally earn no more than $100 per hour. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Though “lawyers from the Justice Department’s civil division often represent department employees who’re sued in connection with their official actions,” Gonzales’ lawyer said that “private counsel can often be useful where (department) officials are sued in an individual capacity, even where the suit has no substantive merit.”
Fox News Blog Edits Out Homophobic Barney Frank Joke From Transcript Of ‘Red Eye’ Host’s Monologue
Fox News Blog Edits Out Homophobic Barney Frank Joke From Transcript Of ‘Red Eye’ Host’s Monologue
In a “Greg-alogue” video posted today, Greg Gutfeld, the host of Fox News’ late-night show Red Eye, launched a frivolous attack on Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta. “If you believe in progressive ideas, you’ll believe in anything, including alien conspiracies,” said Gutfeld.
In the course of his mocking diatribe, Gutfeld also inserted an off-color, homophobic joke about Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA):
Look, I don’t dispute that aliens exist, but there are more urgent matters to deal with, other than wrinkly creatures with a knack for anal probing.
But enough about Barney Frank. I couldn’t resist.
Watch it:
Though the transcript of Gutfeld’s joke is included on the Red Eye website, FoxNews.com scrubbed it when it posted Gutfeld’s commentary on its Fox Forum blog. Instead, the blog posting has Gutfeld saying “wrinkly creatures with a knack for cavity searches”:
Conservatives have recently increased their use of homophobic jokes to attack Frank. On Fox last week, Dennis Miller and Bill O’Reilly joked that Frank “might want to be arrested.” The week before, right-wing radio host Lars Larson encouraged his listeners to vote for “Barney Fag.”
WSJ Columnist: Obama Should Give Stephen Hadley The Medal Of Freedom
WSJ Columnist: Obama Should Give Stephen Hadley The Medal Of Freedom
In the Wall Street Journal today, President Bush’s former Chief Speechwriter William McGurn writes that National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley has “earned” the Presidential Medal of Freedom “for work that made possible the success we are now seeing in Iraq.” McGurn argues that though “it’s possible that George W. Bush would award” Hadley, it would be better “for the country” if President-elect Barack Obama were to honor Hadley:
Were President Obama to do so, a good man would receive an honor he richly deserves. The American people would see a new president confident enough to acknowledge the success of a decision he opposed. And the world would know that when the United States does leave Iraq, we intend to walk out with honor instead of being helo’d off an embassy rooftop.
McGurn’s argument in favor of Hadley is based solely on the idea that “without this good man’s courage and persistence, there would have been no surge.” It’s true that Hadley made many of the key decisions regarding the surge and that the strategy has achieved important gains in reducing violence in Iraq (though true political accommodation in Iraq is still elusive). But McGurn’s focus on the surge ignores Hadley’s role in selling the Iraq to the American people based on false information:
– Hadley was a member of the White House Iraq Group, which was assigned to “educate the public” about the threat and whose creation coincided with the “escalation of nuclear rhetoric” before the war.
– Hadley disregarded memos from the CIA and a personal phone call from Director George Tenet warning that references to Iraq’s pursuit of uranium be dropped from Bush’s speeches. The false information ended up in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address.
– Weeks after the 2003 State of the Union, Hadley repeated the false uranium claim in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, saying that the Iraqi “regime has tried to acquire natural uranium from abroad.”
– Hadley also pushed to have the unsubstantiated claim that 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta had met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague months before the hijacking placed into then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations.
McGurn claims that “awarding Steve Hadley the Medal of Freedom would cost Mr. Obama nothing, save possibly a few howls from the Daily Kos.” Clearly, those “howls” would be well-deserved.
Senate Dem leadership expected to allow Lieberman to keep Homeland Security chairmanship.
Senate Dem leadership expected to allow Lieberman to keep Homeland Security chairmanship.
Roll Call reports that when Senate Democrats meet tomorrow to discuss Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) future, the Democratic leadership is “expected to propose that he keep his gavel at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee but lose his Environment and Public Works subcommittee chairmanship.” The paper describes the proposal as only a “slap on the wrist” for Lieberman since Lieberman “may not lose much” if his subcommittee chairmanship is stripped:
Taking the subcommittee on global warming away from Lieberman may be seen as a stinging rebuke, given that he used the panel to push himself to the forefront of the climate change debate in the Senate earlier this year. However, Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plans to deal with climate change legislation at the full committee level next year, which means Lieberman may not lose much even if his colleagues vote to strip him of that plum assignment.
Kos calls the plan “not acceptable,” quipping that “given the Senate Democrats’ history of capitulations, expect Lieberman to come out of that meeting as majority leader.” CNN’s Dana Bash reports that Lieberman “is not happy about” the plan, but will accept it. Watch it:
Check out ThinkProgress’s report, “Joe Lieberman: The Progressive Who Lost His Way.”
Record numbers seek last-minute pardons from President Bush.
Record numbers seek last-minute pardons from President Bush.
As President Bush enters his final months in office, a record number of felons are seeking presidential pardons or commutations from him, causing “one of the largest backlogs in clemency applications in recent history”:
A number of high-profile felons have already sought clemency, among them Michael Milken, the junk-bond king and financier convicted of securities fraud in 1990; John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban; Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the former California congressman who was convicted of tax evasion; and Edwin Edwards, the former governor of Louisiana convicted in 2000 of racketeering, according to the Justice Department.
In his presidency thus far, Bush has “taken a stingy stand on pardons,” granting fewer of them than any president in modern history. But Bush’s use of his clemency powers has not been without controversy. In 2007, Bush commuted former vice-presidential assistant Scooter Libby’s 2 1/2 years prison sentence for lying to federal prosecutors. Libby has not submitted a pardon request to Justice.
Zell Miller campaigns for Chambliss, warns of ‘a far-left liberal agenda’ in Congress.
Zell Miller campaigns for Chambliss, warns of ‘a far-left liberal agenda’ in Congress.
In 2004, then-Democratic Sen. Zell Miller (GA) threw his support behind President Bush with an over-the-top speech attacking Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) at the Republican National Convention. Earlier this week, Miller continued his assault on liberalism while campaigning for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). “Saxby could well be the last man standing between a far-left liberal agenda sailing through the United States Senate,” said Miller. The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a web-only ad yesterday featuring Miller’s comments. Watch it:
Though Miller is now stoking fears of a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate, the Atlanta Constitution Journal notes that “as a senator, when Republicans controlled the chamber, Miller declared reliance on a 60-member cloture vote in the Senate, needed to shut off debate, to be undemocratic.”
Luntz: Congressional GOP Leadership Should Not Be ‘Reappointed’ After ’06 And ’08 Losses
Luntz: Congressional GOP Leadership Should Not Be ‘Reappointed’ After ’06 And ’08 Losses
In an interview with ThinkProgress yesterday at the Republican Governors Association’s annual conference in Miami, pollster Frank Luntz argued that the results of the 2008 elections showed that conservatives had “lost touch with young people” and “with moderates and independents.” “They basically lost the center,” said Luntz.
Saying that conservatives and the Republican party need “to understand, to really personalize, why people who voted Republican, abandoned them,” Luntz predicted that conservatives are “years away from coming back to where they were 10 years ago.” Asked if conservatives were having “that conversation with themselves,” Luntz said that the governors at the conference were, but that he didn’t “think Washington is having it”:
THINK PROGRESS: From what you’ve heard at the Republican Governors Association conference this week, does it sound like they’re having that conversation with themselves or does it sound like they’re not getting around to it yet?
LUNTZ: No, I think that the governors are having it, but frankly, I don’t think that Washington is having it. I don’t know a place where if you have two bad elections in a row, your leadership gets reappointed. In every other democracy — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, every country, Mexico — when you lose an election, you replace the leaders. They’ve now lost two elections and it’s the same people leading the House and the Senate. So, yeah, I think these guys get it, but I don’t think Washington gets it.
Watch it:
Luntz is referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). Though McConnell was not leading the Senate caucus in 2006 when Republicans lost six seats, Boehner was the House Majority Leader in 2006 when Republicans lost 30 seats.
Luntz’ comments to ThinkProgress weren’t the only harsh words he had for the GOP at the RGA meeting. “I understand how Dr. Kevorkian feels at an AARP convention,” Luntz declared at a panel discussion on the 2008 election. “There’s a generational problem the Republican Party is going to have to address.”
Transcript: More »
Poll: Obama’s election boosts African-Americans’ views of America.
Poll: Obama’s election boosts African-Americans’ views of America.
Via TPM Election Central, a new Rasmussen poll shows that the election of Barack Obama has had an immediate impact on many African-Americans’ views of America. The poll, taken two days after Obama was elected, found that “the percentage of black voters who view American society as fair and decent jumped 18 points to 42%.” The percentage saying that America is still unfair and discriminatory fell from 64 percent in early October to 46 percent today.
Dean to step down as DNC chair.
Dean to step down as DNC chair.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean is preparing to step down from his position when his term ends in January, Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reports today. According to Stein, a name being floated as Dean’s successor is Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who was an ardent supporter of President-elect Barack Obama:
In sheer political terms, the choice really wasn’t Dean’s to make. Indeed, any decision on who will serve as the next DNC chair will come with directives from Obama and his aides. And a name being floated around as a possible Dean replacement is one of the president-elect’s closest allies: Claire McCaskill, the junior Senator from Missouri and a national co-chair of the Obama campaign.
Pence: Conservatives Should Focus On Social Issues Like ‘The Sanctity Of Marriage’ While Rebuilding GOP
Pence: Conservatives Should Focus On Social Issues Like ‘The Sanctity Of Marriage’ While Rebuilding GOP
On Fox News Sunday yesterday, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) — who will soon be stepping into the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House — said that social issues like “the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage” will be central for rebuilding the Republican party after the stinging losses of the past two elections. Pointing to the success on Tuesday of ballot initiatives that ban gay marriage, Pence claimed that “the vitality of the conservative movement around the country is very real.”
WALLACE: I had Karl Rove on on election night, and he said, It’s not enough to just go back and say, ‘Well, we’re the party of Ronald Reagan.’ He says you’ve got to come up with new conservative solutions to the problems that people face today.
PENCE: Right. But you build those conservative solutions, Chris, on the same time-honored principles of limited government, a belief in free markets, a belief in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage.
You look at those social issues, Chris — you know, there were three state referendums on marriage. All three of them carried — I think in Florida, California and Arizona. You know, the vitality of the conservative movement around the country is very real.
Watch it:
Pence’s call for a continued emphasis on social issues conflicts with Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who declared on the day after the election that “issues such as abortion or gay rights should not be at the core of the party.”
Pence appears to believe that the lesson of the ‘08 elections is that Republicans need to become more conservative in order to find more public support. But polling shows that voters actually blame the Republicans’ loss on them being too conservative.
Hume: Bush has put America on an ‘amazing’ foreign policy path.
Hume: Bush has put America on an ‘amazing’ foreign policy path.
Reflecting on his final days as Fox News’ Washington managing editor, Brit Hume tells the Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin that when people look back at the Bush era, they “will be a lot kinder to this president than the current scribes are being.” “It’s really turned out to be a very consequential presidency,” said Hume, adding that Bush has put America on an “amazing” foreign policy path:
Even the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which is widely regarded as terrible White House bungling, is a much more complex story than that which eventually will be told. And while people are understandably focused on the length and the casualty count of the war, at some point they’ll consider the policy path on which this president has placed us. It’s a very different one, and an amazing one. We’re pushing for democracy everywhere, not just playing ball with friendly dictators as we did in the Cold War.
One thing that Hume is right about is the fact that historians currently view Bush’s presidency as “a combination of many negative factors.” According to CNN, historians currently say that “incompetent” will most likely be the word used to describe Bush.
Poll: Majority of Americans liked Obama’s first presser as President-elect.
Poll: Majority of Americans liked Obama’s first presser as President-elect.
Yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama gave his first press conference since being elected, discussing his plan to move forward on the economy and other issues. In a poll out today, Rasmussen Reports found that a majority of Americans liked the tone Obama set during the presser:
Over half of U.S. voters (54%) say they followed Very Closely news stories about Barack Obama’s first press conference as president-elect yesterday, and nearly as many (52%) say he set the right tone in his remarks.
Another 26% say they followed news of Obama’s Chicago press conference somewhat closely, and just six percent (6%) say they did not follow news of it at all, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Friday night.
Twenty-eight percent (28%) do not think Obama set the right tone in his remarks. One-out-of-five (20%) are not sure.
The poll also found that “over half of voters (52%) expect President Obama to do a better job on the economy than President Bush.”
Poll: 64 percent of Republicans want Palin to run for president in 2012.
Poll: 64 percent of Republicans want Palin to run for president in 2012.
In a new Rasmussen poll out today, Republicans overwhelmingly say that they want Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as their presidential nominee in 2012. Sixty-four percent of GOP respondents said that Palin would be their top choice in 2012:
When asked to choose among some of the GOP’s top names for their choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, 64% say Palin. The next closest contenders are two former governors and unsuccessful challengers for the presidential nomination this year — Mike Huckabee of Arkansas with 12% support and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 11%.
Three other sitting governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Charlie Crist of Florida and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota – all pull low single-digit support.
In the same poll, 69 percent of Republicans said that Palin “helped John McCain’s bid for the presidency,” even though exit polls found that 60 percent of voters felt that she was “not qualified to be president if necessary.” (HT: John McCormack)
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