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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 24243
Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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 Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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Bill Clinton Offered Rep. Joe Sestak A Job On Obama's Behalf
| Quote: | The Huffington Post reports that Bill Clinton acted as the president's intermediary to offer Pennsylvania Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak an administration job in return for dropping out of his primary battle with Sen. Arlen Specter. The GOP is contending that the offer was illegal.
| Quote: | | Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) was offered a prominent but uncompensated, advisory position -- in the national security/foreign policy area -- if he would drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary race, a source with knowledge of the exchange said during a briefing on Friday morning. The offer was made by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel through a prominent intermediary -- former President Bill Clinton -- during the months of June and July of 2009. The White House initiated the conversation, which occurred over phone. It would have allowed Sestak to remain in the House of Representatives while advising the president. The source said it would not be surprising if more than one conversation took place, though there were no other intermediaries involved. Sestak ultimately rejected the overture and went on to defeat incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn) in the Democratic primary election earlier this month. |
The White House has issued a memo confirming the offer. |
While I wouldn't go so far as to call this "unusual", under US election laws it IS highly illegal.
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 17637
Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:49 am Post subject: |
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It looks like Russ Feingold has fallen in Wisconsin 
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:16 am Post subject: |
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| DSquared wrote: | | It looks like Russ Feingold has fallen in Wisconsin |
It's sad, but it was pretty clear for the last couple weeks that this was going to happen.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:43 am Post subject: |
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Was it just that Feingold was unable to stem the tide apparently sweeping the Democrats out of power?
The Republicans gaining control of Congress is one thing, it's another thing to lose Democrats like Feingold who did stand up for the average person regardless of who was in power. Mind you, maybe if no progressive Democrats are elected that the progressive community in the US will stop looking to the Democrats for salvation and fight themselves.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:49 am Post subject: |
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It's a whole combination of things. The Democrats in Wisconsin nominated a milquetoast for their gubernatorial candidate, which didn't help to bring out the vote for Feingold. There is a also a fairly generalized anti-incumbent wave going on, and due to the Teabaggers the GOP has managed to paint itself as a populist and outsider party.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 3:13 am Post subject: |
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What's even worse is, by and large, it appears that third parties are not gaining any traction whatsoever. You'd think with disillusionment of both parties at an all-time high, plus the ease with which the Internet allows people to organize, that third parties might have made ground and provided a foundation upon which to build. What's going on?
It appears that the United States of America is finished, can only go downhill, and nothing is rising up to challenge that trend in any meaningful way. I've resigned myself to this situation.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 3:17 am Post subject: |
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By the way, I forgot to mention:
GOP to take House, Senate up for grabs.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 3:25 am Post subject: |
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Looks like Harry Reid might make it back in! 
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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ronb
mocker
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2627
Location: Blackroof country, no gold pavement, tired starling
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 3:31 am Post subject: |
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...which for some reason reminds me of the last scene in Burn After Reading. I'm pretty sure Harry will have one of these moments tomorrow morning.
What did we learn, Palmer?
I don't know.
I don't fucking know either... |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 5:00 am Post subject: |
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Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee is now Rhode Island's governor. He did so on an Independent ticket.
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| DSquared wrote: | What's even worse is, by and large, it appears that third parties are not gaining any traction whatsoever. You'd think with disillusionment of both parties at an all-time high, plus the ease with which the Internet allows people to organize, that third parties might have made ground and provided a foundation upon which to build. What's going on?
It appears that the United States of America is finished, can only go downhill, and nothing is rising up to challenge that trend in any meaningful way. I've resigned myself to this situation. |
I wouldn't be so sure about the third party thing. First off, I think the Teabaggers have the latent capacity to spin up into a full-blown third party. It doesn't get reported on much, but they are also pretty pissed with the Republican establishment for (supposedly) compromising with Obama. If they do, I would expect to see the US system go into some major turmoil for a couple electoral cycles and then shake out with the Tea Party + rabid Republicans on the far right, a party of moderate Republicans and right-wing Democrats on the right-centre-right, and a party composed of what remains of the Democrats in the centre or maybe, if we get really lucky, on the centre-left.
If that does happen, the US is going to have to institute a run-off system for Presidential elections, since it is practically certain that no one party's candidate would put together a majority of the electoral college. In fact, a true three party system would probably require the scrapping of the electoral college.
And on Lincoln Chaffee, he was actually to the left of the Democrat in the race, and has held much better positions on most of the issues than had Frank Caprio, so his election is a good thing.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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Feral
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 890
Location: In a tree... very high up.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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| TS. wrote: |
If that does happen, the US is going to have to institute a run-off system for Presidential elections, since it is practically certain that no one party's candidate would put together a majority of the electoral college. In fact, a true three party system would probably require the scrapping of the electoral college. |
The several states determine how their electors are selected and how they are apportioned to candidates. While several states proportionally appoint electors according to the popular vote, many simply hand all the state's electors to the candidate that received the most votes. Even with a three-party race it's quite easy to rack up a great many electors. I suspect that there aren't enormous difficulties with the electoral college system in this hypothetical situation.
However... the electoral college has not been popular for some time. Amendments to scrap it in favor of direct election have been introduced in the past. Certainly a few presidential election cycles where the winner of the popular vote repeatedly was not also the winner in the electoral college could only enhance popular dissatisfaction with it. Still... the previous amendments all failed to pass Congress.
The constitution places the selection of President firmly in the hands of the House of Representatives should the college fail and the selection of Vice President in the hands of the Senate. This happened in 1800 and in 1824. I don't see the Congress giving that up... less so in the sort of political turmoil postulated. They might, though. After passing Congress, the amendment would have to pass a majority of the 50 state legislatures. That has proven tricky for amendments that passed readily in Congress in the past and might or might not prove difficult in this situation depending on how the hypothetical parties are distributed around the country. |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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But what then happens if the House of Representatives is roughly equally split between three parties? Do you think it would come to pass that one party would support the candidate of another in exchange for cabinet positions?
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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Feral
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 890
Location: In a tree... very high up.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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A - Each state delegation gets one vote rather than each representative. I'm not at all sure what manner of peculiarities could crop up there. As near as I can tell, some candidate will surely snag that seventeenth state. The other two candidates will surely scream bloody murder.
B - What's this? Support for some screwball opposition candidate in exchange for cabinet positions? Why.... yes... I can see entire state delegations getting together to cast their state's vote in exchange for some sort of quid pro quo. When the "quid" isn't cash, that tends to pass for "cooperation" and "bipartisanship" in these parts.
Mind you, California's delegation would have 53 representatives to decide how that vote would be cast (or sold) while the delegations from states like Vermont, Delaware, or Wyoming have a much more interesting time of it; having but one representative makes the word "delegation" mean something quite odd. Surely (I mean... SURELY) some species or other of less-than-noble persuasion would be wielded in the cases of the seven states with delegations of one. I hardly see how it would not come into play in the states with but two representatives to "pay off." Between the states with one congressman and the states with two congressmen, you come fairly close to obtaining the 17 state votes to become president under the peculiar circumstances you envision.
Fortunately, it's been just ages since it's come up. Imagine the shrieking and gnashing of teeth in the event the archaic system rears it's partially fossilized Jurassic head again. I'm imagining the rabid clattering of 140 million computer keyboards just now... it's a hoot. |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:41 am Post subject: |
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By the way, I've done a calculation of the outcome in Washington based on the patterns of voting and what counties have reported how many of their precincts. I should note, first, that this calculation is inexact, since it assumes all precincts are a roughly equal size, which is not necessarily the case, however I think it should be fairly accurate. As a result, I would suggest that Murray (D) will win the Oregon Senate race, ultimately by around 41,000 votes, out of an estimated total vote of 2.302 million, or a margin of 1.78%. This projected win is largely on account of a lot of the vote still being out in King County which is by far the largest county in Washington, being the home of Seattle, and which is heavily Democratic, almost 2:1. King County is still only 62% reported, so there is a lot more net gain for Murray to come from there. Murray's lead is currently approximately 26,000.
If my projection pans out, that would make for a Senate split 53-47 in favour of the Democrats. I am considering Alaska a Republican seat either way, since Murkowski has said she will caucus with the Republicans if she is re-elected, and the candidate in second place is the Republican.
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"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson |
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ronb
mocker
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2627
Location: Blackroof country, no gold pavement, tired starling
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voice of the damned
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 6136
Location: slandered, libeled
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| Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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I know it's not techncially on-topic for this thread, but Jerry Brown is back.
I do have to hand it to that guy. He kinda bucks the concept that a political trajectory has to be consistently upward. He goes from governor, to party chairman, to mayor of a relatively small city, to attorney-general, and then back to governor, with numerous presidential and senate runs along the way. I guess it sort of fits with what some would take to be his new-agey, non-hierarchical approach to politics.
Anyway, cue the Jello Biafra quotes. |
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sparqui
Dog tired
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 5152
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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That rant is excellent. Every progressive political candidate on both sides of the border should read it.
The Tea Party movement was fueled by economic frustration but directed by corporate billionaires interested in creating further wealth without checks. If progressives would just start speaking to the obvious: job losses, depreciation of wages, economic recovery for the rich only, loss of labour protections, off-shoring jobs, rise in fee for essential services, crumbling infrastructure, etc.
Tax the rich.
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“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”
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bshmr
Fulltime enMasse Member
Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 4003
Location: Central USA, Earth
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| Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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A local mention led to much verbage and smallish packets of data in decent graphs/charts. I would rather have read numbers in a inclusive table (though that would be bandwidth wasted in the minds of most).
The side argument focused on 'representation' seems fallicious to me as I prefer to represented with wisdom without regard for the portion favoring dogmas of popular demogogues of church and political media. [So much for my idealism as I am always forced nowadays to choose between the less abusive of petty 'servants'.]
Today's news
Heard on the Hill: More Kansas state legislators lack college experience than other states; all kinds of Jayhawks are at European-based ESPN America; KU researcher gets mention in Kansas economy story
By Andy Hyland — Lawrence Journal-World; June 24, 2011
...
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/jun/24/heard-hill-more-kansas-sta...
**
| Quote: | Details on each state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Degrees in the Statehouse
MORE ON THE REPORT
How Educated Is Your Legislature?
A Chronicle examination of 7,000 state representatives finds that just three in four have completed college. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Lawmakers Talk About Their Degrees – or the Lack of Them
One five-decade Iowa legislator and veteran makes higher education a priority, while a self-taught Utah senator thinks college is useless for some.
4 Experts Weigh In
How important is it for state legislators to hold college degrees?
How a Degree Influences Decision Making
More than a third of South Carolina’s state legislators went to the University of South Carolina, but that doesn't seem to be helping its budget. |
http://chronicle.com/article/Degrees-of-Leadership-/127797/ |
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