Ted Stevens Loses Re-Election Bid
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has lost his bid for a seventh term. The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,724 votes after Tuesday’s count. That’s an insurmountable lead with only about 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted.
Stevens, who turned 85 Tuesday, also revealed that he will not ask President George W. Bush to give him a pardon for his seven felony convictions.
Did you hear that? That was Sarah Palin’s political future grinding to an abrupt halt.
This makes 58 seats for the Democrats. If Al Franken and Jim Martin can pull through (Franken via recount and Martin in the run-off election) the Democrats will have a Super Majority.
Photos: Modern Day Pirates
Pirates are expected to a record ransom of more than $10million for the release of the Saudi oil supertanker hijacked off the Kenyan coast, as the spate of hijackings gathered pace with two more ships seized today.
Negotiations over the Sirius Star, packed with two million barrels of crude oil worth $100million (£67m) - enough to supply the whole of France for a day - were said still not to have opened formally.
But officials involved in the release of previous ships claimed that ‘electronic monitoring’ showed the Somali pirates ‘were talking’ of at least $10million (£6.7m).
McCain To Run Again In 2010
After much speculation, McCain has decided to defend his Senate seat in 2010…
Hillary Wins Florida Write-Ins
Among the write in votes were those who really ran for president or vice-president during the long primary campaign: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rep. Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin and even Steven Colbert.
George W. Bush got two votes to serve a third term.
The results…
234 HILARY CLINTON
174 RON PAUL
23 NONE OF THE ABOVE
23 JESUS
21 MIKE HUCKABEE
14 MITT ROMNEY
8 COLIN POWELL
6 GOD
6 LEFT BLANK
5 UNDECIDED
4 AL GORE
4 BISHOP V.M. MCLAUGHLEN
4 FRED THOMPSON
4 OBAMA
4 RUDY GIULLIANI
4 STEVEN COLBERT
3 DONALD DUCK
3 DONALD FOY
3 MICKEY MOUSE
3 T. BOONE PICKENS
2 BILL COSBY
2 BILL McMILLON
2 BILL NYE
2 CHUCK NORRIS
2 CONDOLEEZA RICE
2 FRANK HARDEN
2 FRANKLIN GRAHAM
2 LOU DOBBS
2 PAGO POSSUM
2 SARAH PALIN
2 SEANATOR BROWNBACK
2 GARY BENZENBERG
2 GEORGE W BUSH
2 JOHN EDWARDS
2 LEE GODDARD
2 TIM TEBOW
Some of the single-vote choices are beyond hilarious…
Cheney Responds To Indictment
Cheney’s Camp Is Treating This Silly Indictment As A Press Ploy:
Cheney’s office said it has not received an indictment yet.
“I think this is a case where it may have hit AP’s desk before it hit ours,” a Cheney aide told FOX News, referring to The Associated Press.
Dick Cheney Indicted In Texas
McALLEN, Texas — A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers.
The indictment criticizes Cheney’s investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.
Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.
Dick Cheney is an investor in a company and he gets hit with an indictment?
It looks like Dick Cheney had some big bucks invested in Vanguard…
But, quick question, who cares? And why is every other investor not facing indictment?
What we have here is a nutty grand jury looking to gin up some chaos in the political world. Dick Cheney was a little too busy playing Vice President to influence an investment company, with whom he invested millions, to influence the companies they invest in to torture and murder prisoners in the interest of… well, I’m not sure what. This seems a bit silly.
Then again, that won’t stop the New York Times from front-paging this tomorrow.
Go figure, it looks like the local DA has a flair for things like this. He was indicted last year, though he eventually escaped the charges. This town seems to be out of order but - hey - the loons are happy!
Chuck Hagel Officially Jumps Ship
(CNN) — As his Senate career nears its end, Republican Chuck Hagel isn’t holding back when it comes to criticizing members of his own party — including conservative talk radio hosts.
“We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh,” Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington, according to the Huffington Post.
“You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office,” a sarcastic Hagel continued. “They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly. [The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don’t have any answers.”
Chuck Hagel refused to endorse his close friend John McCain, he has worked against Republicans in the Senate for nearly a decade and he was against the Iraq war from the beginning. He’s argued Republicans on shows like Meet the Press and the media loves to quote him as a ‘fellow Republican’ disagreeing with whatever the story of the minute is. My point is, Chuck Hagel is a much a Republican as Zell Miller was, in his last days in Senate, a Democrat.
So this story doesn’t surprise me…
Hagel’s motions in the past 24 months make one thing clear, he desperately wants a position in the Obama campaign. That’s less hard-to-swallow if the Democratic base knows he’s friendly.
Obama To Kill ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’?
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — More than 100 retired generals and admirals called Monday for repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays so they can serve openly, according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press.
The move by the military veterans confronts the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama with a thorny political and cultural issue that dogged former President Bill Clinton early in his administration.
“As is the case with Great Britain, Israel, and other nations that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality,” the officers wrote.
Obama has previously said, on several occasions, that he would repeal Clinton’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell policy’. With pressure from retired brass, this may be something he acts on early.
“Neutral, Leaning Towards Favorable”
Be Prepared To Hear This Quote About A Million Times:
At a critical moment on the last full day of Clinton’s term, however, Holder said he was “neutral, leaning towards favorable” on the Rich case. Clinton cited the opinion among eight factors that persuaded him to grant a pardon, although he publicly regretted that Holder was not given more time to review the case.
Even supporters agree that Holder should have raised serious questions about pardoning Rich, a fabulously wealthy commodities dealer who spent 17 years dodging federal tax and oil trading charges. Holder himself painfully concurs: “If I had focused on this in a way that I could have, should have, the recommendation I would have given him would have been, ‘Don’t do this, Mr. President.’ “
The problem is, I don’t think the politically neutered Republicans can stop the Holder nomination. You would expect the media to make an issue of this, but they seem to be preoccupied.
Report: Attorney General Eric Holder
(WASHINGTON) President-elect Barack Obama’s aides have privately asked senators whether Washington attorney Eric Holder would be confirmed as the next attorney general, according to a person involved in the talks.
The talks suggest that Obama is deeply interested in Holder, who served as the No. 2 official in the Justice Department under President Clinton.
In the past week, Obama aides have asked Senate Republicans whether they would support Holder. In particular, the aides questioned whether Holder’s confirmation would be delayed because of his involvement in the 2001 pardon of fugitive Marc Rich by President Bill Clinton.
Newsweek, quoting unidentified legal sources close to the presidential transition team, reported Tuesday that Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted. Newsweek said Holder still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final.
Barack Obama isn’t shying away from controversial partisans. Will Holder get the votes?
There is some historical significance to this pick, Eric Holder would be the first African-American Attorney General in the history of the United States. But that doesn’t make him uncontroversial…
Holder in 2001: “I’m done. Public life’s over for me” in the wake of the Mark Rich pardon.
