December 13th, 2006
For the good of the nation, let’s hope that Senator Johnson recuperates promptly. Otherwise, and I hate to be so insensitive, a Democratic led Senate will not come to pass:
WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible stroke Wednesday and was taken to a Washington hospital, his office said.
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If he should be unable to continue to serve, it could halt the scheduled Democratic takeover of the Senate. Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the November election. South Dakota’s governor, who would appoint any temporary replacement, is a Republican.
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If the two-term senator, 59, is unable to serve when the 110th Congress convenes Jan. 4, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds would appoint a replacement.
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South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said there are no special restrictions on such an appointment and a replacement would not have to be from the same political party.
UPDATE: Thankfully, foremost, for his family, it looks like Senator Johnson will recuperate:
A spokeswoman said later that doctors had found no evidence that Johnson, who turns 60 in two weeks, had suffered either a stroke or a heart attack, but he remained in the hospital.
UPDATE II: CBS News has a conflicting report, though the article does not provide any details — other than what we know:
Johnson, who turns 60 on Dec. 28, was admitted to George Washington University Hospital with an undiagnosed illness, said a spokeswoman, Julianne Fisher. However, she said the senator did not suffer a stroke or heart attack. His office had said earlier Johnson may have had a stroke.
Sources close to the situation tell CBS News the situation is definitely not good.
UPDATE III: Senator Johnson was operated and is now "recovering without complication":
Johnson suffered from bleeding in the brain caused by a congenital malformation, the U.S. Capitol physician said, describing the surgery as successful. The condition, present at birth, causes tangled blood vessels.
"The senator is recovering without complication," the physician, Adm. John Eisold, said. "It is premature to determine whether further surgery will be required or to assess any long-term prognosis."
December 13th, 2006
Hmmm… Bush the "Decider" has decided not to decide… he’ll wait till next year:
The White House planned on President Bush giving a major speech on the Iraq war before Christmas, but ABC News now says the idea has been shelved until next month.
A reason for the switch could be a wave a new polls that show Americans firmly opposed to the Bush administration’s approach to handling the war.
- A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows seven in 10 Americans "disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq — the highest percentage since the March 2003 invasion. Six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting."
- A CBS News poll finds Americans think the war in Iraq "is going badly and getting worse, and think it’s time for the U.S. either to change its strategy or start getting out. Forty-three percent say the U.S. should keep fighting, but with new tactics, while 50 percent say the U.S. should begin to end its involvement altogether. Only 4 percent say the U.S. should keep fighting as it is doing now."
- A Gallup Poll finds less than half of Americans "are willing to say that they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in Bush to recommend the right actions for Iraq."
With the war going so badly, it’s little wonder Americans give Bush such low approval ratings. He registers just 31% approval in the CBS News poll, 36% in the Washington Post/ABC poll and 38% in the Gallup poll.
December 13th, 2006
Democrats are ending the year with another exclamation mark:
Former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez completed a stunning political turnaround Tuesday with an upset win over incumbent Republican Henry Bonilla that topped off the Democratic takeover of Congress.
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After slowly working his way through the crowd to the stage, he declared victory — which came on the heels of two Democratic primary defeats in 2004 and earlier this year in the neighboring District 28.
"I think we have a real mandate," he said. "We needed to make sure we worked on raising the minimum wage. We’re also going to take care of prescription drug costs. And, by God, we’re going to do the right thing by our veterans."
The election sends Rodriguez back to Congress after a two-year hiatus prompted by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature redrawing of the state’s congressional districts in 2003.
His victory leaves Democrats with 234 seats in the U.S. House, Republicans with 200. A seat in Florida remains contested with the Republican candidate ahead and expected to win.
Tuesday’s runoff stemmed from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last June that Texas Republican leaders breached the Voting Rights Act by slicing 100,000 Hispanics from the district in their 2003 remap. A three-judge panel answered by removing several largely Anglo Hill Country counties and pulling heavily Hispanic South Bexar County into the district.
December 12th, 2006
Jon Stewart’s farewell to the outgoing Republican congress, via Crooks and Liars:
Stewart: That’s all for the 109th. Let’s hope they move on to… bigger… and…. ahh…f*ck it. Let’s just hope they move on.
December 12th, 2006
Kofi Annan is set to leave the UN after a ten year tenure as its Secretary General. In his farewell remarks he listed the lessons learned at the helm of that body, some of which have been interpreted as a stinging repudiation of the Bush administration:
First, in today’s world we are all responsible for each other’s security. Against such threats as nuclear proliferation, climate change, global pandemics or terrorists operating from safe havens in failed states, no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others.
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Second, we are also responsible for each other’s welfare. … It is not realistic to think that some people can go on deriving great benefits from globalization while billions of others are left in, or thrown into, abject poverty.
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Third, both security and prosperity depend on respect for human rights and the rule of law.
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My fourth lesson, therefore, is that governments must be accountable for their actions, in the international as well as the domestic arena. Every state owes some account to other states on which its actions have a decisive impact. As things stand, poor and weak states are easily held to account, because they need foreign aid. But large and powerful states, whose actions have the greatest impact on others, can be constrained only by their own people.
That gives the people and institutions of powerful states a special responsibility to take account of global views and interests.
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How can states hold each other to account? Only through multilateral institutions. So my final lesson is that those institutions must be organized in a fair and democratic way, giving the poor and the weak some influence over the actions of the rich and the strong.
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No less important, all the Security Council’s members must accept the responsibility that comes with their privilege. The council is not a stage for acting out national interests. It is the management committee of our fledgling global security system.
More than ever, Americans, like the rest of humanity, need a functioning global system. Experience has shown, time and again, that the system works poorly when the United States remains aloof but it functions much better when there is farsighted U.S. leadership.
That gives American leaders of today and tomorrow a great responsibility. The American people must see that they live up to it.
