Wednesday’s Open Thread
By Bronwyn on December 8, 2010 at 9:00 PM in Current Affairs
Rachel Maddow says that Barack Obama is “undermining his own relevance and the relevance of the presidency itself” (!) … Get this: The Alaska Senate race may not be settled anytime soon, even though Joe Miller trails Murkowski by over 10,000 votes … Ah, we thought former Fla. Rep. Alan Grayson would disappear, but no such luck …
Check out Rachel Maddow on fire over Obama’s cave to the Republicans. From MSNBC:
Rachel Maddow cautions that if President Obama continues to compromise on his own positions and alienate his base of support, he risks undermining his own relevance to the political process and the relevance of the presidency itself.
The look on Maddow’s face cracks me up!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Maddow is a member of what the media call “Obama’s base.” She and her fellow hard-core lefties have an essential fact missing from their thinking: They assume that Obama actually meant what he said during his campaign.
They still don’t get it that he said what was needed to win, because that was all he cared about. Winning. They still think he has principles from which he has strayed. Nope. To stray from principles requires one to have principles in the first place. And that is not the case with Mr. Obama.
Good lord. I’d almost forgotten about the Alaska senate race. Can you believe that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the only unresolved race left over from November? Roll Call has the latest news. Joe Miller is one very stubborn man, fighting on although he’s behind by more than 10,000 votes. From “Alaska Senate Race Still Rages In Court“:
The legitimacy of Alaska’s Senate election will go before a state court judge today, but even a quick decision will likely not end the legal battle over the state’s standard for counting write-in ballots or bring the Senate race to a conclusion.
The potential for a drawn-out legal process threatens Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s timely seating and has brought on calls from both parties for Republican nominee Joe Miller, who trails by more than 10,000 votes, to end his challenge.
The Alaska Republican Party, former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich (D) have called on Miller to concede, but he is moving forward with his lawsuit. Murkowski’s attorneys have argued that Alaska deserves “full representation” and that her seniority ranking would be erased if there is a gap in service.
Team Murkowski thinks the judge will rule in her favor so they won’t have to worry about that.
[....]
Miller, fueled by the tea party to keep going, pushed back Monday against criticism that personal ambition is driving his extended pursuit, saying in a statement, “All we want is for all the votes to be counted in accordance with Alaska Statutes.”
The awkward situation has state Republicans helpless in their efforts to encourage Miller to exit the race so that Murkowski, a fellow Republican, can be seated by early January. Their fear is that the state will not be fully represented for important early votes in the next Congress, but Miller is not listening. …
Now this is NOT what one wants to read about a candidate:
“The people that are around him are the anti-party,” Alaska-based GOP consultant Art Hackney said. “In this insistence, now that he’s doing this for the law and not himself, I think he’s building a pretty deeply felt desire to see him out of politics forever.”
And that’s coming from a fellow Republican.
There’s a lot more detail in the full story: “Alaska Senate Race Still Rages In Court”
Alan Grayson refuses to go quietly into that bad night or wherever he came from. He even merits an article in Roll Call: “As Grayson Considers Political Future, He’s Keeping Tabs on Progressives“:
Defeated Rep. Alan Grayson is giving his supporters a way to continue promoting progressive values in Congress. The Florida Democrat is a favorite on the left for his outspoken views, and liberals have even been suggesting the frequent cable news guest should get his own show on MSNBC. [COUGH!] The Congressman’s spokesman told Roll Call that Grayson is still deciding whether he wants a future in politics, but indications are that he won’t be going away anytime soon.
The Grayson campaign sent an e-mail Tuesday morning encouraging his supporters to send their thoughts to Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (Minn.), the new chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“I’d like you to get to know Reps. Ellison and Grijalva, and for them to get to know you,” Grayson wrote. “So I’ve set up a webpage — RIGHT HERE — where you can offer a comment, an idea, a suggestion, a hope, or a prayer to these two leaders.” The e-mail takes supporters to a Web spreadsheet where they can give “ideas and advice” to Ellison and Grijalva.
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Despite losing to Republican Daniel Webster on Nov. 2, Grayson has continued to appear on television and to speak about legislation passing through Congress during the lame duck such as tax cuts, unemployment insurance and the DREAM Act.
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Well, I’ve been lucky. I haven’t caught Grayson once on television since his loss. I should buy a lottery ticket.
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