No Bad News

When Harry Met Roland…or Not

In a move that evoked memories of a defiant George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door, Senate appointee Roland Burris was denied entrance into the Senate chambers today.

Senate Rejects Burris in Spectacle at Capitol
Washington Post
Senate officials this morning rejected Roland Burris’s effort to be seated as the successor to President-elect Barack Obama, telling the former Illinois attorney general that he lacked the requisite approval of state officials to be sworn in with the rest of the class of 2008 in today’s launch of the 111th Congress.
Read more.

The Write Side has exclusive video of a statement offered by Senator Leader Harry Reid:

More on the Blagojevich/Reid/Burris/Obama Drama

Burris Consulting With Attorneys After Being Barred From Senate
FOX News
WASHINGTON — Roland Burris said he is consulting with attorneys to determine his next move after he was prevented from taking Barack Obama’s Senate seat Tuesday, but he maintained that he is the junior senator from Illinois.
Read more.

Blagojevich race card lands softly in Senate fight
Jesse Washington, Associated Press
The symbolism is very powerful,” said Laura S. Washington, a politics professor at DePaul University and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. “The fact that this is an overwhelmingly white Senate that’s stopping Roland Burris, a qualified, distinguished, by all appearances senatorial appointment, and white men are standing in the door, I think that’s very powerful, and it sends a very powerful message to African-Americans who have always distrusted the system.”
Read more.

Democratic leaders seek to resolve dispute as Burris fails to capture Obama’s old Senate seat
Chicago Tribune
Late Tuesday, Feinstein urged the Senate to settle the matter. “If you don’t seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America,” the California senator said. “Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician. He has been attorney general, he has been controller, and he is very well-respected. I am hopeful that this will be settled.”
Read more.

Governors Should Demand That Harry Reid Respect the Constitution
Matt Mayer, TownHall
The last time I checked, we had a Constitution that governed the election and appointment of Senators. America’s governors should demand that Harry Reid comply with it. When it comes to Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate, the Constitution requires Reid to comply with that decision and seat Burris. Frankly, anything short of honoring Illinois’s decision should create a constitutional crisis. The only entities that may be able stop Blagojevich are in Illinois.
Read more.

Obama faces distractions as politics intrude
International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON: The grit of Washington politics worked its way into the well-oiled gears of the incoming Obama administration with distractions over its choice of intelligence team, the president-elect’s Senate replacement and evidence Congress can’t act as quickly as hoped on the economy.
Read more.

Sweet Caroline

Kennedy Qualified and Palin Unqualified? That’s Just Plain Snobbery
Mary Grabar, Pajamas Media
But with her [Kathleen Parker] latest column comparing her own criticism of Palin with concerns about Caroline Kennedy’s lack of experience as she vies for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, I have to conclude that Parker just has it in for Palin. Weighing, among other criteria, relative “erudition,” Parker concludes that Kennedy is more qualified to be senator than Palin was to be vice president. What evidence does she present? Read more.

Kennedy won’t disclose details of finances unless she’s chosen
Associated Press via Globe and Mail
By all accounts a very wealthy woman who could be worth as much as $400-million (U.S.), Ms. Kennedy has said she will not release details of her finances unless Democratic Governor David Paterson picks her for the Senate seat that will open up if Ms. Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state. Read more.

Shel Shocker: Beware Caroline, He Warns Gov
New York Post
ALBANY – Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday strongly suggested that Gov. Paterson reject Caroline Kennedy as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement – because she might be more loyal to Mayor Bloomberg than to the governor. Read more.

Don’t Give Caroline Kennedy a “Bailout”
Matt Towery, TownHall
Let me give you the real lowdown on why the forever super-private Ms. Kennedy suddenly believes this seat should be hers. She thinks it is indirect payback time. Read more.

Princess Caroline Wants to Be Anointed
Charles Krauthammer, TownHall
The problem with Caroline Kennedy’s presumption to Hillary Clinton’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat is not lack of qualification or experience. The Senate houses lots of inexperienced rookies — wealthy businessmen, sports stars, even the occasional actor. The problem is Kennedy’s sense of entitlement. Given her rather modest achievements, she is trading entirely on pedigree. Read more.

Lack of donations to city, state Dems may hurt Caroline Kennedy’s bid for Senate
New York Daily News
This decade, other than a $1,000 donation to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Camelot heiress has not financially supported any Democrat seeking city or state office in New York, records reveal. Read more.

Minnesota Monkey Business?

As of this writing, in what has turned out to be the closest Senate race in the nation Incumbent Norm Coleman leads mediocre commedian and failed Air America Host Al Franken by 264 votes. [StarTribune.com]

Coleman Lead Endangered by Franken Affidavits
NewMax.com
Democrat Al Franken has launched a door-to-door campaign in Minnesota to gather affidavits from voters and use them to defeat GOP incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. Read more.

42 days: Minnesota’s still counting Coleman and Franken ballots
Los Angeles Times Blog
But meanwhile the Coleman camp charges that 200 already-counted ballots are about to be added to the pile and double-counted.  The Franken camp thinks it’s only 192 votes behind. Read more.

Minnesota Ballots: Land of 10,000 Fakes
Ann Coulter, TownHall
Highly implausible, post-election “corrections” in just three Democratic precincts — Two Harbors, Mountain Iron and Partridge Township — cost Coleman 446 votes. But I note that Ritchie doesn’t propose deferring to the election night totals there. Read more.

Stevens loses in Alaska

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has lost his bid for re-election.  We’re not sure why he lasted this long.

Washington Post:  Ted Stevens Loses Battle For Alaska Senate Seat
Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) defeated Sen. Ted Stevens, ending the tenure of the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, after the counting of more ballots yesterday gave him a larger lead than the number of votes still untallied, Alaska elections officials said.

As I said on October 27:  It doesn’t matter what party he is, or what it would do to the control of the U.S. Senate. If he’s guilty, he needs to go.

If Republicans don’t find their values they’ll be in the minority party for a long, long time.

The Write Side Endorses: Jim Gilmore

In the race for U.S. Senate from the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Write Side has already endorsed Jim Gilmore.  But let’s be a little more clear about the reasons why.

I’m not a Jim Gilmore fan.  Anyone who believes otherwise hasn’t been paying attention.  But that’s another story.

Jim Gilmore made a huge mistake in his run for the White House, and his lack of success in that endeavor pretty much proves we’re correct.  Saving those resources would have made him much more competitive in the race for the Senate.  In addition, Gilmore’s “No Car Tax” theme of 1997 was a brilliant campaign strategy to propel Gilmore into office. But it was implemented as bad policy.

Having said all that, Gilmore did not bankrupt the state, he did not create a financial mess that Mark Warner had to clean up.  The numbers are out there and anyone can look them up. When Gilmore left office, after the dot com bubble burst and after 9/11, yes revenues were growing more slowly than projected.  But the state budget still grew and Gilmore left a sizable amount in the Rainy Day Fund.

Enter Mark “I will not raise taxes” Warner who broke that pledge some 40 days into office with his first attempt at a tax increase.  The same Mark Warner who, with the help of some liberal Republicans pushed through the largest single tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth.  The same Mark Warner who signed that very increase with the knowlege that revenue projections were going to produce a surplus roughly equal to the amount of the tax increase.

And, somehow, Jim Gilmore got blamed.

Gilmore is also right on the issues.  He’s right on the issues of taxes, of life, of energy (and offshore drilling).  He’s a native Virginian who knows and loves this state.

I’m not a member of his fan club.  Never have been.  But I know he’d be a better Senator than Mark Warner.

Sadly, I don’t think anyone sees that happening.

Still, this vote is in his column.

The truth about Fannie Mae

Take the time to view this slide show.

H/T RedState

Who scares Mark Warner? [reference update]

Let hiim tell you in his own words.

UPDATE: Mark Warner made these remarks to the National Jewish Democratic Council on May 24, 1994 in an attack on GOP Senate candidate Oliver North. Mark Earley called him on it. Mark Warner denited it.

Warner was chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia at the time.

House Of Lies: How a Democratic Congress Failed To Protect Our Economy

Why Did They Try to Ban This Video? Burning Down the House

Karl Rove explains the political failure of Pelosi, Reid and Obama

Karl Rove talks with John Gibson about today’s failed vote. Since this was radio, the added “video” gets a bit annoying. But Rove is spot on in his analysis.

Regardless of your opinion of the bailout bill, this simply cannot be viewed as anything other than a political failure by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama. Quite simply, they couldn’t count their votes.

Try as they might to blame this on the House Republicans (and by extension John McCain), the blame rests at their feet. In the final vote 95 Democrats, some of whom owe their committee chairmanships to Pelosi voted no.

And while the Boehner and Cantor thought they might have had the votes to pull the bill through, Madame Speaker’s last minute partisan tirade pushed them away. Listen as Rove explains.