Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Senator Specter (R, no make that D-PA)

Senator Specter just announced his switch to the Democratic Party. He was facing a tough primary challenge from a conservative and had been hewing to the right to stave it off (as he does everytime his primary comes around). But that was looking pretty hopeless, so now he's decided to leave the Republican party. He insists he will not be Obama's "60th" vote in the Senate. But hopefully he'll at least remember his moderate roots.

Check out TPM's analysis on why he made the switch:

H/T to Lydia for scooping Drudge on this one.

Filibuster-Proof!

this is almost as exciting as the Jeffords switch back in the dark days.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hillary on Cheney: "I Don't Consider Him a Reliable Source"

From a hearing earlier today:



Go Hillary! I was strongly against her in the primaries, but I love having her on our side.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Maybe He Should Do a Carwash

According to the Trib, the honorable Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) raised a whopping $845 in the first quarter. That's not even enough to order 100 custom-made yard signs. Honestly, I looked it up.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Exceptional

From the Washington Monthly: In Europe, Barack was asked if he "subscribe[d]...to the school of American exceptionalism." His response:

I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I'm enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don't think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an Alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.

And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional.

Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we've got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we're not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise and that includes us.

And so I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships because we create partnerships because we can't solve these problems alone.

I can't express how much I love that answer.