Weds. Open Thread

Hey ya’ll – I’m going to be buried under most of the day. Just updated the Hot Headlines with some fresh links. As always, you can find out what the big stories of the day are by visiting Memeorandum.

I’ll check back in when I can.

10 Responses to "Weds. Open Thread"

Linda F says:

June 24, 2009 at 9:23 am

Mark Sanford’s going off the grid has caused MUCH talk among Democrats and the media. The state newspaper has their take on it – not surprisingly, it’s not a favorable one. They also take swipes at Palin and others who might pose a threat to THE ONE’S next campaign. Very biased, even for analysis (the writer is from the AP).
Severian says:

June 24, 2009 at 10:37 am

I see the typical leftist drive by media and blogs have their panties in a wad over Sanford’s little excursion.

Can’t a man eat his waffle in peace?
Lorica says:

June 24, 2009 at 11:50 am

Then there is this being completely ignored by the drive bys.

Editorial: Where did Gov. Kaine go?

The governor should release records of his travel for the DNC.

When Gov. Tim Kaine started moonlighting as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he promised his night job would not hinder his day job in Richmond. He should prove it by releasing travel records and information about who is footing the bill for his trips.

Last week, the Virginia Republican Party filed a Freedom of Information Act request for those records.

The administration indicated it probably would deny the request, citing two reasons.

First, when it comes to taxpayer-funded security, officials claim that revealing details could endanger the governor.

Security concerns might be convincing if this were not the first time the administration has raised them regarding the governor’s travel schedule. When he headed overseas on trade missions in the past, the governor’s team trumpeted his itinerary in press releases.

The case for withholding his DNC travel records is legally stronger. When Kaine hits the road for the party, he is not acting as governor but as a private citizen. FOIA does not cover that. The DNC and its donors pay for the travel, not taxpayers.

Nevertheless, the governor has a duty to Virginians beyond just the letter of FOIA. The only way the public can verify that his moonlighting has not interfered with his gubernatorial responsibilities is if it knows where and when he traveled and on whose dime. If big Democratic donors who have business before state agencies have provided free flights, people ought to know.

No doubt, the GOP hopes to use whatever it finds out to undermine a popular Democratic governor, but partisanship does not undermine the broader value of disclosure.

Hopefully, as promised, his two jobs do not interfere with each other. The governor has a lot of free time these days, after all. He is a lame duck whom the Republican House of Delegates hamstrung by rejecting many of the initiatives that would have required his attention. Really, all he can do is keep busy until Virginians elect his successor.

I can’t believe that the people of Virginia allow it. Talk about an opportunity to sway a Govenor with big donations.

Now they are saying that Sanford was in Argentina. All I have to say is I just don’t care. This wouldn’t be news if Sanford didn’t have that (R) after his name. *see above block quoted article – Lorica
Mwalimu Daudi says:

June 24, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Lorica is right. If Sanford was a Democrat he could rape (William Jefferson Clinton) and even murder (Ted Kennedy), and the press would trample each other in a race to kiss his a**. Sanford must have thought he was a Democrat.
Neo says:

June 24, 2009 at 3:51 pm

“In this movie, exactly one real-life politician is named: “President Obama.” They went out of their way to make sure they named the craven, obstructionist president as Obama.”
Executive Producer Steven Speilberg really does know his audience.
Neo says:

June 24, 2009 at 4:39 pm

EPA caught putting politics and ‘wornout dogmas’ ahead of science.
bill glass says:

June 24, 2009 at 6:26 pm

That would have to be some super stuff to go all the way to argentina.
Lorica says:

June 24, 2009 at 8:32 pm

I’m not married,

I could help you solve this problem the day after tomorrow, say about 3:30ish?? – Lorica
Neo says:

June 24, 2009 at 11:53 pm

The other day there were a few stories about the pending release of more pieces of history from the Nixon Library .. an obvious chance to kick Nixon the the Republican Party one more time, but somewhere along the way the story seems to have disappeared …

Five days before U.S. and South Vietnamese troops made their surprise move into Cambodia on April 29, 1970, then-President Richard M. Nixon got the approval of the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee for that action, according for documents released yesterday by the Nixon library.

Nancy Pelosi must be having a feeling of deja vu
Neo says:

June 25, 2009 at 11:08 am

Waxman-Markey – “Cap and Trade” Bill
Leaks from Hill offices indicate that the president would now be forced to impose the carbon tariffs — and could only opt out of doing so with permission from both chambers of Congress. Carbon-intensive imports would be subject to penalties at the border unless the country of origin requires emission reduction measures at least 80 percent as costly as ours.
This is the Smoot-Hawley redux that will bring on the Obama Depression

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