Video- David Axelrod on recess appointments

Quote-O'-The Day: Recess Reid edition

By GottaLaff

Now you're talkin', Harry... but why weren't you talkin', well, awhile ago?

"I think, frankly, the president should recess all of them... It should be done. What's being done to this president is unfair."

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), quoted by Roll Call, calling for President Obama to follow through on his threat of making recess appointments for stalled nominees.

Mass. House gives initial nod to temporary fill-in for Kennedy seat

By GottaLaff

Nobody can replace Ted Kennedy, but at least they're fighting for another voice in favor of health care reform, our way. After the endless, nasty Coleman/Franken debacle, it will be good to see full representation for Massachusetts:

The Massachusetts House gave preliminary approval this afternoon to a bill that would allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint an interim replacement for the late US Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

The House voted 97-58 to send the bill to a final vote before the bill is sent to the Senate, where Republicans are vowing to use every parliamentary maneuver they can to delay it.

Top Senate officials are planning to hold formal sessions Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That would leave Republicans out of parliamentary delaying tactics by Wednesday, when the bill could be sent to Patrick’s desk. Current vote projections suggest there is a narrow margin to approve the legislation. [...]

Top Democrats in Washington have been aggressively pushing for Massachusetts to temporarily fill the seat to give them more leeway in approving President Obama's national health care plan. Shortly before his death, Kennedy himself advocated for the change in law.

"This bill will give us full representation today and the people of Massachusetts will have their second voice in the US Senate," said Representative Michael Moran, a Democrat from Boston who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Election Laws, as he introduced the bill. "My overriding concern is making sure the people of Massachusetts are fully represented in the US Congress."

But Representative Paul Frost, a Republican from Auburn, said he felt the Democratic Party was ramming the bill through, in order to allow the Democratic governor to put a Democratic senator in the office.

Gee, the Rushpublics never ram anything through ::coughPatriotActcough:: now do they? Different circumstances, same hypocrisy.

More here.

H/t: 1kecko

Crist will not appoint himself to Senate seat

By GottaLaff

FYI:

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday he would not appoint himself to fill the remaining time left in Sen. Mel Martinez's, R-Florida, Senate term.

Crist, who is running for Martinez's seat, would not speculate on who he might appoint to fill the remaining term, but the governor also noted that "there is not a long list of candidates" for the position.

There ya go... See what Sarah the Quitter started?

Russ Feingold Wants to End Senate Appointments

By GottaLaff

What Blagoeuoeuboiqvozhesvich and Paterson have wrought... or rotten:

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) plans to introduce an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end appointments to the Senate by state governors.

Said Feingold: "The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators. They should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people. I plan to introduce a constitutional amendment this week to require special elections when a Senate seat is vacant, as the Constitution mandates for the House, and as my own state of Wisconsin already requires by statute."

A Constitutional amendment? That won't be easy.

The ugly Bush stain: Last-minute appointments edition

By GottaLaff

The environment isn't the only thing BushCo has left its imprint on. Now the entire country has been stained en masse:

President Bush made another round of last-minute appointments Tuesday, giving 45 aides, supporters and others a parting gift as he leaves office: presidential appointments to boards and councils, with terms lasting three to six years after he leaves office.

The full list as released by the White House [...] includes attorney general Michael Mukasey, deputy national security advisor Elliott Abrams, and Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff.

Go here for the full list. The Bushies have infiltrated.