RNC chief of staff resigns

By GottaLaff

Via an e-mail alert:

POLITICO has learned that Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay has resigned. He will be replaced by Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Leavitt. RNC spokesman Doug Heye declined to say if McKay was asked to resign, but said the move was "about ensuring that we have the tight financial controls in place and to ensure that every nickel we spend is done with the goal of winning in November."

For more information...http://www.politico.com

Damage control? If so, it won't work. Michael Steele has dug himself in so deeply, nobody can get him out.

Rats. Ship. Leaving.

General Casey: Obama's Surge Won't Require Longer Tours, Shorter Leaves

By GottaLaff

No stop loss, no longer tours? Really?

Gen. George W. Casey, the U.S. army's chief of staff, said Wednesday that the military would be able to implement President Obama's surge in Afghanistan without either extending the current length of tours in Iraq or Afghanistan or giving soldiers less time at home with their families between deployments.

He also said that the president's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan for at least the next 18 months would not require the army to reinstitute an unpopular program known as "stop loss," which prevented soldiers from leaving the army as previously scheduled.

Our troops are so pooped, frayed, suicidal, PTSD'd, drugged, alcoholic'd, stretched to the limit. They need a break.

Hey, I know! Let's stop fighting!

There I go being naive again.

VIDEO- Tom Coburn's chief of staff: "All pornography is homosexual pornography"

By GottaLaff



Another ignorant, fearful, sexually repressed, bigoted Rushpublic extremist:

At the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Summit today, FRC Senior Fellow Pat Fagan, Heritage Foundation scholar Matthew Spalding and Michael Schwartz, the chief of staff for Sen. Tom Coburn, held a discussion on “The New Masculinity.” Schwartz, who was the final speaker, said that Fagan wanted him to discuss “how men, who already are good husbands and fathers,” can “change the culture.” [...]

SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants.” You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.

Schwartz then added a slight caveat, saying, “if it doesn’t turn you homosexual, it at least renders you less capable of loving your wife. And it’s something you need to be healed of.”

I guess it's preferable to pal around with C Streeters, lie, and run off with your Argentinian soul mate, huh Michael? Taking notes, young people?

John Ensign Loses Top Aide

By GottaLaff

It seems I'm using the above graphic more often lately:

Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) chief of staff, John Lopez, "is leaving the senator's employ" in the wake of the senator's admission of having an affair with another staffer, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

"Republican sources say the loss of Lopez is a bad sign for Ensign as he tries to save his political career."

Buh-bye now.

East Wing Shakeup: First Lady Gets New Chief of Staff

By GottaLaff

After that whole "Inside the White House" special, where everyone seemed so happy and busy, we discover that there has been a, well, change:

First lady Michelle Obama has replaced her chief of staff, Jackie Norris, with a longtime friend from Chicago, Susan Sher.

The announcement of the East Wing shakeup was made by press release this afternoon without giving any indication of what had prompted the change only a few months into the administration.

Norris, a former top aide to President Obama in Iowa during the campaign, leaves to become a senior adviser to the Corporation for National and Community Service, according to a press release from the White House.

Her statement can be found here.

In her own statement, Michelle Obama called Norris a "a colleague and friend since the earliest days" and praised her for building "a strong organization in the East Wing."

But she noted that Sher is "a trusted advisor, longtime mentor and friend dating back to my work at the City of Chicago and later the University of Chicago."

VIDEO: White House reporter dozes off during Chip Reid question

By GottaLaff

Via Mediabistro:

An unidentified reporter nods off in the second row of the briefing room while CBS' Chip Reid asks Press Secretary Robert Gibbs a question about a possible second stimulus.

It turns out that the reporter is WSJ's Laura Meckler, who is expecting. That could explain her nodding off. Then again, it could just be Chip.

Joe Biden Picks Klain for Chief of Staff

By GottaLaff

Photo via...

Kevin Spacey played Klain in Recount:

Vice President-elect Biden has asked former White House staffer Ron Klain to be his chief of staff in the White House, Roll Call reports.

"Klain, who served in the same position for former Vice President Gore, also worked from 1989-1992 for Biden when Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is known to be close to the vice president-elect."

Barack means Lightning, Rahm means Thunder

By GottaLaff

Oooo, Barack Obama hates the Jewish people. They'll never vote for him, because he's a Muslim terrorist who wants them all dead!

But wait! Now Obama's pallin' around with Jews? Mazel tov, Rahm, you converted the President-Elect:

Remember when it was reported that President-elect Barack Obama had a problem with the Jewish vote?

That is no more.

In one of President-elect Barack Obama’s first Presidential decisions since Election Day he selected Representative Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. We all know that Emanuel has “has a proven commitment to Israel’s security and served as civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the Persian Gulf War of 1991.” We also know that Emanuel’s “aggressive, pragmatic style of politics” makes him the perfect selection to be Obama’s Chief of Staff.

But could have Emanuel’s selection had something to do with his first name - Rahm?

In Hebrew, Rahm (רעם)* means “thunder” and Barack (ברק) means “lightning.”

“If you are near...lightning you’ll hear thunder as one sharp crack”

Thunder & Lightning = Change that can get it done

*Point of clarification: Ra’am- spelled reish, ayin, mem - means thunder, but it depends on how he spells his name. If he spells his name reish, mem, then it may mean something different (like “high, lofty, or loud") - and it looks like he may. (Thanks for the heads up Nava!)

Wait... now Rahm means "high"? Oh no, Obama hired a druggy! A Jewish druggy! A loud, lofty, high guy!

So what does loud Rahm get high on, Manischewitz?

Randy Scheunemann denies firing; Rahm Emanuel accepts Chief of Staff job

By GottaLaff

What a miserable mess Gramm-pa McCain's gang is. Yesterday I posted that Rogue Randy was canned. Today he denies it:

McCain’s presidential bid has ended, but the fireworks from inside his former campaign continue to make news: evidence is mounting that senior adviser Randy Scheunemann wasn’t fired, as several internal sources had suggested, but the target of a deliberate whispering campaign.

Top McCain adviser Mark Salter told CNN Thursday that Scheunemann, the campaign’s senior foreign policy adviser, was not fired.

Campaign manager Rick Davis denied a report he had fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.

"My impression is there is some silly score settling being done," Davis told CNN. "Randy was not fired."

Scheunemann himself said sources who said he had been dismissed were lying.

"I was not fired,” he said Thursday. “Anybody who says so is either lying or delusional and is certainly a whack job."

There's the WJ word again: Whack job. And gee, Rogue Randy the target of a whispering campaign? The kind McCain used against Max Cleland? Welcome to Cleland's world, Rogue Randy.

By the way, Rahm Emanuel accepted the job of Chief of Staff, per MSNBC and Politico.
UPDATE:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), "a wily, aggressive West Wing strategist under President Bill Clinton, has accepted the post of White House chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama," reports Politico.

"The appointment was the first Obama offered after his election, and Emanuel pondered the opportunity for about 24 hours. Friends said Emanuel accepted the job because he thought it was important to serve this historic administration despite the potential strain on his wife, Amy Rule, and their three children, who live in the Chicago area. "

UPDATE:

Former Obama chief strategist David Axelrod has accepted the position of Senior Adviser in the White House, sources tell ABC News.

Rahm Emanuel accepts chief of staff job

By GottaLaff

MSNBC just reported this.