If somebody from the Obama transition team had *not* talked with Blago and his crew, then there'd be a story, and it would be a story of failing to do due diligence.

*Of course* the Obama team talked to Blago, and Blago let us all know, in no uncertain terms, what he felt about that conversation.

There's no there there, as the famous saying goes. It won't do any harm, however, to repeat this fact endlessly, to counter the revved up Republican Noise Machine.

Folks,

The new, more powerful Democratic majority has not yet been seated. We're still dealing with the old Congress; the cloture vote wouldn't even be close.

Even if GM goes bankrupt between now and the end of January (and GM bankruptcy would not be the worst thing in the world), the failure to address these issues in a timely fashion will be put squarely on the backs of those to whom it belongs, i.e., the GOP. Goodbye for the next generation Michigan; goodbye for the next generation Ohio.

Finally, there's a lot of real work that needs to be done in the Midwestern states to make them economically viable again, and the first step in that is to stop making the contemporary equivalent of buggy whips and start making products that people really need. This crisis will head us down the right road--and, hopefully, with an Obama presidency, we can mitigate the accompanying pain as we make that journey to a truly profitable and responsible future.

>why can't we have corrupt politicians named "Smith"?)

We do:

Bush

Cheney

Libby

The list is endless, and is only one or two syllables for each.

A lot of us haven't forgotten the Libby case, either--where the GOP was willing to sacrifice both national security and actual lives for mere political gain.

In other countries, this is called "treason."

Here, the GOP calls it "business as usual."

Add it to the willingness to support Ponzi schemes in the +billion level, and you've got quite a party for yourself, Elephantman.

Don't look at the GOP! They're hideous!

>wondering why no one made you take your shoes off before coming in.

Why? Cuz for eight years all the press has lobbed at the Bush administration has been softballs!

And the press wonders why nobody is buying their crap anymore--the death of the news business indeed! The business died after the news part died.

Always good to remember Ted Koppel's infamous 2004 quote: "We don't report the truth, we report what people say."

Of course the court is correct; if they spent their time ruling on who was fit to hold office in Illinois because of corruption, they'd do nothing else.

Haven't we already had this conservative president?

Instead, we sacrifice adults: we sacrifice them to the God of Oil, to the God Mammon, to the God of Capital Punishment, to the God of Private Health Care.

We send our adult sons and daughters into the great yapping maw of War, of Poverty, and of Ignorance.

As Matt Barber amply demonstrates.

The real scandal in the Plame affair was the fact that by outing Plame as a covert agent, the Administration put every one of her foreign contacts in danger of being tortured and killed.

And they did this for purely political advantage.

And then Scooter Libby lied about it, to investigators, was tried, and convicted by a jury of his peers.

All of this is immaterial to the Wall Street Journal, who apparently believes that no member of the Administration should be punished for betraying our friends, our allies, and national security.

Sez it all, don't it?

"I worried that Obama might never figure out how to appeal to working-class Democrats."

Um, you forgot a word there. Because, after all, plenty of working-class Democrats voted for Obama from the beginning. They just weren't a member of the group designated by the word you left out.

It's the same word Ms. Clinton used when describing this group, when she engaged in what many people, including myself, believed was calculated race-baiting.

The word, of course, is "white." Unless you believe somehow that "working-class" excludes black people, just as many conservatives use the word "Southerner" to mean "white Southerner."

Try it this way:

"I worried that Obama might never figure out how to appeal to white working-class Democrats."

There now. That's more what you meant, isn't it?

It's always good to see how many people can recognize a bandwagon.

RUN SARAH RUN

And remember, according to Ann Coulter, it's unwed mothers who have caused the most problems in this country--thus, it's Bristol who's at the root of all our problems!

RUN SARAH RUN!

Democracy is a foreign concept for the Right in the US. The notion that both parties could actually sit down at the same table and rationally come to fair conclusions regarding an election is an equally foreign concept.

They are bullies, fools, clowns, idiots, and liars--and proud of all these things. They are dupes of the ultra-rich and powerful.

They prey on those who haven't two brain cells to rub together to make a spark. They're plenty of 'em, and most of them vote Republican (some vote Libertarian and Green).

We've tolerated their intolerance, hatred, and fear-mongering far too long. They need to be driven from public life by the sanitizing light of truth.

Can we complain when conservatives have ties to capitalistic societies? Can we complain, at least, when they have ties to secessionist and racist societies?