I Thought Something Smelled Out There...

...and it's the idea of nominating Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon-General. Paul Krugman sparked my memory:

I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

I think that Dr. Gupta is a publicity-hound and, despite being a neurosurgeon, a less-than-brilliant medical reporter. I've found fault with several of his reports on CNN, particularly his story last fall on John McCain's health care plan. I thought that Gupta's reporting on McCain's ludicrous "plan" was misleading and insubstantial, and apparently, the Columbia Journalism Review agreed. Gary Schwitzer at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism & Mass Communication has also had his problems with Gupta's independence and professionalism.

Gutpa may be a neurosurgeon, but he is not a leader in his profession; he's a celebrity, the Dr. Phil of medicine and medical reporting. Frankly, I think this is like nominating Paris Hilton for Secretary of HUD. It's based more on fame than competence, and it's a bad idea.

UPDATE:
Looks like John Conyers agrees with me. The Huffington Post reports that Rep. Conyers "has written a letter to Democratic colleagues urging them to join him in publicly opposing the nomination of Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General." In a letter to his fellow Democratics, Conyers, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, wrote:

[...] there are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr. Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the United States Public Health Service. Gerard M. Farrel, Executive Director of the Commissioned Officers Association, stated in the January 7, 2008 Washington Post that Dr. Gupta will certainly face a "credibility gap" because he never served in the National Health Service Corp, and furthermore, does not have the "experience or qualifications to be the leader of the nation's public health service." Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America.

C'mon, how long are we going to believe in the cult of celebrity?

LMAO!!

Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent:

Joe The Plumber is putting down his wrenches and picking up a reporter's notebook.

The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (WUR'-zuhl-bah-kur) says he'll spend 10 days covering the fighting.

He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants to let Israel's "'Average Joes' share their story."

Clarity

The Rude Pundit breaks it down for ya'll:

When Al Franken decided to run for the Senate in Minnesota, it was as one type of crusade, to redeem the seat of Paul Wellstone, ripped away by Wellstone's death in a plane crash and then by Republican subterranean ratfuckers, who manipulated Wellstone's memorial into some kind of anti-American face fart. Franken, who has talked repeatedly about this as another kind of scar, went into the election to take down Norm Coleman, the slick as shit huckster who was elected over Walter Mondale, the Wellstone surrogate in 2002. There was redemption to be had, and someone with celebrity and name recognition and deep pockets was the person to do it.

What the election turned into was another kind of redemption for Democrats. 'Cause, see, when Franken didn't concede the tight race back in November, he finally stood up and said let's see what happens when you actually fight for all the votes cast. When he decided not to be a mensch, like Gore and Kerry did with their tails between their legs, he demonstrated that Democrats can get into the kind of bare knuckle fight that Republicans have challenged them to time and again. And win.

Yeah, Coleman might fight, but he'll lose. The Republicans are gonna be fucking pieces of shit about Franken's election, but that's what Republicans do. They'll lose, too. So now there's someone heading to DC who is a wholehearted liberal, someone who learned from 2000 and 2004, put on his brass knuckles, and said, "Let's go."

I've been angry for a long, long time, watching this sleazy, opportunistic hack, Norm Coleman, despoil Paul Wellstone's senate seat. For the duration of his term, Norm Coleman has represented only himself, not the people of Minnesota (OK, maybe he's been a good representative for Nieman Marcus and Nordstrom's, too). Normie hugged Bush tighter than a cheap suit until the polls started going against him, but by then Coleman had no record to speak of when it became time for his own reelection.

So Norm slimed Al Franken, an intelligent, good, and honest man, throughout the election season. Normie played up Al's past comedic career to prevent the spotlight from shining on Norm's own stint as resident joke and corrupt little clown in the U.S. Senate, and ran the dirtiest campaign this state has ever seen. Norm has whined and sued and sputtered ever since November 4th, but now, when it's time for him to take his own advice and not prolong this contest in the face of an undeniable win, what's he going to do? By all accounts, he's going to do what he always does: sue when he can't win honestly.

Poor Normie. You can try to delay it all you want, Norm, but Minnesota's newest senator is Al Franken. Even Harry Reid says you'll never serve in the Senate again. Move back to Long Island and get high again, Norm; or maybe you can move to Alaska--I hear they might want a new governor in a few years. Either way, just go, Norm. GTFO!

Congratulations to Senator-Elect Al Franken, a tough and tested progressive Democrat, who will help us bring back America.

Buh-Bye, Norm, Hello Senator Franken!

The Associated Press:

A Minnesota board on Monday certified results showing Democrat Al Franken winning the state's U.S. Senate recount over Republican Norm Coleman, whose lawyer promised a legal challenge that will keep the race in limbo for weeks. The Canvassing Board's declaration started a seven-day clock for Coleman, the incumbent, to file a lawsuit protesting the result. His attorney Tony Trimble said the challenge will be filed within 24 hours.

Hey Norm, do you remember saying these words?

"Yesterday the voters spoke. We prevailed," Coleman said Wednesday at a news conference. He noted Franken could opt to waive the recount.

"It's up to him whether such a step is worth the tax dollars it will take to conduct," Coleman said, telling reporters he would "step back" if he were in Franken's position.

Time to be a man, Norm. It's over. Go. You ran a scummy campaign, you lost, and now it's time to GTFOH. You've got other things to worry about, anyway, like impending corruption charges.

And hello, Senator-Elect Franken!!

Say It Ain't So, Bill

Bill Richardson withdraws as the nominee for Secretary of Commerce:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson abandoned his nomination to become commerce secretary under pressure of a grand jury investigation into a state contract awarded to his political donors _ an investigation that threatened to embarrass President-elect Barack Obama.

Aww hell, Bill, but congrats for showing the Republicans how it's done. Just withdraw honestly, and then clear your name. We need you. And damn Blago for raising an already-high bar.

Franken Ahead By 225 Votes

Yesterday, Al Franken pulled dramatically ahead in the recount of the Minnesota Senate race. Norm Coleman is now faced with the decision to either sue and contest the entire election, or to finally face reality and admit defeat. I wonder if he's both arrogant enough, and stupid enough, to try and do that. Certainly, the local and national pundits don't think he can win:

TPM Election Central:

Today's events in Minnesota make it appear that a Norm Coleman victory is now pretty much impossible -- and it just so happens to have occurred on the day his Senate term officially expired. A nice extra touch.

Election officials today counted through about 950 absentee ballots that both campaigns agreed had been wrongly rejected, completing the recount unless there is any new court intervention. The result: Al Franken's paper-thin lead of 49 votes has now jumped to 225 votes -- way beyond what most people crunching the numbers expected, based on the geographic spread of the newly-counted ballots.

Politico:

The results of the additional absentee ballots give the Franken campaign continued momentum and make it more difficult for Coleman’s campaign to overturn the results in a post-recount challenge. The 225-vote margin is more than many observers expected Franken to have at this stage.

Indeed, even if some of the Coleman campaign claims regarding double-counted ballots and missing ballots were resolved in their favor, Coleman still would likely be trailing Franken.

It looks like it's just about over for Normie. Even Powerline is giving up on my favorite carpetbagger:

Given the magnitude of Franken's lead at this point, in excess of the 130 or so votes that are at issue with respect to duplicate ballots disputed by the Coleman campaign and reserved by the Supreme Court for an election contest, I wonder whether Senator Coleman may now choose not to file an election contest following the declaration of Franken as the winner of the recount on Monday.

Either way, Minnesota is down a senator today, as Coleman's term expired on Saturday. I agree with some other local bloggers that Norm should give up and concede. Norm, listen to Marshall Helmberger, and for once in your life, do the right thing!

I also agree with Chuck Schumer that the Senate should seat Al on Tuesday when the 111th Congress convenes. I make no apologies for this. I'm tired of playing pattycake with the GOP. President Obama can be the Great Conciliator--and I hope that he will be--but as for me, I plan on breaking my progressive Democratic foot off in some elephant butt, every time they try to obstruct us from rebuilding this nation. Let John Cornyn bluster; call his bluff, I say. Make him reveal the GOP obstructionist agenda right from the start. It's time to start teaching the Repugs that things have changed.

Happy New Year, and WTF are They Up To NOW?

Happy New Year to everyone. I'm recovering from a total systems failure just after Xmas, and I'm presently practicing my New Year's resolution to drop Windows this year by posting this from my new Ubuntu Linux installation (v.8.10 Intrepid Ibex, for the tech-savvy out there). Screw you, Micro$oft!

Now, what the hell has been going on? In just the last five days, the Israelis have begun bombing Gaza, the Pakistanis and the Indians are tettering on the verge of starting the world's first nuclear war, Norm Coleman is whining about Al Franken all the way to the loser's box in the Minnesota Senate race, oil is back above $40/barrel, Blago had the nerve to appoint an egomanaical hack to Barack Obama's Senate seat, and Bush is still trying to lie about his record, and the GOP is still singing "Barack the Magic Negro"??--WTF?! And, oh yeah: a Muslim family with three small children was dragged off an airplane for the crime of wondering where the safest seats were, and John Cormyn can kiss my ass--Harry Reid should call his bluff.

Watch out, wingnuts, I'm back!!