February 9 at 12:46PM
Remember this bit of mindless important obstructionism?
Having proved his obstructionist important point, Sen. Richard Shelby is finally backing down…
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama will stop blocking Senate confirmation of about 70 government appointees nominated by President Barack Obama, his office said.
Shelby had placed "holds" on most of Obama's nominees, delaying the Senate from acting on them, in a dispute over federal spending involving his state.
"The purpose of placing numerous holds was to get the White House's attention on two issues that are critical to our national security - the Air Force's aerial refueling tanker acquisition and the FBI's Terrorist Device Analytical Center," Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said in a statement Monday night.
Wow.
Imagine all the trouble that could've been avoided if Sen. Shelby's staffers had shown him how to operate that square-shaped talking box thing on his desk.
February 9 at 12:20PM
It somehow took more than a year for this to happen…
There is a billboard along I-35 near Wyoming, Minn., with a huge photo of former president George W. Bush and this question: "Miss Me Yet?" Now, the push is on to find out who paid to have it put up…
[T]here's no readily apparent claim of ownership on the billboard… At first glance, it would seem to be from some person or group who isn't thrilled by President Barack Obama's performance so far — unless it's a more ironic message from those who didn't think too much of Bush and want to remind voters about him.
Wyoming, Minnesota is only a few miles north of the state's 6th district, so I thought maybe this might have been Michele Bachmann's doing. But then I noticed that it's all spelled correctly and uses a question mark instead of an emoticon.
So, I guess the mystery will continue.
February 9 at 10:26AM
This past weekend of course saw The Super Bowl as well as the big Tea Party convention in Tennessee. But as Jon Stewart pointed out on last night's Daily Show, it was also Ronald Reagan's birthday. The only way it could have been a more patriotastic weekend is if a bald eagle had waterboarded some foreigners with a 200-year-old jar of Betsy Ross's urine. Maybe next year.
Stephen Colbert's take on the Tea Party convention can be found below.
The Daily Show and Colbert Report air Monday through Thursday starting at 11pm / 10c.
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February 9 at 9:00AM
Ugh. This is awful. Stop reading right here if you're scheduled for "routine surgery" anytime soon…
Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha died Monday as a result of recent gallbladder surgery complications which arose from doctors accidentally nicking Murtha's intestines, a source close to the late congressman has told CNN. The procedure was "routine minimally invasive surgery," but doctors "hit his intestines," the source said.
As tragic as this news is, I guess mistakes can happen, even when you have health insurance and a good doctor, right? So at least there's no obvious way Murtha's death can be exploited as an argument for or against health care reform.
Although I'm sure someone will think of something.
Btw, we wrote an obit for "The Manatee of Congress" yesterday, but I'd just like to suggest that Murtha was a smidge more complex than we made him out to be — yes, he was crazy in love with pork; yes, the Abscam scandal in 1980; yes, Redneckgate of '08, but also: he was the first Vietnam combat vet to serve in Congress, he was a passionate advocate for veteran's issues, he fought for anti-torture legislation and in 2005 he took serious heat from Karl Rove and other GOP operatives for his prescient criticism of the Iraq war strategy. So please, keep all that in mind when you remember the Manatee of Congress.
February 8 at 5:19PM
David Paterson's office is denying rumors that the New York governor is planning to resign following a hugely unimportant sex non-scandal that isn't not currently about to not break.
I'm sorry, but that's really the most concise way to explain this…
New York Gov. David Paterson's office made the rounds to major news outlets Monday to shoot down rumors the governor is planning to step down in the wake of a "bombshell" New York Times story about to be published that is so scandalous he can't politically survive it.
The governor is reportedly expected to do an interview with the Times on Tuesday, but his staff insists there's no there there.
So, there's nothing for Paterson to discuss with the New York Times, and that's what he's presumably planning to tell them when he sits down to discuss things with them? I don't know about you, but I'm putting my money on there being a there there.
What is the deal with Albany? I had no idea that place was such pit of debaucherous.You'd never guess it from actually being in the town. When you're actually sitting in that place, you feel like you're where Happiness goes to nurse its sorrows at an Applebee's bar.
February 8 at 3:50PM
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