Gotta Love 'Em

From Politico:

Cornyn could be thorn in Clinton confirmation

By GLENN THRUSH 1/20/09 4:09 AM EST Text Size:

The timing of Clinton’s appointment remains in the hands of Cornyn, who has threatened to block a resolution.

’Twas the night before Inauguration, and Hillary Clinton’s fate was still up in the air.

That Clinton will be the next secretary of state is not in serious doubt after the Foreign Relations Committee recommended her approval 16-1 last week.

But the timing of Clinton’s appointment remains in the hands of Texas Republican John Cornyn, who has threatened to block an Inauguration Day “unanimous consent” resolution approving Clinton’s nomination.

If he follows through, it would force Harry Reid to schedule a full roll call vote, probably on Wednesday, delaying Clinton’s resignation from the Senate — and maybe the appointment of her successor — by 24 hours.

Cornyn — joined by fellow Republicans Dick Lugar and Tom Coburn — has asked the former first lady to improve and increase oversight of her husband’s international charitable fundraising, arguing that foreign powers may try to sway her by contributing to the former president’s foundation.

Late last week, Cornyn, the incoming head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, penned a letter asking Clinton to revise a five-page disclosure agreement with Obama. As of Monday night, she had not answered to the senator’s satisfaction, a Cornyn spokeswoman suggested.

“It’s the senator’s hope that we will find common ground,” Tina Gray said. “It’s his hope they’ll meet him halfway.”

“He is keeping all of his options on the table,” another spokesman, Kevin McLaughlin, added in an e-mail.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines didn’t respond to requests for comment. But a top Democratic aide told Politico he didn’t expect the situation to be resolved, one way or another, until Tuesday afternoon.

Spokeswoman: Biden Was Never Offered the Job

Team Obama is recasting Jill Biden’s comment — on Monday’s “Oprah” — that her husband was offered a choice of the VP job or the secretary of state slot.

A simple misunderstanding, says vice president-elect spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander:

“Like anyone who followed the presidential campaign this summer, Dr. Jill Biden knew there was a chance that President-elect Obama might ask her husband to serve in some capacity and that, given his background, the positions of vice president and secretary of state were possibilities. Dr. Biden’s point to Oprah today was that being vice president would be a better fit for their family because they would get to see him more and get to participate in serving more. To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only: to be his running mate. And the vice president-elect was thrilled to accept the offer.”

CBC Staffs Up

The Congressional Black Caucus, gearing up for a frenetic session, has hired former Stephanie Tubbs Jones chief of staff Patrice Willoughby as its new executive director.

J. Jioni Palmer, the national press secretary of Media Matters, has been named CBC communications director. Palmer is a former Newsday reporter and recently served as press secretary for the House Ways and Means Committee, which afforded him ample opportunity to show off his bottomless stock of bow ties.

Irene Schwoeffermann, a 2004 Howard University grad, is staying on as coalitions director.

Where’s the Outrage?

One reason Tim Geithner seems to be squeaking through: The usual chain — in which conservative media stokes outrage from the public, which then floods Hill Republicans with anger — seems to have been severed by the financial crisis.

Rush Limbaugh, for one, is puzzled and frustrated.

“Having a guy in charge of the IRS with multiple tax issues might have sullied the Immaculate Inauguration, but now that Barack Obama has determined it won’t be a problem, it won’t be a problem,” Limbaugh said last week. “I still can’t figure out why they’ve dumped [Commerce pick Bill] Richardson. They threw him under the bus for far less than what’s gone on here.

“Why are the American people not up in arms about this?”

Whatever the answer, relatively few commentators or editorial pages have called outright for Geithner’s cowlicked scalp.

An exception: the Rocky Mountain News, which demanded Monday that Geithner withdraw his nomination and decried “the relatively muted reaction by Republicans to these disturbing revelations.”

But there’s been no coordinated national outcry such as the one that led to the defeat of the first bank bailout vote in the House. And it’s noteworthy that the campaign against the Treasury pick, such as it is, has been led by a Northern moderate (Arlen Specter) and not by some senator from a region farther south or west, where the Dittoheads traditionally rule.

Even Limbaugh seems to let Geithner off the hook a bit, blaming his tax woes on an overly complicated IRS code.

“I mean, it’s so common. It ensnares so many worthwhile public servants. It’s a mistake everybody makes. It’s such a common mistake. Isn’t it time to get rid of the mistake, which is the law, not the people?”

Well Begun Is Half-Done

In a new Rasmussen survey, 10 percent of Americans say the economy is getting better. Twelve percent say economic conditions in the United States are already “good” or “excellent.”

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Call it a hunch, but I think we might be in for a lot of this in the next few years. You know, the democrats tried to play nice with most of Bush's appointments, you would think the republican's would do the same for Obama! Fat chance.