Hillary Confirmation Hearings Open Thread
I was sending so many comments via email, I figured I ought to invite all of you to join in. Go to CSPAN for your viewing fun. See also Hillary’s responses to questions posed by Committee members.
You’ve already missed the real amusement, though. Kerry, trying to be chummy, welcomed Hillary’s friend and family: basically just Chelsea and Chuck Schumer (notice who was missing). He invited Chelsea to join the Senators on the dais, saying, "since your dad was an intern with this Committee, maybe we can make you an intern for a day."
Um, Kerry? Intern? Clinton? Nuh uh.
Though, as I pointed out, when the Senate hold confirmations hearings for one of their own, it’s really more of a mutual blow job than anything else. (You can see why I’m inviting you all to participate). Lots of heavy petting, back and forth, even from the Republicans.
Bob Corker basically said that Hillary’s not a good manager, because she’s not a former general like Colin Powell.
Feingold up now, actually doing his job.
Boxer could not have been more loving.
Voinovich is cranky about management too. What’s up here? The best Republicans could think of was going after Hillary for her bad management??? Also note, Voiny suggested he’d be off this committee (it only lost one Republican this year–Chuck Hagel–so may need to shed another given the Republicans’ losses). Interesting.
Looks like bidness-as-usual in the good ol’ persons club:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..57411.html
If she and all of her people haven’t set up a rump government at State within Obama’s first 6-12 months, I will be astounded.
With all the problems he’s run into lately, I’m thinking butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, just now.
I would say she’s not a good manager because she lost a nomination that was hers to lose, and she did it by making the huge miscalculation that throwing the progressive wing of the party under the bus while haring off after rightwing support would be a good political move.
Putting her up for State was a major brainfart by Obama. And the “Lincoln Cabinet” logic holds no water atall. In her Senate seat she was no threat to him. Junior Senator with no committee chairmanship…and the loser in the primary race. All she could do was hold pressers criticizing him.
It aint rocket science. Obama is going to have to get us out of Iraq by 2012 or he will be a one-term president. In fact, if he hasn’t made serious drawdowns by the mid-terms, we will lose most of the congressional gains we made in November. And one problem for him is going to be that, just like Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton has a tatt on her butt that reads:
“Property of AIPAC, Inc.” And Israel does NOT want us out of Iraq.
Back in October of 2002, there were 21 democratic Senators who had the smarts and the courage to vote against Bush’s clusterfuck at a time when most of the country was drinking the petro-patriot koolaid like it was their mother’s milk. Hillary Clinton was not one of them.
She has no business being within a mile of Obama’s foreign policy, and choosing her is going to bring Obama major headaches, down the road.
Absolutely. Obama had the “sense” to wait until he actually WON to make it clear he is throwing the progressives under the bus.
Did you listen to any of the confirmation hearings? Hillary Clinton was brilliant and she will make a dam good Sec. of State. Obama knows what he is doing. You people who are so too smart for your britches should trust the one who you supported, worked tirelessly for and got elected. But, maybe it is just a matter of always having to complain about something or someone.
Dear Bob Corker: Please pick up your Military Fetish GI Joe Toy in the main lobby. It stinks and seems to be soiled.
LOL. good one. I also missed Condi’s military service – huh?
The Senate republicans confirmed John Ashcroft and even Alberto Gonzalez. What standards could they possibly have?
As for Corker. Dude, listen. We have a civilian government. Civilian. As in not a bunch of army men.
YEah, that Powell interlude at State was really awesome and then to be followed by Condi?
If HRC manages to talk in complete sentences and bring State back to what it was prior to the BushCo “adults” she will have made a marvelous SoS.
That’s their game, play against the lowest possible bar. But they are so incompetent it ain’t going to happen. Sorry Clinton fan
The fact that I do not hate the Clintons with every fiber of my being as you appear to do, does not make my a Clinton fan.
Do I think she was the very best choice Obama could have made? No. But I also don’t think she’s the absolute worst person in the world either. I just think she is a person, who has some intelligence, a willingness to at least ATTEMPT to see things rationally and a willingness to actually work to the common good.
You obviously will disagree.
Voiny, who has been on SFRC, is just now noting that Russia likes to exercise power with its pipelines??
Re Clinton donor list – this is troubling for two reasons – one we don’t know whether HRC will favor one country over another because of the past donations. Certainly there is evidence that she acts in this manner. The New York Times reported that New York developer Robert Congel gave $100,000 to the Clinton foundation in just before New York passed a law that gave Congel access to tax-exempt green bonds for a shopping mall in Syracuse. She supported the law and by the follwoing year of the donation she secured $5 million in taxpayer funds for the complex. Such a scenario on the world stage would be more grave.
Now, notwithstanding the suspiciousness of such an action with Congel, assuming she says she won’t be influenced and we take her word for it, her policy judgments are still going to be of concern because the other country’s who did not give money may use it to their advantage and say to her “To make sure your policy decision is above scrutiny, how about cutting us a bit extra here.” That is the real concern from my perspective.
Wow, they are talking about Gaza non-stop, aren’t they?
Hy, there’s telcom money in that $492 mil. I’m not sure, but Obama may have taken some from them, too. Those people worry me.
I thought the last NIE said Iran stopped nuclear weapons program in 2003?
Scott Ritter states that What IF Iran never has had a nuclear weapons program?
His thought was that clause was put into the NIE so that IF someone wanted to bomb, bomb, bomb then they could say Iran reconstituted is weapons program.
Scott has been to Iran several times and recently…….
Anyone going to ante up and ask Clinton about how she understands her role as Sec of State vis a vis the torture conventions and signing off on transport of someone like Maher Arar to Syria? What she understands as her role and is she going to support shipment of people to torture centers to “protect”
AmericaThe Homeland?For that matter, anyone going to ask her about using The Homeland nomenclature in general?
Cluster bombs Hillary?
Or is she going to read National Intelligence Estimates before she recommends courses of action based on NIE, or is she going to make up stories about sniper fire, or is she going to be Ms. Fossil Fuel, advocating gas tax holidays when oil goes through the roof in the next two years. What to do about the Clintons? Obama drew them in, I guess, and I guess he had no choice. Better she screws up SOS for a while than screwing up healthcare or energy policy in the Senate.
Good grief! Hillary used the words “Plaestinian” and “suffering” in the same sentence, and it has made headlines over at HuffPo. She’ll surely get a call from Haim about this.
Government officials are allowed to give passing lip-service to Palestinian humanitarian issues. Unfortunately, the subtext is that they believe the best solution to those problems is for Israel to continue what they’re doing.
Our Lady of Guadalupe could be up and people here would bitch.
Why isn’t she home taking care of that baby? /s
She’s standing around on Juan Diego!
Roses make me sneeze.
Well of course, our lady of Guadalupe is Mexican and so would be barred from becoming Secretary of State.
I thought she was Jewish?
Right, didn’t she arrange Juan Diego’s blintzes?
I think that was in a thread last week “g”
*g*
fuckin’ A, bro!
If Our Lady of Guadalupe was in the Clinton camp, she must be evil.
Is Voltron really the Lady of Guadalupe?
Cardin asking one of the very few questions I have ever heard anyone in Congress ask about the Iraqi refugees Bush and America have created. Numbering in the millions.
HRC answering that hey, there are lots of refugee populations of decades long standing all over the world – no biggie that we happened to create this one.
I did not like Hillary for Prez but I think she is a brilliant choice for Secretary of State. In the capacity even hubby can have a role that fits him.
“Um, Kerry? Intern? Clinton? Nuh uh.”
Eesh. As the great Nero Wolfe would say, Kerry is truly “a peerless dunce”.
Nice hair, though. Blagojevich with a touch of gray.
Kerry is actually very bright, he just shouldn’t try to be funny.
Curious rambling intro by Demint. That was five minutes I’ll never get back.
Not much emphasis on contractors, except for Bill Nelson. Looks like since it’s our problem now, it will get swept under the rug.
One question that comes to mind is, who is going to decide the degree of saber-rattling and JDAM-flexing directed at Iran; Obama or Hillary? If it’s the latter option, then we could be right back to square one on the BushCo “diplomacy” board.
Which the hardliners in Teheran who owe their ascendancy to power to Bush’s viagra-driven invasion, will not mind in the least.
Lat to join but…any questions about Bill’s donors to his charity and the INHERENT conflict of interest now created with her as SecState?
Hillary’s more like “Our lady of Crawford-Lite”…and I’m glad there is bitching about her. :o)
Shoulda heard me during the primaries!
Let’s not go there! Wow, those were lively days on the Lake… :]
Praedor@33…
I wish I could argue the point with you. But, I would lose. :o)
You know, if Clinton were a democrat her treatment would be a lot better…oh wait!
Raven@40…
Fractious times, n’est pas? :o)
And unfortunately, I fear we aint seen nuthin’ yet.
I think the repubs are more or less handling her with kid gloves. Which is understandble, since they know what she’s going to do to Obama.
Been trying to watch it, but it’s like watching grass grow. Now they’re on Lunch break……yawn……………
WaronWaroff@4, right you are… the Powell rehab-posse has a lot more work to do before anyone can use him for a “good management” yardstick.
Powell, with his photo-and-vial U.N. dog-and-pony show, was the deal-closer for the quagmire.
Tenet’s testimony was the deal closer for Congress, who went along with BushCo’s mad drive to invade Iraq.
To the question of whether Iraq possesses WMDs and can use them in short order, Tenet said, “The declassified answer is yes !“
*snore* … good to see John “ambi*n” Kerry has a chairmanship … should replay at bedtime for insomniacs …
That helped, but Tenet was a Clinton appointee who whored himself out to bushCo, from the gitgo, to keep his job at Langley.
Powell, on the other hand, was highly respected by practically everyone, and a lot of democrats saw him as a potential brake on Bush and the rightwingers in Bush’s administration.
When HE started pimping the invasion, that was the 8 ball in the side pocket.
This quote from the Washington Post: “Panel’s top Republican raises concerns that foreign governments could perceive donations to former president’s library as a way to curry favor.”
Where oh where would the Republicans ever get the idea that if you give lots of money, one might be bestowed favors and benefits?
No no no, Voltron is Defender of the Universe, Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas, and therefore much more limited in scope.
Hillary: re Somalia: talk to the International Crisis Group. They have been right forever about Somalia. Get the CIA out of there, and drop the silliness about pirates.
Russ is wonderful. I’m sure he knows all this stuff.
This is one I actually would want to watch…
I guess it was naive of me (I have an excuse), but I was thinking that Biden would still be chairing this committee. No such luck. Kerry: I’m sure his heart is in the right place, but man, is he a leaden speaker.
He was my candidate from the start in 2004. Shows ya how I can pick ‘em.
of course, I was Oh-for-Four in the latest hubcap sweepstakes, so there’s that.
No, we shouldn’t trust him.
He picked a person for SecState who ran a campaign against him that was straight out of Karl Rove’s playbook, and who was brickdumb enough to take a dump on her natural constituency, the progressive wing of the party, because by doing it she thought it would help her get out from under the deadly “librul” word.
Who also climbed on George Bush’s bloody and astronomically expensive war-wagon in 2002 and didn’t un-equivocally get off until a few months before the election in 2008, when she saw her supposedly locks-on-the-board campaign effort, dying in front of her eyes.
I’m not sure why he picked her, but I’m sure of this: Precisely as with Joe Lieberman, The American-Israeli-Political-Action-Committee owns her butt, and she is going to cause him way more problems than she will solve.
I’ll add; there is speculation that handing her State was part of the deal for getting her out of the race. I tend to doubt that. By the time she finally withdrew, the Democratic leadership, across the board, were dogpiling on her to get out, instead of coming into Denver and ruining us. I think that if she had stayed in against that, she would have been a political pariah. As it was, she was just a loser, and a-$30-million-dollars-in-debt loser. There is a chance that a friend of mine nailed it when he said he thought that Obama was a somewhat naive, good-hearted man…who felt sorry for her; and that’s why he did rehab on her.
That sounds more likely to me. He certainly didn’t stoop to anything like the levels of cesspool politics against her, that she used on him.
The idea that she’s “savvy” is laughable. Repeatedly saying that John McCain would make a better C-in-C than Obama, and speculating about the possibility of political assassination as a reason to stay in the race, was way-stupid.
Which is why, happily enough, she’s at least, not in the Oval Office.